Monday, November 10, 2014

FALL EVENTS




This fall has been full of lots of events and mostly lovely weather.  Here are a few things we went to and some coming up:

June Yun had a show at http://www.urbanaboriginal.org/  which is on the main floor of a fabulous hotel with the rooms decorated by local aboriginal artists like Jerry Whitehead.

June in front of her paintings

loved this installation

Sunday, October 12, 2014

NORTH VANCOUVER ART TOUR

Arnt and I took a day off to head over to North Vancouver to check out a couple of art shows.  We had not been over there for quite a while and there are lots of changes in order to develop the waterfront.  They used a lot of the old equipment from the shipyards to keep the spirit of
the area. 
The stage roof is made from a recycled piece of metal.
an old crane is the entrance to the pier


Monday, September 29, 2014

VANCOUVER DESIGN WEEK

It was Vancouver Design Week and I started it off by going to Arnt's show Integral Elements at Kozai Modern.  It is his first show in Vancouver in many years and is on until November 15.  Gallery is at 1515 W 6th Ave at Granville.  The opening was a total success with lots of people and lots of sales.

Orca Hall Stand, STOL Cabinet, Pilot Club Chair with ottoman
All work is made by Arnt including the photos on the wall. (except for the lamps)


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

My Summer Vacation!

Technically Europe was in the Spring so here is what I did for the rest of the summer!  Boats, art, cottages, surfing, boogie boarding, family and friends.  A very Canadian vacation.


The big deal this summer was Arnt sailing Odin (our 21' converted lifeboat) around Vancouver Island.   He took 9 1/2 weeks to circumnavigate with different people joining up at different times.  We are working on a book and slide show so will update you later on that.

ODIN


Sunday, August 17, 2014

BERLIN!

The second half of my trip was two weeks in Berlin.  Our apartment was fabulous....penthouse with wrap around deck with views of the river, old museum buildings and churches.  Again we do the European thing which is walk, look at art and go to cafe's.  I have divided up the photos by categories like architecture, art, fun stuff, history, etc.....

   ENJOY!
  

Thursday, July 10, 2014

PRAGUE!

I was taken to Europe by two of my lovely friends Lee and Phil.  Lee was going to a conference with 3000 midwives in Prague and they invited me to go along.  Can't begin to say how grateful I was to be on this trip.  We went to Prague and Berlin.  I am splitting my post in two so starting with Prague and it is mostly visuals but there are a lot of them divided into categories.

Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its 1,100-year existence.  During world war 2 a lot of buildings escaped bombing so architecturally it is a wonderful place to visit.  It is also the city with the most statues I have ever seen.  They are in squares, parks and on almost every building.  Also the music is amazing with concerts held in beautiful old palaces and government buildings.

       
 my photographs from the most beautiful city!

Sunday, May 11, 2014

ART, ART TALKS & ARTISTS

It has been a busy time getting out for art. 

ART SHOWS & GALLERIES:

One unusual show was "Through the Trap Door" curated by Paul Wong and produced by Rick Erickson.  When I saw the advertising I thought that is brave as they described it as "like the old warehouse shows we used to have"  That would be hard to match as they were at a certain time in Vancouver and were sooooo much fun!  Edgy art, art in crazy places like stairwells, tons of people (over the fire allowance I am sure), music and of course drinks.   Well they pulled it off...was up for 5 days,  in the 1965 Gallery and in the old storage lockers under VIVO Media Arts Centre.  And it did feel like the old warehouse shows.  For more information and some visuals check out this article.
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/04/24/thru-the-trapdoor-paul-wongs-journey-through-art/

www.winsorgallery.com is showing Martha Sturdy's new work, resin on steel called Breaking, until June 7, 2014.  I highly recommend you see the video interview http://hotartwetcity.com/martha-varcoe-sturdy/ produced by Windsor Gallery in collaboration with Chris Bentzen of www.hotartwetcity.com before you see the show.  In 3 minutes it gives a bit of insight into Martha's art practice and this new body of work.  She had me with that beautiful blue colour!  It is a very Canadian show to me as the "ice paintings" are something we have all seen whether in a frozen puddle, lake or back east in the form of icebergs off of Newfoundland. 




Photo courtesy of Winsor Gallery
www.initialgallery.com was showing Michael Bjornson's show Commune which includes sculpture, painting, drawing and dioramas.  I  love the fact that he works in lots of mediums.  His background is as an architect and film production designer and he used to have a gallery called Third Avenue Gallery, which was one of my favs.




My favourite!
www.galleryjones.com is showing Otto Rogers recent paintings and mixed media pieces until May 31, 2014.  I am intrigued by his use of colour and shapes.  I am not normally attracted to round pieces of art but there were three mixed media pieces that I loved.






Brendan Tang, ceramic artist is also an artist at Jones
Edward Burtynsky www.edwardburtynsky.com and Lawren Harris en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawren_Harris were at the VAG and both were fabulous shows.  Lawren's landscapes are my favourite but it was interesting to learn about his abstract work and also to learn that he was responsible for the Emily Carr Foundation.
Edward's large format photos are beautiful but because of the subject matter is troubling.

farm water systems...up in the top left corner is a farmhouse
fish farms
farms that look like an abstract painting
factory in China

Bau-Xi www.bau-xi.com was showing Tracey Tarling and Andy Petterson in the last couple of months.
Tracey Tarling
Andy Petterson from his Africa series

The North Van Art Crawl  nsartcrawl.ca had some of my favourite artists with assemblage artist Isabelle Procter being number one.

Isabelle Procter
Sally Gooding visiting Doris MacDougall
Michael Fitzsimmons

ART TALKS:

I was invited as a guest by one of the committee members to attend the artists appreciation night put on by the  http://vghfoundation.ca/artprogram/.  This program takes art donated by artists and hangs it in the hospitals in their corridors both public and private and offices.  They have an amazing collection of 1200 pieces.  Next time you are at Vancouver General Hospital stop and take a look around.  As most of you know I have been going to the hospital for physio twice a week for 5 months and one of my favourite pieces by www.torriegroening.com sits right outside my therapists office. 
The highlight of the evening was an artist talk by Ian Wallace http://www.canadianart.ca/artist/ian-wallace/ which was funny and very informative about his process and his new body of work.  He will be having a show of his new works of 5 panels 8' x 4' at the The Apartment Gallery in Chinatown http://theapt.ca sometime this year.

this and the one below are by Alan Wood who donated to VGH but these pieces are at Winsor


I attended the Surface Design http://www.surfacedesignbc.blogspot.ca/  meeting at the Christ Cathedral Church to hear a couple of presentations by Sheila Wex and Thomas Roach.
Thomas had slides about his work creating clothing for clergy (not sure if that is the right term).  I am an athiest but love churches so was great to hear about the workings of that church.  He also does some set design for the church.  He machine and hand sews and also hand prints on the fabric.  He had some of his work as well as some antique pieces from his collection.  Beautiful!
He worked with Sheila on the Indigo Quilt Project which involved over 100 volunteers to create a whole room of quilted and hand dyed panels to decorate the room downstairs and to help with the acoustics.  More details through this link.
http://www.cathedral.vancouver.bc.ca/2013/05/15/common-threads/                

Thomas made these
the three on the right are from his collection
Indigo Quilt project
Indigo Quilt Project
water colour paper painted and woven for Show & Tell

ART:
Some shows I am involved in are:
1.  Multifaith Calendar 2015  One of my Laos photos was selected to be in the calendar.
2.  Maritime Museum Victoria mmbc.bc.ca   Field Trip Project.  June 19-Sept 8
(a mobile, participatory, interactive art exhibition installed within Japanese school backpacks)
3.  Instagram photo project which will take place in Prague and Berlin.  I will be posting at least one photo per day for the three weeks I am there, May 31 to June 18, 2014.  Check on my progress at:
 http://instagram.com/arntzenvalerie  or follow me on instagram at arntzenvalerie.
4.  www.firstsaturday.ca is growing wonderfully.  We have 25 members and website is getting more traffic.

NEWS AND NOTES:
1.  had two gentlemen arrive at my studio door looking at the windows, Arnt's sculpture

and our building.  I invited them in as they were curious about my studio and low and behold it was Fred Herzog http://fredherzog.com/  and his friend Henning J. Wulff.  We had a great 1/2 hour conversation about assemblage,  Joseph Cornell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cornell and of course photography.  They are coming back to attend First Saturday.
2.  Went to the Columbia Theatre in New Westminster for an evening of big band...the two bands playing were Urbana and Impressions.  More information on where they are playing next can be found at http://arokismusic.org/    The Columbia Theatre is a fantastic venue newly renovated, tiered seating with tables lit with candles and they serve food as well. 
3.  Visited the Brittania Mine www.britanniaminemuseum.ca  They also had a fantastic art show put on by Jeanne Krabbendam www.jeankrabbendam.com  and her students.


Karli and I all helmeted up

and the Train Museum http://www.wcra.org/ up in Squamish.



Highly recommend both to learn about BC history and a fun daytrip.  You can take a short train trip and walk through the mines and you can walk around and in the trains at the train heritage park.

4.  One final note which I am really chuffed about is Joyce Woods  www.joycewoods.com was inspired by my blog, especially the Amsterdam posts and has moved temporarily to Ireland to work in film and paint!  So pleased.

That is all for now...thanks for stopping by!

Monday, April 14, 2014

ART, MUSIC, ISLAND LIVING & THEATRE


 A couple of visual art shows to catch are:

VOICES FROM ANOTHER ROOM at http://hotartwetcity.com/ with 5 artists working in paper and up until April 25, 2014.   I bought a small assemblage from Alison Woodward.

Sara Gee Miller & Alison Woodward

Rachael Ashe

Rachael Ashe & Connie Sabo

Rachael Ashe

Connie Sabo

Joseph Wu

RECLAIMERS at Cityscape Gallery Space  http://nvartscouncil.ca up until May 10.  A group show that I am in with some wonderful artists.  I especially love Launi and Gabriele pieces.
THANKS to everyone who came to the opening...was so much fun!
The NS Council is also partnering with the North Shore Art Crawl and this show is part of it.....April 26 & 27, 2014. 
Helen Lawrence takes place in the petty crimeridden Vancouver of 1948. Although the characters and events are fictional, the story is set against the real history of mid-century Vancouver - a city still recovering from the global devastation of the Second World War and awaiting the unforeseen promise of the 1950s.
The play is set in two main locations. Hogan's Alley, once a hotbed of gambling and prostitution, was razed in the early '70s to make way for the Georgia Viaduct.
- See more at: http://www.nsnews.com/entertainment/theatre/helen-lawrence-digs-into-vancouver-s-scandalous-history-at-the-arts-club-1.898530#sthash.uSvq1DYp.dpuf
http://nvartscouncil.ca/events/north-shore-art-crawl-2

Arnt and I in front of William Frymire piece



ME!



Gabriele Maurus

Gabriele Maurus

Launi Lucas
Launi Lucas

William Frymire


Graham Schodda

Graham Schodda

Arnt loves this oil can
Rachael and Odette in front of Derek von Essen piece

Derek von Essen

Reminder of my solo show with the CEREMONIAL BLANKETS  April 20-May 17 at...
Jericho Arts Centre  
1675 Discovery St, Vancouver, BC V6R 4K5
(604) 224-8007
 



....and of course WWW.FIRSTSATURDAY.CA for May 3 open studios...check out website for other artists participating.

Five of us artists got together and did an "art supply give away" to other artists.  Super fun and cleaned out the studios a bit.  We then headed down to Pat's Pub on Hastings for jazz and yam fries.

people with arms full of treasures

this guy was so excited to get a new hat for his stint in Fort Saint John

OUR SUNDAY...was a great day....visiting Passage Island, going to a play and ending with champagne and jazz on our deck soaking up the sun.

We visited PASSAGE ISLAND with some friends looking for recreational property.  We caught the water taxi out of Horseshoe Bay and the island is 10 minutes away between the mainland and Bowen Island.  60 lots altogether with about 50 of them having houses on them.  

scary landing at staircase in the sea but they knew what they were doing

water taxi waiting shed

Ha Ha

Community green for meetings & fire hose shed

Lot map

view from deck

lovely old cabin that needs a lot of TLC

inside love all the wood and lots of windows

cosy nook for reading or napping

this one also for sale

Passage Island

SEE THIS PLAY!

The play is now going to Montreal & Toronto.   HELEN LAWRENCE by Stan Douglas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Douglas) and Chris Haddock (famous for DaVinci's Inquest & Boardwalk Empire).
It takes place in 1948 Vancouver, BC and is a multi media production using actors, B/W film and recorded music.  It is quite a technical feat for sure and I totally enjoyed it.  Acting was superb!


I am still in physio two days a week at VGH for my arm but have been enjoying the art in the building...they have a wonderful collection spread out around all their buildings...I know some of the artists and their work certainly cheers up the place.  One piece I finally checked out was Martha Sturdy's big red sculpture.  The story is quite nice...all about friends & family and the support that is needed around being in a hospital. 


 That is all for now...thanks for stopping by....Valerie






Helen Lawrence takes place in the petty crimeridden Vancouver of 1948. Although the characters and events are fictional, the story is set against the real history of mid-century Vancouver - a city still recovering from the global devastation of the Second World War and awaiting the unforeseen promise of the 1950s.
The play is set in two main locations. Hogan's Alley, once a hotbed of gambling and prostitution, was razed in the early '70s to make way for the Georgia Viaduct.
- See more at: http://www.nsnews.com/entertainment/theatre/helen-lawrence-digs-into-vancouver-s-scandalous-history-at-the-arts-club-1.898530#sthash.uSvq1DYp.dpuf