creativity is like a muscle
when you work it it gets stronger

…

T r a n s f o r m   is a new course starting mid-February being offered as part of Gallery Gachet’s Art School.  Its purpose is to support individuals in their daily creative practice.

for self-identified artists of all abilities, including aspiring.

Note that you can attend the first session with zero obligations to complete the course.

…

We believe that:

• By creating art every day we’ll improve in leaps and bounds (both technique and creative prowess).

• By committing to your practice (and to this course) you’ll find increased confidence in your creativity, and

• By flexing your creative muscles you’ll gain personal power to shape the world around you, from the mundane to the monumental.

To learn more about this art course please,
CLICK HERE to download Info Sheet.

Course begins Wednesday, February 13, 2013

ALL WELCOME
for this friendly Bike Ride
on Saturday Feb 2
Meet at 4pm at
Lakewood Drive at the Central Valley Greenway
(also known as North Great Northern Way).
Bring: snacks to share if you care to do so,
and maybe a hot thermos for yourself.
Remember warm clothes,
Bike Lights, and
Bring Kid-friends too.

See below for more information, and alternate start locations.

So Many Crows, Where Do They Go?

The answer is to their roost on the banks of Still Creek, where Vancouver meets Burnaby. Join the Crow Roost Twilight Bike Ride on Saturday February 2nd to find out more, and to experience the famous crow roost for yourself.

“Being at the roost is a completely energizing and incredible experience”, says ride leader Sara Ross. “Last time I was there I could not believe how the birds just kept coming and coming and coming. It was as if the air above still creek became an ever-flowing river of crows, all arriving home for the night. It’s such a crow community celebration, I love it.”

Local experts estimate the number of crows spending the night at the Still Creek Roost to be upwards of 20,000 birds. Despite being pushed into ever-smaller pieces of viable roost habitat by development, crows seem to have adapted to their small piece of Still Creek near Gilmore. They return night after night and come from absolutely all over the lower mainland.

Still Creek runs from its’ headwaters near Slocan Park into Burnaby before flowing into the Fraser River. Decades of efforts to repair the once severely polluted Still Creek have been paying off, this year seeing the first sizable return of Chum Salmon.

Crows, unlike Salmon, easily thrive in the urban conditions we’ve created, favoring flat open areas similar to shoreline, which would have been their native habitat. That translates into crows loving parks, parking lots, lawns, rooftops. Crows are very smart and adaptable. They also have complex family groupings, and the adolescent birds help their parents raise the next generation of young. There is lots of cooperation.

Ross, a local artist, bird-lover, and bicycle organizer, will be leading the FREE family- friendly bicycle ride on Saturday, February 2nd to visit the crow roost. (Rain Date February 9, check http://stillmoon.org/ for last minute ride changes and confirmation).

Travelling like a murder of crows, perhaps with some friendly chatting and squawking along the way, the Crow Roost Twilight Bike Ride will follow the path of Still Creek eastward. The route is 98% on separated bike routes along the Central Valley Greenway.

Ross says, “You can expect to be amazed by the experience of flying on your bike with the crows towards the roost, and then we’ll quiet down as we arrive. Maybe the crows will recognize us as fellow quiet flyers on our bikes?”

This ride is part of Reflecting Still Creek, a larger program created by Still Moon Arts that aims to connect people with the creek, and with our local environment by spending time near, and enjoying Still Creek. Learn more at http://stillmoon.org/

More Crow Info
Burnaby Now Article LINK
Vancouver Province Article LINK

Ride Details: Saturday, Feb 2
in case of rain date: Saturday Feb 9

Choose your start location

LONGER RIDE (4km one way distance): Meet at 4pm at Lakewood Drive at the Central Valley Greenway (also known as North Great Northern Way)

SHORTER RIDE (2.5km one way distance): Meet at 4:15pm outside of Renfrew Skytrain Station

RETURN JOURNEY
Note that bikes are allowed on Skytrain for your return journey if desired. All riders and abilities are welcome on this ride.

ACCESSIBILITY
Assistance is available for people with unique mobility needs who wish to join the ride through tandems, chariots or loaner bikes. Please inquire in advance of Ride Leader Sara Ross at redsara@gmail.com

WHAT TO BRING
Don’t forget to bring very very warm clothing including gloves, and lights for your bike for the return journey. And if possible bring a few home-made snacks to share, and a thermos of something warm to drink for yourself?

Transform: Active Creativity for Personal & Social Change

The backbone of this course is that we agree to make art, or to do something creative every day (or every other day). Creativity takes bravery, and a willingness to be vulnerable as we learn to see and experience reality directly, and then to act to transform this reality in some way through our actions.

Using a combination of discipline and gentleness, as well as by locating our creative practice within a supportive community context, we vastly increase our odds of success and of realizing our intentions.

I’ll probably do more promo here, but for now I include the drawing I did this morning, as I contemplated re-engaging with this daily creative practice thing… that if you follow this blog you’ll know I’ve not been doing recently. I prefer my mindfullness practice on my meditation cushion these days.

I do believe approaching daily creative practice within a group context will be super cool, and I am genuinely excited to support others in this work that has been so transformative for me. And i guess jumping back in too!

More about Gallery Gachet, from their current show catalog:

Collective Habitat 1997 – 2012 | ART-i-FACT: 88 East Cordova

For 15 years, this building/Gallery Gachet site has been home to diverse and unusual artists; it bears witness to creative engagement with art against oppression, paradigms of self-taught vs. school taught, politically motivated art, art borne of abuse and marginalization, inclusive art, and art revealing the power dynamics within contemporary art practice and institutions. Gachet’s contributions are unusual, subversive and underrepresented. In the development of the knowledge exchange concerning art, Gachet engages mental diversity, inclusivity issues and intersections of oppression. Vision, reality and artistic output have an intimate relationship with perspective and socially-defined definitions of sanity and competence. As we move into a more expansive and accepting climate in the contemporary art world in Canada – one that is warming to Outsider art, ability-iconoclasm and political art – Collective Habitat creates an artistic and theoretical record of Gallery Gachet’s participation in this zeitgeist.

Good luck with your gallery opening, Chris.

Interview with Vancouver artist Sara Ross from bentzen on Vimeo.

i made some flowers for my mom   to celebrate her birthday.
Lilies are her favorite.
She said to me, “ah, now my lilies are not yet over for the season!”

to find her treasure (the flowers) mom followed ten cryptic clues
we laughed at our site-specific foibles, our love of this place,
our family home, temagami. I love my mom.

The story of ELEMENTAL is complex and wonderful
& involves great learning for me!

WHAT IS ELEMENTAL? Through the ELEMENTAL initiative,
the Vancouver Society of Storytelling worked with 5 different communities in Vancouver from March 2011-June 2012. In workshops, each community created stories using different elements as their central metaphor (air, earth, water, fire, metal). Physical legacies and community celebrations followed. On Saturday June 9th, 2012 a bicycle/bus tour showcased ELEMENTAL as part of the 19th Vancouver International Storytelling Festival.

I was excited, proud and honoured to work alongside Naomi Steinberg, friend and community builder, storyteller and artist extraordinaire.
Naomi is an elemental force for good in Vancouver!

My task was two-part.
1. to organize a bike ride to showcase the ELEMENTAL project.
2. to create a zine / artbook documenting the project.

CLICK here to download ELEMENTAL zine!

↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

100 copies of the zine were created     hand-bound with linen thread, then distributed to community members and participants in ELEMENTAL.
i loved the process of unearthing, teasing, synthesizing & weaving
the community work and stories that Naomi had been developing.
i loved the process of physical production,
working with dear friends around the kitchen table.

My contribution to the content included excerpts such as:
geography of the city of vancouver
topography of the bicycle
a minor history of imports and exports in the region
the rise of several community spaces
thoughts about ethics of salvaging.
Also hand-lettered titles using ink and nibs throughout.

My main learning from producing this zine is about Authorship.

i’ve now added my name clearly to the online version of the Zine.
the finished product is like a tapestry that showcases many values i hold dear, and i feel happy in my heart for having created it!

Learn more about the ELEMENTAL project HERE.

On the banks of beautiful Still Creek in Burnaby, BC i worked with a group of community artists and the Still Moon Arts Society to create the Spirit Fish Festival.

Kyira Korrigan helped me create this Invitation to Mindful Moment    which I image recreating in Stanley Park some day.

INVITATION
You are invited to pass through this arch and into a mindful moment.

Step 1: This journey will be undertaken in silence.

Pause a moment before entering; breathe deeply and let go of words.
When ready, announce your intention to proceed with a ring of the bell.

Step 2: Find a place to comfortably stand near the river. WATCH YOUR STEPS, WHERE YOU PUT YOUR FEET! When you arrive, return your gaze to your surroundings.

 Pause for a moment, and listen. What is the dominant sound? Explore the components of the background you are immersed in. Listen a bit longer—let a minute or two pass.

Step 3: As you exit, you may choose to ring the bell again to sound completion of your mindfulness.

More about SpiritFish: video link

I said something similar here

old reused local from a time before vinyl or aluminum when someone got out the brush and made efforts to help the wood last longer.   in my neighbourhood the housingstock decays in mouldy raincoast winter. Nothing on the northside dries nothing on the southside stays fresh

sometimes it’s hard for me to see the links between the intention of my art work   and what is the outcome?   yet ripples expand outwards even if today this work does not feel important
how will the effects of my actions surely carry on with or without me in this life and beyond? this is an important and central question.
this is also a helpful long time     non-linear view of creative practice.

i’ve also said before that PRACTICE:    to repeat and renew effort regularly is important.    with practice my creative muscles gets stronger.    i see opportunities. i feel braver to grab hold of them.

Yar this is the mighty power of transformation.

She asked me to help create a thank you card for her to give to her summer students and campers. She provided the cool stuff (buckskin, baby bird of prey skull, handmade nettle fiber cordage, owl leg, awesome feather, arrowhead) and i provided the design and photography skills.

Looks exciting if you were a kid in nature school learning cool stuff like tracking and harvesting wild foods. later, i arrived home after a trip to find a finished card on my desk, signed with love from jenna. A good collab.

Speaking of the Beehive, I miss my homies! We are: Collective House, 6 people, 3 cats, guests, we share food and cook for each other too. (east)Vancouver, BC, Coast Salish Territory.