the intersections fence project was a public art project on the perimeter fencing at 150 east cordova st. from december 2010 to july 2012 that incorporated the work of 15 local artists who produced work within the theme of "living here".
each artist lived or worked in close proximity to this site installation and had intimate connection to the site, neighborhood, and its community.
intersections fence project at 150 east cordova street
Leonard Brett
Peg the Bird
24"x24"
Leonard Brett 2010
This work is primarily a lyrical fantasy, a flight of the imagination.The product is a mythical urban bird. Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, like any work of art it has to have a structure. The colors are bold bouncing complementaries . The forms are made in wood relief which were collaged to make the image. The relief produces shadows and accentuates the image. As long as there is light the work will produce shadows and highlights.
turnercom.com/brett
Tomoyo Ihaya
24" x 24"
these years on carral, cordova and alexander
coins of dreams in my torn pockets
so bare, so full of light
a cup of soup and a piece of bread
people live, still live and will live
Tomoyo Ihaya 2010
Taiga Chiba
My Ancestors
When I was five years old, my mother Yukiko told me to pray for our ancestors. "Because of our ancestors, we are living here", she said. I imagined what looked like our ancestors. I was looking at the shadows of a curtain making shapes of some kind of creatures by wind. It seemed like they were observing us to make sure everything was o.k.
I saw moving shapes between trees and tree branches in the shady shintoh shrine. Our ancestors were watching us whether we were playing friendly or not.
Every villagers were gathered day and night at the shintoh shrine festival in our village, drinking sake, eating a cooked squid, sushi and all kinds of delicious foods. There were disabled uniformed soldiers from World War II, sitting and singing war songs with accordions to ask for mercy from the festival goers.
People were playing taiko, shamisen - three string guitar like instrument and dancing. It was a celebration of the past, present and future. Our ancestors were also participating in the festival.
So many years later...when I was at Concordia University in Montreal, my idea of ancestors were formed as the sculptures celebrating the shintoh festival.
In the year of 2000, I moved to Edmonton. I felt that we were all living on the soil of dead creatures. Since then I extended the idea of my ancestors beyond humans. I came to the world of an explosive burst of evolution at the cambrian period about 500 million years ago. We were all living in the water.
"We were here and we are here"; it is the title of my work.
Taiga Chiba 2010
ann wilson
torn
acrylic on wood
37" x 16"
I walk the streets of the Downtown Eastside and I am torn.I love you, I hate you, I love you. You took me for granted as I took you. I sit in pain and I hold your heart in mine. Our hearts are here and they bleed. Together. We reach for our hearts, together and give, together.
Ann Wilson 2010
J Peachy
lost
20" x 29"
"In dedication to the lost streams of Vancouver and inspired by my personal involvement in Arts Based Advocacy for Wild Salmon."
"Salmon are more than about Ecology, it is part of the cultural history and economic means of the West Coast of Canada."
"Almost 30 million Salmon returned to spawn this year, which is the highest in a century. Although we celebrate this return, there are still many questions to be answered in light of the collapse of the 2009 return. Many species and natural habitats are under siege and the migratory routes for the Fraser River Sockeye still pose a risk due to sea lice. Salmon are more than about Ecology, it is part of the cultural history and economic means of the West Coast of Canada. Without Salmon, there would likely be not settlement on our rivers. Salmon celebrations were common place in this cultures. Many contemporary environmental issues can be connected through these magnificent fish. Whether it is Run of River power, Oil tankers on the North Coast, fish farms on natural migration routes, Gateway development destruction on local streams and tributaries. The salmon life cycle also contribute nutrition to our forests. Thus, Salmon are the gatekeepers to our sustenance and identity on the West Coast. To preserve the Salmon is to preserve ourselves."J Peachy 2010
jpeachygallery.com/salmon
contact j peachy
armand tencha
12" x 54"
When you mention the Downtown Eastside, a lot of people grimace and focus on the negative aspects of the neighbourhood. Yes, the social problems are acute - drugs, mental illness, and poverty among them. But there are many great reasons to live here. While it can be a hard world here - there is a very strong sense of community among people of virtually all walks of life. Further, many individuals, organizations, and businesses are investing time, energy, and money into this neighbourhood. It is not all doom and gloom. There are many signs of beauty in everyday life here. You just need to be open to seeing them.
Armand Tencha 2010
laura harrison
in stitches
29" x 20"
People who live in the downtown eastside of Vancouver hold themselves together through the threads of friendship, support and hope in moving on.
Laura Harrison 2010
montana king
The Dark Tug
Soul
Red Love
Unstable
Ambiguity
Pulling, panting movements
Create a mist
Of hazy black lines
I hate you... Now
Go away... Come back
What relief of pain
When you hit me... For you
With supposed nice words
Another I Love You
In the mist
See... Black lines
And Red Drip
Montana King 2011
lipstick john love
16" x 37"
Montana King 2010
Montana King 2010
Colleen Carroll
24"x24"
The old Vic’s restaurant, replaced by the trendy new Waves Coffee house, (Main and Cordova). For me, Vic’s was the perfect subject to place in this installation.
Vancouver, on the cusp of its 125 birthday, started in this community. Today our community is battling gentrification and trying to stay alive.
One can look at this painting; reflecting, honoring and celebrating what we are still struggling to maintain. Meanwhile, elements giving character to our neighbourhood, making it special in the cities history, are quietly slipping away. With them go as well the people making up this special, close-knit community. Many are artists, only surviving in Vancouver because the DTES (down town east side), allotted them an affordable place to work, live and thrive within the heart of the city.
Colleen Carroll 2010
web.mac.com/colleencarroll1
contact colleen carroll
Karen Ward
our streets
12" x 54"
Our Streets
Amid the creeping gentrification that is transforming our neighbourhood and making it even more difficult to live, the ‘mall’ on Hastings that runs from Pigeon Park at Carrall to Main (or Columbia, depending on your opinion) is one of the nerve centres of our community. These are Our Streets.
It is one of the places where we make our own rules and do our thing. Yeah, some of us use drugs, and we buy them on the street. We also meet our friends, go to United we Can, watch the world go by.
What’s crucial is how out of the ordinary this is. I get out of the neighbourhood a couple times a month, and I’m consistently unnerved by the conspicuous lack of people, the lack of conversation, the lack of difference in other parts of Vancouver. It’s kind of creepy. In this painting, I tried to create the atmosphere of the street without the people. As you look at it, I bet your mind and imagination fill in the people. But this is what some people want, all of us in our rooms and not filling the streets with our spirit and beauty. This is what we must fight to prevent, and keep these streets ours.
Karen Ward 2010
robyne johnson
looking at my neighborhood
24" x 24"
My picture reflects the people living in the Downtown Eastside.I was born in Vancouver, and when i look at it, I see it the way it is now and the changes. At the same time I can see it the way it was.This person looking out the window in my painting could be someone looking out their window right now, or it could be someone looking out their window forty or sixty years ago.That's what I like about Vancouver; the people.You can change the buildings, but you can't change the people.The people are Vancouver's history and its atmosphere. I'm so glad that no one can take that away. In this way Vancouver is the same as when I was small.
Luchia Feman
16" x 37"
Mixed media, wood, oil, encaustic elements
Mixed media, wood, oil, encaustic elements
This poem made me think of Gastown as a magical little berg and I wanted to cast my own spell to help put this kind of energy into the community. I adapted the text of the words below to our neighborhood, embedded the affirmations deep within the work, and the little girl sprang up as if summoned.
Would you believe, that here, in the unseen, just a breath away
from "there," in time and space, we have gardens with such sweet fragrances they actually caress passersby? That we have melodies so rich you can actually see them dancing through the air? And colors so exquisite they tickle all of your senses?
That there are planets where everyone knows each other's names? Where flying comes naturally to all? And some have moons that hum lullabies each night?
Yet as spectacular as the infinite choices are, would you further believe that there's still quite a queue, several moonbeams long, to get back "there"? Where for every heart beating, there's a legend in the making.
You have no idea
©Mike Dooley, www.tut.com (printed with permission)
A child waits alone in the dark while the moon hums lullabies. Gastown is its own world day or night. Encaustic elements in the work portray decay and change, potential physical weathering over time. Working intuitively, I have no idea why I thought sugar coating Gastown was going to tickle anything. We’ll see…..
David Ostrem
"Vancouver 1975 Illegible Rescue Note (it's real) and Women's Book Store"
18" x 18" each
These two paintings are as one piece and it is called "Vancouver 1975 Illegible
Rescue Note (it's real) and Women's Book Store" 2010. They are acrylic on wood.
In 1975 I was driving a taxi on the Downtown East Side at 4 AM. I was flagged by a prostitute and a guy who may have been a trick but seemed more likely to be a pimp. The woman seemed quite nervous and when they got out I thought she seemed downright terrified. After I drove away, I noticed that she had left a hastily scribbled note on half a match book. All I can make out to this day is "Please come get me at blah". I felt terrible but there was no way I could figure out where they were and in 1975 calling the cops to save a hooker from a pimp was not an option. That's where the book store comes in, hardy pioneers out there in the wilds of the 70's.
David Ostrem 2010
grey to green
Intersections Media would like to thank the City of Vancouver and their Great Beginnings Initiative, the City of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Neighbourhoods Group, and District 319 for their support of the Grey to Green project.
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