News from the Art Farm

Artfarmers Sandy Buck. Eilis Carpentier, Jaqueline Rogers and a whole bunch of sophisticated pumpkin carvers collaborated on a truly mystical Halloween spiral this past weekend. Sandy worked all week on the spiral installation combining Eilis's poetry with fallen alders, Japanese knot weed, metal sculpture and lanterns made from recycled plastic and fencing. Eilis brought her passion for the pagan roots of the holiday to the event; poetry, musings and offerings for the bonfire:

"Halloween is rooted in the earth, the natural cycles, not just of death but of rebirth. It is the day when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. This allows movement for the dead back into the world of the living. It's a day to make the dead welcome but also to be wary of the dead. It’s a day to honor our ancestors: a day to ponder the old dark abyss, the shadows, the things that go bump in the night."

Jaqueline helped Sandy lead the charge with our team of pumpkin carvers at the Arts Building - providing soup, muffins and cookies for the Jack-o-lantern sculptors.

Then nature took over. Saturday evening was overcast but dry, calm, allowing the lanterns room to breathe in the cool October air. Sunday was clearer (even a sliver of the moon paid us a visit) but windier with Eilis's poetry rustling in the wind and the bonfire raging high. Both nights the children ran through the spiral screaming, yelling - then silent, transfixed. The adults gathered around the bonfire. It was a magical evening, one that opened up a whole new side of Halloween. Yes, there is craziness, candy, costumes - but there is also the eeriness of fall, the chill in the air, the beginning of winter.

The DOXA film festival (a Vancouver-based Documentary Film Festival) did it first satellite festival here on the Sunshine Coast on the October 1st weekend (yup, it was a busy one!) - and the art farm was invited to participate as a community partner for the closing night presentation of Saint Misbehavin', a moving film about the life of 60's artist/activist Wavy Gravy. It was an honor and privilege to help promote this event as well as this film: Wavy Gravy is an inspiring figure in the history of art for social change, and DOXA is a great BC festival doing everything it can to bring the power of the documentary to regions that don't always get it! Of course, we couldn't resist a little art farm homage to Mr. Wavy Gravy himself.  So... introducing Nestor the Jester, an old friend of Wavy Gravy himself. The crowd loved him, almost as much as the free art bags he gave them. Thanks DOXA Sunshine Coast for inviting us to take part and for providing the coast with some high quality Documentary cinema for a weekend.

Vancouver-based Senior Services Society came up to the art farm for a day of art + nature staff retreatin' in mid-September - and what a day it was! The 10 staff members work tirelessly helping seniors across the Lower Mainland get through their days. They needed some time and space together, away from the endless stream of issues that crop up at their office or out in the field.  Art farm staff, Amelia, Sandy and Chad, led the group through a series of individual and group exercises designed to shift the staff out of their day to day mindset into something entirely new. Everyone who participated threw themselves into the day - from the writers, to the wild-harvesters, to the sculptors - and ended up with two glorious sculptures to take back to the office with them and, we hope, some shifts in perspective that'll help them with the incredible work they're doing for our communities! Thank you to the gang - and especially to Kara Leigh Jameson, their fearless Executive Director, who took the leap with us.

It took a little digging amidst the chaos of post-festival, but our Synchronicity raffle winners were tracked down and photographed for your viewing pleasure.

Many thanks, once again, to our raffle sponsors: Spin Cycles, Benjamin's International Cafe, Quality Farm and Garden, Arcturus B & B, Smitty's Oyster House, BC Ferries, Gibsons Building Supplies, Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club, Sita's Spag Shack, Seaweeds, Giggle N' Bloom, DOXA Sunshine Coast.

Photos:

1) Our Grand Prize winning family!

2) Gardener's Prize winner from Rolling Earth Farm and Retreat Centre, no less...

3) An ecstatic Giggle 'n Bloom kids prize winner

The art farm presented an arts workshop at the Summer Reading Club program at the Gibsons Public Library on August 10th.  We came to the library, equipped with chalk, scissors, tape, and piles and piles of black and white lumber wrap!  Children created their own lumber wrap banners, cutting out their names and initials, in some cases their own silhoettes, as well as the outlines of objects and animals.  In the process of creating cool banners made of recycled materials, children learned about the concept of positive and negative design. 

The sun came out and shone down on our first annual Croquet-on-the-Farm Party on Saturday, July 30th. The object of the game was to be as creative as possible. Five teams competed against each other under the names of animals - there was Team Lion, Team Walrus, Team Hippo, Team Wolf and Team Baboon. The fierce competitors were clothed in amazing costumes, which had been dropped off early in the day from the basement of Linda Williams. Everyone had to go through seven wickets and the judges took note of how they got there - whatever grabbed the judges' attention won the team a point. In the end, Team Baboon lost by just one point to Team Hippo - but everyone went home with a gift!

After the competition, we all got to sit down to a wonderful barbeque prepared by Chad and cooked up by Andy.  And for an extra treat we all sat around the big fire pit and roasted marshmallows.

Fun was had by all and we intend to make this an annual event!

The art farm was represented in the Sea Cavalcade Parade in Gibsons this past Saturday by a jolly band of volunteers, costumed as colourful circus performers. Our ‘float’ consisted of a wagon camouflaged as a giraffe - which at first carried candy to throw to the crowds, and was later used to transport some of our youngest circus performers. Carrying a banner made of lumber wrap and waving circus flags, our colourful troupe promoted the upcoming Synchronicity Festival and Rainforest Circus to hundreds of enthusiastic parade-goers. A big thank you to our wonderful volunteers who joined us and made the day a success!

The Rainforest Circus, which will be presented at this year’s Synchronicity Festival, is officially in the works! The creative team met at the art farm last week to begin planning for the big event. The circus will feature the work of Sandy Buck, Eilis Carpentier, Lani Claxton, Alison Denham, Katherine Denham, Chad Hershler, Chris Hind, Galia Goodwin, and Steve Wright. Together, these creative minds bring to the project an array of artistic expertise, including film, sound design, music, puppetry, installation art, sculpture, dance, theatre, and poetry.

The team began their collaborative process with a workshop designed to get everyone into a creative headspace through play, teamwork, and the exploration of art materials and text. In a short time, the team moved through a series of exercises resulting in a collection of ‘found’ poems, installation pieces, sculptures, and short performances. And this was just the beginning of the two-day collaboration session! After this productive warm-up workshop, the team went on to develop their vision for the Rainforest Circus and have now, for the time being, gone their separate ways to begin creating. It was an exciting start to a creative journey that will culminate on August 20th and 21st at the Synchronicity Festival.

Last week deer crossing the art farm took part in the SCRD Zero Waste open house events, coordinating a display of local “art from waste” and a children’s art area at each of the three open houses (in Gibsons, Sechelt, and Pender Harbour). We were excited to feature artwork from local artists Steve Wright, Miyuki Shinkai, Jan Poynter, Pauulet Hohn, Ramona Hartley, Amelia Epp, Will Christiansen, and Sandy Buck. These artists make innovative use of recycled materials ranging from salvaged kitchen cabinets, dishes, and plumbing hardware to cassette tapes, discarded children’s toys, used tea bags, and sawdust. The artwork provided a fitting accent to the informational panels and discussions about our region’s options for recycling, organic waste, garbage services and landfills.

At the children’s art area, we supplied Styrofoam, toilet paper rolls, popsicle sticks, paper clips, paint, and free reign to create. The young artists who visited our station provided us with excellent examples of how our discarded materials – with innovation and creativity – can be transformed into new and beautiful forms. Pieces of so-called “trash” were morphed into puppies, dinosaurs, aliens, miniature gardens, and more.

Maggie Winston, artistic director of Lost and Found Puppet Company showed up first - bringing with her sewing machines, human size puppets and plant graphics (what else would you bring to art farm, we ask?). For a week, while waiting for her co-creator Mary Ruth to arrive, Maggie worked on some preliminary sketches for their new creation - a musical puppet show, Christmas Carol meets Alice in Wonderland, that sends a local developer deep into the tense fraught world of plants - and dove into some of her art farm tasks (as residents, artfarmers help to keep the art farm going through work-to-stay projects around the five acres of leased land) - including cleaning and organizing the toolshed, drainage around the cob kitchen and getting the vegetable garden ready for planting. When Mary Ruth arrived, the two artists got down to work. The plan? In three weeks they needed a full show: puppets, set, script, music (their musician, Kendall, was coming for the last week from Montreal) - so no time to waste.

And as you can see, time was not wasted.

As part of the art farm's ongoing commitment to innovative community building, Chad and Sandy and their daughter Maggie Rose are looking for two more young families to share ownership and stewardship of the art farm land. Gatherings for interested families on the coast and lower mainland are scheduled for the summer on the coast and in Vancouver. If you're interested, check out this flyer. if you know another family who might be, pass it on!

Your chance to see Synchronicity the Movie that was filmed and created by Chris HInd, edited by Pat Harrison.  So many people made this happen and we hope for an even bigger event in 2011! keep you posted

Well, we did it! Even with a snowstorm, we managed to pack our  borrowed truck (thanks to Anna Hume) with everything from jars of art/ twisted trees/ stumps/ shelving/ signage/ bamboo/ tools and much more, and catch a ferry to Vancouver on Friday to set up our display for our big Coming Out Party at the Cultch on Nov 27th. We had a final count of 151 people attend and they were so pleased we did not get out of venue until a wee bit passed midnight.  The evening was the art farm's chance to shine and tell people in Vancouver what we have been doing over here on the Sunshine Coast, who we are/ why we are doing it/ and how we do it...with a lot of help from our very talented friends.  The evening started off with Lani Claxton, our MC, introducing the evening festivities and band, Steve Wright, Erica Mah and Darcy McCord who were sensational and blew away the crowd, we ended the first set with a big Mask Runway show.  Intermission was a chance for people to mingle and bid on the 35 masks that they had just seen on the catwalk.  Then back inside to a slideshow presentation by Chad Hershler and Sandy Buck describing what the heck an art farm is.  Then the Big Show. Our film of "Synchronicity- a festival in the woods" created by Chris Hind.  Chris had captured the magic of what 11 artists can do when they get together to plan a festival called Synchronicity. it will be up for viewing very soon.  Then back in the lobby for another intermission and a chance to look at canned art in the Wine Bar created by Ailis Carpentier. And then back inside for our final presentation of the band but before that, Lani did a giveaway to the audience who could answer the skill testing questions related to the movie, 4 eager people quickly answered the questions and received a one of a kind art bag made out of lumber wrap material, one of the art farms project to keep thousands of meters of very durable material out of the landfill.

14 days until deer crossing the art farm has it's coming out party in Vancouver at the Cultch on Saturday, Nov 27th.  Everyone is invited but there only 220 seats so don't delay. 

Meanwhile.... project deer head has begun...stay tuned to see the art begin

Yes, yes, Halloween and the Pumpkin Spiral Walk has come and gone - and what a weekend it was! Pumpkin carvers showed up in numbers at the Arts Building on Saturday afternoon and dug in. Others showed up earlier in the week at the art farm with their works of art. Meanwhile, artfarmers Sandy Buck, William Christiansen and Scott Tilley set to work on the spiral walk itself. Sandy and William staked the laurel spiral with bamboo sculpture, metal artwork and pumpkin altars while Scott put together the light display for the event (video projector and all!). Our community donors (Greenroom Organics, Coastal Creativity, IGA, Starbucks, Soundwerks) stepped up with prizes, refreshments and pumpkins while the rest of our volunteers jumped in to light the candles, serve up the hot chocolate and decorate the hub. This was truly a community event powered by the community and for the community and we are grateful to live in such a place. Thank you to everyone who pitched in, carved out and showed up - here's to the start of a great Sunshine Coast tradition!

Curious about who won? Stay tuned...

The skies graced us with a sudden deluge this weekend but that didn’t bother us as everything felt like sunny skies on the art farm during our Synchronicity festival Aug 7^th & 8^th .  The week ramping up to Synchronicity was hotter then a bakers oven so who were we to guess the weather would turn at the last second. We had a beautiful sunset on the Friday marking our Gala event where over 50 invited guests showed up.  They were the first people to see the artistic collaboration in it’s final…ready or not.  And just as we were about to open the gates and invite the guests through one of the actors got stung by an aggressive wasp. We held the show for 15 minutes to make sure all was ok and then the show went on.  The audience was invited to put on masks and follow the beautiful minstrel around the laurel spiral where the action began. The main character came running in following the sound of wings. The audience was then lead to the 2^nd performance space and introduced to another character whose job was to terrorize him and then she promptly sang her heart out…literally. The audience then made their way to the final performance space in the old growth forest where they searched for the bird and her heart. The final moment was when a rising spirit appeared on the hill above the audience and all was revealed.

So this past weekend was the Sea Cavalcade (for anyone living under a rock)! A weekend of celebration in this small little town of Gibsons that combines May Day, Dominion Day and Labour Day in one holiday (taking place from July 23^rd to 25^th). This year the art farm took part in the Saturday morning parade with a walking float that consisted of a noble woman (Lani Claxton), a flying sprite (Sandy Buck) and an angel (Claire Fearnley). Armed to the teeth with improv skills and smiles, we braved the sun and made the one and a half hour trek through the main town. We also handed out little scrolls and flyers to advertise for our upcoming festival, Synchronicity (August 7^th and 8^th). The response was great! People and kids alike loved the battling sprite and lady, and adults were more than happy to hear about a festival they could take their kids to! At the end of the day the blisters and sunburns were worth it. Slowly but surely the art farm is becoming a larger and bigger driving force in our small community.

Four days of cob-plastering brought out the Good Earth Builders - among them their newest member, Keetah Bryant of Canadian Coastal Clayworks - for an intensive workshop on turning stubbly cob walls into silky smooth masterpieces. The inside plaster, consisting of a mixture of pottery clay, soaked newspaper, sand and water, went on like butter after a day's worth of sawing away at the dried cob walls from a year ago.  Outside plaster, which throws a little horse manure into the mix for extra weather-proofing, went on on the last day - which included a half-hour plaster toss by all the young 'uns and a jaw-dropping workshop on natural clay pigments and painting that adds that last layer of beauty to any cob wall. The Earthen floor comes next, along with finishing the roof and the outside plastering. Stay tuned, this project is one that just keeps on giving!

Last weekend the art farm was kicking off the sunshine at the Children's Festival (Duck Pluck) in Dougall park. The day started out with a few clouds, but quickly turned to nothing but blue sky for all the kids present. We set up a great, big, rainbow tipi that was filled to the brim with masks. Parents and children could take a break from the sun inside the shelter, or pick out a mask of their choice and color it at the art farm or arts building table! Sandy Buck was also making rounds all day with her magnificent puppets, and testing out her new puppet caravan. Kids had a great time with the masks, and parents loved to hear about Synchronicity, a participatory family-aimed festival on August 7th and 8th. Check out our page specifically about Synchronicity for more information!

June 1st and 2nd, 10 artists representing at least 7 different disciplines came together to share ideas and collaborate on the shape and vision for the art farm's upcoming flagship festival SYNCHRONICITY.  First day was spent detailing the long and winding road that led all the artists to their respective careers and creative obsessions, along with a brainstorm on ideas for the audience journey which will be the main attraction at the festival.  Audiences will be led on a "one-of-a-kind" journey through the farm and surrounding forest with the goal of leaving everyone, artists and audience alike, open to the hidden connections that exist between ourselves and the world around us; in other words, to the experience of 'Synchronicity'.  The ten artists have been assigned the mammoth challenge of making this happen and (surprise, surprise) ideas abounded. The second day was spent corraling these ideas into a more concrete vision for the event - and discovering the overlaps between artists that would be worth exploring over the coming months. It was a powerful couple of days on the farm, replete with rainstorms, sunshine and, of course, balloons.  

Collaborators included Diego Samper (the curator and director for the event, visual artist), Sarah Mae Redmond (theatrical outside eye), Steve Wrignt (Sound artist), Serena Eades (Musician), Mary Burns (Playwright), Sandy Buck (puppetry and textile artist), Lani Claxton (Physical theatre performer), Chris Hind (filmmaker), Eilis Carpentier (poet and printed word artist) and Chad Hershler (actor and storyteller).

Hello there artfarmers! The Hub underwent a drastic change a few weeks ago, and my-oh-my is she ever looking pretty! Furniture, paint, and construction blitzed the studio space in a matter of hours, leaving us with a new homebase! This facelift gives off a warm, and fresh feeling that can only be truly experienced in person; but for now, here are some glamour shots!

The new floor!

 With the first part of the morning dedicated to the final weeding of the spiral, many hands made light work. With three people per path, the Art Farmers blitzed through the final stretch right before lunch (The desire to finish with the hard work was accompanied by the delicious lunch everyone could imagine). With all the weeds we even managed to create a berm for prospective pumpkin planting!

After lunch, the laurels were broken out to be planted in their new homes! With a good mixture of horse manure and fertilizer, the little guys were carefully and lovingly placed in the spiral. The planting went surprisingly faster than all the digging, and we managed to be around 2 plants short at the end of the day. All that's left is to place some mulch and hay, and our laurels are set for the summer. Grow! Grow! Grow!

To kick off the summer, the art farmers decided to jumpstart the laurel spiral once again. Starting off the day with introductions and instructions, Spiral Steward Sarita Moodie laid out the plans for our day; the spiral needed to be weeded heavily, to prepare for the replanting of the laurel. With pickaxes, shovels and pitchforks, we hauled tarp after tarp of grass roots and clover bunches under the glaring sun.

It was hard work, but well worth it! At the end of the day we recovered over half the spiral, and even found a few surviving laurels to boot! Another work day had to be planned, but for now, most of the backbreaking labour was done.  With the spiral this much closer to being completed, it was smiles all around!

The skies cleared for a gorgeous Earth Day celebration down at Roberts Creek pier on Sunday April 25th and the art farm was there taking part in the festivities.  Art farm creative director Sandy Buck manned the tent along side our Head of Land and Permaculture Nadi Fleschhut - who was also there representing the Good Earth Builders, the new and exciting local natural building collective that's leading a number of worskhops with the art farm this season.  Earth Day was also the coming out party for the art farm's new line of durable one-of-a-kind hand-made lumber wrap bags made out of, you guessed it, lumber wrap!  And people love 'em. What's not to love? Lumber wrap that would only end up in the landfill turned into usable art.  Check out our Shop for more on these and our events for all the Earth Day related workshops and workparties coming up. 

On a wet blustery early April morning, the art farm launched its new season in the guise of its new website right here at www.deercrossingtheartfarm.org. And for its new season, the art farm has re-tooled, re-sharpened and re-focussed: it's all about you, folks - yes, YOU. The artfarmers.  We realized a few things in the off season.  First: that there are a lot of people out there with great ideas, visions, passion and skills to share when it comes to creating change in our lives and communities.  Second: that these people all gravitate to the art farm and our vision. And third: that these people are the art farm. Sure, we can facilitate bringing these people together to share their work and ideas, but its the people themselves that create the change. So for 2010, the art farm is making it known: we're not just a farm, we're a movement. Of PEOPLE. And we're growing. EVERY DAY. So if you haven't yet, jump on and start artfarming! And if you have already, thank you! Looking forward to seeing you all soon, here on-line, at the hub or somewhere out there in our communities linking the arts with nature and making some change HAPPEN.

The farm was action-packed the last two weeks of August as the Mudgirls and Good Earth Builders taught over a dozen participants how to turn sand, clay, straw and water into walls.  Like magic, the cob kitchen rose before our eyes

(working on the oven)

Between cob beginnings in June and RETURN/cob finishings in August, deer crossing settled into a July of residencies on the farm.  deer crossing welcomed three of its RETURN installation artists (Meghan Corsie, Shirley Wiebe and Laura Lee Coles) for stays on the farm.

The art farm was out in full force on a sunny saturday in June for the annual Gibsons Jazz Festival.  With help from Pablo Velez, a new art farm member extraordinaire, and the donated tents from Paramount Productions, Creative Director Sandy Buck assembled an art farm tent replete with poetry installation, fabric and banner while Curator Diego Samper created a flying installation with bamb

April showers stayed away on Saturday the 18th as over 30 members of deer crossing gathered down at the workshop/studio for the art farm's first official AGM.  Highlights included kids on the hammock, a fantastic spread, and the election of our new board!