Arts&life

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Artist Bronwyn Mclvor paints in her studio, Studio 580 in East Vancouver, in preparation for the annual Eastside Culture Crawl. 1/4 CHUNG PHOTO

College art grad creates paintings to then inspire literature

= By ANITA ZHU

Langara grad is debut-

ing in her first East-

side Culture Crawl, and

bringing a collection of work where she combines her art with stories from local authors. Bronwyn Mclvor is a Langara fine arts graduate from 2007, and she has created a unique collection of work called The Townsfolk.

She has been sharing her art with her friends who are writers. She asked them whether they wanted to write stories about the creatures she was creating through her art.

“Bronwyn’'s characters have a lot of personality, but the most intriguing part to me was the contrast between what you might expect these char- acters to sound like, [the] voices and the world that they actually inhabit,” said Bill Radford, one of the authors of The Townsfolk.

Helena Wadsley, a Langara fine arts instructor, said that the event is great exposure for the public to know what’s going on in their neighbour- hood. It is also great exposure for the artists to show their work to the general public.

“There are 400 artists and we get a lot,” she added.

Students go from Langara and sometimes finish their BFA some- where else, but they usually do become professional artists, accord- ing to Wadsley.

Being part of the Crawl can be attractive to artists because it doesn’t require them to go through a formal application process. If their studio is situated within the Crawl’s boundar- ies, spanning from Columbia Street to Victoria Drive and First Avenue to Waterfront, they can take part.

Studying at Langara built a solid foundation for Melvor, which carried her over to Emily Carr University

where she completed her BFA.

Beyond The Townsfolk, Mclvor’s paintings are focused mainly on the waste of food preparation rather than the prized objects.

‘The inspiration came from her second year at Langara while she was on her final painting project for the last term. She was taking pictures while cooking.

“Just like the parts you're not eating. I just found that really inter- esting,” Mclvor said.

‘This year, she is showcasing The Townsfolk series to the Crawl, drawn in ink.

It is the 25th year of the East- side Culture Crawl, running from November 14 to 17. It began with four artists back in 1994, and this year there will be almost 500 artists participating.

Mclvor will be showcasing her work out of Studio 580, situated on Clark Drive and Frances Street.

Bronwyn Mclvor's Golden Hour. sus- MITTED PHOTO

Local accessibility to art has barriers

Visiting museums, art galleries in Vancouver may be out of price range for some, especially youth

VANCOUVER ARTS

ENTRANCE FEES AT A GLANCE

Museum of Anthropology

Located at UBC, entrance is free for UBC students, faculty and staff.

Bill Reid Gallery

Located in downtown Vancouver, entrance is free every first Friday of the month from 2 p.m. till 5 p.m.

Vancouver Maritime Museum

Located in Kitsilano, admission is $11 for students.

SOURCE: WWW.GOOGLE.COM

= By GINA ROGERS

new course, introduction to museum and curatorial stud- ies, is coming to Langara

College in the spring of 2020 on how museums are “complex social and cultural institutions”, with students exploring the history and theory of curating art.

Vancouver Art Gallery, unlike many art galleries in the city, operates by donation every Tuesday between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Art Gallery of Ontario made admission free for anybody under 25-years-old earlier this year.

Students in a visual arts program get a $5 annual membership to the VAG, compared to the standard $48 per year membership price. The drop-in student rate is $18 per ticket. The Museum of Anthropology offers

a group rate for reduced admission. The National Gallery in London,

United Kingdom, is free at all times.

The Musée du Louvre in Paris is free

“The government has cut back funding inthe arts."

— LYNN RUSCHEINSKY, LANGARA TEACHER

to all visitors who meet certain crite- ria, including being under the age of 18, in possession of certain passes, or persons with disabilities.

Lynn Ruscheinsky has been curat- ing art for 35 years and will be teach- ing the new course at Langara.

Ruscheinsky says entrance fees are like the other costs of schooling. She said making art free to view for all is “just not realistic”.

“The government has cut back funding in the arts so much,” Ruscheinsky said. “Who's going to support the arts if we don't encour- age young people to get involved."

Ruscheinsky said that countries with free art have patronage, where “wealthy people donate the works and donate the money in perpetu- ity to maintain those works.” With costly upkeep covered, this art will be accessible to a wide audience.

Local artist, Ian Horsfield, said he would support free viewing of his art if someone were to buy it and then show it for free.

Langara computer science student, Wayne Navarrette, said that if the gallery were near campus, and free, he might consider it for date night.

Navarrette enjoyed walking around the Imaginus poster fair on campus, saying that “people were drawn to it”

THURSDAY, NOV. 14,2019 |

THE VOICE

7 omic

artists

endure

Vancouver comic publication group keeps inspiration going

= By LINA CHUNG

espite declining numbers in comic book sales, a local non-profit comic organiza-

tion is keeping the art alive.

Comic book and graphic novel sales fell 6.5 per cent in 2017 from a 2016 high of $1.015 billion. Graphic novels brought in $570 million while comic books brought in about $350 million, according to TechCrunch, an online publisher focused on the tech industry.

Jeffery Ellis founded Cloudscape Comics Society in 2007 because he always liked comics and wanted to find other comic lovers who were writers and artists.

From the early days when the group of comic writers and artists created their first anthology, or collection, of comics, Cloudscape started publishing their comic books finances through crowdfunding.

Cloudscape Comics Society has published 10 anthologies of comics from local artists since its inception, alongside many other comic books. And more recently, it has published comic books and graphic novels through crowdfunding.

Their latest comic book titled Life Finds a Way, an anthology about stories where people find hope in a post-apocalyptic world, was published by the means of crowd- funding.

Two of their members pitched the story idea which Cloudscape then approved.

“We helped them launch the crowdfunding via Kickstarter. We have the shipping account, we have the relationship with the printers, [and] the infrastructure that they can take advantage of to facilitate the project coming together,” Ellis said.

Daisy Mak was new to Vancou- ver. She always loved drawing comics and wanted a way to socialize and meet other people who loved making comics. She googled and went to a comic meet-up where she met Ellis who encouraged her to try a weekly meeting at Cloudscape.

“[I] really liked it, so I just kept coming back,” Mak said.

Cloudscape hosts meetings every Wednesday, where comic artists and writers can work on their comics, get feedback, socialize and find encouragement.

“Coming here was a way of being okay with [it and] here’s a space where I can just focus on it and get it done,” Mak said.

"[Comics are] fulfilling litera- ture and art in a way that no other medium is,” said Oliver McTavish- Wisden, treasurer of Cloudscape.

“We want to continue to be an organization that offers a [publish- ing] platform for people that maybe couldn't find a platform,” Ellis

said.