In my twenty-some-year career as a portrait photographer, I have photographed many faces of all ages — from new born babies to 95 year-old musician Dal Richards and every age group between.  I love photographing small children with their innocent expressions, and young people full of enthusiasm, and of course beautiful women with their perfect complexions. But my favorite subject remains mature people with their life history written on their faces.Someone said that we have faces we deserve. At some point, we can no longer hide who we are — it’s written all over our face. I have been lucky to be able to photograph these people — some of the most fabulous faces in our community. December 2013 Yukiko Onley ~~~~ Photographs courtesy of Yukiko Onley ~~~~ Nick Bantock, Painter, Author. Fred Harzog, Photographer. Rosemary Cunningham, writer. Takao Tanabe, painter. Marc Destrube, violinist. Martha Sturdy, designer.Kaneko Joko, painter.       Dal Richards, musician.   Arthur Erickson, architect.   Wayne Ngan, potter....

“A Sense of Place in History” An Interview with Brian Robertson Interview  by Espen Fikseaunet* Photos by Noriko Nasu-Tidball *Studying social anthropology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and currently enrolled in the First Nation Studies at UBC   In the southernmost part of Dunbar, not too far from the Musqueam reserve, I meet with Brian Robertson. At the sound of the doorbell I open the door to find a very tall, middle aged man, dressed in semi-formal attire. Nothing about his style reveals the fact that he’s an artist –  nor, for that matter, do we have any telltale clues that he’s a historian and scientist. He reveals all that later on. As we exchange polite greetings the discussion soon moves on to Norway, the country where I’m from, and one of many countries that Brian has visited. Already he’s beginning to talk about some of his experiences and opinions, so we decide to move to the table where the conversation can be recorded. With maple tea and dark chocolate in front of us, we launch into the first question. – What led you into music? “Well, it’s one of those situations where I’ve kind of evolved into being a musician and a singer/songwriter. Playing music, much less creating and performing it, was not something I started until well into my life.” Brian goes on to explain how he loved dancing as a child, and how that prepared him for his musical endeavors later in life. Eventually he picked up the guitar and started singing in his late twenties. His main genre is Folk Music, possibly as a result of the strong tendency towards Folk in the 60s and 70s when he first started out as an artist. Some years after...

An Interview with Stuart Ward Interview by Raffi Wineburg Photographs courtesy of Hfour   Over eight million people watched live on Youtube, as on October 14, 2012, Austrian Skydiver Felix Baumgartner was lifted 39 kilometers into earth’s stratosphere by a 40 acre helium-filled dry cleaner bag, then promptly stepped out into space, free falling for over four minutes before parachuting safely to earth. When he deployed his chute, a camera focused intently on the corporate sponsor logo printed on top: Red Bull. Marketing and advertising are changing. Television ads, once the pinnacle of product promotion, are often used by consumers as bathroom breaks, or a channel flipping recess. Youtube and Facebook ads are mere annoyances, small blips in an otherwise unending stream of entertainment. More and more, companies—Red Bull being perhaps the most notable—are turning to experiential marketing—connecting consumers with a brand through a live interaction. Does sponsoring a free fall from space make consumers go out and purchase a case of Red Bull? Perhaps. Does it create a memorable and lasting impression with the brand? Undoubtedly. “It seems,” says Stuart Ward, founder of experiential design company Hfour, “that what people crave, are real experiences. And we can see that in marketing everywhere.” Hfour creates multi-sensory experiences to “solve design challenges and create marketing solutions.” A “multi-sensory experience” put simply, is art. Stuart instals live digital art displays at events to create branded art experiences. “We need new ways to engage people and I say, instead of being the advertising, be the entertainment,” said Stuart. “Be the content people want to watch, not the stuff on the side of your Facebook page.” Stuart’s job is to make just such content. His work is incredibly varied. Recently, he worked on a Vancouver Public Library Foundation fundraiser called...

An Invitation by artist Judith M. Atkinson   Interview by Katja De Bock Photographs courtesy of Judith M. Atkinson     In the 2006 memoir “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia,” writer Elizabeth Gilbert chronicled her trip around the world after a nasty divorce. The 2010 film version with Julia Roberts emphasized the healing effect a prolonged stay in Italy can have can have on one’s soul. Remember how Julia Roberts gradually looked better after eating innumerable meals of great Italian food? Though she never refers to the book or the film, Port Moody artist Judith M. Atkinson has a similar happy look on her face when she speaks about her recent stay in Italy. Leading a Tuscany tour with a group of local arts students for Langara College last September has left Atkinson itching to do more work. “Art washes away the dust of everyday life,” Atkinson quotes one of her icons, Pablo Picasso. Getting re-inspired by visiting cities like Florence and Cortona, seeing great works by Etruscan, Roman, Renaissance and Baroque artists, as well as reflecting on golden-coloured landscapes and eating fantastic food, was achieved by the trip. Marilyn Bowman, a retired psychology professor at SFU, was one of the enrolled students. After three years of practicing arts at the Kerrisdale Community Centre with instructorGeorgia Youngs, she was eager to try a new painting experience. “It was a wonderful opportunity to try a few new techniques I’d never done before, like water colours and sketches,” she says. “Judith is a warm person. She really wants people to be happy,” Bowman adds. “As a teacher, she has a good eye of what is going to happen in a painting and where are the parts that need improvement.” Bowman returned...