BC History is the journal of the BC Historical Federation. Reviewed by K. Jane Watt.

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BC Bookworld, Winter 2013-2014. Reviewed by Alan Twigg.

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Bridge River-Lillooet News, November 20 2013. Reviewed by Wendy Fraser.

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Alcuin Society digital newsletter, November 2013. Reviewed by Jason Vanderhill. Designed by Robert Reid.

Pulling a keepsake off the linocut block.

On October 5 the Alcuin Society held their Wayzgoose letterpress printing fair at the downtown branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The Society asked me if I would be interested in doing a linocut printing demonstration again, and of course I said yes! I designed and cut a linocut keepsake to print and give away at the fair, and spent the day printing them, chatting about relief prints, and giving tips and tricks for making good prints.

The linocut printing paraphernalia.

Part of my display of lino blocks and prints.

My fabulous assistant Jen Harvie helping me "work the crowd."

The Alcuin Society / Sim Publishing table at the book fair

On September 28 and 29 the Alcuin Society held their Antiquarian Book Fair at Robson Square in downtown Vancouver. I volunteered to man the Alcuin Society table, and was also allowed to put up a small display of Sim Publishing material, including the "hot off the press" Railway Rock Gang book. I also had a sale of books and exhibition catalogues from my collection that were available for very reasonable prices, with all proceeds to be donated to the Alcuin Society Fund. The final result was that Sim Publishing gave a cheque in the amount of $400.00 to the Society to help them out in their good work.

I was also interviewed and photographed by Rebecca Blissett of the Vancouver Courier, and one photo of me was posted on the Courier's web site along with nine other pictures that she took of the event. Google "Vancouver Courier Gary Sim" and you should be able to find the page.

The Author signing at the book launch

On September 26 the Railway Rock Gang book was officially launched at Le Gavroche Restaurant. Thank you to all of the people who attended. About fifty folks showed up to nab a copy of the book, enjoy the tasty food, watch the railway rock gang movie and slide show, and view the rock gang artwork and photographs adorning the walls of the restaurant. Time passed far too quickly, and I actually forgot to do a reading from the book that I had planned. It was a lovely fall day for a party, and everyone had a good time.

Book launch

On September 24 I was interviewed over the phone, and spent an interesting 55 minutes talking to them about BC RAIL, the history of rail transport in British Columbia, and environmental issues concerning the railways. The interview has been posted online and is available for listening at the following website:
    http://ecotopiakzfr.com/2014-archives.html
Scroll down the page until you reach the following item, then click to listen.

Screen capture of KZFR web page with interview

I was added to their website in 2010, after I sent them a review copy of my digital project BC ARTISTS. Alas, they don't review digital writings, but they did have the courtesy to add my name as an author. Now that I have published RAILWAY ROCK GANG, I sent them an update. The results were posted almost immediately (thank you, Alan Twigg), and can be viewed at the following link (copy & paste into your browser) :
   http://abcbookworld.com/view_author.php?id=10195

I have personally enjoyed reading BC Bookworld for years, became a subscriber last year, and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in BC authors and book news. I have placed a tiny advertisement for RAILWAY ROCK GANG in the next issue.

Most of the sets were broken up, and 250 individual prints are available for purchase for the nominal price of $100.00 per print. These include works by a number of senior BC artists, including Pat Martin Bates, Ross Bollerup, Jack Wise, Robin Yeager, Toni Onley, and Pnina Granirer.

The prints are professionally printed, and are an excellent investment at the price (I bought 18 of them). Please contact them at 604-526-2747. They are located in Burnaby at 5216 Glencarin Drive, on the south shore of Burnaby Lake. The prints are going fast so act quickly if you are interested! The money goes directly to support the amazing work that they do for injured wildlife.

The art gallery has almost finished the design of a new web-site for the Art Rental Program, and John Ramsey, program manager, gave me a sneak preview. It is, in my opinion, very well written, attractive, quite simple and easy to use, and it will make it very easy to access, review, and order art for rental and for purchase. When it goes live I will add a link.

Dust jacket cover design in progress

Keefer triangle

Well, the locals went into a real snit and demanded that "their choice" be given the award. They pulled strings and had their boy at city hall accuse the public art committee of racism because we hadn't selected a Chinese artist for the commission. Their boy jumped up and down and went red or blue or white in the face as the case may be, and the whole mess was sent to a specially called in-camera (that means totally secret and you can't attend, even though it's a publicly funded project under discussion) council session at city hall to hash it out. What a waste of time! Apparently another $100,000 +/- was stuffed into the project so that this design could win the award because it now "fit" the budget. Thus this repulsive monument was built. Rock on! The squeaky locals get the fragrant grease. You can almost hear the tanks getting ready to roll in ...

Wetsuits for rent at Jericho beach

Dance class at Robson Square

Blind Justice at the Law Courts

        

           

In the Fireside Room, Burnaby Art Gallery

The front dining room set up for the Salon. Photo Kim Koch.
Artwork left - right: Looking Away, Queen Charlotte Harbour, Sombrio Point, Lund Harbour.

The invitation.

     

April 25: HMCS Victoria and attendant ships

April 5: An unusual heavy-lift vessel at anchor in Vancouver Harbour.

Readers of these NEWS pages will remember my news items about Chris writing a chapter about me in his most recent book on art marketing titled "Making It! Case Studies of Successful Canadian Visual Artists." He is currently in final rehearsals for his latest venture, a live musical play titled KNOCK, KNOCK that he has not only written, but is performing in ... the play has a short run booked at the PAL Studio Theatre from April 18 to April 21 (the April 18 performance is already sold out).

The Theatre is at 581 Cardero Street (just off Cardero & Georgia), and tickets for Friday night, Saturday night, and the Sunday matinee may still be available from Brown Paper Tickets. The play is also being used as a successful fundraiser for the adjacent Performing Arts Lodge.

The original main building, harbour beyond.

The original main building, front entrance.

The mural is upstairs in a lobby just outside the Officer's Mess. It is in wonderful condition given not only its age (completed 1945) but also the fact that HMCS Discovery is on an island completely surrounded by a moist, salty, marine environment. The mural's colours are still rich and vibrant, possibly because the mural was painted in a location where it does not receive any direct sunlight.

Mural detail, right side.

Mural detail, center.

Mural detail, left side.

Robert Alexander painting the mural 1944 - 1945.
Photograph courtesy Renee Alexander

The Officer's Mess. Model of HMCS Ontario in foreground.

The bridge to Deadman's Island, downtown and West End beyond.

Downtown and West End from Coal Harbour.

In 1940 she was commissioned to do two sculptural panels flanking the main entrance of the new Shaughnessey Hospital's main entrance. That entry is now enclosed in an interior courtyard where it is not easy to find.

View of original hospital main entry with Lennie sculptures to the left and right of the doors.

Detail, panel to right of the doors (Doctor and soldier).

Detail, panel to left of the doors (Nurse and soldier).

Heritage plaque added as part of Vancouver's 125th anniversary.

St. John Anglican church on Granville St. - Lennie reliefs.

St. John Anglican church - Lennie relief over door (detail).

St. John Anglican church - Lennie baptismal font.

Education Centre viewed from across the pond.

View of interior.

Looking out from inside.

Dedication plaque.

View of Le Gavroche private dining salon. Artwork from left to right:
Nine O'clock Gun, Garibaldi, Mt. Waddington & Scimitar Icefall, The Descent.

Patinated bronze sculpture by Alexander Schick

Sculpture by Claire Murgatroyd

View of the geodesic dome.

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Firstly, I would like to thank Sheryl for making this nomination, and for spending the time to put together the nomination letter and supporting material. We both hope that the effort is not in vain!

Sheryl Salloum is the author of UNDERLYING VIBRATIONS: The Photography and Life of John Vanderpant, published by Horsdal & Schubart Publishers, Victoria, BC in 1995. In 2011 she wrote THE LIFE & ART OF MILDRED VALLEY THORNTON, published by Mother Tongue Publishing, Salt Spring Island, BC. This was the "fourth book in The Unheralded Artist of BC series." Sheryl is currently working on a biography of BC Artist Sonia Cornwall, who lived at the Onward Ranch in 150 Mile House.

I purchased a copy of UNDERLYING VIBRATIONS a number of years ago, as Vanderpant is one of my favorite historic Vancouver photographers. I got to know Mona Fertig, owner of Mother Tongue Publishing, when they were starting their series of "unheralded artists" books. I was able to help with research on the first book on sculptor David Marshall, who I knew, and have helped out as much as I can with the subsequent books in the series. This included the book on Mildred Valley Thornton, on whom I had compiled a fair bit of information. Mona, Sheryl, and I became friends, and we frequently use each other as resources for our diverse projects. I greatly appreciate their friendship and support, and highly recommend their publications to readers interested in the art history of British Columbia.

Mr. Amos is himself an artist and BC art historian, and is included in the BC ARTISTS project for his exhibitions of artwork on Vancouver Island, as well as for writing the book Artists in Their Studios. He is currently artist-in-residence at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria, and is in the midst of digitizing and transferring some of his collection of art ephemera to the University of Victoria Library and Archives. For more information please refer to his home page:

    Robert Amos home page

The talk will be at the Museum of Vancouver, 1100 Chestnut Street, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. I'll post more information in a year or so when the date approaches. The VHS lecture series is very popular and usually has a full house, so mark your calendar and get there early!

I got to know Lynn 10 or 12 years ago, we kept running into each other at Westcoast Estates auctions. Over the years we had a lot of fun as we bid on various auction items, usually trying to get them for the lowest price possible. The auctioneer started ribbing us about our bidding, and she and I started referring to ourselves as "bottom feeders." Luckily the things that I was bidding on were usually not the things that she was bidding on, so we weren't competing.

Although she was single when I first met her, she later started a relationship with Gerald Giampa, the noted (and notorious) letterpress printer. They seemed to get on well together, although Lynn would occasionally refer to him as a "rogue." Unfortunately Gerald passed away June 24, 2009. A memorial article about him by Jim Rimmer was published in the Summer 2009 issue of Amphora, the journal of the Alcuin Society. I got to know Gerald during the time he and Lynn were together, and we had some interesting conversations about his past.

Hopefully Lynn and Gerald are together again, still looking for bargains and unusual items wherever they might be. Farewell, friends.

Jan. 4: Early morning fog in the harbour.

Jan.1: 2012 Christmas card original (work in progress)