art

It’s been an busy season so far and there’s lots more to come, at least there is around here. The photos scattered through this post are from two of the events I’ve attended this month – the Avo Showdown and the Lick My Plate launch. Now I’m looking forward to fun with food, stimulating presentations, and more than a little art appreciation over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow, the Heritage Vancouver Society hosts the first in the Shaping Vancouver 2016 series – What’s a Neighbourhood? In the face of so much change in our city, what are the things we should be preserving or encouraging to maintain and promote community in our neighbourhoods?

This coming weekend, you’ve got a chance to weigh in on the Vancouver Public Library’s future. Whatever comes of these sessions, that future should include physical books. They’re still the surest way to guarantee equal access to knowledge, especially in a climate of growing income inequality.

The weekend after, there are two events I’m excited about – the Parker Art Salon and the East Van Hop Circuit.

The Parker Art Salon is a chance to view and buy art from the studios at 1000 Parker Street, with a little less chaos and much warmer weather than November’s Culture Crawl. The Hop Circuit is a self-guided tour of 13 of my neighbourhood’s craft breweries, with some samples, insider tours, and food trucks. Both are within walking distance for me, cycling distance for many, and transit for everyone else – I wouldn’t drive if I were you, the parking alone will just make you miserable. Between the two events, I think I’ve got that weekend covered.

And just in case you need a little incentive to (a) add to your cookbook collection and (b) get canning/fermenting/preserving, the folks behind Well Preserved have released a cool zine-style bonus package for their upcoming Batch Cookbook. Once you’ve pre-ordered the book, you can find the download link, here.

At the very least, April’s already shaping up to be a delicious month, if what I’ve tasted so far is any indication.

I saw this article today and it got me thinking about all the cooking and gardening I’ve been doing. I have mixed feelings about the author’s point of view. It’s true that Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own is still relevant (and not just for upper middle class, white, cisgendered women), but the food movement that’s happening now isn’t a retreat back into traditional gender roles. It’s coming out of a greater awareness of the health of the earth and its inhabitants.

I’m obviously going to have to ponder this more and write a longer post, but for now, here are my thoughts:

I’ve seen folks of all genders getting more involved in where their food comes from and how it’s preserved and processed;
Many of the younger folks that are getting involved are choosing farming and cooking as life paths, rather than getting bogged down by food-related tasks instead of making art;
Many artists do separate themselves (if they have that luxury) from daily tasks, though others find gardening or cooking a relaxing and contemplative activity that feeds their creativity.