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All text, photography and artwork is by GARY SIM unless noted otherwise.
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BURNABY ART GALLERY TO CURATE SOLO SHOW AT McGILL LIBRARY GALLERY IN SUMMER COMMISSION COMPLETED THE SUMMER BOOK ARRIVES IN TIME FOR SUMMER ALCUIN SOCIETY A.G.M. AT HYCROFT MANOR NEW LIMITED EDITION PRINT BETWEEN TIDES THE ADVENTURES OF NOMAN - CONTINUED UNEXPECTED TRIP TO THE YUKON BURNABY ART GALLERY COMMISSIONS RELIEF PRINT MOTHER TONGUE TO PUBLISH SIM ARTWORK POOP FROM THE MARE OF VANADA TROLLEYS IN THE SNOW SIM LECTURE AT MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER BC ARTISTS UPDATE ISSUED EMPIRE LANDMARK - FOR THE RECORD: No. 1
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I took the opportunity to take pictures of some older buildings in the area. The wood-frame building seen below is at the corner of Hastings and Columbia, and was considered some years ago as the second oldest wood-frame structure remaining in Vancouver. Perhaps by now it is number one. The entry stairs up to the second floor are on the right, screened by the tree.
I was very happy to get copies of this book in the mail, and eager to see how it turned out! The book looks great, the artwork reproduced really well, and the stories that I've read so far are quite interesting.
The Vancouver book launch is this Friday June 23 2017 at the Sylvia Hotel, Pendrell Room, from 4-6 p.m. Refer to MTP for more information.
The Alcuin Society, of which I am a Patron member, donor, exhibitor, print-making demonstrator, advertiser, and occasional author/illustrator in their journal Amphora, held their 2017 Annual General Meeting at Hycroft Manor, the lovely old mansion near Granville and 16th now owned by the University Women's Club.
It was a perfect evening, and the french doors to the patio were open to allow mingling inside and out. The obligatory functions of the Society were performed promptly, followed by a very interesting lecture by noted historian and artist Michael Kluckner titled "Art, Activism, and the Challenge of the Illustrated Book."
Having not yet received my copies of The Summer Book, I showed around my new print Between Tides and the Burnaby print in progress. Two visitors from Portland, Oregon, Ann and Andre Chaves, presented all attendees with beautifully printed multi-colour letterpress broadsides titled "Hope and Memory" and "The Many Side of William Morris - The Poet" printed at their Clinker Press for the occasion.
This little print (4" x 6") was designed and cut as a warmup exercise for the Burnaby Art Gallery commission. As well, it was done to test an oil-based ink made in Wales that I hadn't used before, on a new block of linoleum, to see how the ink handled and printed. The results were excellent. The ink, Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash Relief ink (this one printed with furnace carbon black) is formulated so that it can easily be cleaned up with soap and water, but dries waterproof, which makes it ideal for my purposes.
The tugboat is the Seaspan Raven, seen loitering in English Bay offshore from Stanley Park, waiting for the next bit of work to do.
This has become the longest-running series of artworks done about a single theme and in a single format. More than thirty have been completed, and a number more are in various stages of completion ranging from the initial pencil scribbled-idea up to well-advanced pen & ink work.
Refer also to The Adventures of Noman series and Drawings for additional images.
As is often the case, I was asked at work on Tuesday this week how soon I could get up to the Yukon to do a condition assessment of the Faro Air Terminal Building. Faro is about a 250 mile drive from Whitehorse, which is a 2-1/2 hour flight from Vancouver. I flew up on Thursday and drove to Faro, did the review Friday morning, then drove back to Whitehorse and took the return flight. 3,000 miles in 2 days. It was an interesting trip, but I was sick with a bad cold, so mainly suffered through it as best I could.
The edition of 100 is intended to be gifted to supporters and friends of the Gallery, along with copies of the book that is being published to accompany the celebrations. As noted in early news items, I have a short article on Jack Wise in that book, along with a shorter biography of myself.
Mona has selected an all-star cast of BC writers for the book, and after reviewing a proof copy of the book I have to say it is going to be a very nice and well-received publication. For more information please see EVENTS page, and MTP website at MTP.
Accordingly, I have posted a number of commentaries on the sheer absurdity
and self-indulgent fatuousness that characterizes this Mare's "rein."
Please see:
A review of BC Directories (DIR) from 1886 to 1935 resulted in the addition of almost 100 artists not previously listed, expanding the DIR listing from 3 pages to 15 pages (so far, with 1919 to 1931 still to be input). A page by page review was completed for the seven volumes of Macdonald's Dictionary of Canadian Artists, with 480 BC artists noted of whom over 100 were new to BC ARTISTS. A review of Evelyn McMann's Biographical Index of Canadian Artists is underway.
Ongoing on-line searches at the Royal BC Museum & Archives vital statistics web page continue to provide additional information on artists. In particular, although the DEATH certificates are somewhat unhappy to read, they contain an excellent amount of information about the person, their life and family, that is otherwise almost impossible to find so easily.
Given that the redevelopment signs have gone up around the now-named Empire Landmark (formerly the Sheraton Landmark) Hotel, it's only a matter of time before it gets knocked down. After all, it seems like those signs are just a formality, everything is already figured out.
In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of this long-time iconic and slender tower while it is still here. After the Sheraton hotel chain sold it to asian interests, a huge display of neon lighting was installed on top of the revolving restaurant, resulting in numerous complaints to city hall from residents of the West End. The lighting was modified but not removed, despite not having been done with a permit in the first place. Money keeps talking around town.
The tower will be replaced with two lower towers, each with larger floor plates, as the hotel's floor size is too small to be practical any more.
A view of the hotel from Barclay Park, 1400 Haro St., with a light powder snow falling. The tree trunk visible at lower right is what remains of a large weeping willow tree that just fell over by itself one night a few months ago.
