This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival. More than 525 artists from Vancouver’s Eastside Arts District will open their studios to more than 40,000 visitors from Nov. 19 to 22.
As always, many Jewish artists are participating in the event. They include Batya Friedman, Esther Rausenberg, Hope Forstenzer, Ideet Sharon, Lauren Morris, Lori Goldberg, Lynna Goldhar Smith, Olga Campbell, penny eisenberg, Rob Friedman, Suzy Birstein and others. Some of them have been part of the Crawl since its beginnings in 1996.
“I moved into Flux Studios upon graduating from Emily Carr in 1995, and we piggybacked on the open studio event in the neighbourhood in 1996,” eisenberg told the Independent. “When we also opened our doors in 1997, our participation seemed more official, but I’m not sure if it was or not. As an original participant, none of us could have imagined how large and important this annual cultural event would become.
“It felt exciting to be inviting people into our studios, and there was a general feeling of positive energy and community, in which I felt happy to participate.”
Thirty years ago, 45 artists opened their doors. Among this year’s hundreds, there are more than 85 new artist participants and 12 new buildings included. Among the new buildings is 716 East Hastings St., which the Crawl’s producers, the Eastside Arts Society, purchased this year with the help of a grant from the City of Vancouver. To mark the milestone, the Crawl’s annual preview exhibition, called PARTY (Pushing Art diRectly To You), is taking place at the EAS headquarters. It runs to Nov. 28 and features the work of 75 Crawl artists.
Also taking place at the East Hastings building are the Crawl’s Talking Art artist panel series – remaining sessions are on Nov. 13 and 14 – and the Moving Art video screening Nov. 14. The Crawl Pop-up Studio, created to support artists who don’t have a studio but want to share their work with visitors, has moved to Sunfire Studios Atrium, and runs Nov. 19-22.
EAS is hosting a series of fundraisers this fall, as well, including the 30 for 30 campaign, which runs to Dec. 31. It hopes to raise $30,000 to support 30 more years of accessible arts programming (eastsideartssociety.ca/donate).
“The 30th anniversary of the Eastside Culture Crawl is a chance to reflect on the resilience, strength and generosity of Vancouver’s artist communities, as well as the many dedicated individuals who have poured their time and energy into growing the Crawl over the past three decades,” said Alannah Clamp, who became the EAS’s new artistic and executive director at the end of August. She took over the position from Rausenberg, who not only led the EAS for years but is a founding artist of the Crawl; she continues to participate as an artist.
For eisenberg, who has participated in 25 Culture Crawls, the event “remains exiciting,” she said. “It’s grown and changed from a mimeographed sheet with our names and studio buildings listed, posters and an ad in the printed Georgia Straight to a full online directory, colour brochure and many hundreds more artists. But the fundamental idea of uniting artists in their studios with the public continues to be the essence of the event.
“The Culture Crawl has afforded me the opportunity to develop long-term relationships with art enthusiasts and collectors and I’ve watched families go from newlyweds to putting their children through college and becoming grandparents and gifting my work to their children,” she continued.
“Although the subject matter of my work has shifted over the years, the emphasis on the materiality of oil paint and its possibility of straddling the line between representation and pure painting has remained an integral part of my practice.”
Fans of eisenberg can expect to see a new collection of urbanscapes, landscapes and gardens, said the artist, who works out of Studio 336, at 1000 Parker St.
The Eastside Arts District comprises the region bounded by Columbia Street, 1st Avenue, Victoria Drive and the Waterfront. The Crawl includes emerging and established artists in a range of forms: paint, jewelry, sculpture, furniture, weaving, pottery, printmaking, photography and glassblowing. Visit culturecrawl.ca.
