The next time you are flying by way of the Vancouver International Airport take the opportunity to appreciate the numerous art pieces spread throughout the airport. Most are there for display purposes, some pieces are very large and many pieces are for sale. Inuit and First Nations’ (Northwest Coast) art pieces are included along with contemporary artwork.
Here is a photo of an amusing piece that is in one of the departure lounges. It depicts a man looking at a mocking bird. Unfortunately information about the artist was not clearly visible.
For more information, a slideshow, a map of locations of the artwork and videos, check out the YVR Art Foundation website
“A whole new vocabulary of images made its way to Broadway thanks to Julie Taymor’s [Lion King].” (The New York Times, 1997)
This summer Broadway’s most financially successful and critically acclaimed show The Lion King will come to Vancouver. As you prepare to go to see The Lion King at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre- and hopefully you will – you can inform yourself about the creative visions and passion behind the show by learning more about creative director, designer and director Julie Taymor. As she inspires you, you in turn will feel inspired to share your new understanding with your children.
Taymor believes that The Lion King is unique as a theatrical experience as the show tells a non human story through the oldest means of theatre – very sophisticated puppetry and music. The story, emotions and music come through. The roots of the show are in Africa and Asia but are put together as a piece of drama that transcends cultural boundaries musically and theatrically in a completely unique way.
While watching Julie Taymor in interviews it is immediately evident that she is a talented and confident director and designer. There are numerous highly talented women operating in North America, and sometimes – sometimes – we read about them in the mass media. Julie Taymor is a particularly high functioning woman in the creative and entertainment industries. Her biography makes for an interesting read and mentions that her early education included studying Bunraku puppetry in Japan, masked dance drama and traditional shadow puppetry in Indonesia.
Taymor says she “does what she is passionate about, period.” She believes that “everyone has the power” and explains that complacency is everyone’s worst enemy. Comfort is also dangerous. Youth can change the world around them and everybody has the ability to transform themselves and the world in which they live. Even if their influence is a “teeny bit” it is still worth doing. Taking responsibility does not have to be a chore. Each of us can find our own way to effect change, whether by engaging in anything from puppetry to politics.
It’s a wet, dreary day and you are feeling like your household needs a bit of razzle dazzle. Luckily for you the Oscars are on this weekend. This means you have an excuse to dress up, get excited and munch on your favourite goodies.
You may have noticed that your colleagues or friends run Oscars parties. Some sound grand and others are family affairs. Now is not the time to suffer from party organizing envy. You can run your own Oscar event at home and make it as simple (popcorn and drinks) or as elaborate (appetizers and swag bags) as you want.
If your pantry and freezer are fully stocked, you are in good shape. Otherwise you will need to nip down to your local grocery store or COSTCO.
Here is some advice from a busy Lower Mainland mum, Laura, who has been helping organize family Oscar nights for some time. Her family likes to serve a lot of finger food, including both hot and cold appetizers. By introducing cold appetizers you do not risk spending the evening in the kitchen when you really want to be watching the show. A cheese appetizer Laura recommends is chevre cheese formed into balls and rolled into ingredients such as cracked pepper or fresh herbs. If you do not have goat cheese on hand, for example, you probably have eggs for the deviled egg recipe. (See links related to the video below.)
Laura also enjoys making homemade salsa because it can be prepared well in advance of the party and tastes much better fresh than store bought. She recommends Rick Bayless’ salsa recipes and his approach to authentic Mexican food. For hot appetizers she prefers to buy store bought appetizer as they are easily prepared in the oven. Homemade appetizers would be nice, but she would rather watch the actors come down the red carpet or accept their awards. A tray of sushi is also an option and the family usually has sparkling wine or champagne as well. To add interest to the evening the family also runs an Oscar pool.
To place your own bets this evening, you can print off Oscars ballots of all the main categories and have members of your household fill them out. Pick up a prize for the person who gets the most right answers.
As you can see, anything is possible when it comes to running an Oscars… Grammys… Juno type party.
You will want to dash to your grocery store and either buy ingredients for some simple appetizers or load up on frozen appetizers, salsa, chips, sparkling apple juice and some sweets.
If you want to have fun with the Oscar theme you can also put together some swag bags. This year’s swag bags at the Oscars are worth $85,000 and consist of luxury travel items the Hollywood stars probably will not use. So why not go for some fun and coveted items like a favourite magazine, chocolate bar, bag of a favourite colour of jelly bean, imported drink or other similar items? All of these can be found at your local store and placed in one of the many small gift bags you have stored in your home.
Of course people host grander parties requiring fancy dress and props. This could be a fun option and it is something you could plan for next year. A simpler affair, with children in mind, might not be quite that fancy. As your children age they will become more aware of the movies they like and the Hollywood actors they favour. If you think back to your own youth you will recall that the Oscars is an event that you grow into. So turn on the TV, admire the glamour of the evening and celebrate the achievements of your favourite actors, film makers and film.
Winterruption Kids Zone – Granville Market, February 20 – 27
If you saw children walking about with fabulous painted faces last weekend at Granville Market, you will know that the Winterruption 2010 festival is in full gear. The following are events that children can experience until February 27th.
Face painting - Walk east from the Granville Island Entrance (south and across the road from the Granville Island Brewing Company).
The Canada Show - Monster Theatre presents a one hour presentation looking at 50 yaers of Canadian history
Rainforest Procession – Mortal Coil puts on a magical procession of characters around the island
The False Creek Bridge – Do you know the mythical story of a fish called Serena?
Raven Stole the Sun – this traditional story is being told by Red Sky Theatre
Jou Tou’s Music Around the Globe - hear music from global musical traditions with a Canadian twist
Soir de Semaine: Yukon based folk fusion band that also plays funk and reggae type music.
Wintersports – a comedy look at the world of winter sports
Roving stilt walker performers - a 10 foot tall hockey players by Mortal Coil’s Carmen Mirandas
Olympic News
With just four days left for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, you will want to maximize the next few days taking in the sites.
Here are some of the more accessible venues around town:
* Atlantic Canada House, 1585 Johnston Street (Granville Island) (Enjoy Maritime cuisine and entertainment on one of the three stages in the pavilion.)
Last weekend the line ups at Atlantic Canada House were moderate. Combining a visit to this venue, Granville Island, a trip on the Olympic Line Tram and a visit to the French Quarter venue is a winning combination.
* Kla-How-Ya Aboriginal Village, 300 – 999 Canada Place (Atrium of Pan Pacific Hotel) Official website Related article
The Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC has invited featured artisans to give visitors a taste of aboriginal culture at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Events include dancers, singers and other artists performing daily until Feburary 28th.
If you love all things Scandinavian (including concepts such as Saab, Volvo, Ikea, cross country skiing, quality early childhood education provisions, for example) you will want to head on over to the Scandinavia House in Burnaby. The crowds are thinner but the enthusiasm for the Olympics is strong. This venue is a particularly good option because the centre covers a number of countries and provides children with an opportunity to experience an Olympic venue without being overwhelmed by crowds and wait times.
Place de la Francophonie 2010
This programme includes exhibitions, street entertainment, an Agrifood Tourism tent and perfomances on the main stage that are very accessible. The stage is surrounded by food stands selling items such as crepes and beavertail pastries. The Daily Sheet available as you enter the Island will list the daily events. The folowing video gives a fresh perspective on the fun that can be had at Granville Island – not only during the Olympics but any day of the year.
Olympic Tidbits
Here are some interesting facts about the 2010 Vancouver Olympics:
* 1,000 people per day skate on the Robson Square rink
* Nine couples have gotten engaged on the rink
* 7,000 trips have made across the zipline above Robson Square
* 25,000 people volunteered to help VANOC
* 1.6 million people per day have ridden the transit lines (including the buses, SKyTrain, SeaBus and West Coast Express)
* 3 million red mittens have been sold
* 6,000 people per day have held Olympic medals at the Canadian Mint pavilion after waiting 4 hours!
* 32.69 million people watched the CTV Olympic coverage in the first 10 days
* 27% more Americans watched these games compared to the Turin Winter Games in 2006, for a total of 157 million in the first eight days
With three more days to go, you will want to pull out all the stops if you have not had a full opportunity to take advantage of Olympic events.
Watching the Olympics on an American network
While we want to support CTV and their job covering the Olympics – and they certainly are doing a fine job – we cannot help but notice the powerful coverage over at NBC. If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Related story.
Image: Spring flowers are out in Vancouver bcfamily.ca
It has come as a surprise to some Canadians that so many of their compatriots are ready to wear their national pride on their sleeve – quite literally – during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. In the downtown core of Vancouver, in particular, crowds are a sea of red and white as revelers call out “Go Canada” and “O Canada” spontaneously. Lineups for venues are long but the sense of camaraderie is strong. The mood is decidedly harmonious and upbeat – even when the hockey team is beaten by their United States rivals. Canadian who have lived overseas as expatriates know what Canadian pride outside of July 1st is like. For the rest of the nation this fresh opportunity to support and champion all things Canadian is a welcome opportunity. Hopefully these Olympics will awaken in British Columbians a desire to continue to engage in community, arts and sporting events. In recent years events such as First Night for New Years were canceled by the City of Vancouver officials due to a concern for public behaviour. Canada Day celebrations in Vancouver are, hands down, some of the most uninspired in the country. Hopefully post-Olympics there will be changes!
“Strategic nationalism is what I call the resurgence of cultural nationalism in Canada over the past few years. It is not an uncritical celebration of all things red and white – the more traditional notion of cultural nationalism – but a focused pride on Canadian accomplishments in the realm of the arts or sports.”
Laura Moss, Director, International Canadian Studies Centre & Associate Professor, Canadian Literature, UBC
Photo: A funky take on Canadian pride, downtown Vancouver, February 20th, 2010
Between January 22nd and February 28th, you and your family and friends will want to head to downtown Vancouver to enjoy the LunarFest 2010. The festival promises to be a family (and stroller) friendly. The festival is part of the Olympics Cultural Olympiad and is a free event coinciding with the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Ten Canadian and Taiwanese contemporary artists will display a story wall projection and lantern forest comprised of ten large scale lanterns focused on the theme of Love, Life and Light. 2010 lanterns decorated by children from Canada and Taiwan will illuminate Granville Street’s pedestrian corridor. The lanterns use LED bulbs and hang from 430 three metre tall steel trees. The theme of the lanterns is environmental protection and sustainability. There will also be lantern processions at 7 PM on February 13th and 14th featuring Korean drummers, Japanese taiko drummers, Vietnamese traditional bamboo music, a lion dance and a 10 drum Taiwanese group. Performers will lead a procession through the lantern forest, story wall and art exhibit from 4 PM onwards. On both days between 12 pm and 6 pm there will be lantern workshops for children.
This event is co-sponsored by the Asian-Canadian Special Events Committee and the Public Dreams Society. The latter has a long running tradition of creating art happenings and lantern events. When you attend the Public Dreams Society’s main yearly event – the Illuminares Lantern Procession – you can expect to see all manner of lanterns - a huge underwater garden with floating fish lanterns and giant octopus puppets that require nine performers each; a giant sculpture; singers performing from the branches of willow trees; a barn dance in an illuminated farmyard; fire shows; stilt-walkers; jugglers; musical troupes; massive, animated art installations; and, thousands of lanterns people made on their own, at home.
The beauty of the summertime Illuminares Lantern Procession, Public Dreams Society’s ethereal midsummer art carnival, is its element of surprise—even to the people who organize it.
To festival goers, a major part of the evening is watching the public’s homemade lantern creations float and bob around in the dark.
During the early years of the Public Dreams Society’s existence their main yearly events included the Parade of the Lost Souls, Take Back the Night (December 6th Vigil) and Illuminaires. One-off events included an open air play and events celebrating an opening such as the inauguration of the Canadian Craft Museum. Since the early days when events attracted a few hundred people, they now draw tens of thousands of people. The events are still very special and still community-based.
For more information about the society see their Website. There are also links to partner events around Vancouver on this Website, such as the Salmon Festival (organized by Paula Jardine, one of the founding members of the Public Dreams Society).
The following is BCfamily.ca’s example of simple homemade lanterns using glass rather than paper.
To do:
Making a lantern is easier than you might think. If you and your family do not have the opportunity to make a paper lantern, scout out your local dollar store, Winners or Home Sense where you are certain to find some kind of glass lantern like the one pictured above. Decorate the lantern with acrylic paint, stickers or faux stained glass stickers (as show in the photo above). Decorate the stick that will hold the lantern by adding ribbon, feather boas, or dried or silk flower, for example. Use votive candles inside. Making a lantern is that easy and you are certain to feel satisfied when you show up at the lantern procession with your own lantern in hand.
In 2010 children are too young to remember the days before digital cameras. They will be quick to tell you that 35 mm cameras are antiques! It is all too easy, nowadays, for children to snap one photo, delete it, and take two or three more. The need for care, consideration and good composition are minimal thanks to Photoshop and other editing and cropping applications.
The results of the 12 x 12 Vancouver Photo Marathon – uploaded to a Flickr group account - are a welcome introduction to the photographic version of slow foods. Sixty photographers spent 12 hours shooting twelve themes. One theme was announced per hour. They used 35 mm film and were only allowed one exposure per theme. The themes were chosen out of a hat from a selection of fifty and included terms such as nosy, blank, high hope, wild goose chase, loud, tie and panhandle.
To do:
* Dust off your old cameras and show them to your children. Show how they were used and tell them why you liked using that particular camera.
* One of a number of Lomo cameras would be a fun and experimental introduction to the joys of old school photography with a twist. See the Lomography website for details. The simple Action Sampler is a fun tool when taking movement photos such as a person twirling around or moving in some fashion.
She’s the poster girl for free spirits everywhere. Speaking about the meaning of her songs, Icelandic singer Bjork has this to say:
“You’ve got happy, sad, angry, confused, and then all the 50,000 other colours that a human feels. And if one song is just about turquoise blue – that can mean a lot of things; that [can mean the way] you feel about apples, and your brother, and your wooden bed from your childhood. And you would sing about that in one song, and people might say, ‘Oh, it’s about her boyfriend.’ But that’s OK. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that I capture that turquoise-blue thing. If I do my job right. I guess I look at it more like that. As kind of … abstract”. (Bjork, interviewed by Emma Brockes, the Guardian Weekly, Feb. 13, 2006)
Bjork has visited Bandah Acheh, Indonesia and likes to think that it is as “a mother from Iceland” and, more generally, “a human being” that she has the most to offer. (Bjork.com website)
To consider:
* Does your child have the opportunity to experience the artistic output of progressive artists like Bjork who live in the community?
* Does your child’s life experience provide opportunities to engage in cutting-edge artistic engagement?
* How do you support your child’s unique artistic vision?
* Do you discuss and reveal your passion for the Arts with your child?
* Do you make space in your life for the Arts?
To do:
* Source out community events featuring challenging performances and art exhibitions
* Watch for opportunities to support visiting artists – some of whom will be world renowned. (Musicians, art exhibitions, and dance presentations, for example.)
* Take the time to watch documentaries and performances by artists featured on television
* Attend graduation shows at art institutions such as Emily Carr University
* Take part in open artist studio events such as the Eastside Culture Crawl. (There is a similar event on the Westside of Vancouver.)
The Gates public art installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude was a wonderful example of a public art installation that the general public can actively experience. It reminded me of my visit to the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine in Kyoto. It is always a pleasure to come across public art installations which invite the spectator to physically engage with the artwork. (Walk around it, sit on it, touch it, climb on it or walk through it.)
To do:
* Seek out public art installations in your community.
* Visit the new public art installations set in place for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
* Watch for opportunities to take part in public art creation
* Encourage your children to take photographs of the installations, sketch them, touch them and, if possible, climb on them.
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