Catching Up

Boardwalk

In the interest of freshening thing up a bit, I give you my new blog header. Happily, there is a new, easier way to create them, so I may be inclined to do this a bit more often.

Things have been kind of quiet in the studio. I've mainly been writing material for a presentation I am making in about a week on crisis intervention and suicide prevention. Serious stuff! There's alot of information to relay in a short period of time, but I always love the opportunity to help empower others, especially when they are doing important work like this.

Meanwhile, the excitement is building for London 2012. As you can imagine, I am counting the days! It seems like just yesterday we were gearing up for the Games here in Vancouver. I watched the Americans' gymnastics trials last weekend. It was pretty intense-when people make mistakes, it's pretty spectacular. (And scary!) The balance beam always freaks me out-fall on that and you're going to clobber yourself!  I am very much looking forward to watching the Games obsessively.

 Vivienne has encouraged me to take my camera in for it's servicing. I am loathing the idea of letting it out of my sight, but I suppose I should do it sooner, rather than later, so it's all spiffy and ready to go for Whistler. I am so used to just grabbing it and shooting when the spirits move me that to not have it available for a few days seems like torture! I suppose I should just get it over with.

In other news, I had a lovely surprise arrive in the mail the other day. It was an honorarium for participating in the gallery show Dispelling the Myths: Disability & Art  at the Leigh Square Community Arts Village in May. It was completely unexpected. I'll probably treat myself to some new art supplies next week. Good karma is always welcome!

Challenging the Myths: Disability & Art Opening

This morning, I'm backtracking to Thursday, May 17th, to the opening of the gallery show. This is the beautiful gallery at Leigh Square where the exhibit was held. The official opening coincided with the Rick Hansen Relay making a quick whistle stop in the square.

I love when galleries put a huge decal on the wall with the show info.  I don't really know why, I just do.

My artwork ended up being displayed in a large glass cabinet, as you first come in the door. Mine are the pieces framed in black. I'm not sure who the small painting belonged to. The gallery has a ton of windows, so there was alot of glass and light, which when combined did not make for great photos. Reflections were inevitable.

These are the work of William Skuse. He had alot of work in the show, all similar and yet different from one another. What I love about his work is the geometric patterns he comes up with, combined with the use of colour. He does his pieces using a humble set of markers. It reminds me of those giant posters they used to make in the 70's with wild pictures you'd colour in. I love that his work reminded me of this.

This is my favourite piece in the whole show. It belongs to Fred Collins. Sadly, this photo does not do it justice. Let me see if I can explain it a bit. What I believe he's done is start with a wash of water colours on water colour paper. Once it dried completely, I think he went over the base layer with a fine tip black marker, drawing meandering lines which were no more than 1/8 inch apart. The lines are very wabi-sabi and intersect randomly. Once he'd covered the entire piece with lines he want back and added bits of additional colour using markers. It clearly took some time to create this piece-it measures 22 x 29 inches and it's extremely intricate.

The show runs till June 10th, so there's still time to see it. There are 12 artists with a diversity of artistic talent being featured. If you missed the article in the Tri-City news, it's here.

I just wanted to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to all my friends and family who took time out of their busy week to come and see the show. I appreciate the support. You guys are THE BEST!

EDIT: This just in!

Late last night, our local newspaper was left on my doorstep. I just this minute looked at it and imagine my surprise when I saw myself in the paper! (Bottom left!) Twice in less than a week! WOW!

In The News

Hello friends! Visiting the Sketchbook Project yesterday was wonderful! If you're local and haven't been, I really recommend going today, which is your last chance before it hits the road again. I'll have a full report tomorrow.

In the meantime, the next few days are going to be a whirl wind of crossing some very big things off my life list so I'm trying to slow myself down internally so I can take it all in. 

Something really cool happened today: I made the local paper! I'm going to be  looking for copies at the library later today, but in the meantime, you can view the article here. I did the interview last week and like any interview, you never know what will come of it. I was stunned to see how much they actually printed-it was far more than I expected. I think I owe the reporter, Sarah Payne a thank you card. I am just grateful to be able to help raise awareness about MS in my own small way and to challenge people to think differently about disability and what it looks like.

Tomorrow afternoon is the official opening of the gallery show. If you're local, I hope you come out, see the show, (which I think is going to be really interesting) and say hello. I'll be there!

You're Invited!

Port Coquitlam, BC: The Rick Hansen Man in Motion 25 Anniversary presents an opportunity to showcase the artistic expression and achievements of artists with disabilities at Leigh Square Community Arts Village from visual art to film and performances, May 10 to June 3. The Rick Hansen Man in Motion Anniversary Tour stops in Port Coquitlam on May 17 and May is also Mental Health Awareness month. 

Often there are many myths that surround disability, both physical and mental and this exhibition offers an opportunity to hear these voices and share talent, stories and inspiration.  Sometimes the impossible can become possible as many of these community artists will show in their work. Featured artists include Lelainia Lloyd, Kevin Priebe, Marney Smithies, Cascadia Society for Social Working artists Fred Collins, Aiden Fisher-Lang, William Skuse and others and New View Society artists Angela Chapman, Marcia Weekes and Mary Jung.

The opening reception will take place on the Rick Hansen Relay Day on May 17 at 4pm with lots of special activities including performances, mini Farmers Market, face painting, bikes, BBQ and much more.

Double O Seven!

In writing this post this morning, I felt like I should share this image I created in Swan Dive because I am most certainly feeling the love. I am in one of those moments in my life where things feel sort of surreal (in the most positive way) and I have to keep reminding myself to take it all in. These times will never be again.  This is how it feels when I get to cross big things off my life list.

I now have the final details of my leg of the Rick Hansen Relay. I'm posting them here, as an open invitation for anyone local who would like to attend. Please do!

THE DETAILS OF MY RELAY SEGMENT

Community: Coquitlam

Starting Along: Guildford Way

From: Scott Creek Middle School

To: Falcon Dr ahead sign (100m before Falcon Dr)

On: Guildford Way

Approximate time of my segment: 8:42 AM PDT, Friday, May 18th, 2012

My Medal-Bearer number is: MB269-007 (I'm #007!)

Look for this number on the route marker at the start of my relay segment.

The End of Day Celebration for May 18th is at Burnaby Village Museum at 4:30 pm.

*****

Since the route through the Tri-Cities (Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam & Port Moody) is extensive, it spans two days. On May 17th, (the day before my segment) the Relay arrives in Port Coquitlam and crosses into Coquitlam. The Relay will be making a stop at Leigh Square in Port Coquitlam and then the End of Day Celebration will be at Spirit Square in Coquitlam (right by City Hall) starting around 4 pm.

Right after my leg of the Relay, We're hopping in the car and heading to Thermal Drive because.....RICK HANSEN IS GOING TO WHEEL UP IT for the 3rd time!! For those of you not in the know, this is a very, very steep, winding 1.6 km long hill. Rick has wheeled it twice-once on the original Man in Motion World Tour and then on the 20th anniversary of the tour. Every single time I drive up or down that hill, I think of him and marvel at the power of the human spirit. I feel very, very lucky to be able to finally see this happen with my own eyes. I will be having Kleenex at the ready, for sure.

This is going to be an amazing experience and I hope you will come share it with me! For those of you far away, there WILL be photos, I promise!

Save The Dates!

Happy May! I can't believe were already into the 5th month of the year already! I've dubbed May the month o'many things. My calendar is chock full of amazing events. Here's what's happening:

May 3rd, (two days from now!) Seth Apter is here from NYC for his book launch party. I've posted about it here.

May 15th & 16th, The Sketchbook Project is coming to Vancouver. Details are here. (Scroll down to find the info for Vancouver.) I posted a sneak peek at my Sketchbook here, if you're curious.

May 17th is the opening reception for the Challenging the Myths: Disability & Art exhibit at Leigh Square. Info for that is here.

May 18th is my turn in the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay! I'm a Difference Maker! I posted a bit about it here, though I am still waiting for a specific time and location. Update to follow soon!

Consider this my personal invitation to YOU to come join the fun!

 If you plan to attend any or all of these events, shoot me a note in the comments or by email, so I will know to look for you!

Challenging the Myths: Disability & Art

I am really pleased to announce that my photographic work has been accepted in an upcoming show, Challenging the Myths: Disability & Art at the Leigh Square Community Arts Village, in Port Coquitlam, BC. This show celebrates the Rick Hansen Man in Motion 25th Anniversary by featuring the artistic expression and achievement of artists with disabilities, through visual art, film and performances.

It will be my first gallery show in Canada as well as the first time I've shown my photographic work so I'm really excited. (And a bit nervous!) Making the decision about what images I wanted to submit for consideration was really hard, but I went with what felt right and I think it's a good representation of the work I've been doing over the last 14 months. Now I just have to have prints made and get them framed!

The show will run May 10th to June 11th, 2012.  

The Opening Reception will be on Thursday May 17th, from 4-6 p.m. 

Address: #1100-2253 Leigh Square Place, Port Coquitlam, BC

(Located behind City Hall on Shaughnessy St. & McAlliser.)

Hours of Operation:

Mon, Wed & Fri -9:30 am to 7 pm

Tue & Thurs -9:30 am to 8 pm

Sat & Sun -12:00 pm-4 pm

I hope that if you're local, you'll drop by and see the show.

A big THANK YOU to my friend Jennifer Skillen for giving me the head's up about this exhibit and encouraging me to take the leap. I love you for it!

The month of May is going to be an absolute whirlwind of really wonderful events!