Autumn Shift Festival
Sunday September 15, 2013

Hot Art Wet City is part of the 4th Annual Autumn Shift Festival on Main Street – a Mount Pleasant, family friendly event that celebrates sustainability, urban gardening, healthy living, art and community in Vancouver. Buy art from local artists Andrea Hooge, Rachael Ashe, Sean Karemaker, Russell Alton, Alice Vogelaar, Jenn Brisson, Josue Menjivar, Char Hoyt, and Mandy Tsung. Plus, check out a mini SNAG, the weekly live-painting and art-raffle that happens every Wednesday night at The Cobalt (917 Main). We’ll be featuring live painting by local talent, and the guy behind SNAG, Drew Young.

Along with the Hot Art Wet City artist area in the parking lot at Main and 7th, the festival also features a local farmer’s market and nursery, three stages including the main stage at Main Street and Broadway, free popcorn & cotton candy at Main Street and 8th Ave, various vendors and plenty of FREE children’s activities! There will also be a sausage BBQ cook-off at 2pm (a fundraiser for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank) at Main Street and 7th Ave and a BLIM fashion show with Liveable Laneways at 4pm.

Ben Z Cooper

An interview with Vancouver imaginographer Ben Z Cooper
MUSIC: “Tam814” by LJ Kruzer
INTERVIEW, VIDEO & EDIT: Chris Bentzen

Ali Bruce

An interview with Vancouver artist Ali Bruce
MUSIC: “Keep Your Eyes Open” by Tortue Super Sonic
INTERVIEW, VIDEO & EDIT: Chris Bentzen

Hot Talks: Kim Werker
May 21, 2013

Sometimes It Ain’t Pretty:
How the Painful Parts of Creativity Can Be Our Strongest Assets

No amount of you-can-do-it cheerleading can prepare us for the inevitable pitfalls inherent to creative exploration. We’re going to struggle, we’re going to stumble, we’re going to fall flat on our face. The thing is, everyone does. So rather than avoiding failure at all costs, I say we allow – or even force – ourselves to dig deep into it for a while. From an intimate understanding of our relationship with failure we can become stronger, more flexible, less afraid, and more adventurous.

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Kim Werker leads a project called Mighty Ugly, helping people of all sorts work through their discomfort so they can have more fun making stuff and generally being creative. Her book on the subject is due out in the spring of 2014. She works as a writer and editor from her Vancouver home, which is also home to a two-year-old, a mutt, and a post-doctoral researcher.