Canadians in recent years have become increasingly aware of their heritage. Entering into a new era of self confidence, they have been looking with greater interest at their past and discovering things of value in this heritage. This paper looks at a part of this past and examines the events from 1886 to 1930 which formed the background, and laid the foundations for Vancouver's later development as a lively and important art centre. This period is largely undocumented, its importance to the contemporary Vancouver art scene usually forgotten. Vancouver from its inception attracted more than its share of persons with education and vision, individuals who saw what the city was to become and who were prepared to give their time and interest to the work of fostering societies and institutions of a cultural nature including the early art societies. The focus here is on these societies and on the slow but continuing growth of art activity in Vancouver, showing the important role that these early groups played in creating an art environment and keeping alive a spirit of artistic endeavour when there was little general interest in the arts in the city. Consideration has been given to the individuals - artists, critics, educators - who were key figures in the genesis and form of artistic expression during the period, as well as to the social and cultural factors which to a large extent determined the direction which the fine arts took in Vancouver in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The emphasis throughout has been on the historical development, the object being to trace the growth of art in Vancouver through the individuals and the societies they formed. Most of the material has been obtained from primary sources, principally from the newspapers of the time, but also from the records of art societies, exhibition catalogues, letters and other documents, and from interviews with individuals who were close to the period. These sources reveal a surprising amount of art activity, they also point up the importance of this activity in establishing a climate of art in Vancouver from which those who followed have gained. The major accomplishments such as the formation of an art school and the founding of an art gallery had a direct bearing on the present and a broader picture of Vancouver art should be possible when the events of the present are set against the background of their historical precedents. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

This corporate strategy for public art proposes a comprehensive yet incremental process to address the most pressing concerns now facing the City of Vancouver in planning for public art. The strategy, including its implementation, is deliberately incremental. The need for flexibility in planning for public art emerged from discussions with public artists, arts administrators and consultants; interviews with authors of recent exemplary public art plans; review of literature and other documentation, including the popular culture; and my personal understanding of public art from the perspective of public art producer, planner and urban designer. The proposals are informed by a review of the evolution of public art, planning and planning for public art. They are proposed within a historical context of public art planning in Vancouver and build upon the inventory and analysis of processes already in place within the civic administration. The strategy recommends upgrading the existing Art in Public Places Subcommittee into a Public Art Commission and the creation of three new advisory bodies, all with strong professional staff support, to ensure broader participation in public art while increasing the breadth of expertise to deal with aesthetic judgements, commemoration, urban design and other public realm issues in Vancouver. It also recommends restructuring the civic administration by dissolving the Board of Parks and Recreation; consolidating the urban realm design functions of the Board of Parks and Recreation, the Engineering Department and the Planning Department into a holistic urban design group; consolidating cultural planning and development functions associated with Community Centres into the Social Planning Department; and creating a new Department of Parks and Recreation responsible primarily for park maintenance and recreation functions. The proposed definition of public art is all-inclusive to encourage rather than limit or inhibit the most creative, innovative possibilities whether permanent or temporary, physical or ephemeral. The entire process is proposed to be open to wide community participation. It welcomes grass-roots initiatives and promotes project development and management by existing Vancouver organisations involved in the production of public art. The inherent flexibility of this incremental strategy allows responsiveness to the community, civic aspirations, and the evolving nature of our understanding of public art. It facilitates the development of a common and evolving vision in Vancouver for a more humane city through the media of public art. By planning through the use of art to make places public, it begins to allow us to recapture the public essence of urban living. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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Constructing Voices is a narrative case study exploring the experiences of young women as they participated in a major public art performance project. I followed the process and production of Turning Point and Under Construction over the course of one year. Under the direction of American performance artist and educator Suzanne Lacy, this Vancouver, Canada based art project and performance sought to empower participating young women; to help them fin their voice and to provide them with a forum so that they might challenge and alter public perception and stereotypes of young women in the mass media. Seven young women from Turning Point and three local organizers, including the project and performance producer, have offered their narratives to inform this study. Together, they take us behind the scenes of a huge and complex community art project and performance. Their stories help us find meaning amidst the contradictions inherent in art productions of this magnitude. I approach this inquiry from a constructivist paradigm, informed by postmodern feminism. Through this research I call for a collaborative art practice which is reflexive, critical and egalitarian - one in which power is shared and where representation is determined by those whose lives are displayed. To inform our future artistic and educational practices, we need to turn to those pedagogical frameworks that best correspond to the intended goals of the projects. In the case of Turning Point and Under Construction, we need to look to feminist, emancipatory and performance art pedagogies. Only by informing our practices in this way, can these projects provide the opportunity for individuals to achieve a heightened engagement with their world - to learn through currere. In this narrative case study, we hear from young women at turning points in their lives. They believe what they say has value and should be heard by others. Performance art has the potential to be a rich site for learning so long as the process is congruent with the goals of the art project. As art educators we can respond to these narratives in our practices by providing environments for learning where participants/learners can find their own ideas and voices while expressing themselves in personally meaningful ways.

Constructing Voices is a narrative case study exploring the experiences of young women as they participated in a major public art performance project. I followed the process and production of Turning Point and Under Construction over the course of one year. Under the direction of American performance artist and educator Suzanne Lacy, this Vancouver, Canada based art project and performance sought to empower participating young women; to help them fin their voice and to provide them with a forum so that they might challenge and alter public perception and stereotypes of young women in the mass media. Seven young women from Turning Point and three local organizers, including the project and performance producer, have offered their narratives to inform this study. Together, they take us behind the scenes of a huge and complex community art project and performance. Their stories help us find meaning amidst the contradictions inherent in art productions of this magnitude. I approach this inquiry from a constructivist paradigm, informed by postmodern feminism. Through this research I call for a collaborative art practice which is reflexive, critical and egalitarian - one in which power is shared and where representation is determined by those whose lives are displayed. To inform our future artistic and educational practices, we need to turn to those pedagogical frameworks that best correspond to the intended goals of the projects. In the case of Turning Point and Under Construction, we need to look to feminist, emancipatory and performance art pedagogies. Only by informing our practices in this way, can these projects provide the opportunity for individuals to achieve a heightened engagement with their world - to learn through currere. In this narrative case study, we hear from young women at turning points in their lives. They believe what they say has value and should be heard by others. Performance art has the potential to be a rich site for learning so long as the process is congruent with the goals of the art project. As art educators we can respond to these narratives in our practices by providing environments for learning where participants/learners can find their own ideas and voices while expressing themselves in personally meaningful ways. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The Granville Bridge, Vancouver, Canada is an unsafe, uncomfortable and uninteresting crossing for pedestrians. Neither does it possess an identifiable or memorable image. Although the City of Vancouver has identified poor crossing conditions for pedestrians as an issue that requires addressing, the current design for the City's preferred solution - a suspended crossing attached to the side of the Granville Bridge - the current design for this structure does not address how to make the bridge an imageable element in the city landscape. Using the Black Rock Arts Festival - commonly know as Burning Man - as a case study, the potential for an interactive landscape design to create an identity for the Granville Bridge is examined. Although Burning Man fails to create a community that integrates with its contextual landscape, its use of interactive art is successful in creating community among participants. Through the contextual use of interactive art in conjunction with the proposed suspended pedestrian crossing, a design is proposed that celebrates the Granville Bridge as a conduit of motion by revealing the presence of pedestrians. The proposed design includes design components under the north and south ends of the bridge to conceptually ground the image on the north and south side of False Creek, and unifies the total design with the metaphorical and literal use of dance. The design shows that interactive art can be used to make the Granville Bridge an imageable element in the landscape, thereby making it an integral part of the Vancouver landscape. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate