by Morna Cassidy | Friday night’s launch of the Eastside Culture Crawl brought out the city’s aesthetes and scenesters alike and, as a recent migrant to the beautiful west coast, I was no exception. My initiation into this festival was opening night at 1000 Parker Street; a night of open doors and open minds; a night of revelry and visual overload.

Images by Kin Chan and Morna Cassidy

Approaching the host venue is awe inspiring in and of itself. The façade is captured in many images promoting Vancouver’s art scene; it truly is a building with an obvious past and, more notably, a building with presence. Next time around I would recommend a compass for navigating the labyrinth of hallways. I’m still not certain if I hit all the studios, but I did feel a little like Alice In Wonderland while exploring these spaces, which were unbound by the arbitrary flow of the typical trade show type of exhibition. Travelling the crooked floors and uneven staircases, which only helped to convey the evening’s inherent sense of adventure, I quickly realized that there was as much art to the building as there was in its studios.

Wandering from room to room, the sheer exposure to art was at times overwhelming. While some of the host artists seemed dour and unapproachable, the more humble among them ranked highest on my list of the most impactful. The works ranged from tired, west-coast-folkish to truly astounding creations of artistic vision, the sort that makes the Eastside Culture Crawl an arts festival comparable to the best in the world. Stand outs were oil painter Cybele Ironside, interior designers New Leaf, and mixed media artist Shari Pratt. From metal workers, leather graphers, and furniture designers to photographers, painters, screen printers, and glass blower, the neighbourhood probably has more working artists in residence than Florence did during the Renaissance, and it showed.

As an incubator of creativity, The Crawl sets Vancouver apart and reminds us that there is no better way to become infatuated with a neighbourhood than to be a house guest of its artists. While I can now technically call my self a Vancouver resident, I still feel like a visitor at times. The Crawl made me feel at home.

———————————————————–

A self-professed lover of all things newsworthy and noteworthy, Morna Cassidy is an avid follower and critic of art and design, culture and trends. Previously working among the glitterati of the fashion world in Toronto and London, she recently left her sequined outfits to explore new adventures in Gore-tex (metaphorically speaking) here in Vancouver.

———————————————————–