MAKING STUFF
and writing about it
A record of the making and the learning along the way: process, material, and the social side of hand-making.
May 23, 2014
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...
May 9, 2014
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,...
May 2, 2014
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...
Apr 25, 2014
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. ...
Apr 17, 2014
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...
Apr 11, 2014
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...
Apr 4, 2014
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...
Mar 28, 2014
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...
Mar 21, 2014
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...
Mar 14, 2014
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...
