Storytelling Festival in Mount Pleasant

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I checked out the Vancouver Storytelling Festival yesterday in my neighbourhood.  I joined up with the Elemental Bike Tour just as they reached Robson Park, where Wendy Charbonneau told stories, drummed, and got us dancing.  There was yarnbombing, some awesome food (as you can see), some chat about daylighting the river that used to run along St George, Naomi Steinberg told another fun story that involved a lot of splishing and splashing… Naomi and Wendy unveiled a new cob bench, and then Sara Ross led the bike tour away towards Moberly.
















 

 

Patterning the Community at Sunset Community Centre

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On the morning of June 9th the rear windows of Sunset Community Centre’s foyer were transformed into an enormous glass canvas in celebration of the rich diversity and multiculturalism in the Sunset Neighbourhood. Patterning the Community was an interactive and collaborative window mural project with artist Juliana Bedoya that was based on patterns, images and markings that paid homage to our diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Using black ink, around 30 community members young and old contributed to this temporary decorative art installation. The window mural activity engaged community members to the point that some of them were very inspired and worked for a long period of time on their cultural patterns. These included Punjabi writing, the French fleur de lis, clouds, rain, Indian and Chinese symbols, Japanese flowers, Latin and African inspired geometric shapes, a Taiwanese boat, a Jewish star of David, the city of Vancouver, batman and other multicultural traces were left on the window panels.

People also had the chance to participate in the four activities facilitated by artist Laura Barron happening on the tables at the lobby that directed them to create each challenge with a different medium on a specific surface (ie. chalk on black construction paper; colored pencil on notecards) created an attractive and consistent aesthetic.
















 

 

 

 

 

Interactive Map and House Printmaking at South Hill Festival May 26, 2012

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Something Collective unveiled the first interactive map for the South Hill and Sunset Communities at the South Hill Festival on May 26, 2012. Using a similar format to the mapping exercise at the Sunset CC Board Visioning meeting, the public was invited to contribute information about the neighborhood and community on a large-scale map.

As festival goers entered our Something Collective/MACC tent they were invited to choose colored sticker icons (designed by Juliana Bedoya) which represented different aspects of the neighborhood. They were:

1. Green spaces

2.Gathering places

3. Places to find information about your neighbourhood

4. Art Spaces (where you can find public art, or make art)

5. Favourite shops and restaurants

6. Play spaces

7. Bike routes

8. Traffic issues

9. Unused spaces

10. Things that need to be fixed

 11.Where you contribute/ would like to contribute to your community

12. Ideas to improved your neighbourhood

13. What you’d like to see grow

As the day went on we could see our map filling up with colorful and important information. We learned many new things about our neighborhood including community spaces we didn’t know existed and at least 5 icons were placed at Sunset CC asking for a community garden.

In addition to the large-scale map we also provided an activity where you could draw your house on a tiny styrofoam square and make a printed image. We collected dozens of prints of residents houses in the neighborhood. These prints will be included on our map.

 

The large-scale map will continue to be an interactive installation in Sunset CC. Come into Sunset anytime and YOU can see what has already been identified in your neighborhood. YOU can also contribute information with a note to us and we will add the appropriate icon to our ever growing picture of our neighborhood!

SC presents Vancouver Isadora software and interactive arts workshop – June 15,16, 17 & June 22,23

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[Something Collective is proud to host this excellent Isadora workshop. Ever since I took the course myself, I’ve been blowing minds and bringing home the bacon with this amazing interactive projection software. I highly recommend Jamie as an instructor. – Flick]

Here are the upcoming dates for Vancouver’s next Isadora Software and Interactive Arts workshop, to be held at the Something Collective Studio, South Hill, Vancouver which is part of the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre and Sunset Community Centre.

One Day Introductory Workshop $60 June 15
2 Day Weekend Workshop Level I $175 June 16-17
1.5 Day Weekend Workshop Level II $150  June 22-23

Participants registering for all three workshops receive the discounted rate $325 total.

Limited space available. Contact jamie to register or for more info.  If you wish to skip the Intro class you will need to demonstrate your level of experience with the software.  Level 2 participants must have previously completed Level One with jamie.

You will learn how to use entry-level graphical programming software for interactive, live control of video, sound and lights, without needing to learn complex text-based programming languages.

The workshop provides a fast-track entry into interactive performance design. Whether you are a visual artist creating museum installations, VJs, dj, singer, musician, lighting designer, performance artist, choreographer or film-maker, the workshop frees you up from perceived programming limitations and gives you the skills you need to start experimenting with interactive live performance designs using Isadora software to harness the power of simple tools for design and control of your new media and interdisciplinary ideas.

Please note that I will be based full-time in Europe from August 2012 onward so this is the last workshop series I will be offering in Vancouver until my next visit back to Vancouver in January 2013.

thank you
jamie

Shiny Kids Family Festival- May 5, 2012

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Shiny Kids Family Festival was an event that took place on May 5, 2012 at the Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, featuring a stage show, puppets, music and dance and an interactive Eco-Maze, which is a giant inflatable sculpture you can walk inside of.

The festival also featured costume parades, face painting, collaborative art making with Zee Kesler (The Bright Red Crayon), roving performers, organized tom-foolery, and storytelling by some of Vancouver’s best story tellers. Including Naomi Steinberg, Renee Iaci, Lisa Sars, and Lori Sherritt. It also featured the Arts Umbrella Youth Theatre Outreach Actors as a gaggle of clowns who performed and roved throughout the day.

The Festival is a collaboration of The Shiny Collective (local award winning children’s entertainers; Gogo Bonkers, The Lost & Found Puppet Company, and The Ta-Daa Lady and Juno award winning Peter Puffin ) in partnership with the Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre.

The highlight of the Shiny Kids Family Festival  was a live stage performance of “Save the Sea”. The stage show featured live music by GoGoBonkers, dancing and puppets by the Ta Daa Lady and Maggie Winston (Lost & Found Puppet Co.). It told a very important story about the ocean, environment, community and helping each other. Children and Parents were welcomed into this magical world to learn about the importance of protecting the ocean, how garbage effects everyone, how rewarding it is to eat healthy and locally and how planting seeds will provide what we need to better our lives.

Watch a video of the show!!!

‘Save the Sea’ performed at Moberly Arts & Cultiural Centre, May 5, 2012

This Festival’s goal is to become an ongoing family event that could take place anywhere. It aims to make a positive difference in the lives of children and families by helping them connect and interact with artists and individuals in their community about sustainability and socially conscious ideas, concepts, and growth. Oh, and have a whole bunch of fun doing it!

We, in the Shiny Collective, have been working tirelessly since September of 2011 to realize this festival and now it has become a reality thanks to the Incubator Residency. It was a huge success. Almost 200 people attended the festival as audience members and festival goers; we enlisted over 25 volunteers, and over 15 performers!!! We hope to make The Shiny Kids Family Festival an annual Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre event.

A Big Thank You to Cyndy Chwelos, all the Volunteers, and all community members who made this event a huge success!!!
To find out more about the Shiny Collective visit www.shinykids.ca

We Are Here-Miniature Play Places

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Miniature Play Places

Toy Theatres Depicting Favorite Neighborhood Places to Play

An initiative of “We Are Here”-  a mapping project for the South Hill and Sunset Neighborhoods; a project of the 3-Year Incubator Residency at Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre

Something Collective member Maggie Winston (Puppet Theatre Artist) worked and played with 30 Grade 4 students from Ms. Dana Soga’s Moberly Elementary School class. The style of puppetry the students engaged with is called “Toy Theatre”.

Toy theater, also called paper theater and model theater, is a form of miniature theater dating back to the early 19th century in Europe. Toy theaters were often printed on paperboard sheets and sold as kits at the concession stand of an opera house, playhouse, or vaudeville theater. Toy theaters were assembled at home and performed for family members and guests, sometimes with live musical accompaniment. Toy theater saw a drastic decline in popularity with a shift towards realism on the European stage in the late 19th century, and again with the arrival of television after World War II. Toy theater has seen a resurgence in recent years among many puppeteers, authors and filmmakers and there are numerous international toy theater festivals throughout the Americas and Europe.

Example of Toy Theatre from 19th Century Europe

Students were paired into groups and invited to decide where they most enjoyed playing in our neighborhood. Together, they sketched designs from memory of their favorite playgrounds, backyards, parks, alleyways, ice rinks, and living rooms.

Drawing of Moberly Park by Grade 4 Students at Moberly Elementary School

They realized these drawings in 3 dimensions and in miniature by using a variety of recycled materials including cardboard, plastic containers, toilet paper rolls, fabric, plastics, foam balls, and many more found objects.

Students working with Found Materials

The final stage of the project involved photographing each student and recreating themselves in miniature, as 2-D puppets to be animated in the miniature worlds. Each group wrote a script and filmed their miniature scenes which will be archived in our online interactive community map. Eventually, anyone will be able to see their Toy Theatre plays by clicking on an icon where the play places are located.

Dance Video Shooting at Sunset

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Flick spent this weekend shooting a dance film / video with Rob Kitsos, for his ongoing project A Moving.

Sunset Community Centre has some beautiful lines and spaces… we also got into the Sunset Nursery next door.

See the gallery at the original posting..

“The title of this new dance is taken from a discussion in 1982 between Monroe Beardsley, Sally Banes, and Noel Carroll about the nature of what constitutes dance movement. This debate, which continues today (and was challenged in the post-modern dance movement in the 1960s) hinges on the difference and the context between the way we move in everyday life and the added “vigor, fluency, expansiveness or stateliness” found in ‘dance’ movement.”

The dancers are Kitsos, Katie DeVries and Kim Stevenson.

 

Doll Making with the MACC Girls Club

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It has been a delight to observe the identity project Juliana has led the MACC Girls Club on over the past 5 weeks. Having started with blind contour drawings to a 3-d representation brought a depth to their investigation. The girls had a variety of materials to explore with traditional form of making, in order to represent their self. They are now completing Artist Statements that reveal further – who they are- watch for these on display, at Sunset Community Centre- 6810 Main Street.
This after school youth program is for girls, girls, girls! This year we are happy to announce that the continued partnership with South Asian Family Association (SAFA) will provide funding to enhance this program with weekly guest visiting artists!
MACC Girls Club will work with Something Collective our resident artists who bring media arts, doll-making, puppetry, digital storytelling and the magic of words to this after school program. In addition, participants will explore recycled book making, drawing, drum beats, hip hop and more!

SAFA is a volunteer-based, not-for-profit association with a mission to promote and enhance family values while embracing Canadian Culture and maintaining South Asian Culture and identity. SAFA aims to create opportunities for cross-cultural understanding.