Water Street, by J. Grant Crawford, 1982. An extra large canvas, seen inside the Deluxe film post-production facility in Vancouver. This Deluxe facility was previously Rainmaker, and prior to this Rainmaker was Gastown Post & Transfer. (I know this because I used to work at Rainmaker!)
This is what I’m talking about; Danika keeps it local! Toile de Jouy for Vancouver, by Vancouver designer Danika McDowell of Locamode. Just what is Toile you ask? Wikipedia says:
Toile is the name of a fabric that entered the English language around the 16th century[1] from a French word meaning “linen cloth” or “canvas” — particularly cloth or canvas for painting on.
Seen on Poppytalk via Spoonflower. More here. Suddenly, I have an urgent need for some Skytrain technical drawing Toile!
Bird’s Eye View of Gastown, the village of Granville, around 1875. Drawing by Beverly Justice commissioned by the Vancouver Arts Council © 1970.
From a walking tour guide of Gastown, prompted by the “Gastown Revisited” walking tours of September, 1968. I’ve transcribed the index below:
1. The famous Maple Tree.
2. Gassy Jack’s Hotel and Saloon, the Deighton House.
3. The Sunnyside Hotel, the best in town, rebuilt after the fire.
4. Old Road to the Sawmill 1/2 mile; George Black’s Hotel at Hastings Townsite, 3 miles.
5. New Road to New Westminster - became Kingsway.
6. George Black’s Butcher Shop and Slaughter House.
7. Provincial Jail, Customs and Court House.
8. Granville Hotel, favourite of loggers.
9. Terminal Saloon.
10. Webster’s Store.
11. Home of respected mulatto widow Mrs. Sullivan and her two boys.
12. Mrs. Sullivan’s restaurant.
13. Joseph Simmons’ Saloon.
14. Gregorio Fernandez’ Store.
15. Indian trail to False Creek.
16. Cabins of Chinese and occupants ”of ill-repute.”
17. Blair Hall, also known as Sullivan’s Hall or Gold’s Hall, scene of early dances, entertainments and church services.
18. House of Gillespie. the logging boss.
19. House of Irish-born Joseph Manion from Victoria. Gastown’s first business man.
20. Cottage of Constable Jonathan Miller, Provincial Agent, Burrard Inlet.
21. To Andy Linton’s Boathouse.
Angelo Colari and the Hotel Europe, 1908, by Frank Lewis, 1976. As mentioned in his bio, Frank painted the mural on the side of the Maritime Museum in 1986, and he painted the hoardings at the old Vancouver Court house at some point as well. More about the drawing from Gastown.org:
Angelo Colari built the Europe on this triangular-shaped lot near the steamship docks that used to be located at the foot of Columbia and Carrall Streets. Colari was born in Italy in 1861 and immigrated to British Columbia in 1882 when he was 21 years old. He spent four years in Victoria before coming to Vancouver in 1886.
This drawing was the front cover of yesterday’s historical map, a pre-Expo96 Downtown Historical Association Historical Trek.
Restoration Report: A Case for Renewed Life in the Old City, a brochure originally published circa 1969 by the City of Vancouver Department of Planning & Civic Development and Birmingham & Wood, Architects. Illustrations inside this urban plan for a revitalized Gastown would not look out of place in today’s landscape.
You can see this brochure in the Vancouver Heritage Foundation Reading Room, established thanks to a generous donation by Yosef Wosk.
An interior mural painted by Vince Dumoulin last week in Gastown. The Building is the former Vancouver Police Stables, now utilized as the offices of a software firm. Thanks for the submission, Vince!
Gastown Stories by Mary Drew, illustrated by Norman Drew. The book was published in 1980 by NC Press of Toronto. The character Chika was a favourite of the artist, and she was featured on their Saturday morning TV series as well. According to Drew’s own webpage, he would also like to release an e-book version of these stories and a DVD set of the original TV show, perhaps some time in the near future. From the title page of the book:
Mary Drew is a native of Sudbury, Ontario. Her children’s stories first appeared on the television series “Gastown Gang” in 1978. She has contributed articles to “Fun Times” magazine published in Canada by McDonald’s Restaurants.
Norman Drew was born in Kenora, Ontario and is a graduate of the University of Alberta in Fine and Applied Arts. As a motion picture animation producer, director, designer and animator he created cartoon episodes for Sesame Street, The Irish Rovers, The Beatles (Yellow Submarine), The Jackson Five, The Osmond Brothers (ABC-TV). His “Chika’s Magic Sketch Book” TV series is also produced for newspaper comic features. In 1978/79 he hosted a series of half-hour children’s shows on BCTV network called “Gastown Gang” based on his Gastown cartoon studio.
Actually, according to IMDB, Norman is one of a number of uncredited animators on the Beatles Yellow Submarine. I found this post by Norm Drew, where he reminisces about the making of the animated classic, which he posted on CartoonBrew.com back in 2010.
As one of the original animators on Yellow Submarine who worked at the studio in London in 1968, here are some of my thoughts about a YS remake.
At the time, we were aware it was a revolutionary graphic work. Some of us could see it would ‘break the animation mould’, though most of us didn’t foresee it would become a cult classic almost half a century later. John Lasseter is quoted as saying, ‘Yellow Submarine is my favorite animated feature’.
The production itself was more a creative ‘happening’ than an organized film production. We artists had great freedom and visceral involvement, far more than any highly organized production today…
Cityscape by Sarah Mulder. From her website:
Vancouver artist and Emily Carr University Graduate, Sarah Mulder, showcases paintings that explore patterning, nature and balance, referencing images of quiet landscapes and reflecting her relationship to art as therapy. Sarah’s paintings embody the influences of her personal photography, memories, and sketches to convey an extension of her own environment and thoughts. Her paintings, which incorporate acrylic paint, pencil, ink washes and tactile material, are vibrant and dramatic.
Her work includes an innovative sewn mixed media technique; check out more in her online gallery.
Gastown, ink illustration by Peter R. Bach, circa 1982-1984. Notecard prints from this series of drawings were available at the Vancouver Art Gallery gift store in the 1980s; currently, they can be found at Blim. You’ll notice the bronze figure of Gassy Jack has since crossed the street to the other side of Maple Tree Square.
Gassy Jack by Gastown Sam, Sam Logan, who according to his website, has been painting and exhibiting his paintings on the streets of Vancouver for the past two decades.
Cambie and Cordova, a 5x7 painting by Dennis Brown. Image via his website, he’s also part of the Eastside Culture Crawl.
Gastown 36x48, as seen at Value Village, artist unknown. Let me know if it can be attributed to someone (via submit mechanism).
The New Europe Hotel, Vancouver’s First “Flatiron” from an article in the Vancouver Annual 1910 published by the Vancouver Information and Tourist Association, VPL Special Collections Call #: NW 971.133 V22vi (credit in the lower left corner states: ANGELL ENG CO, presumably the engineering company involved in the building’s construction). For more about the building, see this.
