Smoke break on the back deck, a print by Tosh Toru Sugita (yep, I was wrong! I also made up the title). The print is actually titled From Cottage, and it’s dated 1998, not 1978. I did have the numbering correct; it’s definitely the 4th print out of a total of 50. This print was purchased from a second hand shop in Vancouver recently, and I have no other information about the work, aside from the fact that it was framed very nicely. I’ve also asked on Facebook at the Dundarave Print Workshop & Gallery page (located on Granville Island) if anyone recognizes the name.

This may be the first post which I can’t actually substantiate as positively being from Vancouver, but since I found it here in Vancouver, and the subject matter seems appropriate, I’d like to believe it’s from here. I was originally going to title it Woman on the back deck, but I can’t be entirely sure of that either; it may just be someone with long hair, a hat, and baggy clothes!

On somewhat of a derivative note, take a look at this current show at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco titled “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” featuring work by Parisian street artist Christian Guémy (aka C215) focusing on the iconography of smoking ads and images.

Happy New Year everyone! You may see less of me on Tumblr this year, but I love you just the same! May this coming year bring you all good cheer!

UPDATE! Scandalous! This is not, in fact, Vancouver! Thanks to Andrea for tracking down the artist, Toru Sugita. He was born in Shiga, Japan, studied in Kyoto, and since the 1990s he has been residing in the San Fransisco Bay area. I think it’s rather amusing how I was able to project certain local traits into the work, making me believe it might be from here. I suppose my next post of the Vancouver Special pop-up book should make up for any lack of local content. One thing remains - it is a very nice print, and Toru is a fine print maker! I shall keep this print in the collection in his honour (and as a reminder to myself that I sometimes make mistakes!)

Toru wrote to me, mentioning that he has in fact been to the Dundarave Print Workshop on Granville Island when he had a show at the ArtBeatus Gallery in 2002. He informs me that the subject is actually Calistoga, California, and the woman on the deck is his friend visiting from Japan. He also concedes that Vancouver has the much of the same type of light and architecture as southern California, so there you have it! Full circle! : )

Come fly with us! (for a one day vacation), a Grouse Mountain poster calendar from either 1980 or 1986 based on calendar dates, although I think the aesthetic is more 1980, and if it was 1986 they probably would have made some sort of Expo reference. More about the history of the tramway from wikipedia:

The tramway, known as the Blue Tram, was built by Austrian steel company Voestalpine and was opened and inaugurated on December 15, 1966, by Premier W. A. C. Bennett.

Ten years later, the mountain was purchased from its original owners by the McLaughlin family in 1976. The new ownership provided additional funding for the construction of a second aerial tramway, built by von Roll, known as the Red Tram or Super Skyride, that same year. The Super Skyride, using much larger gondola cars holding several dozen passengers, is now the main tram, arriving at a separate top terminal building a short walk from the lodge. The older Blue Tram is now mainly used to transport staff and supplies directly to the lodge structure.

Update: Not really an update; I’m just having second thoughts. I might not have picked up on some clues. The typeface for Grouse Mountain is very Expo86 inspired, and the fact that the gondola becomes a jet aircraft fits very well with the transportation theme of the transpo Expo. This also falls during the summer months at Grouse, right at the peak of Expo 86; maybe this WAS from 86!?

Update 2! I just learned from the artist himself! This is a Bob Masse original design!

A lost mural of Vancouver, this view of Stanley Park was painted on the side of the Chapel at Stanley Park, at the end of Chilco Street between Alberni and W Georgia. From Luis Curran’s photograph on pbase believed to be taken November 6, 2005:

This mural was originally commissioned by the architect to answer the complaints of those who thought views of Stanley Park would be destroyed by his building on the corner. A new building has since been built right next to it so, inevitably, the mural is now lost!

I’m not certain who the artist was, or even who the architect was for that matter, but surely someone will know! The second image of the site before construction is from the RE/MAX Crest Realty (Westside) site of real estate agents Les Twarog and Sonja Pederson, possibly circa 2001? Any additional info? Comments welcome!

Cross-posted with additional text to VancouverIsAwesome.com

Update! Thanks to a comment at VIAwesome, the artist has been identified as Dana Irving! The work is titled Stanley Lodge and she did the painting in 1995. Thanks for the comment, Mike!

Sketch of the UBC library, west face, artist unknown, 1928, image HP023442 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives. Still looking the pretty much the same many decades later.

UPDATE! I have determined who the artist was! It was none other than the first librarian at UBC, John Ridington! This was determined from the front cover of a brochure produced by the library, which was titled Scrapbook for a Golden Anniversary, the University of British Columbia Library, 1915-1965. He gets the cover for the cover art, and the byline “Sketching was one of his many hobbies”. From the UBC blogs:

John Ridington was UBC’s first University Librarian. A former journalist and teacher, he started work on the library collection in August 1914 when UBC was in its temporary home at West 10th Avenue and Laurel Street (the Fairview Shacks).  By 1916, he had been appointed University Librarian, a position he remained in until his retirement at the age of 72 in April 1940. According to information gathered by the UBC Archives, Ridington was known as a rigid authoritarian and was nicknamed ‘King John’.

Hail, King John! A fine piece of work you’ve done here!

Here Vancouver was founded, a sketch of Constable Miller’s cottage, from page 34 of Vancouver Historical journal, October 1958 issue at archive.org. This same image (Item # EarlyVan_v7_024) appears in Major Matthew’s Early Vancouver, and upon closer inspection, I can make out the artist’s name in the bottom left, T Sentell, 38 (1938). Volume 7 reveals this to be Thomas F. Sentell, grandson of F.W. Sentell, builder of the first City Hall after the fire of 1886.

More transit ephemera posted by the Buzzer: Conceptual drawing of Broadway Station, by DVE LOVE. They are drawn by the esteemed Ronald J. Love Architectural Illustration, which was founded in New York City in 1967, and relocated to Vancouver in 1972, according to book The Art of Architectural Illustration by Gordon Grice.

More transit ephemera posted by the Buzzer: Conceptual drawing of Main Street Station, signed by DVE LOVE. They are drawn by the esteemed Ronald J. Love Architectural Illustration, which was founded in New York City in 1967, and relocated to Vancouver in 1972, according to book The Art of Architectural Illustration by Gordon Grice.

Windy Day, Vancouver from the 1940s, a numbered aquatint print seen for sale by alexandremaps.com at the Vancouver Antiquarian Book Fair, 2010.

UPDATE! I now know who the artist is! I foolishly thought I’d be able to read his signature, but in the end, I couldn’t distinguish the handwriting. I just came across a gallery which attributed the work to Nicholas Hornyansky, and fortunately, that fits perfectly!

Actually, you can see this item listed on abebooks.com too! Pricey!

Skytrain cutaway of Burrard Station by Ronald J Love, seen in the book Transit in British Columbia: The First Hundred Years.

Vancouver Tourist Association brochure Two Glorious Weeks at Vancouver British Columbia, no date, with front and back cover watercolour illustrations attributed to “Jackson”, believed to be Ronald Threlkeld Jackson (1902-1992). Seen at the Vancouver Antiquarian Book Fair, from aquilabooks.com.

Skytrain cutaway of Waterfront Station by Ronald J Love, seen in the book Transit in British Columbia: The First Hundred Years.