The legendary “Abbey Road” album cover has been emulated a million times over and, frankly, I love every minute of it.  Some don’t hit the mark but the best of intentions always shine through.

While adding some new events to our Facebook Page, I haply stumbled upon a shot by local photographer, Kyle Hamilton.A wedding photo set to the back drop of 2nd Avenue in downtown Fernie.  Blame it on my current state of “wedding fever” (don’t tell my boyfriend!) or my undying love and affection for The Beatles, either way, I took a shine to this photo.  The fact that it was right in our own backyard was the icing on the cake.  

Go to www.kylehamiltonphotography.com to see more by the Fernie photog.

Cheers,

Rox

German street artist EVOL is known for transforming grungy urban surfaces into miniature realistic buildings, that is, building a city within a city. This time he chose to plant his miniature city in the unlikeliest of places – a meadow surrounded by trees and enclosed by a clear blue sky.

For the 2011 MS Dockville Music and Art Festival in Hamburg Germany, EVOL (and his team) excavated an “X”, or a city street intersection, within a field and created a subterranean city. The underground city took eight days to dig and construct. EVOL created the faces of the buildings using layers of complicated stencils. The work is so detailed and precise that by just viewing photographs it is difficult to tell these aren’t pictures of real buildings.

As you can see in the photographs, the average-sized person is invited to inhabit this unearthed faux-intersection, and the city is beautifully lit at night. We can imagine shuffling past those deftly rendered miniature windows and living out fantasies of being Godzilla or King Kong. However, the work seems to have its greatest effect when observed from a distance. That the city is sunken into the ground offers a wonderful perspective from above, and it seems that the further you step away from it, the more compelling the city becomes as your imagination runs wild.

The surrounding grass and dirt lend the site a unique sense of history, as if it were intentionally evacuated and overgrown. EVOL’s abandoned intersection seems to flash references to post-World War II Germany, which had an even stronger presence in his previous work. It is only when you gaze from a certain distance, that you can see the shadowy terraces and windows flicker with the memories of those Lilliputian city dwellers that never were.

It has finally happened!

When I first got to Fernie in November, we had a week straight of snow before the hill even opened!  Just as quickly I accepted my mornings of ice scraper toting, everything began to melt.  With rain frequenting the forecast, it felt more like Spring.

With the whole town in frowns as we moved into the ski season, the holidays, then new year, we still had nothing.  Nadda.  Zip. Zlitch.

Just as we thought we were being robbed of the main element that makes (or in this case breaks) a true Canadian winter, we saw the first of many puffy white flakes of snow begin falling from the sky.

Listen… That’s the sound of celebration and rejoice!

In the beginning, I was completely indifferent to this social media site.   I didn’t understand what the attraction was.  Lurking at photos from intimate celebrations of people that I hadn’t seen since sharing a pail and shovel in the sandbox.  I just couldn’t comprehend why so many people were giving detailed accounts of their everyday, not to mention completely normal and average, lives.

Finally, the bug hit me.  Needless to say,  I began spending more and more time on the site.  Checking to see if anyone had posted on my wall or messaged me, scrolling through the news feed to see what all of my Facebook friends had been up to for the past few hours, looking at photos from baby showers and wild Saturday nights, it didn’t take long to realize that I was wasting much of my time.

When 2012 began, I made a vow to myself to become more productive.  It wasn’t until one Monday morning that it donned on me just how much of a drone I had become.  I was reading status updates to see what people had been up to over the weekend, you know the usual pre-work Monday morning routine.

On this particular morning, it wasn’t just my pre- coffee crank-fest that was plaguing me.  I read post after post written by adults, adults with children at that, many of whom were too lazy to muster up the energy to type in complete sentences or use proper grammar and spelling.  I had enough of the “Im soooooo bord”s and “Luv my gurls alot”s.  Not to mention, all of the passive aggressive statements, foul language and “tormented” comments from people just begging for attention.

I signed out.  I signed out for one week and, yes, the first couple of days were rough.  I deleted the Facebook App from my phone.  I removed the bookmark from my computer.  It didn’t take me long to start finding other things  to occupy my time.  For example, for ages  I wanted to begin painting.  I even had a fantastic unopened paint set and a book called “Painting for the Complete and Utter Beginner”.

I got over the apprehension of making that first stroke on the canvas and, you know what, it wasn’t intimidating at all.  It was actually quite satisfying.  Obviously, I have yet to create a masterpiece but, one day, I will create a work of art that I will hang with pride in my living room and tell guests triumphantly that I did it!

Not only did I paint once, I painted twice and for a few hours each time.  Not only did I paint, I started writing, as well.  This had been in the making for quite sometime.  I was about to attend my first writers’ workshop but I wrote in addition to the piece that I would present to my group, just for fun.  I even was able to knock off a few chapters of a book I was reading.  I was on fire!

On Monday, I logged on to see what was happening.   Nothing.  Nothing any different than the last time I was on.  I was tempted to delete my Facebook page just to prove how extremely disinterested I had become.  I had defeated it!  I didn’t delete my page.  My primary source of keeping in touch with many people from across the country and even world is Facebook.  It isn’t all bad.  The difference is, when I speak with said friends and relatives, I will be able to tell them about my reading, writing, and painting.  Who knows what kind of hobbies I will pick up or how much more skilled I will become in my new found hobbies?

Heard of an amazing exhibit in Berlin? Let us know so that we can share your discovery with the rest of the world. Feeling apathetic to Monet but digging VanGogh? Tell us why. Heard a great song? Read a bad book? Take a photo of some found art? Inspire the rest of us to look for the beauty in all situations and environments.

The goal of The Arts Station blog is to encourage discourse about what art is, how we interact with it, what and who we want to see more of or a medium that we can’t get enough of (or one we are tired of seeing). So if you have any thoughts on art and culture or want to contribute your own artistic endeavors then let us know and we will enthusiastically post it for you.

For our part, The Arts Station will be embarking on its own project with a series of one year’s worth of photos of art found in Fernie. Sometimes by looking down or up you will see something that you never noticed before and we are seeking to highlight all of the hidden gems that are within the community. This project tentatively titled, 180 in 365, is our effort to engage with art and examine how it impacts our everyday.

This Community Art Project needs everyone’s help in order to be successful. We are confident that Fernie is home to so many talented artists, musicians and writers as well as people that truly love art, good or bad, that The Arts Station blog will be something worth reading! For more information or to contribute content (any and all submissions welcome) please email info@theartsstation.com.

Whewwww….what a ways we have come — well, actually we have only come a few feet from where the building originally was situated. Over the last 21 years many things have happened here at The Arts Station but the one thing that has remained consistent is the support that the community has always offered.

The Arts Station and Fernie & District Arts Council is the home to all things arts and culture in Fernie — a small mining and recreational community in southeastern British Columbia. Here at the Station we provide cultural programming as well as offer classes and workshops, gallery exhibits, concerts and on and on.

For more information on The Arts Station please visit our website at www.theartsstation.com and for updates and inspiration please visit us here on our (fledgling) blog. We will get better though, I promise!