We recently reported that Lynn Valley’s Hilary Ewart had successfully completed a 100-mile, five-day run through India’s Himalayan range, in the company of other North Shore running friends.
Now you can come hear Hilary and three other runners talk about their Himalayan adventure, along with the Mount Everest Challenge Marathon, at Jaycee House on Friday, February 8. See details below!
LynnValleyLife loves to profile local artists from all walks of life. If you’re a Lynn Valley musician, writer, artist, or other performer, let us know and we’ll send you our questionnaire! Here’s our latest interview, with visual artist Kevin McKay:
How long have you lived in Lynn Valley?
My wife and I have lived in Lynn Valley now for four years.
How would you describe the type of art you create? Have you always painted, or have you worked in different genres?
I always drew for fun when I was growing up. I’m a self-taught artist with a vast imagination. When I was young I mainly used shading pencils, pencil crayons, and felt. I would create cartoon characters and landscapes. I would colour them in, practice shading and bring them to life that way. I continued that from very young to about 20 years old, and I still love to colour and shade drawings in.
Then around the age of 20 I started taking the drawings I did on paper and put them onto canvases using acrylics. This made the characters and landscape pop out way more. I’ve always had a love for graffiti. The big colourful pieces always attracted me. I would sketch out letters and create a background then colour it all in with the acrylics.
Then about five months ago I was flipping through YouTube videos of graffiti artists when I saw this other style of painting using spray paint. People were creating planets and detailed landscapes using paint, magazines for texture, lids off of jars that act as a stencil for the planets, sponges, pallet knife. Mainly everything you can find in your own home.
This style really intrigued me, so I went down to Opus and picked up some spray paint. The first one I tried was a simple space scene. It came out so cool. From that first canvas I was hooked. From there I have progressed from simple space scenes to advanced nature scenes, with mountain ranges, waterfalls, trees, bushes. The spray paint changed my style from very cartoony landscapes and characters to more detailed, true landscape pieces.
I’m an aspiring artist who works landscaping during the day and paints it by night.
Do you work alone, or take part in some sort of artists’ community?
I mainly work alone. I have done one demonstration before at Opus Art Supplies. It was a two-hour demo on different techniques. I am open to more demos for sure! I also do custom orders. Each piece I do for someone, I film and edit the painting as it comes to life. I recently took part in the Anonymous Art Show down at Cityscape. I sold two pieces there in the first hour of the opening night. My main focus on art is progression and to be able to inspire people as I go along!
What inspires you to create works of art?
Nature is a huge inspiration! I have spent many years in Lynn Canyon, cliff jumping and hiking around the entire park. The river and waterfalls through there are a big inspiration as well.
What do you do with your finished pieces?
Currently I have a lot of them on my wall. I will be taking some canvases and other art pieces down to a Gallery called “Art Addiction” at 138 Pender Street. It is a gallery that is starting up and already has beautiful collection of art.
Can you tell us about one or two of your favourite pieces?
My first favourite piece would have to be the snowboard I painted. The board was unusable so I turned it into a piece of art, I call it “Mystic Forest” I like it because the greens pop out so nicely and I just think it all flows nicely.
The second one would have to be one I recently did of Twin Falls. It was my first try at it, and was from memory. I like this because it has opened a new set of paintings. I am going to be doing one of 90-foot pool, focusing on the jump known as “gateway”.
What are some of your other hobbies or accomplishments?
I have many other hobbies. Some are cliff jumping in the canyon in the summer, and soaking up the sunny weather on the rocks at Thirty Foot. I’ve made a movie of a summer in Lynn Canyon. It’s on YouTube under “lynn canyon locals.”
Can you tell us a bit about your ‘day job’?When I’m not there I can usually be found riding my BMX around various North Van and downtown spots. I love hiking, kayaking, and basically anything outside.
How can people see or learn more about your work?I work for “Sequoia Landscaping.” We do driveways, patios, pathways, and retaining walls. My favourite thing to work with is paving stones. I love doing big driveways, there is definitely an art to all of it – that’s why I enjoy it so much, I guess!
Currently I have a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Outhere-designs/437828496265306
I’m in the middle of getting a website up and running so stay tuned!
Kevin McKay
Outhere designs
604-839-6182 Email: [email protected]
North Vancouver District Council members sat in front of a packed house at their first regular council meeting since the Christmas break.
Most people in attendance at the Jan. 7th meeting were there to demonstrate their interest in the future of Lynn Valley as envisioned in the Lynn Valley Town Centre Implementation Plan. While a number of open houses, surveys and other feedback events had been held during the plan’s development – a fact of which the audience was reminded on more than one occasion over the course of the evening – the inclusion of high-rise buildings in the planning department’s ultimate proposal was largely to account for a recent rush of activity amongst some local residents.
As expressed in letters to the North Shore News and self-published leaflets, their concerns include potential changes in traffic patterns and neighbourhood character that would accompany the high-density residences.
LynnValleyLife publisher Jim Lanctot described the tenor of the evening as being orderly and respectful. “The District council and staff were clearly willing to listen, and to go the extra mile to make sure people have the chance to express their views. At the same time, they’re being clear that town planning is a joint District-citizen responsibility. They want people to suggest realistic solutions to the issues at hand, instead of just veto-ing everything they don’t like.”
Local resident Dan Ellis is the chair of the Implementation Committee, a citizen-based body that helps engage the community and monitors the implementation of the Official Community Plan in NVD neighbourhoods. At the council meeting, his presentation spoke to the importance of citizen involvement at all stages of the planning process, and the trade-offs that must be carefully considered in decision-making.
Town planner Karen Rendek gave a brief PowerPoint history of Lynn Valley’s town centre planning to date, which included the recommendation that Council direct staff to engage in further intensive community consultation activities over the next few months, with the goal of creating a draft plan by the end of April. Council approved this recommendation. For video clips of the meeting’s highlights, or the entire recorded proceedings, click here.
LynnValleyLife encourages all local residents to think about the planning issues thoughtfully, and to learn more by reading the background material along with views from a diverse range of citizens and professionals. The Lynn Valley Community Association offers an excellent Sustainable Communities speaker series that brings in expert speakers on a range of topics, and we have a reader-friendly, encapsulated history of the town planning process on our Front Porch blog.
Once you’ve had the chance to think through some of the issues at stake, we invite you to submit your own opinions and comments to share with other LynnValleyLife readers. Please click on this post for our submission guidelines.
Stay on top of the town planning consultation process by reading our blog and Events Calendar, becoming a member of the Lynn Valley Community Association, and visiting North Van District’s Identity website regularly. Given this newly extended consultation period, there’s no excuse to stay uninvolved!
For a number of years, North Vancouver District planners worked on an Official Community Plan for the municipality, which was formally approved by council in June 2011. That OCP then became the foundation for the further planning of ‘town centre’ areas of the District, including Lynn Valley.
During both processes, the District offered a large number of workshops, open houses, surveys and other citizen engagement activities to solicit the views of as many residents as possible. However, you can’t please all the people all the time, and now that proposals for Lynn Valley’s town centre redevelopment are being announced, people have expressed their views, both positive and negative, in a variety of forums.
At the Jan. 7 NVD council meeting, staff recommended, and Council approved, a further period of public engagement before another town centre implementation plan is submitted in April. See our report of the meeting here.
Our goal at LynnValleyLife has been to communicate helpful information about the OCP implementation plans, offer explanations about re-zoning processes and the path of development applications, and ensure residents have the contact information they need to ask questions, learn more, and submit their own feedback. Those articles are being posted to the Development and Town Planning section of our Front Porch blog, so that’s a good place to start learning about some of these issues.
Now we would like to launch a forum for reasoned, thoughtful discussion about the proposed town centre development and its potential impact on the community. The quality of life in our neighbourhood is crucial to all of us, and the issues being raised are important. That said, we don’t intend to publish comments that are inflammatory or accusatory – we see no benefit to conversation that is divisive instead of productive.
We continue to support the work of the District in soliciting citizen feedback as preliminary applications and public hearings unroll over the next months, and we give a big tip of the hat to the many local residents who have given their time and attention to this process from the beginning, attending forums and submitting their views.
We welcome further feedback from citizens, and ask that they tell us their views on the proposed town centre plan by answering the questions below. Just cut-and-paste the questions into an email message or a Word document, add your responses, then send them our way at [email protected]. (Prior to possible publication, we reserve the right to edit for clarity, grammar and length.)
We look forward to hearing your thoughts, and sharing them with our readers. We’re soliciting creative ideas, a variety of viewpoints, open minds, and a collegial exchange of opinions. We know you have a lot of passion for this neighbourhood, Lynn Valleyites, so let’s see what we can do when we put our heads together!
LV Town Centre Feedback Form:
NAME:
ADDRESS (will not be published):1. What is your personal history here in Lynn Valley?
2. How familiar are you with the town planning process? Did you get involved in any workshops or open houses, etc?
3. What are some of your greatest hopes or specific wishes for the Lynn Valley of the future?
4. How well do you think the currently proposed town centre plan would fulfill those hopes?
5. What concerns might you have with the high rises, or other aspects of the town centre proposals?6. What do you see as potential benefits of the proposed higher density residences (high rises), or other aspects of the town centre proposals?
7. Any other comments you’d like to share?
Thanks very much! We’ll be interested to read your thoughts, and will put a selection of comments from a variety of residents in upcoming blog posts on LynnValleyLife.
Wow! Lynn Valley, you’ve got what it takes!
Last night’s grand finale of the 12 Days of Christmas in Lynn Valley Village was a labour of love by so many, most particularly the hard-working valley folk in the Lynn Valley Community Association, the Lynn Valley Lions and the fine musicians and actors of Lynn Valley United Church.
The two-hour production featured the young adult and adult community choirs of the church, the church’s Friday Night Live improv team, the singing of valley favourite Bobbi Smith, and a storyline that wove throughout the music to bring the message of Christmas home.
One definite highlight of the evening was an unscripted marriage proposal, ring and all, sung on stage with harmonic back-up from the FNL crew! Many congratulations to the happy couple, and thanks for sharing your Big Moment with all of us!
That was a tough act to follow, but Bobbi Smith managed it just fine, and after a few songs gave a tribute to Lynn Valley’s community values, giving LynnValleyLife the perfect opportunity to announce the winner of this year’s Good Neighbour Award.
Lynn Valley United Church parishioners in the crowd went wild when they heard that one of their own had won the honour, which was awarded to the person who won the draw of all our top Good Neighbour nominees.
photo courtesy Linda Mackie
We were delighted to give the Good Neighbour Award 2012 plaque and prize package to Rosemary Postlethwaite, a church elder who has spent a decade collecting bottles and cans to help fund the church’s program that makes sandwiches for the homeless. You can read more about Rosemary here, in the nomination that was submitted by Kelly Jenner (who won a gift certificate to the Black Bear Neighbourhood Pub for having nominated the award winner!)
The Good Neighbour Award, launched this year, gave us a very welcome opportunity to share stories about many of the people here in Lynn Valley who reach out to help others in quiet ways, large ways, public ways and private ways. We know there are a lot more fine folks out there, so we hope you keep our Good Neighbour Award in mind over the year to come, so you’ll have someoneto nominate when we launch the award again in November 2013.
In the meantime, we would like to take this year-end opportunity to thank all those community volunteers, especially those people in the groups mentioned above, for putting so much time and effort into the Christmas Tree Walk, the 12 Days of Christmas entertainment, and the first-ever Christmas tree at the corner of Mountain Highway and Lynn Valley Road.
We know it will be a busy year ahead with Lynn Valley Day and other community celebrations, so please consider becoming an active member of one of these organizations, or looking for different ways to support them. Check out their websites, above, and look here for information about joining the community choir that was featured last night.
Wouldn’t that make a great New Year’s resolution?
Merry Christmas, Lynn Valley!
photo courtesy Linda Mackie
It was a wet, slushy night and our band gig down at the Lynn Valley Village Christmas Tree Walk had been cancelled. I was looking forward to a night in front of the fire, but life, of course, had other plans and at 4:30 p.m. I was instead trudging exasperatedly down the dark street to help my son look for his lost wallet.
When I caught up to him, though, he wasn’t looking for the Canucks wallet that had fallen out of his pocket on the way home from school. “I’m helping this kid find his sister,” he explained, gesturing to the solemn-looking boy beside him.
We are collecting nominations for Lynn Valley’s Good Neighbour Award until Dec. 19, 2012. We’d love to hear, and share, stories about good-hearted folks who have gone out of their way to help you or their community, in ways large or small. Nominees don’t have to be your ‘next-door’ neighbour, just a fellow citizen of the Valley.
This contest isn’t about deciding who’s ‘best’ – it’s about celebrating all those kindnesses that we know happen in our neighbourhood every day of the year. The winner of this year’s Good Neighbour prize package will be drawn at random, and announced on Dec. 23. Please send your submissions to [email protected].
ADRIENNE COUSINS NOMINATES TRAVIS SPENCER:
“So, my friend is the best neighbor and boyfriend I’ve known … I’ll tell you why he’s the best neighbor I’ve known.. I suffer from anxiety and SAD (seasonal affective disorder). So since the winter months began, and last year as well, he made it a point of his to invite me up to Lynn Valley square for a tea or a latte at Delany’s to take in the beautiful Christmas trees, shops, and people… and lift my spirits, even while tackling his busy school and youth volunteer schedule.
He is a child at heart with an old soul if that were possible. A perfect combination. Thanks for considering him for the award.”
We are collecting nominations for Lynn Valley’s Good Neighbour Award until Dec. 19, 2012. We’d love to hear, and share, stories about good-hearted folks who have gone out of their way to help you or their community, in ways large or small. Nominees don’t have to be your ‘next-door’ neighbour, just a fellow citizen of the Valley.
This contest isn’t about deciding who’s ‘best’ – it’s about celebrating all those kindnesses that we know happen in our neighbourhood every day of the year. The winner of this year’s Good Neighbour prize package will be drawn at random, and announced on Dec. 23. Please send your submissions to [email protected].
SOHAIL KAMAL NOMINATES PAIGE LARSON:
“Here is my nomination for Paige Larson, who just won a Western Canada Women Entrepreneur Award, but missed by a whisker to winning the National Award for the HKMB HUB Impact Award. The award goes to the woman entrepreneur who has had a significant positive impact on the community (Lynn Valley and the North Shore) and there were 3,500 women nominated for the six awards. I think she would be a glowing recipient of this award for Lynn Valley!”
Paige, who lives near Ross Road School, is the owner of North Shore Sports Medicine and received the award for contributing to her community prosperity and job creation. She owns three clinics with 20 beds, and employs 13 health care providers. She received her award at a Toronto gala on Nov. 28th.
Thanks for letting us know about this impressive neighbour, Sohail. Good luck to you both in the draw!
We are collecting nominations for Lynn Valley’s Good Neighbour Award until Dec. 19, 2012. We’d love to hear, and share, stories about good-hearted folks who have gone out of their way to help you or their community, in ways large or small. Nominees don’t have to be your ‘next-door’ neighbour, just a fellow citizen of the Valley.
This contest isn’t about deciding who’s ‘best’ – it’s about celebrating all those kindnesses that we know happen in our neighbourhood every day of the year. The winner of this year’s Good Neighbour prize package will be drawn at random, and announced on Dec. 23. Please send your submissions to [email protected].
KELLY JENNER NOMINATES ROSEMARY POSTLEWAITE
AND DARLA AT WAVES:
“We have some amazing folks in this community and I would like to nominate two people who have made a difference to how we are able to serve the neighbourhood….
The first person I would like to nominate is Darla at Waves Lynn Valley. I know she donates to many groups/ organizations, but her generosity with Lynn Valley United Church is awe inspiring. She has provided coffee for every Friday Night Live performance since its inception a year and a half ago. She also contributes coffee to the congregation for Sunday fellowship once a month.
Plus, she donates coffee for special musical and social events, from the monthly drumming circle to the recent “Sounds Like Christmas” community concert. All given with a smile and the request to just ask if more is needed. I am not sure how a business can succeed with that kind of generous spirit, but Darla is doing her best to make it work that way.
The second nomination is for Rosemary Postlethwaite. This shy and unassuming elder in the LVUC community has spent the past 10 years collecting bottles from neighbours for her “sandwich filling fund.” This fund is used to buy meat, bags, condiments and other supplies for the 500 sandwiches that this congregation makes every month.
The sandwiches are shared out to the homeless through a network of social workers with the North Shore branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, ensuring the people in this community are nourished by this community.
Rosemary has had some major health scares this year, and after spending 54 years in a little house on Westover has moved into “Branches”- but has insisted that she be allowed to continue supplying fillings and such for the sandwiches for as long as she is able. Rosemary bears a strong pioneer spirit in the most quiet and gentle person you’ll ever meet. And she is the foundation of a project that feeds hundreds every month. Simply put, she is amazing.
That’s it from me right now, I could go on about lots of the folks I know who make a difference… the truth is that Lynn Valley is an amazing community because there are so many amazing people. (Jim and Peggy- you are in there, too!)
Thanks for giving me this opportunity to do this “shout out”
Kelly
Kelly Jenner- Office Manager
Lynn Valley United Church
Thanks, Kelly, you’re an amazing mover-and-shaker yourself! Thanks for adding so much to our community.
Our LynnValleyLife editor discovered Holly Choi’s felted creatures through the international website, etsy.com, and was happy to find their creator lived right here in Lynn Valley. She was even more delighted that Holly was able to make her a customized felt ornament that very evening! Here’s a bit more about one of our local craftspeople:
How long have you lived in Lynn Valley?
Since August 2012, but I’ve always been a North Shore girl. I grew up in Canyon Heights and recently moved back to North Vancouver after living in Richmond with my husband Chris for the past two years. We’ve fallen head over heels for Lynn Valley and never want to leave!
How would describe the type of art you create?
Needle felting. Needle felting doesn’t require anything but a needle and wool. I like the art because of its simplicity and its lack of waste – every single fiber can be used so you’re not creating a ton of scrap when you felt.
What’s your ‘artistic journey’ been to date?
I’ve always been a DIY kind of girl. I recently got married – in September 2012 – and my invitations, décor and favors were all handmade. A friend of mine actually got me a few needle-felted figures when she went to visit her family in Oregon and I thought to myself, I could probably do this! So I decided to give it a try, and so far so good!
What do you do with your finished pieces?
Many of them go to friends and family, and the rest I put up on Etsy – an e-commerce website with a huge community of artists.
I recently made a creation for the DAVIDsTEA shop I frequent in Edgemont Village – they loved it so much they sent it along to HQ and had it published in the corporate newsletter!
Can you tell us a bit about your ‘day job’?
I actually work for a medical software company as a software trainer. When I come home from work I love to break out the wool and create something.
How can people see or learn more about your work?
I post all my work online at www.etsy.com/shop/raincityfelt and I’ve also started a Facebook page, where I post photos of my work along with discounts! www.facebook.com/raincityfelt . I can be contacted through either page.