Papergirl Vancouver 2012

So Tuesday night was the opening of the Papergirl Vancouver exhibit. I got to the Roundhouse at 5:30 pm and was immediately busy in the kitchen prepping food for the reception. I did manage to snap a few photos though.

Everything was hung on a line, like last year. This year there were over 700 piece of art donated and 136 contributing artists, so space was at a premium. It was nice to see the venue filled right up with art.

Here's Penn with one of her pieces.

The turn out was really good. I think there were at least double, if not more the amount of people who attended last year. It was great having so many people turn up for the opening.

Easels were set up for people to make art if they felt like it. This girl spent a fair bit of time working on a dragon.

It was a pretty busy night and I wasn't feeling very good, (understatement of the year) so the whole thing was a bit of a blur to me.

Here's my pal Carol with that secret package I posted the other day. She was pretty surprised when I handed it to her. I'll show you tomorrow what was inside!

Tonight I am going to an Al Fresco dinner with my husband. It's the first one of 2012 and the location is a good one. We always have a wonderful time and it will be nice to catch up with people we've gotten to know through these dinners. The diversity of people who attend is always interesting.

 Tomorrow the Olympic opening ceremonies happen! WOOHOO! I've already been watching the Canadian Women's Soccer, which has been wonderful, even though we lost to Japan, 2-1. Our ladies played a pretty defensive game and made some great saves. Kudos to Melissa Tancredi for scoring the first goal of Olympic competition! I hollered and I am sure they heard me in London!

Saturday, my holidays begin! I can't wait! I think I've definitely earned a break.

What's Going On

Last week I was working on a secret project, a gift for someone I adore. It's finished and I've wrapped it. I would love to share photos, but I don't want to ruin the surprise, just in case the friend it's for pops by to read my blog. 

Meanwhile, there's been so much going on, I feel like my posts lately are always of the "catch up" nature. 2012 has been insanely busy but my month and a half sabbatical begins this weekend and I can't wait!

I was remiss in posting here that I was a guest photographer over at Chickadee Road, which belongs to my friend Liz Lamoreux and Kelly Barton. I ordered a set of temporary tattoos and then shot a few self-portrait photos of me wearing them. I LOVE temporary tattoos! You get to have the fun of wearing something cool without the cost or pain of real ink. (I love real ink too, but sometimes it's nice to be able to "accessorize" on a whim.)

Last night I got an email from Natalie Dixon saying that I'd won the giveaway on her blog, which was a set of 6 swatch cards plus free shipping from Paper Coterie. Cool! I am working on designing mine and can't wait to order them! I think they'll make a fabulous mini portfolio. The next time someone asks me what kind of art I do, I can pull the swatch cards out and show them. Works for me!

Other than that, yesterday was a long day documenting a ton of art that came in for Papergirl. There was so much of it, we were starting to run out of room, which, if you think about it, is a very good problem to have. We got creative though and managed to get it all hung. I just took a quick peek before I left last night (I was up in the office, working on the computer all day) so I'm looking forward to seeing the exhibition properly tomorrow night. I am pretty sure we've exceeded the total number of art pieces donated, as well as the number of contributing artists. There are going to be alot of happy people receiving the gift of art on the streets of Vancouver on Saturday!

On a completely different note, I watched Being Elmo last night. It's a wonderful documentary on Kevin Clash, who is the extraordinary puppeteer behind the little furry red guy. His story is a wonderful illustration of how hard work and preparation will eventually meet opportunity. It's also about staying true to what is in your heart, even when people laugh at you and how important it is for parents to support and nurture their children's creativity. Watch the documentary. I promise, it's uplifting.

Speaking of uplifting, there are only FOUR more days until the Olympics begin! I just got next week's tv guide with the schedule and I can see I'm going to be up in the wee hours alot, watching events live!

I also got this in the mail today:

It's a bumper sticker in support of Canadian Athletes! I'd call that an excellent mail day! Now I just need to stock up on Kleenex, the {un}official sponsor of my Olympic & Paralympic Games! Four more sleeps! I can hardly stand it!

Okay, I *think* I am all caught up now. Whew!

Catching Up

Warehouse

The busy trend continues! Saturday I spent the day at part two of Peer Support training for the MS Society. I gave a presentation on crisis and suicide intervention to a group of about 20 or so people. It was challenging to get everything I wanted to share into the brief hour I had, but several people approached me afterwards and gave me really positive feedback, so I am glad to know they felt it was helpful. Sometimes you just have to work with what you've got.

Not only was I presenting, but I was also finishing up my induction to the Peer Support program and I earned my certificate. It will be good to dust off my crisis line skills and put them to use once again. It's work I love doing and I know how difficult my first year was following my diagnosis, so I am more than happy to reach out to others who are newly diagnosed.

The MS Society gave me a thank you card afterward and when I got home and opened it, there was a gift card inside for Chapters. It was totally unexpected, but I really appreciated it! Yesterday, while running errands, I used it to treat myself to this book:

I started reading it last night. It's a fairly thick book and it does an excellent job of explaining the various techy things you need to know about using a DSLR camera in layman's terms. I've already learned alot in the first 5 pages. In addition to practical instruction, there are chapters on shooting specific things and tons of ideas for doing so creatively. It's a nice mix of technical and creative and I think it was an excellent choice. I'm going to try and read through it before YAYOM Whistler.

Meanwhile, we're only a week out from the opening of the Papergirl exhibit. The deadline for art submissions is in 2 days. I spent yesterday working on mine and they are ready for delivery when I go to our final meeting on Wednesday. It's been a busy 6 months preparing for this project. If you are local, please come join us at the Roundhouse for the official opening on Tuesday, July 24th from 7-9pm. It's a great opportunity to meet fellow creatives and see some amazing art! The exhibit will be up from July 23rd-27th.

Today I am busy writing articles. Deadlines are looming!

The Art of Giving Art

Last year, at the 11th hour, Penn told me about the Papergirl Vancouver project. The idea behind it is that artists from all over submit their work, which then hangs in a show for a week at the Roundhouse Community & Arts Centre in Vancouver. At the end of the week, the work is taken down, rolled up and distributed by bicycle to members of the unsuspecting public. It's the Art of Giving Art.  Even though time was running shot, I managed to submit my work and I was also invited to speak at the opening of the gallery show.

This year, I decided I wanted to support the project, so I've been working hard, mainly behind the scenes, revamping the blog and creating HTML code, writing press releases, artist calls, blog posts and engaging in social media. I also did a radio interview with another team member, helped out with a community workshop and distributed posters and postcards promoting the project.
It's been busy! 

The deadline for art submissions is fast approaching-it's July 18th. If you're interested in getting your art out there, this is the perfect opportunity! Not only will your art be hung in the beautiful Roundhouse for a week, it will then be delivered directly into the hands of the public on July 28th! Last year, as a result of participating in Papergirl Vancouver, four of the artists received art commissions!

If you're interested in submitting your work, all the information can be found on the Papergirl blog. Also, please note that while the movement is called PaperGIRL, guys are most welcome too! 

Penn has posted about her submission for this year here. I am still deciding on what I'm submitting. My posts about last year's event are here. 

The opening of the show is on Tuesday, July 24th at 7 pm at the Roundhouse Exhibition Hall, located at 131 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver, BC.
Everyone is welcome!

The Post O'Many Links

Tools of the Trade

Reading: 

As I mentioned in my last post, I finally got my copy of Seth Apter's The Art of Mixed Media and read it cover to cover. Good stuff people!

 I also just finished Jonathan Kellerman's latest novel, Victims. If you like crime/psychological serials, this is my favourite. I've read everything he's written. His stories are delicious.

On a side note, Seth Apter & Jonathan Kellerman share some curious connections: they are both Psychologists, both authors and both artists. They also both hail from New York. Spooky! Seth, do you also play guitar?

Watching: 

I rented The Way from iTunes on a recommendation from my friend Michelle. I think it's one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. The story is rich and multifaceted, the scenery is breathtaking and I was misty eyed through the entire thing. It's the kind of story that sticks with you long after it's over. Oh and if that's not enough to entice you, it stars Martin Sheen and was directed by his son, Emilio Estevez.

Listening:

Weighty Ghost by Canadian band, Wintersleep. Love this!

Also getting frequent play in the studio are the following tunes: 

20 Years by the Civil Wars, 

Hand in My Pocket by Alanis Morissette, 

and Amos Lee's new album As the Crow Flies.

Anticipating:

The entire month of May-it's going to be chock full of cool things: 

-Seth Apter will be here in Vancouver for his book tour for The Pulse of Mixed Media on May 3rd. I can't wait to finally meet him!

-The following weekend, May 12 & 13th, The Sketchbook Project is coming to Vancouver. I have a Sketchbook in the project. Looking forward to seeing sketchbooks from around the world.

-Around the 18th of May, (still waiting on the final details) I'll have the honour of carrying the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay medal, as a Difference Maker. That's going to be really exciting! 

Dreaming:

Mulling over ideas about photos I want to take for round two of Swan Dive, which begins tomorrow. (YAY!)

Doing:

-I'm getting ready for my first city council meeting this week, as a newly minted member of the Access-Ability Advisory Committee. Should be interesting!

-Working on lots of writing and HTML for the Papergirl Vancouver project. I participated as a contributing artist last year and decided it was such a great event that I wanted to support it this year by getting involved with the organizing committee. I'll have more info about how YOU can participate soon!

Creating:

Mainly I've been working on photography, which has stolen my heart over the last year. I've now been shooting for the last 14 months and will likely shoot straight through to the end of 2012. (By that I mean I'll keep taking classes and will be actively taking photos every week and working on them.) This is the first time I've worked so consistently in one medium, ever and it's really gratifying to have so much to show for it.

WHEW! That was alot of links!

Important Stuff!

Prairie Girl

Yesterday was my birthday. THANK YOU to everyone who called, emailed or otherwise sent birthday greetings. I'm feelin' the love.

It was for the most part a quiet day, seeing as it fell on a Thursday, but my guys did take me out for dinner last night and then my son bought a big Black Forest cake for dessert. The celebration will continue over the weekend. I'm doing something fun, but that's a whole other post. 

This whole week, I've been the feature artist on Create Mixed Media for The Week As Art project. I had an email from Tonya Davenport saying that she's still looking for artists to visualize a week in 2012, so if you're interested, please get in touch with her. The project specifics and her contact info are here.

Wednesday night, a bunch of the Pulse of Mixed Media artist joined Seth Apter and a bunch of his fans in Tweet Chat for the Twitter Launch Party for his book. It was crazy fun-the chatter was non-stop and everyone had a really good time. The hour just flew by! If you missed out, check Seth's blog and see if his book tour is coming to a city near you. (And if so, save the date!) The info will be on the sidebar.

Also, Seth has been posting daily about the 31 spotlight artists in the book, so it's your chance to learn a little more about each of them. If you comment on any of these posts, he's putting your name into a draw to win a signed copy of his book, so definitely check it out!

And...as if all that's not enough, Seth has also issued an open call for artwork which once submitted will travel with him on his book tour. If you want the details about that, click here.

WHEW! I think that's all the important stuff I had to share. Meanwhile, I'm busy working on a zillion things at once. I've been doing alot of writing and HTML stuff for Papergirl Vancouver. (I'm working on the 2012 organizing committee.) I'll have details soon, including an open call, which I hope YOU will consider answering!