 So, we're here to talk about public art, which is a wonderful thing. And the public art we're going to talk about is located on the unceded territories of the Squamish peoples, the Slavicutu peoples, and the Muscoom peoples. And as a predominantly settler population, we're incredibly honored and grateful to be here to be able to enjoy this wonderful place where we are. And we can take action to show that gratitude by taking actions in preserving and taking care of this beautiful land that we're on and by supporting our hosts and our neighbors and every member of our community. Part of in doing that is art. Art does that. Art supports people, brings people up, raises awareness, and tells stories. And that's what public art does. It tells a story of place because public art is artwork that is specifically planned, executed, and displayed so that it is accessible to everyone while reflecting the culture, heritage, and natural surroundings of the area to create and enhance a sense of place. And that is what we are going to talk a little bit about today and how all of that happens. So I guess we'll start with introductions. Hello. My name is Steven Snyder. I am the Gallery and Communications Coordinator for the West Van Coover Community Arts Council. We're not for profit in West Van Coover. You probably have been to some of our events at our headquarters, the Silk First Art Center. And my co-host this evening will be Taryn Irkar. Hi, guys. I'm in front of a lovely picture of the West Van... No, it's over here. There we are. West Van Coover Memorial Library. We miss you all. Keep updated on our website for any upcoming news, but when we're opening, fingers crossed. Maybe end of June, July, fingers crossed. I'm the Arts and Special Events Programmer here at the library. I look after all things music and art. And I have the privilege of introducing our panelists today. And I'm going to run through just kind of some quick slides, showing a very small, brief picture of the work of these amazing artists, Mary and Richard, who hasn't yet been able to join us. Hopefully he'll log on shortly. Their portfolios are so vast that we're just going to focus on a few of their little pieces that you can see around the North Shore. So I just want to do a quick plug for this amazing tool that went live probably right before the pandemic hit, the North Shore Culture Compass. It is an amazing free online map and resources that was spearheaded mainly by North Van Coover Arts. It combines rich cultural landmarks, both physical and virtual, across the North Shore. It includes the Swamish Nation, the Slewa-Tooth Nation, the City and District of North Vancouver, and the West Van District. And I am going to, hopefully, they have just put up on their YouTube channel. And when I say they, I mean the North Shore Culture Compass, this fabulous little video on how to find public art and use this tool, I've muted it. And I will include this link to a resource list that I'll send out to all participants if you registered. And just a fabulous tool that talks about our festivals, our events, our public art. If you have a chance to go online and just explore this, I highly recommend it. Anything, Stephen or Laura, you'd like to say about the fabulous Culture Compass? Well, I can say that North Van Public Art Program has been very involved in this. We've provided all the data for the map. And so we're trying to keep it as up to date as possible as well. So I think it's just a really interesting tool that really just shows the whole of the North Shore, which is really great. Yeah, and I, it's such a robust tool that I haven't yet gone into all the little nuances of it, but I think the more we get used to using it and spreading the word around the community, it will be great. Yeah. So, next slide. So our first palistine I want to introduce is Lori Phillips. She is our, she is. The public art officer at the North Vancouver Rec and Culture Commission. She is currently responsible for administering the Civic Developer and Community Public Art Programs for both the North Vancouver municipalities, so both the city and the district, where the public art inventory has grown from 25 pieces to 150 public artworks under her leadership. Round of applause. I can't believe how many pieces of public art there are in North Vancouver. In fact, West Van is a little envious, Lori, I have to say. And we're just putting up this slide to show you just a few of them. I think the camel is probably my favorite on 13th and Lonsdale. Very good, very good. Is it a he or a she? Oh, definitely a she. Yes, okay. She did have a safety mask on for a few weeks and then it disappeared, but I enjoyed that. Also, Lori believes that public art is a distinctive cultural asset that provides a deep rooted sense of place and serves as an artistic legacy for future generations. So she's also provided just a few snapshots here, whatever the weather. I don't even know where this one is. Lori, where is this? Yeah, so I was just providing example of something that people don't normally maybe see easily or recognizably as public art. It's one of our newer pieces. It's on the green necklace pathway, which is a multi-use pathway that runs through the city of North Vancouver, sort of in the middle, sort of the core of the city. And we had asked an artist to come up with something that would unite the whole pathway and Nia Weinberg, who's a local Vancouver artist, came up with this idea of putting these stamps on the pathway. So the whole pathway is about five miles long and there's all these different stamps that help people recognize either themselves or their neighbors or just see sort of fun images. So the favorite is the T-Rex. So you'll encounter first one man. You can see the little picture above you. You encounter one man. You walk along. You see two men and then you walk along. You see three men and then eventually you see these three guys running because they're running from the dinosaur. So she has these little stories to sort of help you kind of be more engaged with the environment as you're walking around on the pathway. It's a really fun project. I love how they're so normal and everyday and yet so creative. And then I am familiar with this one. I have a friend that lives at Von Vlaunstein. We walk past this a lot. So this is it's off of Esplanade, I believe. Yes, this one's one. I brought this one up as just a really great example of sort of almost kind of traditional public art. It's a sculpture. You know, it's what people expect to see as public art. It's entitled Launch by Elizabeth Roy. And what I really love about it is when we talk about public art, we always talk about it telling stories. And this piece, well, it just looks like an interesting sculpture. It really tells the story of place. And if I may, I might just read what it says on the sign there. It says, this sculpture acknowledges the site's transformation from a workplace for men and women who pioneered the community, which is the shipyards and the shipbuilding area in Lower Lawnstile, to a place for the next generation to build upon. So the bottom is a domestic vessel, a vase, something we're very common and familiar with in our homes. So that's the domestic part of the site, all the new apartment buildings. And then it's holding this sort of bouquet that includes a ship vessel, which alludes to the history of the past use of the site. So I just thought it's just such a lovely combination. It just tells a beautiful story. You can see it as a sculpture when you first encounter it. But upon deeper sort of investigation, you see that it is telling a story that's very specific to that location. So it's one that a lot of people don't necessarily notice or think about. And that whole shipyard's area is getting very, very active now. So it's very close to that area. So if anyone's in that area, their travels, they should pop by and see this one. It is right on Esplanade on the east side of Lawnstile. Thank you. Well, I think we're going to touch upon that topic of place a lot in the next hour, because I know it runs through all of the pieces that we're bringing up. So thank you, Laurie. Our next panelist is Fabulous. Why is my thing not working out? Oh, right before we go on to our next panelist, I also wanted to mention, Laurie, this fabulous resource that I believe you said is getting reprinted yet again, the public art map that you can pick up usually at most of our you know, libraries, community centers and whatnot. But hopefully we'll be able to access that again soon. Yes, that's correct. Yeah, it will be reprinted this year. Great. So our second panelist, I'd like to introduce Mary Tassie Baker. I've included this picture along with her partner, Wade Baker. I had the privilege of working with both of them quite closely on a piece of art that was installed in the West Vancouver Library. Mary has been in the field of urban planning and community engagement for over 20 years, and now along with Wade, who's a First Nations storyteller, artist, Carver, they are part of the team that makes up Sky Spirit Studios. And they recently published this book we have it in the library, plug, plug. The Hidden Journals, Captain Vancouver and his map maker. I've read it, really enjoyed it. This is a picture of the panel we made for one of the meeting rooms in the West Vancouver Library. It's called Panel of Knowledge, and it represents the Thai Salmon and Ooluken. And we lit it from behind, which we're very excited about. I want to mention that Sky Spirit Studio, their approach to public art is to bring forward a historical sense of place that captures the complexity of historical timelines from the past and brings them into the present. Many collaborations and making the art give it meaning for many diverse groups and any given community. Hope I said that. And correctly, this is one of my favorite pieces, not far from the piece that Laurie was just speaking to. This is, I'm forgetting the title. Oh, my gosh, Gateway to Ancient Wisdom. Down beside the key beside Mosquito Creek. Mary, when was this installed? This was installed in 2009. It was part it was the first section of the Spirit Trail. So I could talk more about it now or later. What, you know, it was quite an incredible project. It's won several design awards. I think the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects design excellence awards for public art and the urban planning. It's about a half a kilometer walk, which so this is the first was the first section. It's two thunderbirds and a sun. And then as you go through the trail, it's a winding trail. There's six benches with 28 bronze discs in them. And and it was an incredible project. It was the first collaboration between the Spanish nation and the city of North Vancouver. Laurie was representing public art for the city district and then Cheryl Rivers for the Spanish nation. And then Wade and I were the artist mentors. And basically, I managed all the community engagement. We had elders, we had youth workshops. It's just was an incredible project. This is one of the pieces. Some of them are by Wade and our daughter, who's now joined Sky Spirit Studio and Consulting. Some of them are from other artists that they've all gone on. Simone Siept went to Emily Carr. So it was really an incredible collaborative project involving the community. And we're still very proud of it. Yeah, it's one of my favorite walks now. You can all go all the way from the shipyards along the Spirit Trail and all the way over to the autumn all. And then you just come across these little these little nuggets and jewels of art. Thank you, Laurie and Mary for bringing those along the waterfront. And then this was another piece that I don't know too well, Mary, but I know this is in Calgary and also on the traditional Blackfoot foot territory. Is that correct? Yeah, this was a really, really innovative project as well. We were called in by the city of Calgary in 2015 basically because they wanted to as part of the River mythology project, they wanted to engage the Blackfoot nation in the community art project and the Blackfoot nation was refusing to meet with the city. And it was the whole thing was it a complete standstill. And we were brought in and the public art officer at the time for Calgary was a very forward thinking person. And she allowed us the time and space to take time and do respect respectful protocols with the Blackfoot, which took about three months of time. We had a river blessing and then we basically brought the Blackfoot together with the Inglewood community and the public art piece evolved out of that process. And it was about a six to eight month process total. And they the city of LA said to us, if whatever comes out of this process, they're open to it. Maybe it's a video, maybe it's a book. And what ended up happening was this incredible 30 foot diameter labyrinth with wording from the community and the Blackfoot. And it was the first time the Blackfoot had allowed some of their wording to be engraved into a public art piece. So it was it was an absolutely incredible project as well. So yeah, I can talk more about it later. Right. Yeah, it's amazing. And the size does allow you to walk the labyrinth, correct? Yes. And what was interesting is they do a lot of night events there, which surprised me because Calgary can be it can be really hot in the summer for any of you who've been in Calgary, but it can get extremely cold really fast. And so so we did the actual launch of the walk with Mayor Nenshi, who is an amazing mayor at night at one point. For some reason, I just could not see. I don't we had candles, you know, around it and all these people were following behind me and the mayor was right behind me. And suddenly I just I don't know what happened. It just blacked out and I couldn't see. And he immediately took out his cell phone and he was behind me and and shone the light. And I remember thinking, now that's why he's the mayor. Right. He knew what to do. I love that. So I can't see my screen. Do we have a Richard yet? Yes, Richard is here. You have appeared technology got in the way. Hey, here now I have a day like that yesterday. I completely understand. So Richard Richard has joined us. I'll go back to the screen so everyone can see him in a moment. But Richard is based out of Shrevecona, Vancouver. He has been a muralist, a printmaker, an artist. I believe since the late 1970s, his murals, which I'm just beginning to realize are all over West Van and the city. And I keep coming upon them are so expressive, full of color movement. This one I didn't know was Richards and I see it in the West Van City Hall all the time. It's behind the administration desk. And I included another slide here. Um, Stephen, did you know that these were Richards? I actually installed them. So, yes, I do know they're there. I can give you a quick back story. They were around Lawson Creek Studios. Oh, OK. And so they it was a larger piece that I was commissioned to do some years back that wrapped around the Lawson Creek Art Studios to transform that what was a residence into something that looked like an art center. So it's actually on Marine plywood and it's routed, hand routed and painted with acrylics and sealed. And it ran on two sides of the art center. Then it went in storage for a while when the art center was decommissioned, that particular one. So we kept the panels and they were removable. And then Glenn Madsen from the City Public Art asked me if there was any way they could be reimagined in a new space, namely the new City Hall, which had no art in it. And so I reconfigured them and took kind of two elements and link them together. So, yeah, yeah, so that's how that can be in there. I think they work so well in that space, which is kind of a large wall. And I really enjoy seeing them every time I go in there. We are also fortunate to have your work on the side of the Silk Purse Art Center. Stephen, do you have anything to say to these? Yeah, they are fantastic pieces. It was a wonderful project that we worked with Richard on. And it was he really captured the essence of what happens in in the Silk Purse and the music box with all of the music and art and its connection to nature. It was they're really wonderful pieces that really bring out the spirit of what happens in those two centers. Yeah. And then, Stephen, you can speak. I just chose two murals that spoke to me. I that you sent me the other day. The one on the left is chimney. No, it's radius from the Fire Hall Art Center. Yeah. And the one on the right is through the eye of the raven, the Vancouver native housing in Vancouver. And I know you do, same with Mary, a lot of collaborative pieces, often with minority groups, Japanese, Chinese, First Nations. Any short message you'd like to say here? Well, yeah, just a little bit of the background on there. I put these two pieces in because they were true collaborations in a very kind of broad reaching way. The one on the left, because the art centers at Gore and Cordova, it really is historically a confluence of three cultural groups that have made their mark there. First Nations, obviously, and Chinese and Japanese communities. So we thought we'd take that nexus of the three communities and forge it into one piece that brought the three together by working with artists. And then we also mentored some younger artists Marissa Nahani and two others on mural painting in the process of doing it. So it was a really excellent multi-dimensional project with a lot of workshops in the community and in the Japanese Language Center and the Chinese Cultural Center and such as well. So I won't go into all the iconography, but it does represent a significant event after the fire of Vancouver, where First Nations came across in canoes and rescued people from the shores of Vancouver. And so that's symbolized by the four paddles also that represent four directions and the canoe that has text written through it if you see it up close. So that's kind of was a key starting point. So I like taking, you know, elements like that that maybe have a historical context. And then and then it sort of spirals out of there into something much more like a tapestry with words and other imagery as well. The other one through the other raven was from the start was meant to be First Nations, urban First Nations that we worked with throughout as well, five artists from the community and as well as had several brainstorming sessions with different, different First Nations groups to come up with imagery and a general kind of series of concepts. It's like eight thousand square foot mural, so it's the largest one I've taken on. And most of us, in fact, had never worked on swing stage. So that was a lot of fun hanging off the wall all summer, painting that six stories high and 150 feet long. Well, they're absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Yeah, thank you. Yes, it's, you know, it has to be photographed from a drone or something because it's hard to see it. But one can see it from different directions in the city as well, pretty clearly. OK. Yes. Yeah. Can you see all of our faces again? Yes. Yes. And just for everyone tuning in, I will be sending out a resource list listing all of the artists, their websites and some more resources, such as the murals of Vancouver and the fabulous walking tours you can take. There's so many tools out there and I'll try and put them all together. So thank you for my little snippet, Steven. I'll hand it over to you now. Excellent. That's awesome. And I've just put up behind me. This is a shot of the Silk Purse with Richard's two murals on it, which are pretty great. And I miss seeing the space and seeing all of the wonderful public art and the nature around it. Can't wait to get back. So those are all wonderful statements, everyone. You touched on a lot of the a lot of things we wanted to get to this evening, which was great. So let's see. I'm just going to reorganize some things a little bit here. Let's see. OK. So. Richard and Mary, you both talked a little bit a little bit about collaboration and Laurie as well. So how how how important is is collaboration to you with with the local communities that you work with? And how does that affect the sort of the design process and the creation process of creating works and where and where these and where these spaces go based upon this community consultation and collaboration? I suppose, Mary, if you want to start speaking to that, that would be great. That's a really interesting question. And, you know, looking at it through the public art lens, I know that about 10, 15 years ago, you know, there was this thought out there and I was coming from a very strong urban planning background, right? Where you have to engage the community. It's a legal obligation. So that's OK. That's my lens anyway. But about 10 to 15 years ago, you know, that just was not done. It was actually called Plunk Art. You know, people would often, you know, developers, I believe, even at that time, they had to do five percent going to public art. That's been around for a while. Often they would hire someone from outside the area and they would put something in the lobby or outside the building. So, you know, this this strong collaborative approach started about 10 or 15 years ago, I would say. And there was this myth out there in the public art world that that meant bad art, you know, or that meant low quality art, which is completely untrue from my point of view. That's what you can create, actually, really visionary pieces because people will rise to the occasion. I'm sure Richard can share about this. It's absolutely amazing what happens when I let go of my control or my idea of what it should be. And the Calgary example was a perfect example of that, you know, where I went in there and it was like nobody was talking to anybody, you know, and I remember walking along the Bo River for days. And they actually had signs. They had hired a public artist from Hamilton before just before we got there. This is the Calgary. And there were signs on the river saying things like the river is angry, you know, and this public artist had gotten $30,000 to put three signs out saying the river is angry. And the flood had happened just the year before. So that's what I was walking into. So, you know, I completely let go of, you know, Wade and I completely. He tends to do more of the art and I tend to do more of the urban design public engagement. I had to completely let go of any of my stereotypes, preconceptions and just allow things to evolve. I mean, the Blackfoot elder we worked with had never even been in a in a in a white home, a settler home in their community. So, you know, just just to bring those people together for a coffee or breakfast. And at that time also, it was this is indigenous art. You know, that's over here, you know, right? And so so I think when you start working with community, the community actually doesn't think like that. They're very like Strathcona was just there. I know you live in Strathcona. It's such a diverse community. My other hat is a school board trustee. We have 40 different languages in our schools. So the way the community works is actually on a street level, very diverse and very collaborative as a public artist to go in and just allow and facilitate it. I mean, magic happens. That's my perspective. Laurie, coming from that sort of collaborative relationship, but from kind of the opposite end as the municipal sort of figure of putting putting these projects together, how does that work? How does the municipality decide what sort of projects and artists to collaborate with? Well, I think what's really important in terms of involvement, community involvement is that when we have a public art advisory committee and I think that's like our main point of contact with the community is that people can sign up and they commit to spending a two year term with us to help us to input on every single project that comes through. And there are a lot of projects that come through. And as I'm managing three different programs, the goal of each program is a little different. There's projects that are coming through civic monies and civic dollars. There's projects that are coming through developers and developer programs. And then there's the community public art program, which is almost it's 100 percent hands on with the community. So you have these different levels of involvement. But consistently, we have our community, if I are public advisory committee and then every project that comes through, it's a different set of people that serve as the jury to select the art. So again, it's representative of the stakeholders that are close to that project. So artists, community members that live in the area, you know, if it's the developer or the owner or the landscape architect who's involved and they get together and they make the decision together. So it's very collaborative. I've always said public art, it's not for all artists and it shouldn't be. It's just one type of art that's out there. But I say it's I've always said it's a meeting of the minds. You've got to be able to bring a bunch of different minds together, planners, artists, community members to work on a project. And and I really believe in the wisdom of the crowd in the end. I can't tell you how many times I sat on a panel thinking, oh, I really like this one, you know, yet the selection panel will pick something different. And, you know, years later, I think that was the right choice, you know, because it's a collaborative group, sort of everybody's putting into the process. And and generally, you know, it just it just seems to come out right in the end. Excellent. And Laura, you had mentioned public art is not necessarily for every artist. Richard, you were you are and were a showing gallery artist as well. What was the transition like moving from that into the sort of the public art mural world? You know, I've never stopped being a studio artist and I show in galleries and I do public art projects and collaborations. I mean, you can't be out on the street all year round in Vancouver. So you got to be busy elsewise, right? I've never really stopped. So I mean, I travel, I do murals, you know, like many things simultaneously as well as teaching and all of that. So it's not one is not one is not exclusive of the other. And in fact, I find more and more of my studio work kind of gives me segue into some of the public processes that I like going through with the community. So the last few big mural projects that I've done have involved making stencils or doing print making and then transcribing that into images that become huge. And so these come from a community process, of course. So they're just different ways of using mediums, right? So, yeah, they feed each other. And vice versa, I think my studio work gets in influenced by the murals as well, because it's a certain kind of dynamic with mural, muralism as we call it, right? I mean, it's about architecture and the architectonic space and activating it. That's what's really exciting, as well as the fact that you're bringing these multiple voices to it. I think back to what the points Mary was making, you know, it's like, yeah, the whole thing of process is something that those of us that work and community engage, we've always done that. And so it's become kind of a catchphrase now. But, you know, it's just something that is kind of in tandem with our way of developing ideas and such. That's, you know, we're the conductors, right? Like as, you know, we're sort of conducting and we got an orchestra with varying skills and various abilities and various instruments. But how do we bring that all together in a kind of like almost like a crash course of bringing people together in one kind of main focus or several ideas that can coalesce into a public piece? So that's what's exciting about it. And I mean, you know, when you go to a proposal or make a proposal, you don't really know. You can't say this is the final piece because you're basically selling your jury on the idea of how you're going to go about it. You don't have like a final end product. It's like, yeah, this is how I've done past projects and it'll go this way or it'll go that way. We don't really know. Just have to kind of have some blind faith, you know, make it happen. But that's what a lot of art making is, anyway, it's just blind faith, right? Can I share a quick story about that? Please. I'm sorry, I keep picking on Calgary because it just was... So we were... So then we decided it was going to be this labyrinth and then we had to find contractors and all very quickly because as of October 10th the temperature goes down in Calgary and none of the contractors I called were willing to say, no, the city of Calgary takes way too long to pay. No, no, no. And so I stood on the site for two days. I found a bed and breakfast nearby. I basically stood on the site for two days. I had a Starbucks, you know, those big containers and Wade set up a table with donuts and I said, I'm here on the site. It was in the park, public park. And I said, I've got donuts and coffee and that's talking about blind faith. Yeah, yeah. And then we finally found the contractors. And, you know, people walk by public art pieces. They have no idea about, you know, all the backstories that go on and I just, that just, I had to share that when you said blind faith. But it's true. And that's where the really interesting stuff happens is the behind the scenes as it's formulating. And then the end product is the piece. But, you know, they both can be excellent, right? I mean, there was, I think you alluded to that, there was this idea that, you know, publicly engaged work is lesser than somehow. And I think that that's shifting, but for a long time, you know, the community arts fund was a little tiny pocket that barely covered anything, you know, whereas to do an, I always said, you know what, fund it and we'll do an ambitious community project and it'll be amazing. But you have to put the funding behind it. So, you know, it's like anything, if you take on technical challenges, it's gonna cost some money to do it, but yeah, believe in the process, right? So yeah, we've all got great stories, right? And so it's nice to have that kind of documented as well. That's always a big part of our process is to take videos or, you know, have it recorded. So whether it's like the big print project where we were doing four by eight foot wood prints on the street with different artists, teaching them printmaking, driving a steamroller over it to print, that's a whole story in itself, right? And so, yeah, taking little video documentation and then maybe a booklet or some other way that you get the word out about how those pieces came about is very important. They're a little easier with digital now, but yeah, it all adds to the layers of I think interest of the undertaking. And then the launch, I was gonna mention, the launches are really important, and I'm sure in the projects that you've done, we've always had, for example, in the East Side First Nations ceremony, like very heartfelt, amazing ceremonies with Cedar bow blessings of murals. It's like launching a canoe, right? And banach and food and celebration and a lot of speeches, and it's all lens substance to that event and dignifies the piece, very important as well. So, yeah, it goes up in different directions, right? Yeah, and I love the protocols, you know, like we're a co-salish intergenerational practice, and you know, it took a lot of people are a bit afraid to ask questions. And I always say, you know, it took me 20 years to get it. So go ahead, ask away, you know. So just the richness of the protocols and the story of place and the cultural oral stories. And they're just, they're so profound, you know. And I often say, if you're only getting an elder to do an acknowledgement and, okay, thank you, you know, you're so losing on such richness in the collaborative process, right, from the start. And the co-salish were such great hosts, you know. They had people here coming from up north down to Mayan territory to the, you know, the settlers who've been here six or seven generations. So, you know, I guess I just... We learned so much, right? Yeah, I mean, for us in Latin America, for example, doing projects there, there's always ceremony around everything. Sometimes it goes a little sideways, but, you know, there's always like music and events. You know, we've been to things where there's poetry readings about the work and, you know, it's like you make it into a community celebration. I think a lot of it too, you know, stems back in my experience with a lot of big cities in the States of the history of community-based murals that many people might not be too aware of, but we used to track them down all the time when we traveled San Francisco and LA and New York. And a long history, and usually they're based, you know, in different districts where there's kind of disenfranchised communities that find the walls as a good means to express themselves. I mean, even right now with, you know, Floyd and, you know, the murals of him popping up everywhere, right? So it's another vehicle to get a message out. And yeah, so anyway, big link through Latin America, I find, also with First Nations here, kind of ceremony. I noticed you mentioned gallery. You were a gallery artist, Richard, or are you still doing some gallery work? I still show in galleries and, yeah, do, you know, easel painting as they call it, right? Printmaking, particularly. I do a lot of printmaking. Yeah, Wade stopped gallery work because he's just finding was being put into a box, you know, because he tends to think very big and that's why he really enjoyed my partner who's Squamish Nation. He really enjoys doing the public art because, you know, he can do really large pieces and he can, you know, there's always a call that's interesting somewhere. Whereas the galleries tend to say, well, this is selling, you know, it has to be this look because this artist is selling. That's what he's found in the indigenous gallery world. Right, yeah, of course. And my work doesn't fit in all galleries, that's for sure. Yeah, I do know I'm really fine too that with artists. Like I mentioned that only as a side thing that most public artists I've known are also gallery artists. It's just that not every artist is really able to collaborate and I think adapt their work with a crowd. You know, like some artists are on a trajectory, they're just doing something very particular and it's really important for them to do it. I don't think they shouldn't do it, you know, and they need to very specifically investigate a very specific thing and, you know, they don't want somebody telling them that it has to be graffiti proof or whatever it is, you know, kind of thing. And so, you know, I just think that, you know, public artists are really just a certain, they have a certain kind of temperament, a certain kind of collaborative kind of, like you can hear it in these two artists when they're talking back and forth, they just enjoy that process. It's just natural for them to be able to work with other people and kind of collaborate and bring ideas together into one. So yeah, no, but I think being a public artist does not preclude you from doing all different kinds of things, actually. But very few artists can actually make a whole living on just being a public artist. That's a difficult road too, so. Yeah, and in my experience, I mean, the public art projects are also, they're fairly long-term. So when you start one and it'll be like three years before it's completed, I've never done that. The studio is like, I get an idea and I do it, but yeah, you start before the building is dug in the ground, the foundation is laid, and you start a process and you still not finish the public art by the time the building's done. So. It's an exercise in patience for sure. It's a hurry up and wait kind of a thing, right? And a lot of logistics. Yeah, and technical things that have to be worked out. I mean, that's which is challenging, but can be frustrating too. It's funny, you just said that, Richard, because I was just thinking when Lori was saying how we're a unique bunch, these public artists, we did a large mural under the Granville Street Bridge in the summer as part of the Van Mural Fest last year, and it was all about the sub-trades, you know? Just coordinating the scaffolding and coordinating because there was just a huge traffic going by, and there's narrow sidewalks. So we actually had to have a safety manager on site, work safe, safety manager, all these sub-trades. So I'm glad you brought that up about technical expertise because I'm certainly not an ex-safety manager. So you wouldn't think, right? Oh, let's go just paint a mural under the bridge. No problem, we can do that in a couple of days. Are you kidding me? If it's not a civic commission, you can maybe do it, right? But if it is, I mean, I did a mural with Jerry Whitehead last fall around the Richmond Arts Center, and it was the same thing. There were certain things had to be done by painting crew, pressure washing, all of that, and flagmen for moving a genie left around, right? So it was like, oh, we just go and drive it down the street, you know? But no, you can't really do that. It's just, you know, there's too many liability issues. Kim, can I chime in and ask Laurie a question from kind of the community administrative point of view because we've talked about how these pieces are so collaborative and their shared experience. And now we're in this strange world of maybe not sharing these spaces in the same way that we do. We can still go on a public walk and view them, but we're not going to be experiencing art in larger groups at the moment. Do you have any thoughts on that, Laurie, from, is it starting to influence your work or how you manage pieces coming up or? Well, you know, it's been such a short window of time and like Richard said, these are three-year projects. So like right now, I have to say have been focused completely on, there's been a lot of projects that are kind of at the end of their third year that are completing right now in my world. So I've been very, very busy with projects that are completing in the last month and a half or two months, but what I have found is people are coming to me and talking to me a lot about public art because public art is something that, once it's done, so one of the things that, you know, in my role, I help create and commission artwork, but we also try to program it. So now we've got art, how do we help people enjoy it, engage with it, you know, experience it in different ways. And so because you can do that solo, you can do self-guided tours, you can do tours with your little family bubble or your friends bubble that you know you're safe with, you can do a biking, you know, cycling excursion or you can walk or you can even, we were talking to somebody there feeling really unsafe, you could even do, which we haven't actually developed yet, the other ones are you can find, but actually a car one where, you know, what art is really actually quite visible from a vehicle because you don't wanna get out, you're a very vulnerable person, you know, that could be another way to sort of develop a sort of point and observe kind of experience for people. So I think public art in and of itself is something that actually can work really well in our sort of COVID world right now, our social distancing world. You know, the arts that have really suffered, I think are the ones that are performing arts, you know, that really require a group to draw together and be together sort of in combined, like feeder type spaces or that kind of thing. So luckily, I think public art actually holds a lot in terms of the way we can program it to help, you know, easily in ways that help people continue to social or physical distance. Yeah, so yeah, I've actually have people calling me saying, how else can we do it? What else can we do? We wanna promote these kinds of things. One of the classes, the North Vancouver Recreation Commission was offering over the summer, is sort of the small group that goes together and they draw public art, you know? Or, you know, so they just have a destination, they learn about it and they can creatively express themselves, you know, just journaling, but in small groups. So yeah, yeah, I think it's okay for now, yeah. I liked your idea, Lori, of the driving because my mom's 82 and she's a real traveler and she said for her birthday, she got in the car and went cruising. You know, the cruising, you know, public art, but I just wanted to say on the spirit trail, and Taryn mentioned it, our work there, those benches are very long and curved, so you could very easily sit three or four, six people, two meters apart on those benches, and then look at the bronze discs and things. So there is public art that you could actually sit and view, some people actually have seen them do rubbings of the bronzes or they'll be sketching them. So that might be interesting. It's just a thought to put together a list of public art that you can maybe sit and view it and. Yeah, and I think we're just lucky that we're in this world of technology that we're in right now where everybody has a phone that's a computer pretty much in our very affluent part of the world anyways, and you know, so we can still have our advisory body meeting because we meet like this, we meet online, so we still have community input on everything. We can have selection panels meet this way. We did already do one selection panel during this time, which, and we had the artists presenting online. It's not quite as good. It's so much better to have the person in person presenting, but it's still worked. And I just feel so fortunate that we have this type of technology right now that we can access, use, adapt, figure out how to continue to connect with each other. It might not be exactly the same way, but same, same, but different as they say. Totally. And speaking of connecting and technology, if anyone does have any questions for a panelist, now is the time to type it in because we're getting into the home stretch here. So once again, that's at the bottom of your Zoom panel. There's a little Q&A icon, so you hit that and you type in your question and we will hopefully be able to get to them. We already have one. One of our mysterious Teran Urquhartz who is here today asked about the Lawson Creek Center where Richard had originally had those pieces that are now in the West Van City Hall. And just what asking what that center was? I feel like Richard, I can speak to that. It was a house. It was originally a seaside cottage right next to John Lawson Park that had been converted into sort of a multi-purpose art studio for painting and carving and theater rehearsals. It sadly is no longer with us. They had to take it down. But yeah, so Richard, I guess if you're talking about that and those pieces, what inspired those pieces based upon where they had to go? Yeah, it was an interesting challenge because of course taking a fairly conventional looking house and trying to make it look painted up. It wasn't possible to really do a mural on a stucco. It had a kind of a textured stucco. It was not really possible to paint directly on. So came up with the idea of, plus I love wood blocks. So it really was about the idea of taking like a relief woodcut idea and doing it at large in a series. And so that was a crazy idea which ended up being a ton of work, but it was fun. Power routering Mahogany plywood or outdoor plywood and then painting it and sealing it and mounting it up in a sequence around the whole building. The idea was reflecting aspects of the environment, particularly and of the cultural life that was happening there in. So those things came through in sort of symbolic form. And yeah, each one was a panel and fairly large panels. So they were up for, I don't know, seven or eight years, I think, and then in storage for a couple of years until the city hall was built. And so as I say, then they were repurposed for there. So that's how that came about. Well, it actually looks like we're just about done, actually, I don't think we have any time for anyone else. But to sort of close things off, I just wanted to remind everyone that these art talks are part of the first Thursday's art walk, which this year is all online as pretty much everything is. So if you go to westfanartscouncil.ca slash first Thursdays, you'll find a list of all of the participating gallery and organization venues that are doing virtual exhibitions that are a part of the art walk, which will include the Arts Council's exhibition, the Library's exhibition, an exhibition from the West Fan Art Museum, the Ferry Building, and the North Shore Artists Guild. And it will also have a link to the Culture Compass and also Taren will be sending out that amazing resource list with all of those links and anything else we've mentioned this evening. So I think to close things off then, how about each of our panelists? Why don't you tell us about a particular piece of public art that speaks to you in some way? Anyone can jump in and go for it. Lori, do you have a favorite? Well, I can talk, I can speak. I mean, of course, like I said, for me, hey, I'm gonna hold up my guide. I mean, I have 150 artworks that I really, for one reason or the other, I like this one or that one. I sort of at the beginning pulled up the two that I thought, oh, I can focus on for this process, but I have, I just have to say Lynn Valley, I'll give a plug, Lynn Valley has some new artworks that were just installed and people wanna go see something really interesting and they're headed to say Lynn Canyon or something for a walk, stop in by the mall and you're gonna be greeted by some really interesting bronze animals that are really worth having a stop and having a look at. So that's a hint. I'll give you a little hint on something. I would just say that for me, and I thought about this a lot when I saw the question, it's interesting, certain days, I'll say I love that piece and it really speaks to me. Like I really like the community piece in Victoria Park, which is about children that have passed. I'm not sure of the name of it, Lori. That's enduring love. I was out scrubbing it this morning, so it looks great right now. I must have felt that. Yeah, I just find that when I'm in kind of more of a thoughtful mood or pouring rain, I just find that piece is really, it's just like very meditative and very thoughtful with all the pathways with the names and poetry in it. But then other days, I might really enjoy that camel. Some days I might say, what's that camel doing there? And then another day I might go over and look into those big soul flies. So for me, that's what's interesting about public art. I felt like I have one or two pieces. I think that's why it's so important to have a lot of public art and it speaks to people who are struggling with their day or need some inspiration. I think my favorite is that when I come across a piece that I didn't know was there, and it's just this little, you've explored and you've found it and it's just, then I can thank Lori for one of the people that makes our community such a special place to live in. So thank you. Aw, that's sweet. Thank you, Bob. I love my job. Yeah, I also liked just to throw this in there, some of the temporary pieces that went up through the Biennale, Sculpture Biennale, Mariana Bakanovic figures on Lonsdale, for example, and North Van and, I mean, some in West Van as well, I'm pretty sure. But yeah, I like the ones at the ship along the waterfront that you had shown. Rick Henry's piece down on the waterfront, that's an earlier one, Sculpture piece. I think it's at the entrance to the gate, to the park on the waterfront, right? Yeah, but yeah, as you say, it's when you find one that you didn't know it was there, that's particularly fascinating. And we don't know all of them that are out there, right? But it's nice to see them as surprises in the urban landscape. And I think that's some of the best places for art to hop up is where it's not really like showcased in a prominent way, but it's just like almost hidden away beside railway tracks or, you know, somewhere more kind of inconspicuous almost, and then you just discover it. So yeah, I like that kind of art too. Have you all been enjoying the little painted rocks kids are doing and leaving everywhere? I find them in the woods and I find them on the street. I love it. Yeah, yeah, those are great. Can I just ask a question, Taryn and Steven? If there are questions from the public, maybe you could email them to us if there's no time now. I'd like to respond. Would that be a possibility? Maybe there's nothing. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Okay, great. Sure thing, excellent. Well, thank you to our wonderful panelists. This was very insightful and very broad, but also inspiring conversation. It was pretty amazing to hear everyone's thought on a topic that I don't think all of us necessarily think about. You know, we all kind of, as has been said this evening, you might just walk by something and not even think of it as being art, or maybe you walk by something every day and it kind of gives you that little smile that you needed and seeing behind the scenes of how all that comes to be for our wonderful communities. It was pretty great to hear. So thank you very much. And thank you to everyone who showed up, all of our wonderful attendees who are out to support the arts and artists. That's wonderful. And then another thank you to the West Vancouver Community Foundation who support for the first Thursdays of our project has been tremendous. And we really couldn't do without them. So thanks again, everyone, and hope you all have a wonderful rest of your evening. And remember to check out all of those virtual art galleries and go have a peek at some of the art in your neighborhood. You don't have to go into a gallery. It's all around us. So thank you very much and stay safe and stay inspired and stay creative. Have a good evening, everyone. Thank you. Thanks, thanks for having me. Bye, Steven, Karen. Thanks for hosting. Bye, guys. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.