Love, Commitment and Craft

I have been thinking about doing a blog post on "love" ever since seeing the sign below in the window at New Horizons in James Bay, some time around Valentine's Day. Easter Sunday feels like an appropriate day to finally finish the post.

"Be love". This says it all to me. We can be love without feeling love.

Sign, James Bay New Horizons Centre in February

I have been noticing all the different ways I see people around me manifesting their love. Here I highlight a few that have stood out for me.  

This young lady worked many hours, awkwardly standing unbalanced on a squat ladder, working on her mural addition to the staircase down to Spiral Beach. Her creation immediately follows.

The various bags and containers on the left are the artist's supplies. I liked her mode of transport; she had to carry the bike down a long set of steep steps.

Meticulous work to create this image. I did not have a chance to talk to her about the "balance" she is portraying. 

Next I move from the craft associated with painting, to another medium, wood-working. (I am deliberately using the term craft to be gender-neutral). 

I noticed this simple and elegant design on a wooden closure for a gate in James Bay.

This carefully painted rock required patient attention to detail and slow meticulous work. I found the rock on a display of painted rocks at Beacon Lodge, off Douglas Street.

I was intrigued by the detailed craftwork of the rock wall recently built as part of road work on May Street, at the base of the Moss Street Hill. Here is an image of the work underway.

Seat built into the May Street wall. I liked the curvilinear touches to the wall. The plants selected for the new planting are all native plants. 

There are other features to this rock wall which spoke to the thought given by those who built it, as well as their commitment to the artistry of their project.

One of several designs incorporated into the wall

A tiny detail in the wall, easy to miss when walking by

I have mentioned the art of Tanya Bub before in a previous blog post. I am intrigued by her creations, her imagination, and the meticulous attention to detail to bring her driftwood beings to life.

This lion sits outside the house of artist Tanya Bub, on Fairfield Road. Bub's work reflects her love of her medium, and her creative energy.

And now, a different kind of creative love. I assume that the pair below are a father-son duo. I first encountered them in February, when they were working away with axes, chipping out a log on the beach to turn it into a dugout canoe. I asked the older man what was motivating them; he said, it was something new to challenge himself on. He had always wanted to see if he could build a boat out of one of the big logs on the beach. 

This photo was taken March 1 at Spiral Beach; the two had already put in many days of work.

The duo who have been working on this labour of love.

The underside of the dugout canoe at Spiral Beach. The keel has been added on, with what looks to be fibreglass.

The canoe as it looked on March 29, just after its first launch.

I happened to be down on the beach when they had just tried the canoe out on the water for the first time. A few passers-by helped carry it back up the rocks afterwards; the father said it needs pontoons to help it balance. It was pretty tippy. 

Now, onto love that drives volunteer commitment. This man's name is Tom, and every week he goes into Beacon Hill Park and removes ivy from one section of trail. He says it is hard to feel he is making a difference with the ivy, but he has made a difference with pulling garlic mustard, another invasive plant.

Removing ivy from a trail in Beacon Hill Park. Tom does this every week, on his own, although the group Friends of Beacon Hill Park is aware of his work. 

I met Leslie Miller-Brooks last fall, when she was alone on the steps of the BC Legislature, carrying the placard in the photo below. I applauded her courage for taking a stand, and doing something on her own, without the support of peers beside her. She also started a website in 2019 to raise awareness about the need to reduce our carbon emissions, and identified things that individuals could do. Her website is https://www.co2reductionplan.org/

Leslie Miller-Brooks came to the steps of the BC Legislature for many days prior to the provincial election last fall, carrying this placard. Leslie said she was inspired by Greta Thunberg. She has had a range of reactions, from people looking away, to giving her a thumbs-up, to coming to sit with her for awhile.

Tom and Leslie are two individuals who are driven by their love of the place where they live, and their desire to do what they can to nurture it.

Last summer, I met Ryan, who grows kale from seed and makes seedlings available at no charge to people in the community. He is doing it again this year. The photo below was from late March. That generous passion for growing, nurturing and sharing has its wellspring in love.

Ryan grows kale and offers seedlings to the community for free

The owner of the building Menzies Apartments has been spending hours improving the look of his building. First he scraped old paint by hand on the siding on the bottom half of the building, then repainted it, including the three doors in the bright colours of pink, blue and yellow.

Then he broke up the concrete along the front of the building, dug down and faced the building with waterproofing below soil level.

Concrete along the front of this building. When I first saw this long expanse of old broken asphalt, I expected to see it here for a long time.  Although it was cracked in many places, its removal would not be an easy task.

After removing the asphalt and placing a membrane against the building, the owner has now brought in topsoil, shown below. The owner is in the background, digging.

All concrete has been removed, and is being replaced with topsoil

On the way to revegetating. The neighbourhood is curious as to what plants we will see in this landscaping. There are many rumours; one that I have heard is that the owner is going to plant palm trees.

I have been impressed at the careful loving effort the owner has invested to improve the exterior of his building. One passerby made the comment to me, as I was taking a photograph, that he had never seen a landlord take such care of a building as this one does. That kind of care, and commitment to quality and detail, is love.

I started this post with some examples from the visual arts, and I will end it on a similar note - two examples of loving commitment by visual artists, and writers. 

The first piece, by metalwork artist Glenn Closson, took hundreds of hours to complete, according to a 2009 article by Times Colonist columnist Adrian Chamberlain. Closson was commissioned by the City of Victoria to prepare this installation. He used the funds to buy his materials, and hire a helper, but did not pay himself anything for his time. Now that is loving commitment!

We do not often think of the hundreds of hours that a writer takes to prepare a piece of writing. Closson's installation incorporates a poem. I know, from having experimented with poetry, that a seemingly effortless line might have taken many hours of redrafting by the poet. 

This "Poet Laureate Legacy Tree" pays homage to Victoria's trees and is installed downtown, intertwined around a lamppost at the corner of Government and Broughton Streets. The artist is Glenn Closson. The metal ribbons in the tree are inscribed with the lines of a short poem (see next image).

Writing this poem was Carla Funk's last act as Victoria's first Poet Laureate. I appreciate the intertwining of the visual and the literary. The very short poem is titled  "Hide and Seek". You who lift a penny from the gutter and with the same hand point out stars, find me.

Poetry and art are combined in another piece, at Holland Point Park off Dallas Road. This installation is functional: it also acts as a children's play structure. It is affirming to see the recognition that there can be art in stringing patterns of words together.

Words by poet Linda Rogers, who was Victoria's poet laureate in 2011. The circle keeps turning. This is where spinning children find out we are one drop of water in sky becoming ocean, or earth, whatever catches the I, eye, first as we go round in the half-full glass that never empties or fills, in the song that never ends.

This is one-half of the "Glass Half Full" installation, which is functional as children's play space, as well as artistic. Which is the glass - half empty or half full?

My brief exploration has shown me many ways that we can choose to "be love" and manifest it through how we live our lives. 

Exploring Some of Downtown's Murals

In my wanderings around Victoria I enjoy exploring the balance between what I call "conscious" art and "unconscious" art.

I call murals conscious art; that is, an artist consciously sets out to create a design for others to enjoy. I have discovered that between the City of Victoria and private sponsors, there is quite a culture of mural painting, and appreciation.

I use the term "unconscious art" to reflect creation of beauty that happens by chance. Someone who created an appealing garden, a cluster of flowers in front of an interesting wall, a viewscape that has both foreground interest and a complementary backdrop...

In this post I'm describing a colourful journey I took exploring a few blocks of the downtown. Mostly it's "conscious" art, but I found a few "unconscious" scenes along the way.

A "mural" on the ground: vibrant walking near the Heliport off Wharf Street.

A mural under a walkway along the harbour. I like the clever way the support has been turned into a vertical story (totem) pole. The Victoria Harbour ferries have hardly been running the last year due to Covid 19.

In the vicinity of the Capital Iron building on Store Street are a large number of murals. First, a brief look at some of the architectural features of this and adjacent buildings.

Detail near the Capital Iron Building. I liked the resonance between the pink and the brick colour, and the detail of the wrought iron.

Valhalla Pure Window, next to the Capital Iron Building. I liked the intricate painting of the bricks, the arched window, and the whimsy of the Valhalla Pure logo surrounded by the heart which Covid has made so popular.

Pottery store near Capital Iron Building. I liked the interplay between the skyline scene reflected in the glass, and the earthy colours of the pots.

Detail from entrance of the pottery store.

And now, to the murals. First, I am amazed by the quality of the painting in these murals. Here are a few samples.

Around the corner of this building is the Grindstone Cafe (detail photos shown below). The mural artist is Mario Labonte (http://www.muralsbc.com/)

Detail, Grindstone Cafe building mural

Detail, Grindstone Cafe building mural

Complementary colours of red and green, with bright splashes of yellow - a nod to nearby Chinatown, add to the appeal of this frontage. I would call this scene "unconscious" design.

Detail of mural by Jeff King, painted on a concrete block wall facing the parking lot across from Capital Iron. There is so much to appreciate here - from the way the bear's fur is depicted, to the ripples in the water, and the shimmering boulders in the river.

Another detail in Jeff King's mural. I am impressed at the intricacy of this artist's work, and how he was able to depict rocks under water.

Inscription on the mural by Jeff King. King signed the mural in 1996, which makes it almost 25 years old. That it has lasted this long is a testament to the quality of his work, and to the paints he used. 

The full breadth of King's mural

The next murals are part of the Rock Bay Mural Project, a joint project of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, BC Hydro, and Tervita Environmental Services, and intended to honour the traditions and history of the Songhees and Esquimalt peoples. Here is the logo from the sign:

The murals take up the length of almost a block, and have been painted on plywood surrounding a vacant lot being remediated. The banner of the website https://rockbaymural.com/ gives a glimpse of the project's scale. I learned that the team of artists did the painting indoors - unlike mural painting on concrete, where the artist has to work perched on ladders or scaffolding.

There are many more murals than I have reproduced here. Two primary artists are responsible - Butch Dick and Darlene Gait. However, I do not know who did what work. There were also a number of young Aboriginal artists involved; their photo appears on the Rock Bay Mural website (https://rockbaymural.com/)

I was initially drawn to the waterfall; then I noticed the second, more metaphorical waterfall, of the tears falling from the women's faces. The mural is called "Sword Fern". When the fern first emerges from the soil, its curled up "fiddlehead" provides important nutritional value. Sword ferns also are used in Aboriginal cultures as bedding, lining for baskets, and for wrapping food in cooking. 

I liked the dramatic elements of this piece, "Grandmother Moon", which somehow is able to bring many parts together and still create a sense of unity. The figures on the left and right are the prevailing winds.

I was attracted by the shining head and eyes of this raven. This is a portion of a larger mural honouring the Devil's Claw plant, which is used for traditional healing properties.

The flow of the stylized salmon and water attracted me, with its many shades of blue. This is part of a larger piece, which is immediately below.

I liked the way the artist portrayed the rocky outcrops of land in this mural. 

Above and below water... some creative perspectives on orcas.

This cedar frond motif is repeated on a number of panels of the project.

A few more images struck me in my meanderings in the area looking for murals. Here are some:

This is what I would call "unconscious" aesthetic. I liked the colour and texture contrast of the dried grasses and the greenery of the tree, the horizontal black railing echoed in the black of the restaurant banner, the warm red brick, and the soft lines of the archways over the windows.

The sculpture "Four Winds", at the water end of Herald Street. The sculptor is Chris Johnson (Ice Bear), who is originally from the Chippewas of Nawash on Georgian Bay. The piece was unveiled on Aboriginal Day in 2001. According to the CRD Landmarks page on its website, the sculpture represents "an indigenous expression about the future, as foretold in messages carried by the winds".  I liked the flow of the sculpture, and its sense of movement. The turquoise complemented the brick red of many of the surrounding buildings.

One of the twelve Hands of Time installations in central Victoria, this one along Wharf Street. The sculptor is Crystal Przybille. The series was commissioned to celebrate Victoria's 150th anniversary.

Part of the Ship Point Plaza on Wharf Street honouring the 2010 centennial of the Canadian Navy. The building with the green construction material is the Customs House development. The facade of the original Customs House has been retained, and an entire new building created behind it, and beside it. The building will house upscale luxury residences (https://customshouse.ca/)

A delightful design on the back of one of the many Orca statues around Victoria. These were created as part of a fundraising project for Easter Seals Camps in 2004, "The Great Orca Auction".

This post has given just a hint of the colour in murals and art I am discovering around Victoria. The city is truly a walker's delight.

Sources for additional information:

https://www.vicnews.com/entertainment/local-and-international-artists-paint-murals-across-victoria/

https://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/residents/culture/public-art/concrete-canvas.html

https://rockbaymural.com/

https://www.crd.bc.ca/landmarks/artworks/Four-Winds