PEOPLE, PLACES THINGS...the King of Strathcona (oh ya)

Who has lived on Union St in Strathcona?  Well KD Lang has spent sometime here and so has Ken Lum.  We also know Nick Milkovich grew up on the 700 blk .  Oh and what about Stan Douglas?  ... and what do they all have in common?  I'd bet dollars to donuts everyone of them has stepped into the store at 598 Union St.

Here's a household name for anyone who's lived in Strathcona and it's Benny.  

John Mackie writes a great article on Benny that nails it.  Take a few minutes and enjoy the read and spread the love by sharing.

The story. (hit the link or go to http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/the-king-of-strathcona-ramon-benny-benedetti-retires-from-store-but-not-storytelling)

COMMUNITY -- What are the chances?

Last weeks post on the progress of the the Big House settling down on it's foundation also had a great celebration of community.

City workers were chopping up the road and putting the water pipe in, along side were the contractor's workers and Zebiak lowering the house and all the while drain tile  stones were being filled in to the appropriate trenches.  The 3 women present were the MUSE for all that took place when the neighbour a few doors away came out rolling his cart of libations for everyone -- these were leftovers from his wife's baby shower on the weekend.  How wonderful was this?  A spontaneous celebration of things happening.

One would think that was pretty special right?  Well it gets better.  Who expects a city worker to double as a Rabbi?  Ya well we found one.  As luck would have it we were chatting with Rabbi city worker as he was curious about the project.   We explained the aging in place concept and how my Mom was the imputes for buying the house in the first place and also some stories about the history of the families that passed through.  Well Rabbi city worker was so joyous and happy to hear it all that he offered to give the project a blessing.  Hence,  the property and project were  blessed!  

What are the chances, ehe?  It was just over a year ago a post under the BIG HOUSE referred to the Izen family who lived in the house many years ago and the day the house came down we are fortunate to have Rabbi city man blessed the project!

Life is magic... and so was the day the house was lowered!  

It all came together with Wolfie the neighbourhood cat watching and dust settling on parked cars.  The neighbours were amazing even though their street was closed and sidewalks blocked.  I was reminded of an art installation I had put together a few years ago.  Sometimes things come full circle in a same same but different way.

 This is a video (time lapse) from the Eastside Culture Crawl -- Ballroom 584 was inspired by a sustainable building adventure in Jamaica of which  I had participated.  Building and sustainable living was a curiosity to me and through exploring that curiosity an art installation evolved.  The video takes these concepts to another level with this art installation and invites community involvement. 

PROGRESS -- Things slowly land as they should.

Enjoy watching the down part of the "going up", ... (going up took 30 min and a zip on the time lapse (post May 29th) and going down took 3 hours and a slower time frame = 2 dips instead of a zip).  The flying house has landed.

There is a  lot going on in this short little time lapse and if you look closely you'll see all the community engagement.   Zebiak with skilled action going on for the downward float,  city workers installing the 4 inch pipe water connection to the property by digging up the street (dust a go go) and drain tiles are being coordinated with and through the contractor's  team. You may want to watch it a few times to catch all the action.  People, trucks and action going on all around.

note: to be featured next week "what are the chances?" 

Dip, dip down!

ART - let's talk about creativity and art, design and craft

I've been thinking about these things for YEARS!  They are all connected but, as the Asian saying goes, same same but different.

Art has a soulful magic that involves intent and honesty.  Design is about creating for sales and multiples with a functional purpose. Craft is about technical skill with a primary, but not always, functional intent.  There is a cross over between these disciplines which always contributes to an interesting conversation.  

Look at these and decide which is which? or are the all the same? (same but different)

The way to know for sure is to ask the creator of the object you're interested in.  The answers help to understand and the questioning is critical when you don't know.  If you don't know, what you don't know (ie. what question to even ask), then begin with what you're attracted to and start digging into the research from there.  A really good basic question to ask is about the materials used -- what's this made from?  Why was it used and what was the intention and process?

I used to always ask Artists about the process, because it interested me.  In fact, my friends would make fun of me quite often, about asking this question.  It didn't bother me, okay maybe a little, but learning about the work was more important.  Learning about intention is critical when it comes to assessing and determining value  -- value in terms of skill, creativity, execution and not just cost although that obviously is connected.

Project 851 comes from an intention to include all 3 art, design and craft.  How it comes together is through intuition, which is something important to pay attention too and often downplayed nowadays.  Recently, a great movie called Inn Saei came to my attention.  It's heartful and logical presentation of intuition in today's world is worth watching.  Inn Saei is an Icelandic term that means: the sea within, to see within and to see from the inside out.

Here are a few notes made from that movie now shared to remind one of the relevance of intuition:

Intuition -- is right brained thinking -- it is about the moment; an awareness of the world in the here and now.

Activity  -- try this to develop or just stay in touch with  intuition;   spend 5 min. in nature using all your senses without thinking) .  The reason to do this is because most  modern people are not in touch with intuition (how we know things) they have forgotten to be aware of the many dimensions of life.  Think about that.  Are we really seeing, hearing, smelling, touching or tasting things? 

Nature is the silent witness to intuition. Nature speaks in all kinds of languages. Nature is written in the inner eye, the inner ear, the inner capacity to make sense (out of something external consciousness may consider chaotic)  Without nature don't know how we can revive our intuition.

The "noise" of the external world is muting the sound of our internal world -- intuition pays the price of this.

Polynesian Navigators; saw reflections in a cloud  (knew where land would be based on that). Knew how to do this as intuition was taught through the generations.

Hopefully this has been inspiration to take time out in your day to get reconnected to your intuition.  Maybe even spend some time with your favourite piece of art, design or craft that's right at your fingertips.