Archive for August, 2011

Wanderful is an ongoing feature where each week I throw a hypothetical dart at the Vancouver map and travel there – by foot or by transit, and attempt to capture some of the cool and interesting small details that make that particular neighborhood unique and special. From sidewalks to back alleys, gardens to graffiti, I’ll become a wandering tourist in my own backyard. Armed with only a camera and very little natural sense of direction, it’s an journey of modest proportions, and an opportunity to see more of what makes this city AWESOME!

My initial first impressions of Dunbar are hampered somewhat by the sheer amount of construction everywhere. I imagine that businesses in the area have suffered from this, although on the two days that I went, Dunbar Village seemed like a pretty lively little community; a lot of people running errands with kids and dogs in tow, visiting the library and stores in the area, getting around despite the numerous traffic pylons. Everywhere you look signs remind you: Dunbar is open for business.

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All original 12 Speed Kuwahara Road Bike

Bike Brake is a simple way to showcase and share some of Vancouver’s beautiful bikes. We are a cycling city and riding a bike in Vancouver is just fun. I love taking pictures and admiring other peoples bikes so every week I will be sharing a new photo of a bike.

I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of bringing you the news that the blackberries in Vancouver are ripe. This is the third year running that I started to notice them turning from red to purple, scoped out a patch, attacked it with bucket in hand then decided to share the news with you in case you hadn’t yet noticed that this free smoothie/pie ingredient that we’re lucky to have around had reached it’s peak.

For the uninitiated, blackberry bushes in Vancouver are pretty much everywhere you turn. They’ve taken over that alley behind your place and they’ll take over your garden if you’re not careful. They can be found everywhere from the North Shore to East Van all the way out to Chilliwack and yes, not only are those berries edible but they are delicious! My “secret” berry patch this year is right in front of your nose. I’ll share this wide shot of it with you and let you guess its location… …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Vancouver is home to a thriving fashion industry made up of individuals committed to its growth and success. Get to know these personalities in The Inseam and discover what makes the Vancouver Fashion scene so awesome.

Photo: courtesy Lexi Soukoreff

I meet Lexi Soukoreff in her Gastown studio. Complete with a vintage sewing machine, a rack filled with tie-dyed creations and brightly coloured fabrics that are strewn about, the cozy space echoes the cool and relaxed aesthetic of the designer’s collection, Daub +Design.

Daub + Design is an eco-friendly line of tie-dyed scarves, leggings and swimwear. The collection has garnered the attention of fashion industry elites by recently qualifying D+D as a semi-finalist for the Mercedes-Benz StartUp Program. The collection is set for growth with its next venture at Vancouver’s upcoming Eco Fashion Week.

I chat with Lexi about her fashion memories, her line, and why Vancouver is key to her business.

Valerie Tiu: Can you talk about your background in fashion?

Lexi Soukoreff: In high school, I took fashion design classes. We learned CAD and basic pattern drafting. From there, I graduated, went travelling for a year and then came back and did fashion merchandising at Blanche Macdonald, where I learned about the business of fashion. I signed up for the Capilano Textile Art Program and then went to Emily Carr to do my BFA. I had always done textile design, like dyeing fabrics and silk screening. I’ve always had a drawer full of bikinis. I have always been interested in beach culture and the hand dyed artisan aspect of everything. So then I started this. I found a studio online, and then Daub + Design evolved. …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!)

I am pretty excited – today is the day of my annual visit to the Pacific National Exhibition, now in it’s 101st year. Although the home of pig races and large roller-coasters, I am more interested in miniature donuts and magical gardens that produce beer. How do I segue from that into today’s photo? Start with a new paragraph, of course!

Ask some folks what beach is their favourite, and they will have a difficult time with. It’s not too different than asking a parent which child is their favourite. Okay, maybe it’s not quite like that, perhaps it’s more like asking which mini-donut was the best. Not faithful and talented reader Paola Serrao. Nope, Paola is completely upfront when she identifies Second Beach as, in her words, My fave beach.

Gary

This Sunday, August 28th, the Pacific Salmon Foundation will be holding it’s second annual Pink Salmon Festival, serving up free salmon for everyone who visits Hadden Park from noon until 5PM. Not only will the salmon be free (donated by Canfisco), but it’ll be prepared by renowned Vancouver chef, Robert Clark, of C Restaurant. HERE is the piece that I shared a month ago about the glorious Pink Salmon, celebrating the return of this sustainable fish stock that was there all along!

What does this have to do with the Vancouver Is Awesome Inc office and artwork, you ask? Well, while I was working on that piece I linked to above I inquired to our new friends at the PSF about their gift shop that I used to frequent on my visits to the Capilano River Hatchery (1, 2, 3, 4 blog posts as proof!). The gift shop closed down a few months back and the only things that remain are these cardboard cutouts of salmon, hanging in the window of the potentially-forever-closed store, taunting me. When it was open they hung from the ceiling and behind the cash register, and on more than one occasion I had asked the people working there if they’d be able to sell me one. Of course, as they were essentially pieces of the store itself and not products for sale, the answer was always no.

Cut to the chase, I asked the Pacific Salmon Foundation folks what the chances were that I could have one of these cutouts to hang in the room at the V.I.A. office that I lovingly refer to as The Library but in reality is more like our small meeting room where we keep our book collection. They replied with …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

Rick Hansen is more than a celebrity. He’s one of Canada’s greatest living heroes and I am so excited to be able to share this high five with you! 25 years ago I personally got a high five from Rick when he wheeled into my hometown on his Man In Motion Tour raising money for for spinal cord injury research. I will never forget the moment that his cycling glove made contact with my hand. It’s perhaps the most well-travelled glove in all of history; not only did it go around the world with Rick as he inspired millions but it also went out of this world and around it again in orbit in August 2007, when Canadian astronaut Dave Williams brought it into space aboard a mission on the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour!

Rick Hansen High Fiving in Newfoundland today

Along with this High Five I’m also excited to share the news that the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay kicked off today in Newfoundland and will end up here in Vancouver on May 22nd, 2012! He did the journey by himself two and a half decades ago (and I can’t imagine the number of people he high fived along the way!) and this time he’ll have help from 7,000 participants from across Canada who have made a difference in their own communities and in the lives of others. They’ll be walking, wheeling and running in the nine-month, 12,000 kilometre Relay that retraces the route of Rick’s original Man In Motion Tour through 600 communities.

Stay tuned for more from the Relay and be sure to check out this video below. It’ll give you chills.

Emily Carr University of Art + Design has been helping to make Vancouver awesome for 86 years. One of Canada’s premier, post-secondary universities, they’re the only university in Vancouver to specialize in undergraduate and graduate art and design education and research. Their graduates are innovative, inspiring, award-winners who make significant contributions to the world of art, design and media. In this new V.I.A. series, we catch up with some alumni who are making a difference. To learn more about what they do, visit their website, www.ecuad.ca.

Fortunately for us, Jeff Chiba Stearns has been drawing ever since he first learned how to hold a pencil. This passion, coupled with his talent, has produced numerous award-winning animated shorts – Kip and Kyle (2000), The Horror of Kindergarten (2001), Where Are You Anyways? (2005), Yellow Sticky Notes (2007) and One Big Hapa Family (2010).

An independent filmmaker born in Kelowna, of both Japanese and European heritage, Jeff graduated from Emily Carr University of Art + Design with a degree in Film Animation in 2001. He almost immediately founded Meditating Bunny Studio Inc., specializing in creating animation, documentaries and experimental films aimed at children and adults that combine different philosophical and social elements together to create humorous, inspiring stories.

Yellow Sticky Notes came about when Jeff realized that yellow sticky note “to do” lists were taking over his life and he decided to visually self-reflect on his filmmaking journey by animating on the same sticky notes that caused him to ignore major world events for the last nine years. Yellow Sticky Notes blends “animation meditation” with image, text and an original musical score by Genevieve Vincent through the creation of an experimental animated film drawn with only a black ink pen on over 2300 yellow sticky notes.

The film garnered numerous awards and accolades and provided Jeff with the opportunity to create Ode to a Post-It Note, featuring Art Fry, inventor of the Post-It Note. Shot using over 3500 …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>