Fleeting acts of self-expression hold special power
The first time I saw a “dry landscape” Zen garden in one of the hundreds of temples in Kyoto, my brain sort of short-circuited. This was the mid-’80s, and here was a Zen Buddhist priest meticulously…
everyday video footage — with a conceptual twist
Now that we’re all carrying around the equivalent of movie cameras and photo-editing studios in our pockets and purses we are each potential blockbuster or documentary filmmakers, iMovie-ing and…
A Season of snarls
A big shout-out to the recycling staffer at my local Return-It depot who painstakingly went through a bin full of snarls of computer cables to select the ones with the most colourful clusters of wire…
Summertime, and the making is easy
These are the glory days for the accidental or occasional artist in all of us. The combination of long, light days and ( hopefully) open time sets the stage for some great making moments. These were…
deadhead alive with ideas of our watery past, uncertain future
On one rambling two-hour bike tour of False Creek Sunday, a friend and I cruised by the Dragonboat festival, the jazz festival and the food truck festival. Granville Island was foody festive. Kits…
Art walk a reason to browse South Granville again
I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with South Granville , the shopping strip between 6th and 16th Avenues. This was the neighbourhood of my first apartment, a $350-per-month studio in the old…
Down on your drawing? break out at Vancouver Draw Down
Remember when you were a kid you knew you could give a drawing as a present to any adult and that adult would love it, even though you would definitely not like a drawing-present yourself? It’s one…
Words are not enough to capture the seduction of distraction
To me, the easiest part about carving out a place in the visual arts world is writing something about it. Yet most of my artist colleagues don’t know how I make myself do it on a weekly basis. Easy….
Learning to play, to learn
I would rather watch the little kids in my life play than watch the best TV. But it’s tricky because they don’t like to be observed and if they feel I’m too interested, they are on to me and it all…
Piecing together a penny hearth and reclaimed kitchen
I’ve blown valuable vacation days at one all-inclusive Cancun resort and on one gargantuan cruise ship and I can safely say as long as I can stand upright and feed myself I will not endure either…
How not to crash at the big art shows
The mammoth art museum experience is like an all-inclusive resort for the mind: there’s so much coming at you the brain binges ’til it can’t party anymore. Unless you’re an art history major,…
cultural community under threat in sparkling city
My daily work corner is one-third of a shared 800-square-foot studio of a mouldering building in the shadow of numerous condo-tower cranes in Mount Pleasant, with a combined rent of more than $1,000…
inspiration found at accountant’s office
With the same anticipation as a root canal I plopped down in a chair at the accountant’s office. Then gasped and pointed, then tried not to point at the adjacent bookcase stuffed with client files. …
The unfathomable drives next generation of artists
How we’re feeling about our place in an uncertain world is evident on art school walls. This is where the next generation of emerging artists grapples with the shape-shifting natural and built…
The pretty and the pretty awful make it into Eastside murals
I have this vague, hippie-era-soaked memory of my brother and I hanging with my father as he painted a wall alongside some other artists. Forty years later I suggested to my brother that he swing by…
craftsmanship at the core of paper art show
Sarah Gee Miller says she’s pretty handy. That’s the understatement of the evening. Her paper ‘paintings’ are not only visually stunning and conceptually rich but they resonate with the dedication…
Plastic toy glut Horrifies — and inspires
I am tormented by the plastic bits of toys , discards from the kiddies in my life, that I have been unable to toss (the toys, not the kiddies). There is no practical excuse for holding onto all those…
QR button blanket: Epic fail or a larger reading?
After three months of sewing one donated button after another into a giant QR code , the big moment arrived this week: time to stand back and scan that baby with a reader app, translating this…
Golden Tree a better tribute than ‘real’ tree
This week marks the unveiling of Golden Tree , Douglas Coupland ‘s latest public artwork, to be installed next year at the southern gateway to Vancouver, at Cambie and Marine Drive. The…
Granville Island needs an injection of innovation
When finally — yet suddenly — I graduated from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, I was done, done, done, exhausted after four intense years of input. Now I needed space for four more years…
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