Eastside Culture Crawl 2016

Vancouver’s Eastside Culture Crawl celebrates its 20th anniversary this year from November 17 to 20, 2016. The beloved four-day celebration of visual arts, design, and crafts welcomes the community into open studios, homes, and garages throughout Vancouver’s Eastside community (bounded by Columbia Street, 1st Avenue, Victoria Drive, and the waterfront.) Drawing more than 25,000 visitors from across Metro Vancouver and beyond, attendees can look forward to an impressive assortment of singular creations from more than 475 participating visual artists at this year’s monumental event.

Planning your visit to Eastside Culture Crawl

Having experienced the Crawl year after year, here are some of our tips for navigating the ECC:

• Review the participating artists and highlight an area on the map to start with. The larger buildings such as Parker Street Studios, Mergatroid, Railtown Studios, and MakerLabs are popular starting points (especially for first-timers), but do note they get quite busy – start your day early on the weekends, or venture out on the first two evenings, which tend to be a bit mellower.
• Dress in weather-appropriate layers and comfortable walking shoes.
• Bring friends and a thermos of hot coffee or cocoa to keep warm along the route.
• Be respectful of the art and artists’ spaces – they are happy to share their work but be mindful that you are entering their personal live/work spaces.
• Bring cash and credit cards – this is an opportune time to buy some unique pieces from local artists for yourself or as gifts.

Participating Artists

With over 475 participating artists and makers, it’s nearly impossible to shortlist our favourites. Here’s a sample of who we’re looking forward to seeing this year (new and returning):

Tracy McMenemy (first time, mixed media) – Primarily self-taught, her mixed media work blurs the lines between painting and photography.

Rachael Ashe (returning, mixed media) – Rachael creates mesmerizing, intricate paper cut work and installations. Recent commissions include a folded paper construction made from reclaimed maps for Vancity Credit Union, as well as the engineering of ten full-sized paper musical instruments for Giant Ant creative studio.

Marty McLennan (returning, furniture, metalwork) – An award-winning freelance photojournalist in the travel and leisure industry, Marty ties his decades of experience in architectural image creation with the crafting of three dimensional functional objects that are not only sensual to the eye and touch, but functional as well.

Robinson Studio, (returning, sculpture) – In David Robinson’s own words: “It seems to me that my sculptures, before they are anything else, are manifestations of fitful waking dreams; narratives whole and smashed, images, ideas, all distilled through the passage of time and the particular resistance of matter.”

Hobo Woodworks, (returning, furniture, leatherwork, wood) – Using reclaimed wood indigenous to BC, the two brothers behind Hobo blend of old and new wood to create their pieces.

A Cagey Bee, (returning, painting, jewelry) – Inspired by vintage storybooks her mother read to her as a child, Kris G. Brownlee loves to bring her imaginary friends to life on canvas.

Richard Tetrault, (painting, murals, returning) Fun fact: Richard is one of the founders of the Culture Crawl; he came up with the name and crow logo. A Vancouver-based painter, printmaker and muralist, Richard’s work has been shown in more than 80 exhibitions locally and internationally.

Jessa Gilbert (painting, drawing) Merging her love for art and adventure, Jessa has a fascinating #getoutoftownvibe series – it was created outside during her journeys along the road, paths, beaches, and cliff sides. She’s over at The Gam Gallery 110 E Hastings this weekend.

Eastside Culture Crawl Special Events

Additionally, the Culture Crawl features numerous showcases including demos, talks, and special exhibitions. For the full lineup, visit the Culture Crawl events page. Here’s a few we’ve highlighted for this year: