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March/April 2001
Vol. 7 No. 1
Arts Alive Magazine
Vancouver, BC
Symposium 2001 Builds Excitement in the ArtsCommunity
by Al Price
It is Saturday, January 27, at 9:30 am and I am already faced with my
first conundrum.
Which of the many workshops should I, or can I, attend on the North Shore
Arts Commission Symposium 2001?
My first conundrum was - where the heck is the Lucas Centre? AS a relative newcomer to North Vancouver, I had no idea where Hamilton Street was. Purchasing a North Shore map at a store on Lonsdale Avenue, I checked it occasionally, and finally found myself in familiar territory. I had been to the Lucas Centre this summer for Gordon Smith's outstanding show, just didn't know the name of the venue. It was a five minute walk across the McKay ravine from my home. And I'm late. I hate being late.
I choose to sit in on the Human Form Sculpture workshop offered by James Picard.
Within seconds, my day is getting better. AS well as being a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and exhibiting his work extensively throughout North America, Picard is a highly respected teacher of drawing, painting, and sculpture in both Vancouver and New York. But he is also an extremely funny, whose wit and wisdom blended well with some of the slightly twisted souls in his workshop.
Piracy had the students break a block of clay into two parts, form each into an oval, and ram them together to form the basic shape of a skull. With several plastic models on display, the students then learned the techniques of creating eye sockets, cheekbones, and craniums. Highly entertaining stuff, as hands tried to come to grips with what the mind envisioned. With skulls created, facial features went on next, with the results ranging from Neanderthal Man to Darth Vader. I quietly snuck out of the workshop.
Photo: "James Picard helps Margot Campbell with the facial features on the head she is sculpting"