PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS...bringing in the color

Pick a color!  Not so easy, even when you narrow it down to one -- like how many different whites are there, right?  I've been walking the "hood" looking at houses, nature and just colors with the hope to develop my eye to the to perfect match for the Big House exterior.

Before we look at the things around us let's take a look back at what was in the Big House. Welcome to the hazmat zone...

Now for some back to nature inspiration. Grab yourself an icecream and take a walk in the hood...

Now for a little contrast let's look to the industrial edge...

Looking to what exists in the "hood". Let's note  what is already present and think about  how we might express a different voice...

Hmmmm, so let's take a little of the Old and mix it all up with the New, wonder what we'll finally decide on?

Probably grey! 

COMMUNITY -- roofing parrrrtay

Taking pause -- true dat!  This week that's exactly what we did; took a moment to pause and celebrate all the hard work done up until this point with a roof over the Big House.   As mentioned last week bring on that roofing party! (check)

In the Croatian culture, a roofing party is a must.  It's a time to bring the workers together and have some wine, beer, ROAST PORK, bread, salads, green onions with salt, and in our case tribal cheesecake (made by Mom).  A tree goes on the roof, I'm not sure what that symbolizes, as part of the celebration -- perhaps it's a "strong like TREE" reference, or a symbol of family, maybe even a solid place for growth to take root.  Whatever the tree represents I'm happy to leave to the imagination of all; our tree is a nice maple we've kept from the original landscape which is planted at the east side of the property. 

Roofing parties are not unique to my tribe as I've discovered by talking to others.  Apparently, this tradition is also referred to as  Topping - out and celebrated by Eastern Europeans, Germans, Scandinavians, Czechs, Poles and other Western Europeans to name a few.  The idea of a construction ritual  to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction is certainly appealing.  For this project it's been a time to reflect on the work, transformation, honour of people (past, present and future).  Every so often I find myself racing,  feeling burdened with decisions and stresses,  so to take pause to celebrate most certainly puts things into perspective.  

Power to the worker(s) and security of a roof over head!

PROGRESS...(working towards the roofing party!!)

Stages of building are a layered and non-linear process; don't let anyone tell you different.  

There is a lot that takes place between the lines of time and this week I was reminded of that by an artist from the "hood".  Arriving on the site, as I do daily,   I discovered an awesome surprise gift by Byron the Cameraman.  Check this out.

Cameraman has captured a moment in time ( the image dates the moment to 2014) so now the past and the present (like the project) are being reflected on a daily basis.  The moment captured from 2014 has been mounted onto a piece of wood, holes drilled in and zap strapped to the fence.  I love that he took the time to add a layer to the project, and it's such a beautiful image as well.  The date on the moment captured by Cameraman is also the year the house was bought!  Loving the random acts of artist's interest that cause another human being to be moved!! Much thanks to you Byron Cameraman.

Continuing in the vein of old and new in moments of progress, let's look at the rosettes saved from the  1890's original house.  Marianne, has a vision to integrate them into a space in the Big House, where the Grand Dame will shine with special moments  throughout.  Here are some of those original pieces.

Don't you just love how that paint from years ago still clings to the wood leaving layered reference to the amazing colors of the pas?  It reminds me of that wild washed out green retaining wall Cameraman so beautifully captured in his image now on the fence.

I get so excited when I see things coming together and am full of desire to see it all completed.  That's when moments like Cameraman's contribution or the paint on the side of the rosettes remind me to take pause and enjoy these moments before they're gone, integrated, evolved, changed...

In our culture, speaking of the Croatian side now, we traditionally take pause when building to celebrate a roof over our heads.  It's a roofing party for the workers; I imagine it too has layered meaning, a roof as protection from the elements, a roof over the family's head as a symbol of security, a practical purpose of a dry environment for the guys slogging away everyday,  marking of a point in the process and time where things move faster and smoothly forward...  Well that time is here on Friday!  Really looking forward to celebrating with all those handsome and beautiful people on site making this all a reality!!  Taking the moment to just let the feet dangle and hang out!

ART -- where does it get produced?

Ready to post about "studio space", places where those creative birds make magic happen. The last ART post, compared the hydro/telephone pole to an art exhibition which has been as layered, involving  as many people and has similar controversy and irony.  This week it's a poke at the landing pad where  birds of a feather flocking together.

A recent conversation with an artist friend, nicknamed WildCard, got me thinking about some of the artists that live and produce here in the neighbourhood.  Wild Card and I were discussing  artist studio spaces that have been lost and the threat coming for more to be gone.  Here are a few of the City of Vancouver's development/planning areas that effect the work places of artists, crafts people and designers (creative studio/production spaces):  

NOTE: when you hit on the link, go to the tab titled "Details"; this should give you a visual of a map outlining the exact geographical area

 False Creek Flats, Chinatown revitalization, Downtown Eastside (for some reason this link doesn't go straight to the map like the others when you follow the same search pattern -- guess those people don't deserve a map????), Northeast False Creek area plan,   Hastings/Kiwassa  (this one is interesting as it's a development within a development???)   and Grandview Woodlands.   It's a bit time consuming but you'll get the idea of geography and mapping/cartography.

Please don't despair!! This has been an exercise in cartography, more precisely an excellent example of non-cohesive cartography, particularly if one is looking for a lens that applies to work place for the arts community .  Ptolemy's soul must be spinning in his grave (or the stars).

WildCard and I scurried down the creative wormhole playing with ideas of creative critical thinking as it pertains to the art community.  We  laughed at creative ways to help protect these spaces and the type of solutions other artists would devise. Thinking about all those creative birds  living and working in those areas led to more discussion with an emphasis on the value of art in a city .  We know creative contribution to the City of Vancouver goes beyond the  economic benefits , to say nothing of it's culture, it speaks to the soul of society.  Just a quick fyi, there are more than 12 artists who live in the area of project 851; either on the block of 851 Union or on the block directly across the street or on the block directly behind (the alley block).  I think that's a pretty impressive part of the soul!!! 

Here are a few images of things you'll find in that one block radius:

1-4  1)Artists to the south;  the Big House getting a new roof facing south  2) Artists to the north; The Octopus  (purely coincidental that we have the Takashi Murakami exhibition on at the VAG now called "the Octopus Eats its Own Leg"; those octopodes can really get around; 3) Not artists to the east; rather a moment captured  of a different kind of the soul  4) Art in the hood;  I love how art influences others like non-artist  neighbours, who fit in with a Banksy reference which is charming! -- you go Balloon Girl.

"Poor non-cohesive mapping of artist studio spaces", Ptolemy could be saying.  How would you cohesively show where the decisions from those 6 development plans effected artist studio spaces Ptolemy?  Wild Card liked my response (for Ptolemy)  "Well if we define "effected" in it's true sense, here being an example; The dictatorial regime quickly effected changes to the constitution that restricted the freedom of the people.  We may prefer to consider the "affect" on the artistic community working in those studio spaces, since "affected" means made an impact on... and to easily show what area is affected let's look to some well done (but could be improved) cartography that already exists.  This is what I would build on if I, Ptolemy, or any cartographer worth his/her salt,  were you."

Sure hope those birds at planning and development pull "THIS" landing pad together so Ptolemy's soul can stop spinning.