Last Legs

Jay Z and Kanye West in Vancouver, BC

Science World    

BC Place

Watch the Throne

$6 Slice of Pizza | Beer with a Straw

Louise Fenwick Registered Acupuncturist

A few months ago my friend Chanda recommended me to one of her clients who needed a portrait taken for her website. I was a bit nervous and wasn't going to charge a fee, but Chanda convinced me that my time is worth compensation, so I met with her cleint and did a photo shoot that went really well. Since then it seems that photographic opportunities keep coming up.

My friend Louise Fenwick, a registered acupuncturist, asked me to shoot the photo for her website (above) which I gladly did in exchange for some acupuncture. Louise is a wonderful acupunturist who is gentle, relaxing, and professional. She is located downtown on Burrard and Davie.

I'm also super excited to be doing a shoot for my jeweller friend, Christi, who is revamping her website in the early new year.

I'm open to do trades or work out a reasonable rate for photography so keep me in mind if you require the services of a photographer.

Occupy Vancouver II

Occupy Vancouver I

Keith and Aya Ikeda-Barry at Kafka's

There is an art opening at Kafka's tonight featuring the work of Keith and Aya Ikeda-Barry. They are part of the 30 Days Project team and Kafka's is showing the work they did in June.

Drop by tonight between 8-11pm for some snacks, drinks, and music. Kafka's is located at 2525 Main Street. See ya there!

Papergirl Vancouver - Accepting Submissions

Photo: Just

"Papergirl is an art project from Berlin. In the style of American paper-boys, rolled art pieces will be distributed by bicycle in the streets of Vancouver to random passers-by.

Art should be accessible to everyone. That is the spirit behind Papergirl, the pedal-powered and volunteer ridden project that combines art, philanthropy, and bikes!

A redefinition of street art, Papergirls volunteer cyclists criss cross the city delivering art directly into the hands of perfect strangers. From August 22 to 27 the Roundhouse Community Center will display an assortment of donated artworks before the art is bundled up and given away on the street. It’s the art of giving away art."

 

Papergirl Vancouver is currently accepting original 2D artwork for submission. Art must be flexible (it will be rolled), and the shortest side must be smaller then 1m. Art will never be sold, you may enter as many pieces as you like.

There are two ways to enter:

Drop off your art in person at Roundhouse front desk by August 15th or mail your entries to:
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
c/o Brenda Racanelli / Alix Büngener
181 Roundhouse Mews
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2W3

You must fill out a submission form, which you can download here.

I am SO excited about this project and strongly encourage anyone who makes are to submit.

Swap-O-Rama Rama 2011

I'm organizing Swap-O-Rama-Rama this year! Last year it was a huge success and I'm really excited to be part of the event again this year.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing swap in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing.

The core of the swap is the gigantic pile of free clothing sorted into categories such as pants, skirts, shirts, shoes etc. These piles are the collective total of each guest’s contribution of any size bag of unwanted clothes, so start cleaning your closets! Take as little or as much as you like! All remainders will go to local charities.

A series of DIY stations will be on-hand to unleash your creativity through the recycling of used clothing including screen printing by Blim and sewing stations by Spool of Thread.

Join in the communal process of reuse and celebrate our collective creativity!

What to bring to Swap-O-Rama-Rama?
Clean, gently-used clothes and accessories: jackets, pants, shirts, skirts, shoes, gloves, belts, accessories, jewelry, sunglasses, bags, wallets and hats. Children and men’s clothing are welcome.

What not to bring to Swap-O-Rama-Rama
Books, make up, home décor, furniture, lingerie / underwear, dirty clothing or anything that you cannot wear. Also, this year we are NOT accepting craft supplies.

Saturday June 18, 2011
Museum of Vancouver
1100 Chestnut Street

$6.00 at the door plus a bag of clean clothes to swap - leave with all the clothes that you can carry!

Facebook Event

WIN TICKETS!
Leave a comment telling us what item of clothing you are hoping to find at Swap this year for your chance to win 2 tickets. Winner will be drawn June 17th, 2011 at 8pm.

Granville Online Magazine

Image by Socks Appeal

I have been writing regularly for a magazine, Granville Online, that specializes in the happenings of the city of Vancouver. You can find my posts for them under their DIY Vancouver section.

From seed swaps to upcoming workshops, craft fairs, tutorials, and more!

Freegan for a Day - Aka: Dumpster Diving at Granville Island

All the food in the above photo I acquired today... for free. Little did my friend Kameyo and I know that the free bread we received from the church near her house was just the begninning of our free food day. As we were walking from her house to the library we were stopped by a short, smiling Asian man in his fifties or sixties. He waved us over to his minvan full of bread and the first thing that crossed my mind were the stories I was told when I was a child about bad men that will tell you they have a kitten in their van that they want to show you. But now, grown up, and armed with my grown up friend, I was not afraid, only curious. He told us to please take some bread, as it had been donated to the church. We tried to tell him that we appreciated the offer, but that we would rather he give it to people more in need than us. He insisted, telling us that there was more than enough to go around, and that he had already been to the church to give them all they could handle for the time being. So, I gratefully accepted 2 loafs of bread, and Kameyo stuck a small bun in her purse.

 

Our day led us to Granville Island, where we did actually pay for some food (a potato knish, 2 tangerines, 2 pieces of chocolate, and a can of coconut). And in the meantime, at South China Seas Trading Co, I tasted the best garlic I have ever had - black garlic! This stuff is beautiful, incredibly delicious, and has twice the antioxidants as regular, raw garlic. Unfortunately, it is $7 per bulb. It has been fermented and has a sweet, slightly smokey flavour. I highly recommend getting your hands on some of this stuff.

On our way out, Kameyo mentioned an article she had heard about, which had described Granville Island dumpsters as the place for Freegans to find food.

"Freeganism is a total boycott of an economic system where the profit motive has eclipsed ethical considerations and where massively complex systems of productions ensure that all the products we buy will have detrimental impacts most of which we may never even consider. Thus, instead of avoiding the purchase of products from one bad company only to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest degree we are able. The word freegan is compounded from “free” and “vegan”." - freegan.info

More practically, freegans don't buy food, they search for good food that has been thrown away.

Kameyo and I were both curious about Freegans, and about what one of these dumpsters might look like so we wandered over to one and right in front of our very eyes we saw a merchant throwing away crates full of tomatoes. I took one of the tomatoes from him and asked why he was throwing them out, as they looked perfectly edible. Granted, most of them looked kind of moldy, but there were definitely many that looked perfectly fine. He said they were no good, but then when Kameyo and I started loading up on the ones that looked completely edible, he turned his little cart around and took them back inside.

We had caught the interest of another couple people that were standing there and together we decided to check inside the bin, just out of curiousity, to see what it looked like inside. Not completely dedicated to the cause, we pulled out 4 large red onions, shared them with the other two, and were on our way, Kameyo earning extra points for having the balls to be the one to actually get inside the dumpster.

It was an interesting addition to our day, to live like a Freegan for a few mins, and a social experiment that left me contemplating my consumtion. More than anything, it made me laugh and step outside the box for a moment.

My Craft Fairs this Holiday Season

Hey Hey! Long time no see. I've been busy being a hermit, creating creating creating for my 5 (yes, five) upcoming craft fairs.

The first has started already! The annual Craft Show at the infamous Foundation Restaurant. Located at 2301 Main Street (that's right at the corner of 7th and Main). I look forward to putting up this show every year, sort of like a personal holiday tradition of mine.

If you would like to grab one of my collages you can head over there during any of their opening hours from now until Dec 30th. Just take the one you want off the wall and bring it up to the cash and you can take it home right after making the purchase.

 

The second craft fair is this Friday night at the Western Front, 303 East 8th Ave (at Scotia, one block east of Main Street). There will be beer and wine and many beautiful things to look at. I will be there from 6-9pm. Please stop by!

This Sunday is craft fair number three. Got Craft is always busy and really fun. They will be giving away 45 swag bags (which are loaded with awesomeness from all the vendors) to the first 45 people in the door. If you want one, be prepared to line up starting at 6am! They will also have a free DIY station hosted by Spool of Thread.

 

The largest (and most scary for me) is craft fair number four, the One of a Kind Show at the Vancouver Convention Center. You may have noticed the above image on the sides of buses! This fair is HUGE and has many reasons to visit not even including the merchandise. There will be a comlimentary gift wrap station, a Sewing Salon where you can make small projects. Check out the Sewing Salon schedule. There will also be a room where you can relax on comfy couches and drink complimentary tea! They have free childminding, fashion shows, seminars and more!

Be sure to visit me Dec 9-12 at booth F44!

The final craft fair for me this season will be on Dec 18th. That is your last Saturday to get gifts before the big day. It is at Little Mountain Gallery 195 East 26th Ave (at Main Street). By donation or a can for the Food Bank.