PROGRESS... Art thieves in the hood, stealing in process for progress?

Happy Canada day everyone!!  

This week has been interesting on a number of levels.   Croatia made it to the next level in the FIFA world cup soccer matches; YEAH!!    Happily I share that experience with new friends and  neighbours to be.  It all makes  the move to Union St. just that much sweeter;  though it will be sad to leave the amazing neighbours I presently have. Speaking of sad did you know that there are art thieves in Strathcona? I know right?  Well remember the Ken Foster piece I recently posted?

Ken Foster, is a free spirited local artist, known by pretty much everybody in the art scene.  His work was shown at the CAG some years ago, and his lifestyle choices make him a difficult character to pin down.  You kind of have to like that as well as realize it's challenges.  I loved the DJ spinning work of Ken's and felt it so appropriate to put on the art fence as Ken is the "artist dude" of the streets in my mind; a kind of Vancouver's Banksy or Basquiat.  What better place to share his work than on the public art fence right?  A place for people in the street to enjoy.

Ya, well maybe not so much.  The fence got hit.  The "Hit" was theft or a removal, by a mysterious source (SOMEBODY), of the piece of art that was intended to be shared with the community/ public.  "SOMEBODY" has been up to no good.  No good for the public art fence and the passers by that have been enjoying the art, at any rate.  All I can say it that the DJ Spinning has presently spun off to another local and as disappointed as I am I wish him well. The hope is that "SOMEBODY" is taking care of him and is sharing him with others and values him as much as I did while in my possession, and still do.  

...a little memorial to DJ Spinning:

Note: Scott the cat is now on the case to hunt down the Strathcona Public Art Fence Thief so watch out!    Progress is at the heels of "SOMEBODY".  

Until we find you "SOMEBODY"!!!, may DJ Spinning  be shared, valued and viewed...that would be progress in spite of theft.

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ART...looking at the public art fence.

An unexpected pleasure of transition.

It started out as a security fence and then one day, Cameraman came along and added a great photo of the Big House as it stood in 2014.  "Public art on the fence", what a great idea I thought.  So I added ACCEPTABLE REASONS TO CRY IN PUBLIC -- poetry about life.  Apparently I wasn't the only one to think this was a great idea as I noticed on another site visit someone decided to add these stickers.

In the spirit of art additions to the fence, I decided to make another contribution, Ken Foster's piece I acquired a few years ago.  Our paths happened to cross when I was on my way to a City of Vancouver, Arts & Culture meeting held at the old Woodward's site.  Ken was selling the DJ spinning and since it was on a City of Vancouver sign, besides it being a great painting, I felt it appropriate to buy and take to the meeting.  It was one of those meetings where the faces had changed but the message from the art community was always the same... displacement of artists and the threat of affordable artist studio/production spaces.

Since the fence was growing in the celebration of art it now seemed fitting to add it to the viewing.  Sharing art is something I can never get enough of and it makes me happy to watch people coming by to take a peek.

PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS...

Why post on Monday's?  My Dad used to like getting important business done on Mondays so it's a  nod to his work ethic.  People, places and things, can influence each and every one of us in special and different ways.   Our family has not celebrated father's day since 2001, the year Dad passed, but in many ways every Monday is a kind of father's day. 

When someone passes I believe the best way to celebrate his or her life is to take note of the people, places and things they valued.  Yesterday's Father's Day caused me to pause and think about this and how happy my Dad would be to see this project unfold.  I feel blessed to able to celebrate some of those values, while still on the planet to note them.  

This post is about those people, place and things -- hard work, family, success (that came through fish, etc.), quality, perseverance and fierce determination as a force of love.

Hard work:

Family:

Success:

Quality:

Perseverance:

Fierce determination as a force of love:

and a little magic through the rain drops...

Community -- feedback so far is 100% positive, bring on the pink!

When passing by Project 851 there's some exciting changes developing at the Big House particularly on the gable,  trim and siding . The fascia and soffit will be changing to match the present evolution, in other words, here comes more  creamy tomato sauce.  All sorts of positive feedback are coming my way like, "it's coming up roses", "salmon house on the hill", "house of salmon", "candy ville", "pretty smarties", "soooo contemporary", "yeah to the pink", to name a few.  

Posted on the Blog February 26, 2018  I teased about color and that we'd go with grey.   Marianne introduced both pink and green as possibilities  when we began our discussions of color choices for the  Big House.  A longtime resident of the neighbourhood, Esther Rausenberg, told me that back in the day many of the chinese residence  painted their houses pink.  Well the choice then became a no brainer, this would be a nod to Mrs. Lau who had lived so many years at 851 Union.  There have been many nods to the past on this project and so far it's turning out very nicely.

(photos from Feb. when artist friends, Richard Tetrault, Maureen Sugrue and Leonard Brett came by to help me with picking a pink from the narrowed down palette of pinks) -- it was a very bright day in the snow!

Here we are months later with the real deal with great feedback from the community! Thanks to my friends, team players and family for their input.  (It's ALL been positive so far, so I'm not asking anyone else hahaha).  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!