Shis thsue:

(¥Y Comic Corner: Bow to the King

(Y ‘Bad Judge,’ or bad show?
(Y The heart of war

And more!

Seen something worth sharing?
Contact: Chery! Minns, Arts Editor
Marts@theotherpress.ca

www. theotherpress.ca

 

Kickstarter in the Community:
From the street to the screen

» Local filmmaker documents Vancouver artist

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
Marts
@theotherpress.ca

 

magine walking along a

downtown Vancouver street
and seeing a man on the
sidewalk working on a painting.
Would you notice him? Would
you ask to see his artwork?

That’s what filmmaker Josh

Laner hopes to bring attention
to with his latest documentary,

a year in the life of artist Ken
Foster, who has spent 20 years
creating and selling his art

on the streets of downtown
Vancouver.

“He’s such a multi-faceted
artist,” said Laner, who has
worked with Foster over the
past 13 months. “He doesn’t
just do one style of painting or

drawing; it’s really anything you :

put in front of him, he’s able to
accomplish artistically.”
The idea for the

looking for his next subject. He
had collected some of Foster’s
artwork, so when he and his
wife passed by the artist one

: day, his wife suggested the man
: be the subject of Laner’s next
: project.

“I’m hoping people are

brought to the film by the art

: but stay because of the amazing
: story,’ Laner said. “A lot of

: people are honestly scared to go
: and interact with someone like
: Ken, so I think that can be an

: intriguing and alluring thing for :
: someone to see.” :

The film offers something

for everyone, featuring
What About Ken? which follows :
: creating his masterpieces

: from scratch as well as moving
: discussions about his life as a

: street artist.

inspiring footage of Foster

“It’s a unique thing to be

able to watch an artist during

: the peak of their creativity and
; then to get in their mind as

; much as you can and see their
: process,” Laner said. :
“I feel really honoured to be :
: able to watch him work because :
: there are times where he starts
: a painting and it looks likeit’s :
documentary came about when : going one direction and then by :

Laner was between projects and :
: through, like, 15 mutations to

: get to where it is”

the time it’s finished it’s gone

A memorable moment

for Laner during the film’s
: production was when he and

: Foster went to visit the artist’s
: mother.

“It was a pretty emotional

moment for her to see him.

: They don’t get to see each

other very often,” he said. “He

: brought her a piece of artwork

: that he had made the previous
night and she started crying. It

: was just a really special moment

to see.”
For more information

about the film, check out the

: Kickstarter campaign, which

: features details about the film

: and crew, samples of Foster’s

: art, and video clips of Foster

: creating his artwork. The

; campaign also offers rewards

: for various donation amounts,

: several of which include a piece
: of art from Foster.

“Any of the rewards where

youre going to get a piece of art
: from Ken, those are the special

rewards,’ Laner said. “I think
to own a piece of his now is to

get in before it explodes and
: things are way too expensive to

even buy from him anymore.

I’m hoping that this film sheds
: quite a light on him.”

The Kickstarter campaign

runs until October 23 and seeks
: $10,000 to finish production on

: the film.

 

Artwork geen IstonstK-) ¢

 

Douglas College Playwriting and Theatre partnership downplayed

» No winners in cancelled collaboration

Mercedes Deutscher
Staff Writer

or 10 years at Douglas

College, the students of
Creative Writing 1102 - Intro to
Playwriting have collaborated
with the Theatre program to
bring the students’ original
works to the stage. It has been
a rewarding experience that

actors, like an artistic family
reunion.

But not this year.

It was recently announced
that the Theatre Department
has opted out of the annual
collaboration due to struggles
in meeting departmental
demands. It’s unclear what
the specific demands are, but

: they could be due to a lack of

: funding or time, or the work

: of new playwrights being less

: attractive than publicized and
: notable works.

“I am disappointed that

: the Theatre Department (to
: the best of my knowledge)
: continues to use scripts that
: have been either repeatedly
: used in past productions or
: are written by professional
has benefitted both writers and : playwrights,” said William
: Sandwith, a Theatre student
: who is also enrolled in Intro to :

: Playwriting.

Whatever the reason may

: be, the cancellation of this

: event is a disappointment for
: Intro to Playwriting students.
: A major project in the course
: involves writing and editing

: a20-page, one-act play,

: which in turn is supposed to
: be presented on stage. The

: performance is intended to

: give playwrights a chance to see :
: their work performed for the

: first time and help them grow
: as writers, which is why the

students are disheartened by

: the cancellation.

But it’s not only Creative

: Writing students who are
: affected by this decision.
: Theatre students have also lost

the opportunity to work with

new scripts and playwrights.

“While I understand that

there is a fair amount of risk
: involved with using works
: written by students,” explained

Sandwith, “I believe that the
script should not be treated

: asa potential liability, but as

: achallenge. I love working

: with an original play! It gives

: the actor a much wider variety

of ways to interpret the text,

: respecting the original author’s :
: wishes, of course.”

At this point in time, it is

: difficult to tell if this decision is :
: a one-time occurrence or if this :
: is the beginning of a separation :
: of the two courses.

“T would think that

: student collaboration would be :
: encouraged more frequently :
: by faculty so that we, the

: student body, would have

: the opportunity to engage in
: human interaction and social
: bonding while working towards :
: acommon goal,” said Sandwith.

For now, the students of

The performance
is intended to

give playwrights a
chance to see their
work performed for
the first time and
help them grow as
writers, which is
why the students
are disheartened by
the cancellation.

Intro to Playwriting will have
; to settle for their plays being
: workshop productions in

class, while Theatre students
continue working with scripts

handled a little too often.