westend carpark 'verb' series

The idea was that a simple amendment to a space may dramatically alter the active experience of it, enhancing a volume's 'verb' qualities.

david stretching and pit of delicious mango

old mykleby farmhouse

Here are two drawings and a photo from our time in Norway, July 2009.

When days were very long.

The house is kept in perfect condition both inside and out. It was built about 150 years ago. It's amazing. Seems like they had originally used birch bark (and birch tar) for the underlayer on the roof.

photo from shelves

rope volume stretch sketch

floor update!

Today was a beautiful day. I went for a bike ride and decided on my way to check out how my floor is doing. Turns out it is doing well! - enjoying some sunny rays.

Some joggers passed through while I was there.

Some time in the last week or so someone has decided to add their own paste-ups to one of the side walls. I like how they are random and organic and kind of weird.

sewing a space

di - O - rama !

a drawing from last summer

Here is a section drawing of the wood-fired sauna at my friend's parents' summer cottage near Vuorela, in Finland. It is a magical place.

seed balls hung from viaduct

A project I did a couple of years ago. The idea was to hang seed balls from the viaduct, over a grassy patch.

The seed balls were made out of compost (from our kitchen worm bin), a bit of powdered clay (had to get a new blade for the blender afterwards), some wildflower seeds, and a bit of water. They were hung with bright orange yarn that was leftover from my M.Arch thesis project. More photos are on my website under the dark green button. The Main St viaduct is still my favourite one in the city.

more floor pics

Thanks so much to unurth for posting photos of my floor project on his blog over the weekend!

Alex's Bees

I drew some bees for a friend of a friend who has bee hives in his backyard and wants to make some stickers to put on them. In exchange for some honey, honey.

pennies volume idea

This is an idea for a volume of space under the N side of Burrard Bridge to be lined with pennies, one every square inch. The space would become a shimmering look-out over the mouth of False Creek.

new floor under Burrard Bridge

we finished the floor on Saturday morning, but it took a while before the sun came out again and we could get a decent photo. this was taken yesterday around 7pm.

photo by DG

floor progress

it's about a third of the way complete.

floor surface prep

this morning at Burrard Bridge - photo by DG

floor project beginnings

work in progress - deciding on a pattern

acrobats mural

here are some of the acrobats that took me to new york for a week.

What Happened?

summer happened

under south cambie viaduct

I've finally dug up my old oil paints. It's been fun - I'm painting on mylar, with photocopies underneath.

into the light

film cloak

I made this thing out of used film stock a few years ago. It is like a big floppy accordion and fun to play with. On Sunday evening David took some cool photos of me with my 'film cloak' in a nearby park, using a back light.

more viaducts sketches

just playing around, blocking out colours

the time is now

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is saying: "Stop oil and gas exploration now"

and

Greenpeace international have a plan for

95% renewables by 2050

two sketches

work in progress

shelves project update

Since I installed the shelves at the beginning of April there has been moderate activity. On occasion I have left items on the shelves, such as books and pens, which I found elsewhere or which were given to me for this purpose. I have been trying to encourage a give-and-take of objects; I had put up a small sign using pushpins on the edge of one shelf which read "leave and item, take an item".

One time I left about a dozen second-hand books. When I went back two days later, ten books were left. Two more days later, nine books were left, but half of these had had their covers turned out to face passers-by, as if on display. It was kind of nice. The next time I went by, there were only three books left. Then the next time, there weren't any books.

I left some more books and pens another few times. Just stuff I had found elsewhere. Once I left Boggle. And then one time my friend told me he'd seen a stuffed toy animal on the shelf, shoved in-between! I hadn't put it there! Something was happening! When I went to look at it the next day, the stuffed animal was gone. Everything was gone. It was just the shelves and my little sign.

After a while I thought maybe I should throw a 'shelf party', to bring a new energy to the shelves. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic in the area. Then about a week and a half ago I went to the shelves and found that they had been kicked off! Someone had just come and kicked them off!

The notched in-between parts of the original shelves remain affixed to the wall, creating a new set of very small shelves. My 'leave an item, take an item' sign is now gone but a red push-pin was left, piercing one of the raw wood edges. Curious, this red push-pin, considering the pins that I had used were white.....

The shelves are still big enough for some items.