Out of the mouths of babes: Bring on the light
My four-year-old niece asked Santa Claus for lights this year. “For the bushes.” And so when the family car pulled up to their house after Christmas Eve dinner the shrubbery was all a-glow. And so…
Art student’s off-grid heater would make quite the gift
Dear Santa, I know I haven’t written since I was a kid, and when it comes to wants, I’m pretty much good. Unlike a lot of my neighbours who rent homes that are slated for demolition in the coming…
Inspiration from those who make it, through Crassmas
It’s not too late to say, Nay! I will not be coerced into this coming two-week commercial frenzy. I will steer my little ship into calmer waters! Instead of joining the throngs of harried…
Packing it all in for the Toronto design fest
It’s getting close to a decade since I packed it all in : my needles and wool, my sewing machine and fabrics, my mid-level-management career. There was more to explore. I’ve been mixing it up with a…
Compelling art all part of the protest
The war in the woods is heating up again. Except it’s not the people against forestry giants MacMillan-Bloedel or Fletcher Challenge; on this day it’s Kinder Morgan.
The Gallery is not a bank so why does it keep banking hours?
Here’s a plan: Meet up with a friend after work downtown for a drink, then go check out the latest exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. That works just fine — if your workday ends at 3 p.m.
Is Instagram a godsend for artists, a social drug, or worse?
I’ve been giving Instagram a lot of thought. And I’ve concluded that I’m exhausted.
flying that doily flag at upcoming PechaKucha
In the next month you’re likely going to end up stuck at some fatuous seasonal gathering, wondering how soon you can bolt without appearing rude so you can go home and change into your antisocial…
Nothing new on halloween, and that’s a good thing
What do you do when one of your closest friends is in the hospital with complications and the weather outside is the perfect visual for seasonal depression? You make! And so I devote this column to…
art has a function in unfathomable times
It was a day of horror that has changed the climate at the centre of the Canadian hive forever. And it took an artist to channel our collective grief.
Feeling the squeeze all part of the practice
I spent most of the day yesterday sitting with a very close friend in a hospital bed , waiting for the surgeon to slice into her gut and remove a large cyst and maybe an ovary or two. Or maybe all…
Group exhibit dwells on the domestic
My brief stint as a home organizer was an eye-opener — door opener, to be precise. I got a rare view of the reality behind the doors of some beautiful houses. Often I was the only outsider who had…
Craftivists in our midst
What do you do when you’re suddenly confronted by a threatening sign where this year’s crop of wild blackberries were leveled along the Arbutus corridor? You yarn-bomb it, of course. That’s what one…
Next stop on writers’ blog tour is this space
A few weeks back, Vancouver artist-blogger Arleigh Wood asked me if I would be willing to catch the baton on an ongoing, international writers’ blog tour. I’m bullish on all collaborative,…
Trades bring public art to a new level
You know you’re working with the right people when you arrive at their shop with nothing to show for your sculpture idea but some vague sketches and they don’t frog-march you out of the industrial…
I was under the assumption I would mostly be making
I did not sign up for this. Well, actually I did, in my exhibiting-artist contract with the Richmond Art Gallery for the current City as Site public-art survey show , but that’s not my point. I…
Little Thrift Shop of Horrors inspires
In my ongoing hunt for a lost painting — forgotten in the international departure lounge at Vancouver International Airport last month — I stumbled upon the Vancouver Airport Chapel Thrift…
public art exposed: a peek behind the scenes at new show
It’s one thing to dream up an idea for the back end of the elevated Canada Line track and quite another to see that dream come together in a mammoth aluminum sculpture.
Desperately seeking lost painting
This week I am testing the usefulness of social media in locating a painting. Grey Lace is not my first commission, but a favourite, done over two months this past winter. It is an abstract field in…
Memorable designs discovered on road trip
We were a bit of a spectacle, using survivalist technology outside our tent wedged between the humming, air-conditioned RVs , but we were aching to use our car-camping trip to finally test the…
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