Utility Art

Utility Art: Art doesn't not just have to be for please, it can also be for utility. I made this jewelry holder from shells, driftwood and a stone from the beaches of the west coast of Haida Gwaii. When I was roaming the beaches I started collecting and shells, I looked at the abalone and thought it would be cool to hang earings from the holes in the abalone shell. From there my jewelery holder took shape and I started collecting for this purpose. I used wood glue to glue the wood to the rock and shells to the wood. Wood glue works for EVERYTHING I have come to realize.
I love art that I can use because I appreciate it on a daily basis, not just when I pause for a moment to look at it. I often put my earings on in the morning and look at this piece and I remember where all the parts of it came from, it's nostalgic in a sense.
I think utility art can be a great thing for our students, because they can appreciate it every time they use it. It's not just something that gets put on the fridge or shelf for a couple of month and then in the garbage when the next great piece of artwork comes home and replaces it.

Chicken Bus Tales

Vivien, Linda, Kim, Catherine

Everything happens for a reason. I hiked up to Raven Lake today. We started to get up in the snow and were about 20 minutes away from the cabin (our final destination) and we ran into these two lovely ladies. They informed us that there were very fresh (within the last 20 minutes) grizzly tracks just ahead. They had made the decision to turn around and leave the grizzly alone, after all it is HIS territory, not ours. We asked our new friends if they wanted to team up and finish the last part of the hike, because with 4 of us, the grizz would likely leave us alone. As we were romping along, we saw more and more tracks and they got fresher and fresher. We ended up following his tracks and Vivien (a 71 year old amazing outdoors woman) said, "I think we should leave this grizzly alone and head back). We decided to listen to our elder as she seemed very wise to her environment, and this definitely wasn't her first time in bear country!

I am so happy that we ran into these amazing ladies. They are very wise and wonderful women. Vivien, as it turns out, is an author. She has written several books and she writes for a guide book company. She has traveled the world and her own backyard, she is a mountaineer of sorts and she had so much wisdom to impart. I probably asked her 100 questions on the hike down. Vivien has taken incredible photos of her journey's and she has a website. Her website is: www.chickenbustales.com (you should check it out!) that chronicles her adventures and showcases her incredible photography and books she's written. I do believe we met these ladies for a reason, not only to save us from a potential grizzly encounter (as they are looking for their big protein at this time of year) but I also feel like they shared their years of knowledge and wisdom about the outdoors with us.


Vivien is inspired by nature, her art is motivated by the natural beauty in our world; the mountains, streams, trees, rivers, bears, squirrels, birds. I think we should bring our students outside and see if they are inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds us. There is so much adventure outside, we must show our students that there is a world beyond video games and structured sports and clubs. Being in the wild allows your imagination to run wild!

Two Boys

Both Boys.
One White.
One Black.
The difference, however, is not colour.
Here stands a boy;
A brother just like every other.
TV is but who he is a follower.
A big phat sweatshirt whose name is Echo.
Then jeans that are much too big for this fellow.
His shoes are new with no dirt in view.
His baseball cap sideways,
With a tag from his crew.
All of his attire is what he desires.
But only he, and the people on TV,
Care that his socks are Nike.
Standing there beside him is his friend.
This boy in a very different trend.
This, also, seen on TV.
But different from his buddy, homey G.
A boy who thinks he is like no other,
Rebellion is what he has discovered.
However, his ripped t-shirt,
From the time of Siskel and Ebert,
Is also a fancy of many.
On his feet are high tops and no socks.
The difference these mates create,
Is nothing but different family traits.
Why is style so important?
For boys to express their emotion?
When who you are is what you say.
What you wear is simply
Foreplay for the eye of a potential soul mate.

-Catherine Eagles

This poem I wrote, oh geeze, probably almost 10 years ago now! Whoa I'm old! Anyways, I was working at a hot dog stand at the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, I was bored and noticed these two boys and a poem sprang out of nowhere. I had never written any poetry, but this came to me as I was observing these gentlemen. I wrote another poem that day, but I can't find it. That was the extent of my poetry writing to this day!
I think this tells me that anyone can be a poet! This poem I'm sure does not follow any kind of poetry rules but to me it is poetry. I think to engage ALL students in poetry, there must be some freedom. I don't believe there are borders to what poetry can be. Release poetry from its cage! haha.

Hope in Shadows

The quote in the first photo reads: "Life is not a dagger stained with the blood of hatred. It is a branch filled with the blossoms of love and compassion. Life itself is restless for peace in the world. Let its noble dream materialize." The word "hope" is a common theme in the worlds of the oppressed. Hope is often the thing that keeps people going when their life is in peril. Hope is sometimes the only thing people have.

Hope in Shadows is a great initiative born from the community of the Downtown Eastside (DTES). I know that many of you didn't grow up in the lower mainland and perhaps have never been to the DTES. It is a place of paradox, it is full of love and hope but also poverty and despair. It is a community and home for those without a home, for those that have been rejected from all other communities and homes. For some it is a place they go because they are lost. The stigma attached to the DTES is that of hopelessness, drug-addicts, prostitutes and filth. I've heard several times, "I just don't understand why those people can't just get it together, it's their own fault they are like that." That isn't true at all. Most of the people that live in the community of the DTES have experienced complex trauma in their lives and/or suffer from a severe mental or physical disease. They haven't had the luxury of having support, health care or a family to take care of them. The easiest and most available way for people to deal with their pain is through drugs. It is a vicious cycle that is extremely hard to break. That said, there is a strong community in the DTES where they support each other and it is a place full of HOPE. I could talk about this for hours, so I will end it there.

The Hope in Shadows project is amazing. It provides people of the DTES an opportunity to celebrate their community and an avenue to rehabilitate themselves through meaningful employment by selling the calendars.

I thought it would be a great idea to pair students up, give them a disposable camera and get them to take pictures of their school community or their home community. I would then, collect the cameras, get the pictures printed or in digital format, choose the "winners" - the top 12 photos and get the students to design a calendar with these photos. You can fill in the blanks of how this would happen. There would have to be strict expectations and guidelines, that's for sure!