Last Legs

Occupy Vancouver II

Occupy Vancouver I

Another Vancouver Mistake

I went to watch the deflation of the BC Place roof. I am extremely disappointed in the decision to replace the fabric roof. I think the building was a unique architectural enhancement to Vancouver's skyline. There are really no words. Tomorrow, when I am not so tired, I will try to write something more politically charged. But for now, here are my pictures of the sad moment.

 

 

New Collages for GOT CRAFT? and Etsy

I am SO excited about tomorrow's craft fair, Got Craft? Above are some new collages that I have done. They will be for sale tomorrow and then listed on Etsy if they don't sell at GC.

The first 30 people through the door will receive swag bags full of locally made crafts. Fifteen lucky people will receive a mini collage pack, which is sort of like a sample of my collage packs. I loved making these and I love the way they turned out. They are so cute!

My full sized collage packs will be available for sale tomorrow at my table. They are also available to buy at Urban Source, a great alternative art supply store on Main Street.   

The craft fair tomorrow will be a great place to buy a gift for Mother's Day.

I will be sharing a table with my friend, Chanda, who makes these lovely magnets.

 

Observations

Olympic Observations:

 

 

Today's observations:

It looks like someone (black) wrote "Stay the Fuck Out of the Yard" and then someone else (green) added "Please. You could get hurt. Have a nice day." And the smiley faces. 

 

Fun Observations:

Whenever I wear these shoes they make people smile.

New Collages for Blim and Artwalk

This month you will find me at the Blim Community Market at Heritage Hall (15th and Main) on Sunday February 21st. I have made a bunch of new collages including some adorable Easter themed ones, which are a great addition to an Easter basket for any of the little munchkins in your life.

They also make sweet Easter gifts for an adult.

Other cool new collages:

 

I really like these food collages and I think I might do a whole series of them, including images from old cookbooks where the food just looks WEIRD.

At Blim there will be many more new collages in addition to the ones pictured above.

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On Friday February 12, 2010, after the protest, I went to the Artwalk that is happening in Gastown. There was a fantastic amount of really great work, including some of my favourites, The Dark, Ronan Boyle, and Andy Dixon. I secretly want to marry any or all of these boys. I first stumbled upon Ronan's work on the street, when I tore down a gig poster that I loved too much not to take home with me. He had drawn a naked Batwoman on it.

 
Those are two of Andy's paintings that are up in Gastown.

I tried to make it to all of the locations, but when 11pm rolled around I was exhausted, so I went home to bed. But I would like to go back down there before the event is over. Most of it will be up until February 28th.

A picture of my favourite Vancouver activist, Sean Orr:

   

Can't Pay Rent. Living in a Tent.

 

I stopped and talked with this couple for a while. I asked the woman where she lives right now and she says she doesn't have a home. The man said he just got access to housing. He liked my watermelon shoes and told me a dirty joke about a watermelon. It was funny.

 

 

There was a great community vibe at this rally, with everyone helping to set up tents and hang signs. They are still in need of more tents, food, and support.

 

Food Not Bombs was there serving food.

 

 

This rally was really positive but there weren't as many people there as I expected. Libby Davies was there, which made me feel really great. I was marching right next to her. I am going to go back down there tomorrow and talk to more people, give my support and hopefully take more pictures.

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A piece of my artwork was chosen to be in this year's CARDED Show.

"CARDED is a one-night only show of art, music and fast paced trading action. The work of fifty artists is presented on trading cards and made available for art lovers to collect and trade. These 2.5"x3.5" cards are displayed on the gallery wall and the audience is offered the opportunity to buy randomly selected cards in packs of five for $5."

I am super excited about this. The shows put on by these guys are always REALLY great. One year a button design of mine was in their button show. If you are in Vancouver you should make it a point to get to the show on February 27th, 2010. It will be a blast.
 

Five Ring Circus - My Olympic Protest Experience

The weather was crap for taking pictures. It was raining and grey. So this is what I ended up with. I need to go out to more public events to practice using my digital camera in those situations. I brought my film camera, too, but it started getting dark really quickly.

I really liked this sign. It says "Tar Sands WTF?!"

 

Me and Nardwuar taking photos of each other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Helicopters circling above. At one time there were 5 helicopters in the air above us.

 

My camera started getting foggy because of the rain.

 

In this photo you can see the snipers on the rooftops.

 

 

When the crowd had dissipated, the police officers just stood there and people started taking pictures of them quite close.

 

I think this is my favourite of all the pictures.

 

Tourists posed in front of the police line for pictures.

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It was a good protest. There was no violence. At one point someone spat at a cop and threw one of those large orange road block things at the police line, but that was it. People mostly seemed genuinely interested in making their point, in a peaceful way. Because it wasn't violent it allowed tourists and even Vancouverites to ask why we were protesting, creating a dialogue of awareness, which to me, is one of the main points of a protest. 

My largest complaint would be that the protest didn't lead to anything (physically). Yes, the point was made that there are people in Vancouver that are upset with the presence of the Olympics, and it (hopefully) raised some more awareness on the issue. But there was a march to a location (BC Place, which we didn't even really get that close to) and then there was standing and chanting. But ideally, there would be a podium with intelligent people speaking on the matters at hand or an information booth. Or if nothing else, getting close enough to BC Place to disrupt the event. The cops were successful in stopping that from happening, and I guess the crowd just wasn't in the mood to try to break through the barrier.

Being a protester and having a camera was a weird position to be in, because it seemed like many of the protesters saw me as a member of the press. But I wasn't a member of the press, I was there in support, but also feel like it is really important to document these events. And it surprises me that they don't feel the same way.

I am glad to hear (via Chief Const. Jim Chu's press conference answers) that the police recognize that the peaceful protesters are different from the violent protesters. But last night I was talking to one of the cops and I asked him "Is there any legal reason that I can't cross the police line? Technically, this is a public street and I am allowed to walk over there."

He replied that the police are there to prevent vandalism and people from getting hurt. That it seems like the intent of the protesters is to go to BC Place and create havoc, so that is why they are not allowing people to get close. I stressed that legally I could walk across the street and his reasoning of not letting anyone through is that we are protesting as a group, and therefor are treated like a group, and there is no realistic way to pick and choose who gets to cross the line and who doesn't, so no one is allowed. And that kind of made sense to me. 

He asked me "Why do you (the protesters) need to get closer, anyway?" I replied that the closer a protest gets to the event they are protesting, the larger the impact. He agreed. But as I walked away, I wondered to myself why we were trying to get closer. My answer to myself would basically be what I said to the cop, but it would include trying to disrupt the event. And I don't mean with any form of violence. I just mean by chanting, and maybe by chains formed by humans linking arms etc. 

There was a group of protesters who were wearing all black and had their faces covered etc. They (obviously) were the ones that seemed most hyped to create a mess and get arrested. They were all very serious and one even asked me not to take photos of him. If anything was to get hectic, I assumed it would have been that group to start it and I sort of admired them, at the same time as wondered about their sincerity.

I would like to think they they were seriously willing to get arrested and stand in the way of pepper spray etc in support of the various causes that we were there to raise awareness about. Also they seemed really prepared, many of them were wearing medic badges and had backpacks with bottles of water for rinsing out eyes etc. Some of the 'medics' were even wearing kangaroo costumes or ridiculously large and bright wigs in order to be recognized easily if they were needed. That is where the admiration came in. But they just seemed too eager to make shit hit the fan (as we witnessed this morning downtown).

I am so UNIMPRESSED by CBC's coverage. The newsroom asked the reporter on location "What point are the protesters trying to make?" and the reply was "The point they are trying to make is the Olympics are bad."

These are just some thoughts on what happened last night and this morning. I am not willing to argue with anyone about these issues. I have my opinion and you have yours. Please do not leave any negative comments regarding these issues or what you think of what I think about them.

 

 

Review of DIY @ MOV - Better Late Than Never

The night of social crafting was so fun. There were many stations that people could wander in and out of, including screen printing, knitting, drawing, and collage. The collage station was super busy, to the point that people were spilling out of the room and sitting on the floor and on benches with no tables.

 

Scissors and magazines became scarce. I encouraged people to rip paper.

After the blocks that Opus had donated were gone people started to get really creative, using the backs of their paper plates.

And knitting with pieces of hemp, woven with cellophane and gold wire.

 

My faith in humanity was a little bit renewed by this event. It proved that if you supply people with art materials, and give them a space where they are encouraged to create, they will! They will, they will, they will. Everyone was excited about making something, even people that don't consider themselves to be creative.

Tonight at the Museum of Vancouver

 

I designed this cute little flyer for Andrea and Rob to hand out at the DIY @ MOV event tonight. I am so excited! I will be facilitating a collage workshop and will also have a table of my own collages for sale. This is going to be such a fun night. Here is the info from the Facebook page:

A Night of Social Crafting.

Come celebrate the creativity and community of the growing DIY craft, art and design movement in Vancouver.

Generously sponsored by OPUS and Blim, there’ll be materials and workshops in a range of art and craft media from paper to yarn. Activities are geared so that everyone can participate - from the craft newbie to seasoned creators.

The party vibe will continue with music, food and a bar. And if you’re super-proud of what you make at DIY@MOV, MOV is providing exhibit space so that your creation can be on public display in a museum. Think of the bragging rights!

$15 - Tickets available online or at the door.

MOV Members Free

It is from 7:00pm - 11:00pm at the Museum of Vancouver located at 1100 Chestnut Street. Check out Translink for directions by bus. Or Google Maps for walking or car directions.