Today, I met with the students at the South Vancouver Youth Centre to begin a month-long engagement, the results of which will contribute to the soundscape component of the We Are Here community map. To spark the students’ imaginations about what maps can be used to represent, they were asked to map (on paper or on their own hands) anything in their daily lives that they wanted to represent. Below, are the incredible examples of their work which came out of this exercise. These include a map of one of the student’s faces; a walking route in Richmond which charts the spots where a particular dog typically “relieves” himself; and a hand tattoo of one student’s daily routes to her school, library and boyfriend’s place. I look forward to returning to work with these creative teens, to begin our walking and biking tours to record the soundscapes of their neighborhood.

Maggie facilitated 2 puppetry workshops for ECE teachers at Sunset CC preschool. In the first workshop on October 3, 6-8pm we ate Indian food and then dove right into making puppets. Using my massive piles of fabric, foam, and of course, hot glue. I think we all got stronger skin on our fingers after that workshop. See what the teachers made below.

After the puppets were completed we discovered how to use them in the classroom. We played some clowning exercises. We learned about focus, holding moments, and sharing moments. Then we split up into groups and created our own puppet scenes.

Thanks so much for your participation and enthusiasm. I hope to see all the teachers at Sunset CC again soon.

These workshops were made possible by the Neighborhood Small Grants Program (Vancouver Foundation). Thanks to them too!!

Juliana and Laura, from Something Collective, have been invited to create a text and art installation at the South HIll Library, engaging Sunset neighbors in the process.  This project, entitled Alphabet Stories, was launched last week.  Here is the invitation we distributed to the community:

1.  Discover the history of the alphabets which represent the languages of your neighborhood, and learn to draw these ancient symbols.

2.  Write the stories that you imagine might have inspired the shapes of these alphabet letters.

3.  Play with words using alliteration (words or phrases that start with the same letter), palindromes (words that read the same backwards and forwards) and ambigrams words that read the same upside down and right side up).

4. Create concrete poems inspired by certain letters. (See attached example below)

5. See the results of this story and image-making as we dress up your library wall with digital versions of your text and drawings, made into vinyl stickers.

Another component of our workshop asked participants to create poems that described their letter using words that began with the letter itself.  Some examples of their incredibly clever alliteration are below:

A sometimes looks amazing,
Always awesome ABCD.
It ate an avocado in the afternoon
and an apple pie again after that.

S slithers slowly,
snakelike on the street,
skin shimmering in the sun.

P represents people.
People are us.
We have different personalities.

 R ran away more
rapidly than a rabbit,
before the sun set
away beyond the sea.

Ted is a funny boy,
Turning left and turning right,
telling silly stories all the time.

Y usually looks like a branch,
growing widely underground,
and strong, like arms,
it reaches to the sky.

Since April, I have had the pleasure to work with the South Asian Senior Women’s group, who meet weekly at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre. These delightful and energetic women joined me in a series of workshops related to Something Collective’s We Are Here digital mapping project. After initial dialogue and mapping exercises that identified their values and challenges in their neighborhood, we took several walking tours of the Sunset area, to record the soundscapes of their environment.

The ladies captured everything from the cacophony of their favorite butcher shop and a house demolition on Prince Albert, to the joyful noise of their weekly chai making ritual, and the children who play basketball in Sunset Park. Each session, we also enjoyed practicing chair yoga together to prepare for our South Hill strolls.

Yesterday, I got the wonderful opportunity to be a guest instructor for the Creative Remix 3 arts camp happening every day at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre this month! Alongside fellow Art for Impact co-founder Anna Kraulis, the two of us spent a couple of hours with twenty young movers and shakers from ages 6-11, mixing up a movement storm!

Among many things, we explored rhythm, shapes, teamwork and what happens when you mix a bunch of animals together! The little artists showed us with their bodies and voices what these hybrid creatures would look and sound like.

Anna and I will be back on Friday for more play and outrageous fun. We can’t wait!