Green-Wood cemetery in Brooklyn, 2011 (hdr snapshot)
studio visit : Montréal’s écorce
I had the pleasure to hang out at Montréal’s écorce studio last month, visiting friends (co-owners) Karl and Véronique, and their team, as they worked late nights and weekends, designing for Montreal’s cinema festival, among other projects.
It’s a sweet space, and the team has focussed energy (made me nostalgic for the larger on-site team we used to have here at Rocketday). Particularly nice to see was écorce taking pen to paper for much of their design work.
Check out what the work they did for the festival at their website.
This morning I woke at my brother-in-law’s place, propping myself up on his sofa to continue plugging away at the current project’s web code, extending and customizing WordPress with lots of PHP and some MySQL. After a few hours it was time for break. Took the kids up into the forest at Grouse Mountain. I joined Sofia and Astrid in pretending we were archers, fighting off an army in the woods. We weaved around the trees and I stepped in a pile of fresh bear poo. Got back to the car where Lesley was reading her book. Turned on the kids’ mix cd with Tom Waits and Screaming Jay, and ate a banana muffin while driving down the hill in crisp autumn mountain sun.
me : I’m so tired I think I’m going to cry.
Valentina (my neighbour, age 8) : oh good! then I can see the river of tears!
Astrid (my daughter, age 8) : is there really a river called the river of tears?
I suppose I make music, but I’m not actually sure “musician” is the best description for me. I find my roles are a bit different than a traditional musician — that I see myself combining the roles of a performer, a composer, a collector, a producer. Everyday I question the value of music. What keeps me interested is based on how I see life. I believe that our experience of life can be approached from multiple perspectives — that we’re frequently surrounded by open-ended questions. Art has a way of exploring, questioning or criticizing our environment. And I feel that music helps people stop, and re-experience life or a moment, with a different meaning or perspective. Offering these opportunities to explore different meanings or perspectives enriches our experience of life, and that’s where I’m finding the most value.
— Andrea Young, interviewed by Emrys for Innovations en concert
our poster for Innovations en concert,
which started today and runs for a week in Montréal (see website)
stronger health through increased time spent in nature — a multi-sector workshop
snapshots from yesterday’s daytime discussions at the Healthy by Nature forum, which we (Rocketday / Among Nature) were proud to sponsor
snapshots, in low light, from yesterday’s opening night of the Healthy by Nature forum at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC
Healthy by Nature forum imagery, featuring leaf arrangement by 7-year-old Lucy
(see more leaves at Among Nature, or learn about the forum at Healthy by Nature)
a very simple website for our friends Joey, David & Katy
where we provided photography, design & webcode (over WordPress),
and we hired the lovely Aimée van Drimmelen to help illustrate the hand & leaf logo
an overview of UVic’s research
a few sample spreads: wayfinding motif, photography & text provided by UVic; design by Rocketday
