Power of art is as plain as Putin’s drag face
Whenever I’m hit with another CBC countdown promo of its exclusive Canadian coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi that viral image of Putin in drag makeup pops into my head. That one cheeky act…
A new appreciation for the spin-off
Every story holds the germ of another story. The value of the spin-off , drilled into me back in journalism school, became my mantra because at the time producing reporting assignments felt like the…
From a five-year-old’s paintbrush to my soul
What movie first rocked your world? , someone asked during a recent dinner with friends. Easy: 2001: A Space Odyssey, said one. Looking for Mr. Goodbar , said another, clearly remembering her fear….
Getting ready to scream ‘Woo!’ with the rest of you
You can thank Europeans’ dwindling Christian faith for a sensory bombardment that’s taking over Europe. The poor attendance at all the churches and cathedrals has been a boon to a new totally…
How not to pass out While Painting
I could never understand why the armies of construction workers in this town would head for the Wendy’s or Burger King over a nutritious, fresh soup and salad next door. That was before I started…
Keeping Our Eyes on our work while cranes Swing overhead
They say some of the happiest people in the world live in the most precarious of circumstances. One theory says the self-reported happiness of these people is related to the fact that they live in…
More strange bedfellows: quilts and graffiti
This is my new favourite colour box , a delicious array of cans of Montana spraypaint. All packed up to take to my largest quilt project to date. Now I finally get my chance to do what I’ve been…
Discarded doilies demand attention
In my fourth-year sculpture class venerable artist and (now newly-retired) Emily Carr instructor Liz Magor took one look at my first installation of a kazillion doilies stretched across the cavernous…
Put down that Blackberry and go get some blackberries
I so adore this old World War I royalty-free poster created for the Canada Food Board that I post it in my kitchen every year during the putting-food-by months, already underway. I love the displayed…
Free store in Vancouver — finally!
I’ve been thinking for a long time that Vancouver needs a Free Store , just like the most popular ‘retail’ store on the Gulf Island of Lasqueti . And now there it is, inside the old vault of a…
Out of catastrophe comes creative thinking
All the recent natural and unnatural disasters in this country — city-paralyzing changing-climate-induced floods in Calgary and then Toronto, an oil-tanker train disaster that derailed an entire…
A childhood of risky business inspires
My nephew is about to launch. Freshly freed from high school, he’ll soon be flying high at the National Circus School in Montreal. If there is one kid who would run away and join the circus, Domenic…
Unlikely grounds for painting needles at convention
Having spent the last several years taking painting into sculpture and sculpture into painting , I fell in love with the Saddle Up! group art show that wrapped up last week at Hot Art Wet City…
You can’t keep a good artist down
You might have heard the hammering this week of the final nail in the coffin of a well-known cartoonist’s career with the Province newspaper. After more than 30 years, Bob Krieger joined the legions…
Stumped again by basic rules of composition
It’s funny how some learning moments can be instantly locked into your hard drive forever while others will keep smacking you in the face, like Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes. I look forward to the…
That’s one mother of another need met
In case you want to know, this is a picture of what is called beaching gear — at least in Prince Rupert, B.C. It’s the kind of passing sight that makes a city girl demand that the car we’re in…
Sanitary Doily gets its 15 minutes
I’m deluded enough to believe I can survive on an art practice in Vancouver but I am under no illusion that my Sanitary Doily will be selected to grace the city’s sanitary sewer covers for the next…
Thinking outside the rain barrel
I can barely remember this city before community gardens. They’re so integral to my neighbourhood, and I don’t even have a plot of my own. Aside from the obvious benefit of providing people ways to…
Sticking it to The Man sticks with me
Touring the Emily Carr University graduation show (aka The Show) can be exhausting. There’s work by more than 300 grads packed into those halls and classrooms — too much to take in just one…
Garden art beyond the whirlygigs
I know I should be researching or finishing or conceiving or cleaning or thanking or discussing or working on proposals. But like everyone else in the northern Northern Hemisphere, I can barely…
Recent Comments