4 Lee breaks artistic boundaries Visual artist Evan Lee visits campus for the latest English Forum featuring his “intricate” art work By LESLIE KAM ncouver-based visual artist Evan Vi: tries to avoids conventional methods at all costs. He is known for his innovative pho- tography processes, and shared his in- sights yesterday at the Langara Eng- lish Forum. In the final monthly forum of the se- mester held by Langara English in- structors, students and staff were in- vited to join Lee and instructor Heather Jessup in a conversation about the re- lationship between photography and poetry. Lee first got into photography when he started his fine arts degree at UBC, but as time passed, he developed into a visual artist who strives to combine dif- ferent forms of art. “In pretty much all of my projects, I take an experimen- tal approach to photography,” Lee said. “For the most * part, I spend a lot of time avoiding using traditional ways of making a photographic im- age.” Jessup said the intricacy of Lee’s work makes him unique. “I think his work is deceptively sim- ple,” she said. “I think when you imme- diately look at it you know something is surprising about it but you can’t fig- ure it out, so you have to kind of stand in front of it and look at it for a little while longer. It’s almost like a riddle.” In his recent work, Lee turned his photographs into paintings by inter- vening in the printing process to give his work a new look. “That particular project, when I started to really combine painting and photography, actually happened by ac- cident,” he said. “I ended up printing the inkjet on to something that was the wrong material and so the inks wouldn’t dry. “That’s when I got the idea to move the inks around like a painting.” Jessup hopes the discussion will help inspire students interested in sim- ilar areas of studies. “I think when you actually get to meet an artist in person it can change your life.” The event featured Lee’s ginseng root scans and drawings of ladies shop- ping in Chinatown. They will be includ- ed in his upcoming exhibition, Elders and Roots, at the Richmond Art Gal- lery from April 26 to June 15. EVAN LEE Vancouver-based visual artist Submitted by EVAN LEE Lee manipulates the ink ona normal selfie to create a painting effect. ALISSA CRANE photos Parade participants march down West Georgia Street in honour of St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), with eager onlookers taking photos. St. Paddy's Day paints city green Vancouverites decked in green to honour Ireland’s patron saint By ALISSA CRANE ncouverites partied hard this weekend to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, at various events held around the city. Thousands of attendees who braved the rain to watch the parade in downtown Van- couver were treated to a show of Celtic danc- ers, pipe bands and dancing leprechauns. “Anything like this that celebrates diversity of culture and promotes that kind of harmony and engagement in the city is fabulous,” said Bob Doucet, founder of the Black Sheep Morris Dancers, who performed at the parade. “The more celebrations we have like this the health- ier the city,” he added. Lane Messier attended the parade for the first time. “T liked the drums and the bagpipes best,” he said. “It was a really great vibe and I had a lot of fun.” The Langara social club also held their own party, Get Lucky, in a downtown nightclub. Organizers created different activities such as a tattoo station, a coin toss and a draw where patrons could win almost $1,000 worth of sponsored prizes. The club’s goal to engage Langara students and raise money for a scholarship was a huge success, according to event organizers. “Last year we raised $600 and gave out three scholarships. This year we’re trying to raise $1,500,” said Nico Sto Tomas, co-founder of the social club. Event organizer Eyren Uggenti said he was happy with the turnout and thought St. Pat- rick’s Day was a great theme to celebrate. “[m very excited that people were able to come out on a Monday night to help support a fundraiser,” he said. “We were able to engage over 100 students tonight.” According to Uggenti, that was the main goal - to bring Langara together and cement the club as a mainstay in the college’s future. By: MEGAN BOBETSIS ald was in the company of marmots and grizzly bears when during a trip of a life- time. Three years ago, MacDonald, his wife and two children left on a four-month-long trip across North America in search of various en- dangered species. When he got back, he wrote a book titled The Endangered Species Road Trip, published in 20138. MacDonald spoke about his trip during the Metamorphosis lecture series put on by Lang- ara at the Vancouver Public Library on March 12. MacDonald said he decided to go because he Li: biology teacher Cameron MacDon- was tired of seeing pictures of the animals he taught and wanted to have first-hand accounts to tell his students. “T knew a fair bit about their biology, but I didn’t feel like I knew them well. “Tt was nice to see them in their own habitat to feel comfortable talking about them,” Mac- Donald said. His book is written at the level of his first- year students. It is also accessible to people who are interested in endangered species but don’t have a lot of background knowledge. MacDonald and his family travelled to plac- es like Yellowstone National Park to see wolves, and Manitoba to see polar bears. “The polar bears in Manitoba are in real trouble in the next 50 years,” MacDonald said, mentioning that those bears are closer to the Submitted by CAMERON MACDONALD Langara instructor Cameron MacDonald recalls travelling to Manitoba to see polar bears, and says they’re “in real trouble.” Author camps with marmots + bears A trip of a lifetime fulfills Langara instructor’s wish to see endangered species he teaches about Mexican border than they are to the North Pole. MacDonald said the major reasons for spe- cies disappearing are habitat loss, overhar- vesting, pollution, climate change and compe- tition from exotic species. But despite these issues, MacDonald said many endangered species are being saved thanks to careful research and captive breed- ing programs. “I was way more depressed about these is- sues 25 years ago than I am now,” he said. Peggy Harowitz, program coordinator for the Metamorphosis lecture series, said each talk is a “chance to showcase some of the re- ally interesting work that has gone on at Lan- gara and it’s also a chance to give back to the community.”