The inaugural 15 EMERGING YOUNG ARTISTS. THE CHOICE IS YOURS, a new contemporary art exhibit, opens its doors on Saturday, May 17th, 10 am – 4pm, in Senior Centre Lobby at Kerrisdale Community Centre @ 5851 W. Blvd.  The 15 selected original artworks created by newcomer youth from VSB Settlement Workers in School (SWIS) Program and the Canada Youth Arts Development Foundation will be on display. Come mingle with these young artists and add a fresh piece of art to your collection! Open to All Ages. No RSVP Required. It’s FREE!                                    15 EMERGING YOUNG ARTISTS. THE CHOICE IS YOURS is part of the  “Art Shines for Love: A Newcomer-Powered Fundraiser for the Kits House Redevelopment” event. The youth art and silent auction is from 6:00 to 6:45pm and the multicultural variety show featuring newcomer’s talents from schools across the VSB district is on Friday, May 23rd , 2014 from 7:00 to 9:00pm in the Auditorium of Lord Byng Secondary School at 3939 West 16th Ave. Information at 778 772 2084 . Invite your friends, family and co-workers to attend our Arts Shine for Love Fundraiser on Friday May 23rd from 6pm – 9pm at the Lord Byng Auditorium (3699 West 16th Avenue).   Get your tickets at artshinesforlove.eventbrite.ca   $5 General Seating and $15 VIP...

By Dave Wheaton Photos: Noriko Naru-Tidball   In Oru Restaurant one Tuesday afternoon we met with superstar architect Gregory Henriquez, managing partner of Henriquez Partners Architects.  As one of Vancouver’s most influential community figures, Gregory has received wide recognition for designing Woodward’s redevelopment in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside. Today, Gregory and his architectural firm are working on several projects to promote community, social justice, and sustainability across Vancouver. As if that wasn’t enough, Gregory’s buildings are designed to have a distinct style and are some of the most recognizable pieces of Vancouver. As expected, Gregory keeps busy.   “We’re doing all sorts of things – everything from Oakridge, which is very large, to little projects like the York Theater on commercial drive, where we’ve brought an old theater back to life. We’re turning a prison into social housing over on Main Street, and creating the first immigrant services building in North America which is going to integrate temporary housing with non-profits to help immigrants from other countries, which is exciting. We’re doing our first project in the Middle-East. We’re doing a myriad of different re-zonings around town – most of which are for complex mixed-use. We’re redoing a church into rental and social housing. It’s an amazing project. So we’re pretty busy.”   But despite these staggering contributions to Vancouver, Henriquez Partners Architects is a relatively small team. They employ only 51 people while most competing firms are multi-nationals that employ thousands. Gregory’s architectural style is famous for incorporating an ethical component to the buildings he and his team design.  “Each project is about finding the soft spot and the thing that is required in order for a community or an issue or an idea to be brought to light”, Gregory explains, his inspiration...

By Haley Cameron Photos: Noriko Nasu-Tidball The first half hour I spend with Yayoi Hirano provides a notable clash of cultures. The slight Japanese woman sits across from me in a traditional kimono complete with tabi socks, as we explore the boundaries of our linguistic restrictions over a few slices of pizza. It’s during this casual dinner that I learn Yayoi-san relocated to Canada from Japan twelve years ago. And later, as we discuss her interesting career, I learn that merging various cultural extremes is rather habitual in her lifelong East-meets-West artistic dialogue. Having a piece of Ham and Pineapple while dressed in traditional Japanese garb no longer seems quite so unusual.   It’s unfair to limit Yayoi-san to a single title, considering her vast talents in a multitude of creative outlets, but above all else she identifies as a mime artist. “Since I was a child I loved to act,” she tells me, sharing that in her very first elementary school production she was so determined to be on stage that she performed through a fever of 102 degrees. Yayoi-san’s interest in drama continued to develop through her youth. She recalls watching a European theatre group present Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor in high school, considering it an important milestone in her own developing love of drama. Despite the language barrier, Yayoi-san was able to recognize the underlying story and therefore relate to the movement, costumes, and sets. “I was dearly fascinated. I fell in love,” she says.   While Yayoi-san was exploring various means of artistic expression she met Lecoq mimes (the traditional French mimes typically associated with the art form). Having already realized acting’s ability to transcend linguistic barriers, miming struck a chord for the young artist. She began to...

 By Katja De Bock Photos: Noriko Nasu-Tidball   When you hear her warm, soft voice speak in a confident tone, you wouldn’t guess the woman behind the mike describes herself as shy and suffering from anxiety and depression.   Sara Troy, who grew up in England, lived in South-Africa and travelled intensely before settling down in B.C. some 34 years ago, had to overcome asthma, chronic pain and fatigue from fibromyalgia, as well as a divorce before discovering what she truly loves – helping others gain self-esteem through radio.   “I am an abundant woman,” says Troy, and what she means is how her life was enriched by her predicament, but also by her talent to listen to the need of others – sharpened through years of work as a spiritual counselor.   “I feel the pain in life, the pain from others and how to take it on,” she says. “I can empower others to find their own solutions.” And if anyone asks how to do that, Troy has a witty reply: “Instead of saying ‘There’s an app for that, I say, there’s a show for that.’ ”   The show, that’s Ask Sara, a half-hour online radio show about issues such as hope, fear, regrets, or what makes a woman. The content is largely improvised in the studio. “Sometimes I don’t know what to do until I turn the mike on,” Troy says. “It’s whatever comes at that time.”   The show airs live Mondays, with repeats on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Positive Living Vibration (PVL) Radio, the internet radio station she started in April 2013 with her producing partner Bill Mackie. They produce and broadcast from their Pitt Meadows home.   All shows, including those by...

 By Haley Cameron Photos by Rosanna Goncalves   When Debbra Mikaelsen, Editor-in-Chief of Edible Vancouver, was nominated for Best Local Advocate in B.C.’s first annual We Love Local awards last summer, she immediately requested the nomination credit the magazine instead. It’s this exact sort of humility that stands out when I sit down with her and husband/Publisher, Philip Solman, to learn more about the publication they’ve raised as their child over the past six years.   In the end Edible Vancouver was credited – and as winner of the category no less. Phil explains that their mission is ultimately to connect people who eat with people who produce and distribute food locally. While admittedly proud of the Best Local Advocate title, the approachable couple behind Edible Vancouver’s success avoids most public recognition. “We’re just not that interesting,” quips Debbra, as her partner explains that they’ve always wanted the brand to stand on its own. “We tend to shy away from the spotlight. We decided early on that there wouldn’t be any faces in the magazine,” he explains, and flipping through the beautiful Almost Spring 2014 issue I realize Debbra’s Editor’s Note is void of the expected headshot. “It’s not the Phil and Debbra show,” she says. But the pair agreed to share their own story in hopes of expanding knowledge of their product; one which has already achieved incredible growth since its 2007 naissance.   When the couple decided years ago that they wanted to work together, neither one was aware of the Edible Communities association that publishes numerous North American titles under the same ‘shop local, eat organic’ premise. Phil had been working with a non-profit society, We Are What We Do, when he was first exposed to the franchise. Through his non-profit...

      By Katja De Bock Photos by Noriko Nasu-Tidball   On July 16, 1945, an unprecedented explosion shattered the desert at the Trinity site, near Alamogordo New Mexico. Two months after the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Allies’ (USA, Great Britain and Canada) secret nuclear weapon development group, code-named the Manhattan Project, detonated a test nuclear weapon, nicknamed The Gadget. The detonation would go into history as the birth of the atomic age. Only weeks later, the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki would mean the end of the Second World War, but also the death of hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens and the destruction of two cities.     Olivia Fermi, a Vancouver-based counselor, coach and consultant, is intimately connected to The Manhattan Project: Her grandfather, Nobel prize laureate Enrico Fermi, was a physicist working with Robert Oppenheimer. He worked at the heart of the top-secret effort to build the first atomic bombs.   On March 3, 2014, Olivia Fermi will speak in Denver, Colorado at the American Physical Society, an organization of physicists worldwide. She was invited to speak specifically about the point of view of women related to the Manhattan Project. (Go to her Talk in Denver, CO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuNtscCB5Y)   She decided to talk about two remarkable women whose connection to the Manhattan Project inspired them to respond and become community visionaries and leaders. They are Fermi’s grandmother Laura Fermi, wife of Enrico, and Los Alamos community leader Marian Naranjo.   For Kerrisdale Playbook, Olivia Fermi offers a sneak preview into her presentation.   Laura Fermi (1907-1977) – pioneering social and environmental leader   As a young girl, Olivia Fermi (who was born as Alice Olivia Weiner and later legally changed to her mother’s maiden name) grew up in a...

Welcome Speech by KCC Board President, Robert Lockhart  “Vancouver School Board representatives, performers, support workers, and guests: Welcome to the 2014 presentation of the Vancouver School Board SWIS Lunar New Year Festival in the year of the Horse.  Since 2010, Kerrisdale Community Centre Society along with Point Grey and David Thompson Secondary Schools has sponsored this VSB SWIS program. The show has grown from its first presentation in a small space in the Kerrisdale Seniors’ Centre, to fill our auditorium. Our society is proud to offer this venue that features the talents of so many young people from our community. If past performances are any indication, you will experience an afternoon of action, dance, singing, games and other multi-cultural festivities. This year for the first time, and in the true multicultural spirit of this community the descendants of the first inhabitants of this region will deliver an Aboriginal blessing on this festival. In the Chinese Zodiac, this is the year of the Horse. Those fortunate to be born in this year of the cycle make unremitting efforts to improve themselves. They are energetic, bright, warm-hearted, and able.  I believe you will also find that these characteristics also describe the performers you are about to see. Welcome, and thank you for participating in this annual event. Enjoy the show.” ~Robert Lockhart       Photos by Erik Price...

By Haley Cameron Photos by Noriko Nasu-Tidball   When Georgia Youngs finds our indoor seclusion from the fiercely cold evening rain she is protectively bundled from the elements. But as she removes her big winter coat and knit toque she immediately begins to open up, as though unwrapping her story along with her winter layers. As our pre-amble winds down and Georgia takes off her fogging eyeglasses, she leans in to reassure me that she is a “good sharer”, as though confiding a secret. I quickly discover that Georgia’s willingness to share is anything but.   It’s difficult to narrow down Georgia’s career by definition. Artist, Art Teacher, Gallery Marketer, Curriculum Developer, Consultant; while being firmly entrenched in the fine arts field, Georgia’s numerous titles and trades seem to cover a little bit of everything. When I ask Georgia how she got her footing in the ever-changing industry of art she replies quite simply, “I just said yes to every opportunity that presented itself.”    As it turns out, Georgia’s career plan was not always fine arts focused. She describes her upbringing fondly, acknowledging that she is lucky to have come from a family that instilled a strong sense of confidence, but admits that her education was streamlined towards either a commercial or academic future. “You chose commercial if you were going to be a secretary, and you chose academic if you were going on to university,” she explains. Georgia chose the academic route, and became a paediatric nurse.   It wasn’t until her late twenties that Georgia found an art program with flexible hours that could accommodate her shift work as a nurse. As soon as she began the program, Georgia realized that this source of art was filling a hole in her...

By Katja De Bock   When Karen Lam walks by the Louisa Apartments on Kerrisdale’s East Boulevard, she laughs out loud remembering how she once almost set the building on fire trying to cook a meal. A highly educated Asian-Canadian from Manitoba with degrees in English literature and law, Lam never learned how to cook until she moved into her first Vancouver flat near Arbutus and West 41st Ave. That’s twenty years ago now and Lam has moved on to become an incessant cook, passionate tuque-knitter and oh, one of the world’s few female horror film directors. Her second feature, Evangeline, about an abused college student seeking to avenge her perpetrators, will open the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival(VIWIFF) on March 6. In 1993, Lam needed an inexpensive flat providing easy access to UBC. Kerrisdale was offered no distractions for the avid student. Squabbles with elderly neighbours about the central thermostat in the cellar of the apartment building were a daily routine.   Who knows if murder was on her mind in that dark Kerrisdale cellar, but creepy cellar-like torture chambers with devilish spirits are abundant in Evangeline, which was partly shot at UBC. The campus eerily made headlines for unsolved sexual assaults, which happened throughout 2013. The supernatural revenge fantasy deals with freshman Evangeline (Kat de Lieva), who is missing after hanging out with an enigmatic, violent fraternity leader (Richard Harmon) and his pals. Beaten and left for dead in the woods, Evangeline finds herself trapped in a supernatural nightmare, and starts a violent quest to avenge her perpetrators. In spite of a brutal storyline and mesmerizing visual effects, the film is not mere entertainment for the bloodthirsty. It asks the question whether it is better to turn the other cheek or...

By Dave Wheaton Photos by Noriko Nasu-Tidball   It’s sexy, fun, intelligent, and provocative. The RezErect exhibition at Bill Reid Gallery of North-West Coast Art is an exploration into erotica, something we tend to forget when thinking about Indigenous culture. But what does it take to make an exhibit like this possible? Beth Walters has been on the Board of the Bill Reid Gallery of North-West Coast Art since its beginning. She suggested we meet at the gallery on Hornby Street to experience it firsthand. We’re thrilled that we did. “This is an unusual gallery” – Beth   We start with a tour of the gallery, led by the co-curator of the current show, Kwiaahwah Jones.  RezErect is an amazing exhibit with a variety of pieces across a variety of mediums. The provocative theme of the exhibit is realized in so many ways; some artwork is funny, some is scandalous, some is empowering, and some rebellious.  Bill Reid Gallery is the first to host an exhibit of aboriginal erotica, earning the greatest response the gallery has seen. But most of the gallery’s shows are original concepts so Bill Reid Gallery is no stranger to this sort of venture. In the past, the gallery has hosted a show on Aboriginal humor and a show on textiles. Original ideas like these help Bill Reid Gallery stand out and appeal to all audiences. Emphasizing these unexplored aspects of coastal First Nations’ culture has defined Bill Reid Gallery as a cultural authority here in Vancouver. “Exhibitions such as this are like stories”, says Beth, “They open your mind and your heart to new ideas”.   While discussing Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery with Beth we also met the Executive Director of the gallery, Mike Robinson, who explained a little...

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...

  By Melissa Maan   “Mellie’s Munchies” is a small entrepreneurial company, based in Burnaby that offers artfully baked delights and delectable munchies for individuals, parties and events.Growing up in a household where creativity was strongly encouraged, I was always thrilled by the freedom and limitlessness of art as I molded and manipulated different materials, watching my ideas blossom before my eyes. Not completely satisfied with just arts & crafts, I wanted to learn more, and I quickly became fascinated watching my mother and grandmother cooking and baking. Seeing my interest, they taught me their recipes. I spent many hours learning, and testing those recipes, wanting to achieve perfection. To me, this was another form of creativity with endless possibilities, and I was ready to keep discovering more! This love for food continued into my adult life, with cooking and baking like old friends I could count on to get me through tough times. When I was invited to parties, I would get a rush of excitement trying to decide what I could make to impress everyone with my culinary delights. In recent years, I began attending dinner parties with a wonderful circle of friends (and true foodies), and for each party a theme ingredient was chosen. Our challenge was to invent a dish using that ingredient and present it to the group. I decided to take the challenge one step further, and with each successive party, combine the ingredients together into a new dish (my own personal version of “Chopped”) This was how my famous “Bacon Brownies” were born! At these parties, no idea was too far-fetched, in fact we each encouraged each other to play with our food, and be inventive! Last year, after numerous successful dinner parties, including one that was entirely...

“Becoming Art” An Interview with BRF by Raffi Wineburg Photos: Noriko Nasu-Tidball 1. Pioneer “Part of what makes him so special is that he is doing something that no one has considered art before.” -Melissa Mann With short blond hair, bulging muscle, and Clooney-esque laugh lines etched into an otherwise youthful, clean-shaven baby-face, Brent Ray Fraser looks like an Aryan superhero. In reality, Brent is a multidisciplinary erotic performance artist. But he doesn’t like labels. Few labels, if any, do him justice. “I don’t even like to be called and artist,” he said. “Art is just what I do.” There is no one who “does” art in the same way as Brent. The first such example is Ecdysiart: for these live shows, Brent simultaneously paints and strips naked—a literal and metaphorical take on art as an act of self exposure. At the end of an Ecdysiart performance Brent often creates “[object] D’art.” where he imprints his body part onto a canvas (“like a self-portrait of arousal”). Brent has also pioneered an art form called “[object] paintings” where he uses his body part as a brush to create portraits or landscapes. Brent’s art is truly unique and regarded as such: He has performed (not always naked) in hundreds of venues and garnered international acclaim for his works and performance pieces. His art is both experimental and boundary pushing. It forces us to reexamine what we believe art is. It challenges us to recognize the human body as an object of art. And it dares us to celebrate sexuality in new, provocative ways. “When you take away things that push the envelope, then we will just crumble,” said Brent. “Sexuality is something that is swept under the rug, but if you take that away we will...

By Katja De Bock Photos: Noriko Nasu-Tidball Travelling between international film festivals in Vancouver, Montreal and New York, Oliver Hockenhull’s independently funded documentary From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines made a pit stop in Kerrisdale and sparked a debate about the pros and cons of psychedelic drugs. From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines is an eye-popping feature documentary about the resurgence of psychedelics as medicine. The film explores powerful psychedelic substances such as LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and ayahuasca by speaking with scientists, (scientific) users and shamans. The executive producers of the director’s cut are Mark Achbar (The Corporation), Betsy Carson and Jon Schultz. Interestingly, there are two versions of the film. A 68-minute version, Neurons to Nirvana: Understanding Psychedelic Medicines is an advocacy film making the plea for more research into substances that have been used for thousands of years. The film is available online atmangu.tv for a fee of US $15. A DVD for US $25 includes additional interviews. However, festivalgoers and conference delegates are treated to the 108-minute director’s cut The Great Medicines, which has a more experimental format. Hockenhull travelled to conferences to speak with the leading experts in the field. His main motivation to make the film was as a means to educate about the power of these medicines to relieve suffering. “Both films are not so much about drugs but about the possibilities inherent in consciousness itself. Banned worldwide from research labs for nearly 35 years, psychedelics are again becoming the focus of serious scientific study. Researchers in several centers, including John Hopkins and the University of California, are conducting clinical trial to treat a range of afflictions: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), addictions, and the psychological stresses suffered by late-stage terminal cancer patients. The initial results of all these studies...

  Judith M. Atkinson is a Professional Artist with an extensive exhibition record and studio practice. She is an Honours graduate of Emily Carr University of Art & Design, and studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, Capilano College and with ECUAD in Florence, Italy. She is a Fine Art Instructor with Langara College, The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Evergreen Cultural Centre and has worked in all Lower Mainland School Districts, and as an Artist in Residence with the Vancouver School Board. Judith will be leading an Art Tour to Tuscany with Continuing Studies for Langara College in September of 2013. Judith works in a variety of media, oil, acrylic, collage and mixed media and has created sculptures with non-traditional materials. She created a suite of large scale paintings for Robson Square Conference Centre on display for 12 years and large multi- media installations suchas Sacred Ground Skin & Bones and Radiant Pressed Memories and solo exhibitions such as, Presence, Continuum and Waterways.  As an Artist in Residence with the Vancouver Parks Board, Judith worked in collaboration with Stanley Park Supervisor, Eric Meagher on the Stanley Park mural design for the Park Compactor. She was commissioned by the City of Port Moody to design and execute a Mobile Art Horticultural Truck working with the City and the Gardeners. Also, she completed a large 4 panel Banner Project for the City of Burnaby to showcase the Horticultural Department Eco-Sculptures.  Again with Vancouver Parks Board as an Artist in Residence worked with the Marpole-Oakridge Committee Association and Vancouver Parks Board and primarily with the children in the community created the Mural at the Centre. Judith was the Artist in Residence with various school districts and with Artstarts and Ecole Sperling School in Burnaby and worked with staff, students and parents on the theme Celebration of Life.And with students at Armstrong Elementary in Burnaby,...

Kerrisdale Community Centre board member Bill Harris is the race manager of the Grandragons. Story and photos by Katja De Bock Across the street from Kerrisdale Community Centre, Ron and Betty MacDonald are preparing several times a week for a day on the water. The MacDonalds are cofounders of the False Creek Grandragons seniors’ dragon boat racing team and have been training and racing since 1998. Dragon boating originated in China and requires 20 paddlers, plus a drummer and a steersperson to compete in racing events such as Vancouver’s Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival. The name Grandragons was chosen because all founders of the group were grandparents. “It just kind of started as a joke, but now we’ve come so far,” said Betty MacDonald, who trains several times a week and would like to see more Kerrisdale residents join. She tried to recruit people from Kerrisdale when the team started 17 years ago, but was advised the people are too old. “Well, guess who belongs to there now,” said Betty, 78. If you are over 50, or newly retired and in good health, you can come out for training, said Tom Oliver, captain of the Grandragons, with several members aged 80 and up. “You just have to have the desire and the ability to be able to paddle, and to get in and out of the boat.” An annual fee of $350 covers coaches, boat rentals and entry fees of around seven regattas a year. Most of the athletes are competitive, which is an international trend, said Oliver. “More seniors are becoming involved in competing,” he said. “Internationally, they now have a Senior C-category for people 60 and over. They never had a category for that age group before.” Race manager Bill Harris is a non-paddler, responsible for managing challenges...

Text and photos by Laara Ynea* A First Nations friend from Alert Bay informed me about a canoe gathering in False Creek on Tuesday, Sept. 17. He said that’s what the First Nations people used to do. He said sometimes the dugout canoes can get as large as 8’ across and can hold 100 people. It sounded very interesting. I went to the internet and found that the event was a part of the week long National Reconciliation Week Vancouver recognizing survivors of the residential schools. I decided to combine it with my morning run. While I was getting ready to go, I could hear the children from the neighbouring school screaming and cheering for the paddlers in the canoes. Camera across my chest and only stopped to capture the spirit of the event. I’ve never seen a canoe gathering and was excited to see the various dugout canoes painted in different colors and designs. The paddlers sang and were in colourful attires and regalia. The familiar dragon boats were at the end of the water parade with drummers beating at rhythmic intervals. The east end of False Creek was where the gathering took place with a traditional ceremony. Speakers one by one took the microphone, some came as far as Australia, New Zealand, and Guatemala! There were chiefs from various bands, survivors, and their descendants who provided us with a glimpse of what they sojourned in the residential schools. A lady spoke about 4 generations of her family who were subjected to various abuses in the residential schools. The residential schools were conducted by various churches and funded by our federal government. Speakers choked with emotions that have been suppressed for their life time and finally an opportunity to release and share with...

Text by Raffi Wineburg Photos by Gabriel Pliska A woman lies with her eyes closed in a half-filled bathtub. Copper-veined leaves hide her breasts. A flash bursts from a camera. Then many more. Of these photos, one will be developed, framed and finally hung in the same bathroom where it was taken. This happens in each room of a large house. A model posing,  a photographer taking pictures. There is probably some deep artistic meaning behind this. Or maybe it’s just a rich man’s vanity, redecorating his home with photos of his own home. Either way, it’s compelling, creative — much like the photographer himself: Lewis Evans. Lewis has lived his life this way — not photographing models in rich men’s houses, but by being creative, by stretching the boundaries of what he knows he can do. Along with the photo decorations, Lewis’ commissioner requested shots of his two Great Danes. The dogs wanted no such thing. So Lewis tried his hands at something new. He immortalized the two beasts in an oil painting — his very first. It must have turned it okay; it’s still hanging today. Sitting under the sun on the back porch of his Kitsilano home, Lewis and I are just beginning to sweat. He tugs at his collared shirt to cool off before launching into the details of a life of creativity. Born in England, Lewis made the “sensible” decision to enroll in engineering school. He quickly dropped out (“I should have been an artist from the get-go”). He began work as a graphic designer, and a photographer. From this, he transitioned to marketing communications, working for the U.N. around HIV AIDS. He’s an inventor. An artist. A creative business consultant. He teaches courses on creativity. He just published his...