Jay in the Fiji Times

Copyright © 2007, Fiji Times Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Jens joyous journey with art
EMELINE NAIKALIVOU (Thursday, December 13, 2007)

Jennifer James poses beside one of her paintings

Jennifer James always had a passion for art, particularly painting.
The Canadian simply cannot imagine her life without art as it brings her immense joy.
She recalls her young years when she would draw on anything she got hold of.
Her artistic tendencies are hardly surprising given her families artistic background.
Here family were known for their body sculptures.
So when they learnt she had she had no affinity for the family's past-time passion, they found it odd and were quite taken aback.
And much to their disappointment, Jennifer was so set on becoming an artist.
Common ground was finally reached when parties resolved that she continue her studies in order to secure a better job and only after could she be allowed to become an artist.
Jennifer said she did not have the heart to disappoint her family so she continued and successfully pursued a diploma in physiotherapy.
She now owns a clinic in Canada.
"I had to work in a clinic for six months and then after three months, I opened my very own clinic with the help of my business partner," she proudly relayed.
Today the promising artist from Vancouver is more confident and self-assured.
She is still buzzing from the rush of having 30 of her artwork exhibited at the University of the South Pacific's Oceania Art and Cultural Centre
She was very pleased with the response.
The second-year USPArt student Jennifer says she could not have asked for a better place to master her passion.
"I have come to understand what art is all about," she enthused.
"I was really honoured to have an exhibit in the Oceania Art Centre.
Jennifer says art is not only about putting colours together to make the picture look good.
It is instead a way of expressing feelings, moods and views on a particular subject, she said.
I love to draw something that promotes peace and harmony, she added.
While painting is the ultimate de-stressor for her, nature walks, reading, spending time with friends and baking are also activities she cares to indulge in.
She says young artists should find a good mentor, practice, and above all have fun.
Jennifer laments though that the high cost of painting materials is a restrictive factor to the development of the art.
Resources in this field are very limited, thus very expensive, she said. The tropical weather is also another disadvantage as oil paints take longer to dry in the heat.
The artist says she has unconsciously developed a ritual on how she chooses her paintings.
Whenever she feels the urge to draw she first meditates on the subject.
Normally, the first colour that pops into her head is what she uses to depict her theme.
Each work of art holds special meaning for Jennifer because through each piece, she tries to relay a message. Her work is largely about peace and harmony.
One day she hopes to be able to make a living from her artwork.
My ultimate goal is to open a gallery so that I can support other artists, she said.

Copyright © 2007, Fiji Times Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Plague of Fork Bugs Hits Nelson Daily News

Our Fork bugs managed to get on the first page of The Nelson Daily News. Here is a scan of the article...

Plague hits Nelson Daily News

KSA X-mas Show

This weekend was the annual KSA student Christmas show and sale. We had our fork bug plague in the show and sold 88 of the little buggers at 10 bucks a pop. The school takes 25% as fund raising for the One of a Kind Show in Toronto. Here is a small selection of the student works. I didn't manage to photograph it all.

KSA Xmas Show

Hockey Night at Goose Creek

I began today reinstalling my throttle cable that I pulled out at lunch yesterday. I hung it in the bath all day and let the water drip out. Quite a bit came out, so no wonder it kept freezing. I lubed it up and spent an hour and a half freezing my ass off installing it this morning so I could go skating in the afternoon. Kevin invited us out to his place to go skating on his little pond. It wasn't too cold once you started moving and we managed to get in a little shinny with squished beer cans as pucks!

Hockey Night at Goose Creek

Snow!

Well the snow has finally arrived in Nelson. It was promised and promised to be here at the end of October and arrived just a few days shy of a month late. I was so excited to start snapping pictures of my journey to school (uphill in both directions!) I left my keys on the kitchen table. I had to enlist the help of Darcy to steady the crooked lattice while I shimmied up and climbed through the bathroom window. I am now officially a pro, Michelle and I had to do the same routine when I closed the door on our way to do laundry.
Cold temperatures have also arrived with the snow wreaking havoc on my little truck. First the emergency break was frozen and then the throttle cable. Kind of difficult to drive when you can't press on the gas. Well, half a can of "Cable Life" lube squirted in I went for a test run to get groceries. The journey there was smooth like butter and my new tires stick like molasses. The return journey wasn't so uneventful. The throttle was frozen again. So I tapped the gas and got her stuck at about 2000 rpm and drove home varying speed with fancy gear changes and incredible key control. Upon arriving home I squirted in more lube and freed the cable. I will have to give her a test drive tomorrow...

Snow!

Water Lily Lamp

Ok here is my finished lamp. It has been sitting finished for weeks in the lunch/presentation room patiently waiting for me to take photos... I find it often turned on with the ugly fluorescent lights off, while people eat lunch and chat.

Water Lily Lamp

Plague of Fork Bugs Hits Nelson District Art Council Craft Faire!!!

So we thought a few weeks ago it would be fun to try and get a booth at a craft fair. A class mate's partner put us in touch with the NDAC Craft Faire. This fair is the only juried fair in the Kootenays. We got in. I like to think it was because of my belt buckles, but truly they were desperate for more artists... I put my buckles in and Darcy made some amazing moon candle holders and Katherine put in some raku-like platters and a single picture frame. We also thought about fork bugs. Katherine found one on a dead old rusty motorbike at Kevin's place. I tweaked it a bit so it could be a fridge magnet. The rest is history. So far we have sold about 120 of the little buggers with Sunday still to come...

NDAC Craft Faire

Cancel-gar

Well the rumors are true, it really is called the Cancel-gar Airport. To begin with, Michelle's ticket was booked for today from Vancouver to Castlegar. Kinda the wrong direction. She managed to sort it out and got on the 9:30 am flight today. We got to the airport, said our teary goodbyes and I headed back to Nelson. The flight was canceled about 2 minutes after I left. So Michelle had to take a shuttle back to Nelson and catch the 5:20 pm Greyhound home. 12 hours! At least we got to spend the day together.

Cancelgar

Ainsworth Hot Springs

Today Michelle and I headed to the soothing waters of Ainsworth Hot Springs. It was a nice escape from the Nelson dirty hippies. Not so surprisingly hippies appear to avoid the tepid waters, it probably washes away the patchouli stench and disentangles their musty dreads. There are a number of different temperatures to enjoy from just above freezing to near lobster boiling.

Ainsworth Hot Springs

Visit to Andrew Raney's shop.

Today we went to meet with an incredibly humble and extremely talented man. Andrew Raney creates birds and other animals out of welding filler rod and small gauge steel sheets. With nothing more than an oxy/acetylene setup and a throat-less Beverly sheer his birds come to life. It was a fantastic trip to his shop in Salmo, enjoy the pictures.

Andrew Raney

Coeur d 'Alene to Crawford Bay

We left Spokane on Sunday morning after mom was up all night worshiping to the porcelain gods. We ate at some pathetic "Asian Fusion" where the California roll was made with tinned crab and the gyozas were made with tainted pork. Thankfully, Michelle wasn't with us as she always eats gyozas and I doubt the loo was big enough to accommodate more than a single worshiper. We arrived in Coeur d 'Alene and found it to be a more arty town than red-neck Spokane. We ate lunch and headed North to hit the artisans at Crawford Bay so mom could get a Harry Potter broom....

Coeur d 'Alene to Crawford Bay

Spokane

Well my folks have come for a visit and after they frolicked in the hot springs at Ainsworth we decided to head South to spend our strong Canadian dollar. After school on Friday we headed for the border and our first destination; Spokane. Spokane is a sprawling city of 200K, filled with enormous bill boards and 5 lane highways. I found it to be quite a culture shock as Nelson is so small and dark (especially at night).

Spokane

Pasties'n'Braids at Kevin's

Katherine, Lesha and I spent the day at Kevin's shop playing blacksmith again. It was a very successful day. We made a neato braided twist and fixed the pastie die. We are are pretty much ready to go into production.

Braid Twist

Pasties

My street

Nelson - Fall

Fall has hit Nelson and the colours are truly amazing.

Makin' Pasties!

Well not yet, making the tooling to make pasties. A few of us thought it would be fun to make copper and steel pasties. Katherine and I went to Kevin's shop (Katherine actually lives there) to make the bottom die and to play with the fly press. A big evil machine that smooshes metal between dies and would have no issue taking of your head in the process.

Top & Bottom Pastie Dies

Life Drawing 101

Life Drawing

Ok so I didn't get the hot little number to draw in class today. But, I assure you it has left an impression. There is something wrong with an elderly lady with a Brazilian. I was hoping to use my 6B to heavily shade in the bits. Well I couldn't very well do that with them all exposed in their glory. Thankfully, the model's poses hid things. Take a look at my final drawing, there is no need to see the few lead up drawings. I also apologize to the model, I didn't do you justice, The chair on the other hand I nailed!

Salmo, BC

Salmo

Today I decided to head south to Salmo to see the infamous stone murals carved by students of the masonry school. I wasn't expecting "rock by number" murals, pretty disappointing, but they were interesting none the less. The drive through the valley was beautiful as the leaves are turning to their fall colours.

Drawing 101 - Octopus

Here is a study we had to do on motif. I chose an octopus and boiled it down to the suckers, eyes and siphon.

Sea Horse

Seahorse

Here is my inflated fish project. I'm not sure why I chose a seahorse but am glad I did. It turned out much better than I anticipated.

More of Michelle's Nelson reading

Gil Courtemanche: a Canadian author, both books are about death but are written in a beautiful way
A Good Death
A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali

Bryce Courtenay: it's by Bryce Courtenay, so it's pretty much perfect
Smoky Joe's Cafe

Louise Doughty: details the experience of the Roma in the concentration camps of WWII, very informative
Fires in the Dark

Roddy Doyle: after five books, I'm still not sick of him
The Woman Who Walked into Doors
Paddy Clarke, Ha-Ha-Ha
Oh, Play that Thing

Carrie Fisher: highly entertaining, good fluff
Postcards From the Edge
The Best Awful

Gita Mehta: a wonderful snapshot of Hinduism and other assorted religions
A River Sutra

Emma Richler: about a woman who had such a wonderful childhood she's reluctant to let it go
Sister Crazy

Kaslo - SS Moyie

Kaslo -SS Moyie

Today for our Sunday adventure we went to the small town of Kaslo about an hour NE of Nelson to see the SS Moyie. The Moyie was launched in 1898 and is the world's oldest intact passenger stern wheeler. It was quite interesting to imagine the ship's passengers traveling down Kootenay Lake. The Moyie connected rail passengers from Kootenay landing (near Creston) to Nelson. www.klhs.bc.ca/home.htm

Sinixt Barter Fair & Class BBQ

Sinixt-Kevin's BBQ

We went to the Sinixt Barter Fair about 30 minutes outside of Nelson in the Slocan Valley. Evidently the Canadian Government no longer recognizes them as a nation, I guess 2000 members isn't enough. The fair was full of organic-this and organic-that. We ate a bison burger and washed it down with a frozen raspberry juice. After the fair we went to my instructor's place, which was an old Doukhobor homestead. We played a bit in his shop and had a BBQ around a camp fire.

Drawing 101

Ok here are my attempts at drawing for drawing class.

Hippies Use Side Door

Sandon, BC.

Sandon - BC

Sunday, another local exploration day. We headed out first thing this morning with two classmates of Erick's. Our destination was Sandon, a ghost town located about an hour and a half north of Nelson. The weather was perfect, with the sun shining as we picked our way through old mining sites. There is a lot of history in this area, with dilapidated shacks and remnants of old machinery lurking around nearly every switchback.
Our experience was not limited to man-made things. We also saw animals, such as chipmunks, deer, and an extremely large dead rat. However, on our way back to Nelson we sighted a rather unusual bird standing by the roadside. There, in all its hideous glory, was a wild turkey. Totally unexpected. And unfortunately, totally not photographed. Please peruse the album for a visual record of our adventure. And yes, the fresh snow on the mountains did seem like it was close enough to touch. As you will see, the whole day was pretty darn fabulous.
www.slocanlake.com/sandon/

Smith'n'stuff

Smith'n'stuff

Michelle's Nelson Reading List

Douglas Coupland: never read him before, his books are so easy to devour in one sitting
All Families Are Psychotic
Hey Nostradamus!
Eleanor Rigby

Roddy Doyle: he's kind of like an Irish Coupland, very amusing and depressing all at the same time
A Star Called Henry
Paula Spencer

Edwidge Danticat: a little woo woo for my taste
The Farming of Bones

Neil Gaiman: like science fiction without being too geeky
American Gods

Alai (yes, just one name): if you've ever wondered what the life of a Tibetan chieftan was like, here's the book for you
Red Poppies

Sheri Reynolds: a very lovable main character, warts and all
A Gracious Plenty

I haven't had a public library card for years and I must say it is so enjoyable. Unlike when I'm buying books, I don't have to choose the epic length ones in order to get my money's worth.

Michelle's Weekend

Okay folks, I know our blog has been a bit neglected. My excuse is that I was busy with a workshop this past weekend. I spent Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday at an event hosted by Kootenay Restorative Justice. I traveled to picturesque Slocan, located in the beautiful Slocan Valley. It is only about an hour from our home in Nelson, and is a very peaceful and soothing drive.

This is where I spent the weekend, G. E. Graham Community School. The workshop was officially a Restorative/Community Justice Forum Facilitator training course. I will be receiving a certificate of participation soon, and after I have observed, co-facilitated, and facilitated at least 5 forums, I can apply for certification. Community Justice Forums (CJFs) are used all across the province and the country and can be used to deal with minor incidents involving vandalism all the way up to assaults. The trainer, Kay Medland, is based in Trail, where CJFs involving young offenders are conducted. CJFs can be used as an alternative to the traditional court system.
The model we were using is based on restorative justice (RJ) principles. For those of you who have not been indoctrinated by me, RJ views crime as a harm that is done to both victims and communities. Therefore, to repair the harm, offenders, victims, and communities must all work together. The aim of RJ is to hold offenders accountable for their actions while supporting victims and allowing offenders to make amends for their behaviour. Key to RJ is Braithwaite's theory of reintegrative shaming, that using shame to condemn an individual's actions while still offering support to the person will allow him to rejoin society instead of being excluded. That's it in a nutshell, I could go on much longer, but then I would have to charge you.
The content of the workshop was review for me, but it was a good opportunity to participate in some roleplays and meet new people. I stayed at the Lemon Creek Lodge on Friday night, and I would recommend it to anyone heading this way for an adventure. The restaurant is great and the beds are super comfortable.

Here is Erick's neglected garden. He waters, nurtures, fawns and tends with great love and care.

A mouse in our house!

Aside from the occasional spider, we were under the impression that our home was unoccupied when we moved in. However, as old houses are prone to have, there was a resident rodent who was just waiting to make our acquaintance. It must have been torture for him as he waited to raid our junk food cupboard with nervous anticipation. What a smorgasbord awaited him there! While we explored our new town, the mouse was busy at work. He gorged himself on potato chips, chocolate from Denman Island (that will teach Michelle to wait to enjoy a treat!), and finished off the feast with some healthy wraps. To add insult to injury, he managed to eat all the peanut butter off the traps left for him, going so far as to set one off without getting caught. The traps were reset with good old fashioned cheese, which ultimately did the trick. We're pretty sure we're the only ones living in the suite right now, and hopefully it stays that way.

The Spawning of the Salmon

We have decided that Sunday will be local exploration day. Today we set out for Kokanee Creek Park, which is only about 15 minutes from our house by car. It is on the north shore of Kootenay Lake and is home to the Kokanee salmon run. The Welcome Wagon lady, Edna, told Michelle about it when she visited last week. Unlike their coastal counterparts, the Kokanee salmon are unique in that they are landlocked. The salmon run channel was built 25 years ago in order to increase the salmon stock in the lake. Kootenay Lake has a sports fishing industry, and local flood control efforts had devastated the run. The artificial channel has succeeded in increasing the stock, and upwards of half a million salmon hatch every year. It is certainly a sight to behold, with all the crimson fish pushing upstream with all their might. They swim past fellow salmon who have given up the fight and have lost their dramatic colouring. Some areas of the creek are just a solid mass of squirming blood-red backs. Erick refers to these areas as salmon orgies; Michelle considers them to be eddies where the salmon are merely resting.

Tram Ride

We took a vintage tram ride along the Kootenay Lake waterfront complete with a run through the Wal-Mart parking lot!






Here is the shop that Erick managed to get my belt buckles into, it is owned by Michelle's cousin. Hopefully some will sell...