Tyeshia Jones 1992 - 2011

We returned Tyeshia today - back to the womb,
said goodbye, wept light-drops falling from
our eyes, lowered her to the tomb under
fading skies no more the same.

Glistening nature - alive to every step, each note
kept time. Buds on trees, ravens calling and
tears still falling, hundreds followed down the
road, a ringing bell with souls still singing.

We opened up the earth - Mother took her back again
her voice now snuffed, a candle cold not even smoking,
without light and no more joking, just the sound of
thought-provoking silence and some choking.

Asking why - what joy, to take from such short life and
life so taken, this girl daughter, sister, cousin, niece,
or neighbour, maybe someone's girlfriend, angel, baby, a
brief history at its end, now memory, our minds shaken.

We returned Tyeshia today - back to the womb, bid
farewell and wept, swept the pain of light-drops falling
from our eyes again, lowered beneath dark skies still calling.


Rojan Zét

Vancouver Island Leprechauns

That little beach artist leprechaun has been at it again! I'll catch them one of these days!



Photo by Susan Miller

Last Words

He was in a Bed

Outside

With the light on his Face

getting ready to cross

that River


I'll be a different Man

he had once said

and I remember smiling

while he shrugged


The light was warm

and he looked away


He looked back at me

My Light

He said

to Me



and smiled.



~Suzan Kostiuck (Steeves)

Pink Boots

Pink Boots, digital photography, 2009 by Julie Nygaard

Perfect for mud puddles

Passing

Gazing outward, unaccompanied I
pace this earth-station's platform,
each slow step sinking my heart
deeper into release of that
which is free in me, toward
my next stop, a lighter
freedom-finding being.

Swiftly falling away in total
silence, the earth-horizon's
curve bends to an arc becoming
a shrinking turquoise sphere that
disappears to nothing and I am
centered in a hollow black orb
dotted with pin-prick lights.

Immobilized, I cannot say
I am stopped. Enclosed,
I do not feel contained.
Without reference, I am
newly stationed alone in
my transient presence.

Who approaches?

Rojan Zét

Raven's Covenant

When we know what raven knows
we will sing the secret name
of mist and cave

Raven sees her self
in every blade of grass
she enters the heart of stone
and shines with the brilliance of diamonds

The saraband of light on waves
the sacristy of worms
infuse her like the fragrance of lilies

Raven is the throat of the forest
the jubilation of cedar to ocean
her flight a plume of smoke from the molten
core

When we know what raven knows
we will honour the bright centre
and our bones will be wings of prayer


Yvonne Mackenzie

preserving sanity in a broken world

"preserving sanity in a broken world", digital collage by Ron Greenaway. Inspiration from Rojan Zét.

Metal in Motion by Brad Allen

A Youtube video about Brad Allen, Cowichan Valley metal artist.

Turn up your speakers and click "Play".



Visit Brad Allen's website at members.shaw.ca/meddleart

Yvonne MacKenzie

The Cowichan Valley Arts Cafe welcomes Yvonne MacKenzie who wrote:

"... I like to think my poetry reminds people that as well as service on the front lines of change, the land needs activism of the soul in order to create a sustainable existence. For me, that's rooted in gratitude for the beauty of nature...."


Below are links to her inspired poetry posted in the Cowichan Valley Arts Cafe:

• Floating in Roe Lake
• Fools Rush In
• Jupiter Islet
  
• Magic Lake Heron
  
• New Beginnings
• Raven's Covenant
• SEO AN T’AITE MU DHEIREADH The ultimate place (Gaelic)
  
• The Karma of Stones
  

Thank you Yvonne!

MoonDance Dynamic Arts School

Profile of an Arts Group

At any given day at MoonDance Dynamic Arts School, you may find yourself moving to the live upbeat percussion rhythms of West Africa or joyfully learning the art and technique of the West African Djembe. You might be inspired to join lively Bhangra dancing or embrace the spirit of Modern dance. A world of creative passion is yours to engage at MoonDance.

MoonDance Dynamic Arts School is a vibrant cultural and creative hub located based on Vancouver Island for over 11 years. Known for celebrating diversity and cultural understanding through the dance, music and the arts, MoonDance offers a wide range of classes and workshops for all to enjoy.

Artistic Director Lynn Weaver has been dancing all of her life and loves sharing her passion for dance with the community. She has studied extensively across a range of disciplines and believes that each person who participates in learning dance from another culture contributes to the preservation of multiculturalism on this planet. To this end MoonDance employs a varied range of instructors from the local community as well as Africa and around the world who embrace dance, movement and music as a celebration of life.

Classes and workshops are varied and include West African Dance (classes for all ages), West African Drumming (Djembe), Baby and Me West African, Kids Creative Dance, Yoga, Adult Ballet, Asana Dance, Modern, Contact Improvisation, Hip Hop, Pilates, Composition and Performance Art for Kids and fitness classes, among others.

MoonDance believes in the power of community and participates in a number of community building initiatives including a partnership with the nonprofit society Matoto. Matoto is a grassroots organization that uses the arts to channel the natural desire to connect in meaningful ways. They are currently building a much needed school in Guinea Africa. www.matoto.org

Starting in January 2011, MoonDance has a new home at the beautiful Art House in Shawnigan Lake Village, 1756 Wilmot Avenue. MoonDance welcomes the public to enjoy the Art House with an open house on Sunday January 9th from 2:00 - 5:00pm. The day features free workshops, demonstrations and performances for all ages. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information please visit our web site: www.moondancearts.ca or you can call 250.743.5846 or email moondancearts@yahoo.ca

Midnight Year End

you have no idea what this mojo can do and neither do i
are these words too snappy for you too fast
i can slow things down if you like and bring it to you stop frame
until i'm getting it right on the pulse our whole
bodies patterning together in convulsions one piercing
the other pierced and all words carefully parsed

parse this mojo marketer mark it if you have to
that that is is that that is not is not that that is

Rojan Zét

Susan Miller

photo by Susan Miller, hauntress Rathtrevor Beach Parksville

"Common" island birds?

N-E-V-E-R!!

I can never get enough stills of these perfect posing cuties.

Susan Miller Parksville

My name is Susan Miller and I love to take seagull photos and beach art photos.

Beach art photos are when the stars and planets are aligned I very often come across shell sculptures,inukshuks etc left by little leperachauns who ask for nothing but to be admired by visitors like myself.

Calling on all bunnies and leprechauns to show thyselves...

Walking the beach the other morning I noticed the handiwork of a tricky leprechaun and sidekick.

Susan Miller, hauntress Rathtrevor Beach Parksville

Peace, a poem by Rojan Zét

A fabric holding all threads together.
Try to hang on, or just let go, allowing
it to hold you.

Where does it catch you up, snag you, and
how do the pendulous swings carry you?

What rocks do you crash against, and where
does your plummeting smash you to a putty
of flesh and bone?

The spirit slithers away becoming dilute
gossamer, not seen again, leaving just
the faint taste of unrecognized memory.

The time spent hurtling between letting go
and being permanently attached.

May Peace be yours, the evolution of spirit.

Rojan Zét

Brad Allen

Profile of an Artist

Sculptor Brad Allen has been creating metal art for the past fifteen years. Using a torch as a paintbrush he renders his artistic force on a canvas of discarded steel.

“I find the pleasures of expression with the breath of my torch…” - Brad Allen

Influenced by his travels to Italy, Sedona, Maui, and his beloved Hornby Island, Allen creates a fusion of the bold and whimsical—the representative and abstract. His works explore global connections as seen in his interpretation of Aztec art and Japanese kanji symbols. His metal art creates a diversity of first impressions and has a unique capacity to convey insights intuitively and emotionally about family, love, and the dance of life. Allen’s deep connection with nature and his commitment to environmental sustainability combine to produce exquisite, carefully crafted sculptures. Allen values the surface appearance of his stock and using his torch and an array of finishing tools he manipulates his medium to create the perfect aesthetic. With the use of heating and cooling techniques he is able to create colours ranging from earth tones to deep penetrating blues.

His fluid and dynamic sculptures reveal the art of metal in motion. Allen’s innovative creations can be viewed in natural outdoor and indoor galleries on Vancouver Island and in private collections around the world.

Visit Brad Allen's website at members.shaw.ca/meddleart

Postcard to Jupiter

Postcard to Jupiter OR How we got multi-media
(found in a drawer) Earthdate 2010 July 10

My dear Majin,

I'm dining at the Y. What a place for laughs! I met this guy Tom with black hair, his jaw came loose, and his T-shirt which started out being on inside out on this one particular evening when we had our discussion, turned out to have EMBLAZONED on it, "Dier Kennrek I", that is to say, "I recognize my kin..." and I saw it right away - as soon as he turned it around. I said so, and I went with it, I meant it, I looked him straight in the eye, even said it again, and he just kept on staring back at me, his smile growing broader and spreading to his eyes until there were wrinkles everywhere.

What could I do?

I mean, it's not that he had me or anything like that, it's just that it seemed so right, so unbelievable, almost like what I always thought about Truth. Nowadays when I try to visualize Truth I think of an old Ariel Square Four, out of the fifties... a black one... timeless... it would fit in today, yesterday, or tomorrow... like Truth... and truth to me is knowing something, like the feeling of being at home, when those around you are like birds with the same feathers as yours. That's where that saying came from, "Birds of a feather, flock together." It's so simple yet so elegant, and true. I'm part of a flock now, well I guess I always was, really, but now I FEEL part of it, due to awareness of those in my proximity. I recognize them around me, and see myself in those I meet. And wonder of wonders, they seem to like me. My brothers, my sisters, love to all of you.

This guy was my brother, and how did THAT thought make my world change? Well it seems at least I had some time to figure it out. Our paths had gone separate ways since that day long ago when the door closed behind him and I had left Aldabra. How long had it been now...? Let's see... it was the summer before I moved under this overpass where the trains always went through and Lilo and I met there too. Well we meant to meet there but the way it all ended was with me meeting myself where the meat gores through. But that's a whole other story.

You remember I said Tom'd had his T-shirt on inside out? He did. And he is SO compliant, I mean all you gotta do is say something and he'll do it, like, "Move this pile of logs before I get back willya, or HEY, your T-shirt's on in side out," and he jumps up and starts throwing logs around or whips off his shirt... flips it around and throws it back on, then looks up at you with those puppy dog eyes - "Did I do good? Huh? Did I? Did I?" and you just have to offer some encouragement. So there he was, halfway between having the T inside in and out side out and inside out and outside in. Sort of reminds you of something doesn't it... ya, you could see the hairs on his chest, and on his belly, and hanging from his armpits. Maybe you would say he was a hairy guy, but I wouldn't, I've seen harrier, is that how you spell it, I wonder, no that's wrong. "Hairy" gets to become "hairier." "I've seen harrier," ya, that's a good one, I've seen whole suffrin' FLOCKS of 'em, haven't I? You might even say I've been harried. But I absolutely will not allow myself to be hurried. Even harried as I am at times, I take my time. We kind of have an understanding, Time and I. We trade, we exchange, we give and take. When I take it, Time gives. When I give it, Time takes. And we've both agreed to it, it's quite mutual. We're in it for the long haul, both committed, yet we respect each another. And when I'm finally ready to give Time up forever, Time will fully take me. All of me. Kind of comforting don't you think? All of me. All of you. All of us. All together. Birds of a feather. We're ALL birds of a feather, don't you see?

So where was I? Oh ya, the discussion, that's what you were wondering about. Well, I can't say much you know, there's the ban, and there's the incident, and there's the policy, and there's the rules, and there's protocol, and there's the measles, and whaddya know, what next, where will it all stop I ask you? We just can't talk anymore. Can't have that jaw flappin' in the breeze, nosirree podner. Especially now. So much has happened since the last time we talked, nothing will ever be the same.

I love you. We can't help being who we are.

Kiss Lilo for me,

Dura

PS: So that's what it boils down to... can't talk about the discussion any more it seems. Next thing you know it'll be illegal even to speak without permission. Then next we'll have to buy licenses, and then they'll be designating Speakers, (which we'll have to pay for of course) and eventually they'll be built right into our computers. Are you feeling strapped in yet? Maybe I worry too much, if so, it comes from my mother's side. And isn't it the man's side a woman comes from?
Have a side of ribs while you're at it. Ate Smacklik or something like that.

Rojan Zét

Comments
That's really good Rojan, don't take any credit for it but you can put your name on it, just recognize that all you really did was write down the words, and pick out the right ones, and string them together in a certain way, but you could never have thought up something like this yourself, now could you have? How could you have?
M

Vancouver Island Beach Art

Beach art photos are when the stars and planets are aligned I come across shell sculptures, inukshuks etc left by leprechauns who ask for nothing but to be admired.










~ byline and photography by Susan Miller, Parksville

Common Vancouver Island birds?

"Common" island birds?

N-E-V-E-R!!

I can never get enough stills of these perfect posing cuties.

Susan Miller Parksville

Cathi Jefferson

Profile of an Artist

Cathi's career as a studio-trained potter began under mentor Herman Venema in Matsqui, British Columbia, in 1974. She also completed fine arts courses at Kwantlen College and the Fraser Valley College. Two Canada Council Grant provided funding for a 4-month residency at The Archie Bray Foundation in Montana and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Experiences with fellow ceramic artists include a Cuban artist exchange (2004), wood-firings in B.C., Banff, Oregon and Minnesota, and residencies in Banff (2000/2005), Montana (2006), Maine (1997), Japan (1993/ 2003), the UK (2002).

Reflecting Nature: Reflecting Spirit artwork by Cathi Jefferson

Cathi currently teaches ceramics at the University of Victoria, and has taught at the Emily Carr College of Art and Industrial Design, Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, Medalta in Medicine Hat, North Mount Pleasant in Calgary, and at ‘Series’ in Red Deer. Cathi enjoys teaching workshops and sharing experiences with fellow potters through teaching workshops in BC, Canada, Europe and the USA.

Cathi has always been actively involved in the clay community. During a 4-year term as a board member with the Tozan Society, she helped build 2 traditional Japanese wood-fire kilns in Nanaimo. She is affiliated with Circle Craft Co-op, the Potters Guild of BC, the South Vancouver Island Potter’s Guild, and the Fraser Valley Potter’s Guild (president 1995-2007). Since 1996, she has been a member of the Fired Up collective. She recently completed a 3-year term as a North West Ceramic Foundation board member, and is co-chair of the triennial Canadian Clay Symposium.

Her exhibition history has been extensive over the years, being invited to participate in three USA exhibitions at the National Clay Exhibition for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and the ‘21st Century Ceramics’ in Ohio. She was juried into the Sydney Myers International Award, Australia and won the juror’s award at the American Orton Cone Box Show. Among the many publications that have featured her work are Robin Hopper’s 'Functional Pottery' and Phil Roger's 'Salt-Glaze Ceramics'.

Cathi's passion for the preservation of nature is evident is all aspects of her work. Her new studio and gallery on the beautiful Cowichan River near Duncan, BC, is surrounded by the west coast rain forest that inspires her. The unique salt-fired functional stoneware and sculptural forms she creates have designs from nature that she cares so passionately about. Her large sculptural pieces represent the forests that are so crucial to the health of the planet. Her concern for the fragility of nature led her on a three year creative journey that resulted in the installation, 'Reflecting Nature: Reflecting Spirit'.

Visit Cathi Jefferson's website at: www.cathijefferson.com

Todd Robinson, glass artist

Profile of an Artist

Todd Robinson is a self taught glass artist currently living and working out of his studio in Port Alberni, B.C.

After 17 years as an artist / fabricator in the architectural signage and graphics industry on the Lower Mainland he moved to Vancouver Island to start his own home-based business Cascadia Glass Studio in 2007.

In his art he tries to capture the intense beauty of the West Coast and bring it to life on glass. Having been born and raised in the Pacific Northwest has brought a unique flair to his style of glasswork, from intricately detailed coastal panoramas to funky marine-life decor pieces. His largest major work to date was in 2009 when he was commissioned as the glass artist to carve the First Nations designs into the 20 panels featured in the cedar and glass sculpture on permanent display at the Richmond Skating Oval for the 2010 Olympic Games.

Todd works closely with his clients from original design concept to finished artwork to ensure that each piece reflects their own personal style and taste.

Cascadia Glass Studio is located in the scenic Alberni Valley on Vancouver Island surrounded by the mountains, forests and coastlines that inspire Todd's art. Visitors are always welcome to come by and to view the works both finished or in progress and see the technique involved in creating a piece of art on glass.

The possibilities and uses of etched and sandblasted glass can be endless. Doors, windows, partitions, showers, mirrors, signage, storefronts or maybe a piece of art to hang on the wall are just a few of the options. Whatever your idea is we are here to help you achieve it. Whether it be the subtleness of surface etching or the intensity of deep carving, the versatility of sandblasted glass when combined with light will produce a stunning showpiece for your home or business.

Visit Cascadia Glass Studio online at www.cascadiastudio.ca

Herb Rice, wood carver

Profile of an Artist

Herb Rice is a First Nation Artist of Coast Salish descent from the Cowichan Valley. He is a wood carver whose approach to his work is to combine the richness of his heritage with a more contemporary perception.

Herb's art is rendered on wood in forms of Wall Panels, Doors, Totems, Talking Sticks and Figurines, all of which reflect legends, teachings or personal stories of growth. His totems and his animal depictions are carved in local red and yellow cedar, alder or pine and depict traditional Salish and Kwakuitl designs.

The concepts and designs Herb depicts represent values, experiences, philosophies and aspirations of First Nations and non-native individuals, families and organizations. Each art piece is accompanied with a story relating the journey represented.

Learn more about Herb Rice and workshops he offers at: www.coastsalishjourney.com

Sand

Between the pages in these drawers
lies sprinkled sand from distant shores
where once I lay and felt the sun, heard
laughter, and saw children run. There in
the sand I curled my toes, and when I rose,
some came with me.

Please, take my hand. Let's walk along
the beach while high in the sky, jets chalk
white lines beyond our reach that drift away and
fly like sprinkled sand. Our feet of clay make
footprints that we see turn wet as water fills
them disappearing, yet bare feet and I return
from distant shores to dry.

And in between my finger goes, and finds
the sand there with the toes, brought from
unforgotten ages, sprinkled sand that
spots these pages....

Rojan Zét

Between Thumb and Forefinger

Between Thumb and Forefinger, digital painting by Ron Greenaway, inspired by the poem "Between Thumb and Forefinger", by Manuel Erickson.

Compassion

Compassion is a virtue - one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy for the suffering of others are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnectedness and humanism - foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.

More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the so-called Golden Rule embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you.

Ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues.

.. "may I have some more, please ?... "

Kyle, by Julie Nygaard

Learn more about this photograph and about the photographer, Julie Nygaard, at julie-bybrushandpen.blogspot.com.

Here

I am not silent, as some count silence
waiting for inspiration between moments
breathing a stuttering hand contrived,
I am a rock on the land newly arrived.

I am not alone, as some consider loneliness
lying in wait for visitors knocking at a
closed door, rhyming. I am a clock at
midnight, chiming.

I am not afraid, as some fear death
dreading the end or some survival. I
am alive and glistening within this
awkward listening, awaiting your arrival.

Rojan Zét

Beyond the digital divide

Beyond the digital divide
Painting with light by Ron Greenaway

Ron Greenaway

Face your fears, mixed media by Ron Greenaway Carving © City of Duncan

I am currently the moderator of the Cowichan Valley Arts Café.

If I can be of any assistance, something on the site isn't quite right, please let me know. It's my pleasure.

Some inspired creative posts by me in this Café include:

• A Vision of Love
• Baptism
• Between Thumb and Forefinger
• Beyond the Digital Divide
  
• Clouds
• Individualism
• Innocence Lost
  
• Loss
• Life is not art
• preserving sanity in a broken world
  
• Simple-minded dreck
  
• Slam Dunk
  
• Snype Drumming
  
• Sweet Sorrow
• Vancouver Island Thanksgiving
• Venus Winks
  

Cowichan Camerata Strings Orchestra

Profile of Artists

Turn up your speakers and click "Play" to watch video.

The Cowichan Camerata Strings Orchestra is a group of musicians of all ages, coming together to make music!

The orchestra started 5 years ago under the direction of conductor Garth Williams and has gathered musicians within our community, ages 10-90years. It has been a great inter-generational community group which enjoys playing with each other and playing for the Cowichan area.

We strive to perform music which appeals to all ages, and to make orchestral music accessible to the community. We have performed at the Cowichan District Hospital, Cairnsmore and Wedgewood House. We have played on stage at the Duncan Farmer's Market and at the Station during Duncan Days and Duncan's Christmas lighting.

Our orchestra welcomes new members! Please contact us, or come to a rehearsal and check us out!

A sample of our music from the spring concert, Musical Glimpses of Summer, to scenes of summer on Vancouver Island.

For more information about us and our upcoming performances visit:
www.cowichancamerata.org.

Damned

© 2008, 2010 Manuel Erickson

You are damned.
Viscous gel oozes
from your heart that is blacker
than the blackest diamond
than the blackest coal
than the biggest black hole in the cosmos.
Your sons will disavow and hate you
when they see and understand
the damage you have done
to me, their grandfather:
your stolid silence, your letter
filled with loathing, your decision
not to have anything to do with me—
I, who loved you:
for you will have damaged them.

Are you redeemable? perhaps: if you
see, understand and acknowledge
the bullets you have shot
into my heart and theirs;
perhaps: if nightmares force you
to swim in tears of shame
until your eyes dry out
and become orbs of sandy grit
until you beg forgiveness
on bleeding knees
for your wrongs.

Only then.

Then, in a time not that futuristic,
your children might say to you,
“Thank you, Mum, for giving me
my grandfather.”

Between Thumb and Forefinger

© 2010 Manuel Erickson

She has you between thumb and forefinger,
Like a fly;
She'll squeeze the life out of you
If you so much as whisper rebellion.