Heartfelt 2013 at the Vancouver Print Room

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Lisa

Torrie Groening, a Vancouver artist who’d been living in San Francisco for quite a while, has relocated back to Vancouver and set up a new studio and gallery in Strathcona, the Vancouver Print Room, in an old converted church at 832 Jackson Street. It’s a fabulous space and a great venue for her first curated exhibition Heartfelt 2013, a reprise and extension of a 1997 exhibition of print works on the theme of love.

Opening night saw lots of Vancouver’s artists and friends gathered to view the salon-style exhibition. Since it was a coolish evening, I thought the blue biking gloves were a necessary touch, even though they made my hands look like gigantic cartoon-character mitts.

As you can see from the photo below, the studio area is large, with lots of room for Torrie’s props and equipment.

For more information on the Heartfelt show, click here. To read an essay by Doris Shadbolt on the original 1997 printmaking project, click here. See more pictures here.

Invoking Venus, Feathers and Fashion

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Lisa

Marsha, Ty, and Dana at the opening of Invoking Venus, Feathers and Fashion.

INVOKING VENUS, Feathers and Fashion features photo-based images by Catherine Stewart and accessories from the clothing collections of Claus Jahnke and Ivan Sayers.

Using bird specimens from the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Vancouver-based Stewart explores the role colour, patterning and adornment play in courtship and attraction. Through the juxtaposition of images of bird plumage with images of vintage fabrics and actual feathered fashion accessories, the parallels in human and bird behaviour become apparent. The lush and sensuous images magnify details in avian plumage and vintage fabrics, revealing a multitude of rich and varied hues that combine to create the colours, textures and patterns observed when viewing birds and humans at their finest.

“On the surface, birds and humans are very different. Yet, if you really observe these two groups you can start to draw many parallels in their behaviour,” explains Yukiko Stranger-Jones, Exhibits Manager, Beaty Biodiversity Museum. “Through pairs of images, Stewart engages us in a visual dialogue that examines the role adornment plays in the courtship of both birds and humans.” (text from the Beaty website)

The opening reception included a fashion show featuring historical clothing and accessories from the collections of Ivan Sayers and Claus Jahnke. The show was hosted by Ivan Sayers and explored the history of feathers in fashion. Clothing from about the 1880s to the 1970s was worn by a series of models who strutted their stuff on the red carpet running beneath the gigantic whale’s skeleton in the Museum’s atrium.

Seated right below the whale’s huge jaw bones, we contemplated the possibility of being crushed if the “big one”, the huge megathrust earthquake overdue in these parts, were unhappily to occur this evening.

In his comments Sayers pointed out the action and reaction of clothing designers whose dresses became longer or shorter, tighter or looser, bigger or smaller depending upon the changing political and social status of women through time. (It was difficult to get a photograph that was in focus – the models did not stand still for very long).

Similarly the hats alternated between gigantic feathered confections and small, close-to-the-head caps and bows.

One of the most bizarre hats included the head and feathers of a small animal on its front face. A break in the proceedings allowed the audience a chance to view Catherine’s photos works hung along a corridor framing the Beaty collection.

I rather like the Francis-Bacon-like effect in the picture below. See more pictures here. More information about the show is here.

Mountain Snowshoe Madness

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Lisa

Foggy day in the city – the forest of cranes continues to grow in downtown Vancouver … condo-mania – who`s buying all these spaces?

We are so lucky to have such beautiful mountains right on our doorstep – the view below is from the lookout point halfway up Cypress Mountain on a recent foggy day. You can just see the tops of the highest glass towers downtown peeking through the ocean of cloud covering the city, with Mount Baker’s volcanic cone in the background.

Here’s the gang of three in front of the upper warming hut on Cypress, resting before a push for the upper snow shoe trails.

We paused to take in the view from the High View Lookout – unfortunately, we couldn’t see as much as this picture shows.

We saw one dead tree with several enormous fungi attached to it – I remember collecting these babies when I was a kid.

The upper x-country ski trails were not as crowded this day, although several groups from Hollyburn Ski Club were racing around the circuit.

The whiskey jack birds were out in force, zooming over to us from their perch in the surrounding trees when Christine pulled out her bag of crushed crackers.

Following the Far East Trail down the hill, we stopped to admire the “Old Man of the Mountain”, a gigantic old growth tree, one of the few remaining on the mountain. This one is thought to be over a thousand years old.

It’s hard to get a sense of how huge this tree is from the photos …

The old Hollyburn Mountain Lodge is still going strong, pumping out fries and hot chocolate for the skiing hordes. From the base of the Nordic area, you can see one of the downhill runs across the valley.

Sometimes I’m a bit sorry that my knees are no longer up to downhill skiing.

We were above the fog bank up on the mountain; it was a beautiful sunny day on the hill while the city was still enveloped in cloud.

See more photos here.

Sweet Pea Swing Band at the Prophouse

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Lisa

We were at the Prophouse in Vancouver the other night to hear Sweet Pea Swing Band. The Prophouse is a great venue, a coffee house that also serves beer and wine, has great local music and a vast and eclectic collection of collectabilia, including a copy of Rembrandt’s painting Man with a Golden Helmet, the very same one I grew up with over the mantle in the family home, many reproductions of leopards, plastic rotary dial phones, and the like.

The band was great – highly recommeded!

Beautiful Vancouver

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Lisa

I took this photograph of Granville Island, Granville Bridge, and False Creek from the top of Burrard Bridge while out riding my bike – a beautiful January day.

Fun in the snow on Cypress Mountain, Vancouver

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Lisa

The last few days in Vancouver have seen a deep covering of new snow on the mountains. From our balcony we can see the glittering peaks in the distance, and, heeding Cypress Mountain’s siren song of snow, we headed up for the first snow shoeing expedition of the season.

Since we’ve given up our car, the little red Modo car co-op Fiat transported us up the long winding road to the summit of Cypress and the access point for the mountain’s Nordic area.

Driving up the hill I was reminded of those long ago days when my father and I used to ride our bikes up this mountain and then come screaming back down again, hunched over the handlebars and flying without touching the brakes … those were the days of no fear.

We arrived on the hill just before nine in the morning, early enough to get a parking spot but not early enough to avoid the lineup for snow shoe rentals.

The mountain looked fabulous, glittering white, its peak just emerging from the deep blue shadows of early morning.

After suiting up, we headed off onto the green lower level snow shoe trails, walking through a towering forest of Seussian snow-covered trees whose branches curved and curled from the weight, sometimes releasing a flutter of flakes with a sigh.

The lower trails are very easy, but, as you can see from the first picture of this post, I did manage to fall over into a tree well … and I was completely sober. Made me realise how tricky it would be to get out of one of these if I’d been on a snow board.

I love it that the old Hollyburn Lodge is still going strong; this early in the morning it was still uncrowded. Later in the day it will be full of tired and hungry folk coming in from the cold for sustenance.

From Hollyburn Lodge, the trail to the upper reaches of the Nordic area rises more steeply. Glistening white branches made the trees look like some gigantic filigreed Queen Anne’s Lace blossoms against the incredible cerulean blue sky.

The colour of the sky was a blue so intense that it did not seem real – more like a Mediterranean sky than a Canadian one.

Although it had started to get a bit crowded down at the base area, by the time we reached the upper warming hut, the people had spread out across the mountain and we were able to get a spot on the benches outside to refuel.

Our trek took us almost to the peak, as you can see from this sign.

We rested a bit at the top, watching the Nordic skiers zooming by us; one ambitious couple was pulling a trailer/sled on wheels inside which was their small child.

As we began our descent, the clouds started to roll up the hill from the ocean. Stopping once again at the warming hut on the way down, we fed the Whiskey Jacks living in the trees surrounding us.

Their feet felt funny on my palm – tiny and ticklish; strangely, there were not very many birds on the mountain this year. In past visits we have been swarmed by them – not this time.

See more pics here.

Autumn in Vancouver

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Lisa

Now that Winter is here I can only dream about the glorious Fall we had in Vancouver this year. Here’s the local wildlife enjoying a nibble at Beaver Lake in Stanley Park.

The pool at Second Beach has been left to the birds.

Drift on Main seems to be losing energy but I did enjoy seeing Julie McIntyre’s studio space where she’s working on some small-format mixed media prints.

I have been documenting the towers rising in our neighbourhood; this crane is building the condos where the old Cecil Hotel at the end of Granville Bridge used to be.

This gigantic tower is rising on Pacific Street across from George Wainborn Park, leaving us only a tiny sliver of False Creek water view.

November means the Eastside Culture Crawl, the vast annual cultural extravaganza in which hundreds of artists’ studios are open to the public for a three day art blitz. Torrie Groening’s new space at 832 Jackson is fabulous, an old church converted into studio, exhibition, and living spaces. I was surprised to see glasses exactly like mine in one of her large format images.

Torrie and Steven have done an amazing job of fixing up this building; it contains Torrie’s archive of prints, her equipment, and lots of room to work.

The huge rabbit warren that is 1000 Parker is always an art feast; here are a few samples of the smorgasbord on display: Christian Dahlberg’s neon photos,

Bluegrass music in the studio,

contemporary surrealist painting,

sculpture by David Robinson,

and green art, living plants displayed in frames and shadow boxes.

We watched a glass blowing demo at the Mergatroid Building, reminding me of my early ventures at this art in a garage studio in Dunbar, the products of which I still have on hand. Amazingly I managed not to set myself alight while working with the molten glass.

A hopeful sign adorns a locker in the Purple Thistle Art Cooperative studio.

Ty was beginning to lose steam at this point.

Apparently there is still a market for handprinted silkscreen T-shirts.

I was happy to catch up with my old friend Maggie Manning at the William and Clark studios.

Monika Blichar’s goth/comic art made me smile.

This fellow creates art from ordinary industrial wire, bending and working it to create sculptures and gigantic armatures for paper lanterns.

Wendy’s large-scale lotus paintings are serene and lovely.

Esther and Richard at 800 Hawks had some lively double-exposed photographs, woodcuts, and mixed media on mylar works on display in their great Strathcona studio.

Years and years ago I was involved in a life drawing class run by Richard out of the Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings.

At the Razstone Studio on Powell street I enjoyed seeing Ken Clarke’s concrete sculptures of grotesques.

The Crawl is always a mixed bag of stuff but what a stimulating treat; I really love seeing what everyone is doing and the vibe generated by the thousands of artists and art buffs who support the annual event.

See more pictures here.

Still Summer …

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Lisa

Here are a few pictures I took recently of rides around town and along the seawall.

A convoy of big red trucks was parked near Science World one night for an unknown reason.

I had noticed the colourful blue stripes on the base of the Cambie Bridge pilons before; what I did not realise is that they are a public art project designed to demonstrate how high the waters are projected to rise in False Creek as a result of global climate change.

As you can see, the water rise will be significant … and might happen sooner than we think, if the arctic continues to melt quickly – frightening.

Now that we no longer have a car, it’s bicycle commuting for me. And rather than the huge vessels of BC Ferries, my water transport is the Cyquabus across the Creek to Emily Carr.

Below are a few pics that I took from the Painting on the Edge juried show at the Federation of Canadian Artists Gallery on Granville Island.

From our place, we can still see a little slice of water and a tiny bit of Granville Island in between the towers that continue to proliferate downtown.

When the tide is low, it’s really fascinating to see the well-demarcated ecological niches of the creatures populating False Creek.

This bike tune-up guy is conveniently located on the seawall right near Science World.

This flower bed in George Wainborn Park is just amazing; I have no idea what these purple flowers are called but they have grown enormously in the last month of good weather.

AARRRRR – the Pirate Pub is a favourite pit stop along the seawall.

Two salty sea dogs on the sea wall ~

We saw this guy just floating around in the fountain at George Wainborn Park one beautiful late afternoon.

And these Fringe Festival folks waiting for the aquabus.

Malaspina Gallery has a really interesting show of print works by Kathy Slade and Lisa Robertson up – we stopped in to the opening.

BIMPE VII, the Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition’s seventh incarnation, opened on Thursday night at the Federation Gallery, offering 400 small print works from all over the world. Check it out if you have the chance – lot’s of great stuff.

I am really enjoying riding my bike around town; last week, with a group of cyclists, I rode out to Dundarave across the Lion’s Gate Bridge – joy!

See more pics here.

Summer in the City II

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Lisa

Cycling through downtown Vancouver is one of my favourite things to do, and I love Chinatown, Strathcona, and the area around the docks. When wandering through the back alleys there I am always fascinated to see how the street art has changed and developed.

This small labyrinth is tucked away near Union Street.

Many murals grace the walls of buildings and bridges down here; this first nations sun is part of a large image beneath an overpass near the old Sugar Factory.

On Alexander Street, in Gastown right near Chill Winston’s restaurant, is the gallery and studio of Choboter, an artist whose name was previously unknown to me. His works are vaguely reminiscent of Pollock’s drips, although more kitschy, with women’s faces and bodies embellished upon the paint drips and drops.

One of the blocks along Hastings is constantly metamorphosing. Every time I ride by, another piece of old time Vancouver has disappeared to be replaced by yet more restaurants, coffee shops, and palaces of consumption.

SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts faces off against the not-so-Regal Hotel across the street, its windows usually full of interesting art.

I have been photographing the alleyways between Cambie and Richards for a few years now; each time I return, the images have changed. Having been away from the area for a year, it was interesting to see what has happened with the street art and graffiti.

The alley behind the Dominion Building yielded some cool stencil art.

These large-scale wall stencils represent the contemporary evolution of printmaking art. Rather than the small, rather intimate aesthetic of traditional printmaking, these works are big, bold, and often have a socially conscious point to make.

However, there’s also lots of the usual guys with huge guns, death’s heads, and rampaging monsters thing …

A few weeks ago we checked out Tomoyo’s small installation Yearning at Solder and Sons books and cafe, 241 Main Street. Originally from Japan, Tomoyo has lived in Vancouver many years. She also spends part of the year in Ladakh, India where she is involved with the Tibetan community. Her drawings speak to issues of community, spirituality, and the injustices perpetrated on the people of Tibet.

Solder and Sons is right near the Main Street viaduct, from the top of which is a great view out over the docks, the harbour, and the North Shore mountains.

Riding along the Carrall Street bikeway from False Creek to Gastown, we pass the Sun Yat Sen Park and Gardens, recently voted the World’s Top Urban garden. It is an oasis of calm and green beauty in a sea of concrete.

From the gardens we can see the revolving “W” of the former Woodwards Department Store, now the epicentre of downtown eastside Vancouver gentrification.

While vestiges of the gritty downtown eastside remain, such as the West Hotel, the areas untouched by real estate hipsters are shrinking in the face of an influx of expensive doughnut shops and trendy restaurants.

At the yearly Powell Street Festival, the remains of Vancouver’s original Japanese community gather in Oppenheimer Park (between Powell Street and the waterfront).

See more pics here and here.

Summer in the City

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Lisa

Summer in the city means sun (we hope), cycling, and art.

Art Day in Cedar, south of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, involved painting, collage, and recycled materials, with each of us given the same images and objects with which to being our creations.

(For extra points, can you spot the common element(s) in these works?) It is always interesting to see how different the final products are when people begin at the same starting point.

The trip over and back on BC Ferries (now that I don’t have to commute on them any more – yippee!) was beautiful on a brilliant sunny day.

The opening of Collaborative Drawings by Kitty Blandy, Geoff Carter, and Michael Bjornson was great. I love the concept and the work – here are a few glimpses.

During an interlude of clouds, Barb and I rode out to UBC along the seawall and through Kits Point, where we stopped to read the scribbles of locals protesting the Harper Government’s short-sighted decision to close the Kits Coast Guard Station.

Most writers were not very complimentary about Harper, his government, or the conservatives in general.

Cycling around Vancouver is always a joy, but even more so when the weather is great.

Yesterday I was surprised to see that Soul Food, the downtown eastside community food garden, has expanded to the formerly empty parking lot near BC Place.

A huge garden of produce to feed local residents, grown and managed by locals and sold at farmers markets around town, has sprung up over the last six months – great idea!

Science World has a show on until the end of August focusing on the “genius of Leonardo”, mostly containing modern recreations of the machines and ideas recorded in his notebooks. There’s also a big section devoted to Leonardo’s most famous work, the Mona Lisa; however, none of the items on display are actually by Leonardo. All are photographic reproductions. Since I had already seen most of these before, more interesting to me was a small display of jewel-like insect art by a Singaporean man whose name escapes me.

See more here.

On our ride around Strathcona looking at murals and street art Barb and I also stopped at the original Soul Food Garden on Hastings next to the Astoria Hotel to see how it was growing.