IMAPON’s Co-Vid-EO page is dedicated to various on-line works by artists creating during the stay-at-home protocols initiated during Covid-19 Virus Pandemic. As people may feel shut in, the works are offerings of nature scenes from Vancouver Parks that are within IMAPON’s artist-in-residence area. IMAPON will update the page from time to time with the works, images and videos of other guest artists and community members.
IMAPON member Laura Lee Coles captured various scenes of trees in Jericho Park over four seasons for a period of six years during residency at Aberthau Mansion/West Point Grey Community Centre (2013–2018). LocoMotoArt Guest Artist Susi Milne contributes her photographs of scenes of Vanier Park called Love in the Green and member Rob Scharein will also post works.
This on-line project is in partnership with Vancouver Park Board: Arts, Culture and Engagement.
Driven by years of literary and artistic influence, Susi Milne seeks to startle and uncover connections from that which is found in the quotidian — the everyday. Her current work PERSONA is drawn from what is occurring in an ordinary and sometimes mundane manner. This work, multi layered in the representation reflects a sense of cultural change brought on by the current Covid 19 Pandemic.
The images of PERSONA, are of everyday people that Milne observes.
PERSONA chronicles the wearing of masks during Covid-19 Pandemic witnessed in the public sphere of Vancouver, British Columbia.
© 2020 Susi Milne
Sound artist Dave Leith sets an original soundscape composition Seasons to the photo montage Trees in collaboration with multi-disciplinary artist Laura Lee Coles.
Trees is a contemplative work, that shares a sense of Nature in the Park as experienced during different seasons. As people may find themselves more indoors than desired, Trees provides soothing moments of technological nature and the memory of place. Research shows that there is some benefit experiencing technological nature than no nature at all.
© 2020 Laura Lee Coles & David Leith
© 2020 Laura Lee Coles & David Leith
© 2020 Laura Lee Coles & David Leith
© 2020 Laura Lee Coles & David Leith
Love in the Green — Susi’s deep love affair with the splendors of spring, from the carpets of tiny daisy’s underfoot, to the glorious eagle nest in the mother tree located near the Coast Guard building beside Burrard Street Bridge.
© 2020 Susi Milne
Sea Vista — While experiencing the pandemic Susi took walks in her neighbourhood and visited Kits Beach for a sense of mindfulness. The panoramic vista of the ocean opened her mind to have a sense of Peace. She shares these blessed moments for those unable to be there.
© 2020 Susi Milne
Bird Park Survival Station is a multi-species research collaboration (2015–present) built on the roof of my home in the east side of Vancouver, that provides affordances to local and migratory birds — fresh water, small amounts of food, caching and perching features, plant habitat — to assist them survive the climate emergency. A computer vision system records the birds’ activities as video and sound, and these are analyzed for information about the birds' needs. Based on their input, I improve and expand upon the Park.
bio: Julie Andreyev is a Vancouver based artist-activist, researcher and educator. Her interspecies art practice called Animal Lover, with collaborative others, explores more-than-human creativity to develop kinships with local lifeforms and ecologies. www.animallover.ca
Since the stay-at-home requirements were initiated in Vancouver BC in 2020, Artist Grace L. Cuenca has been documenting the activities of humans during their ventures outdoors while implementing “isolation/distancing” to reduce the spread of Covid-19. In her series of photos, Cuenca portrays the urban environment and how the wearing of masks, methods of social distancing, and scenes of empty streets show the early days of the pandemic in neighbourhoods, parks, and city streets. Grace is interested in what manner people are implementing protocols to stay healthy while also being together as a family — husband and wife with young / adult children when going outdoors. The photo essays of Human Adaptability to Covid-19 also illustrates how businesses are coping and the pandemic’s effect on employees.
Human Adaptability to Covid-19 is an ongoing project.
Born and raised in the Philippines, Grace L. Cuenca graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering at Cebu Institute of Technology. While in the Philippines she had a career working as an educator. Soon after immigrating to Canada she studied Computer studies at BCIT and achieved a Certificate in Mechanical Drawing from Vancouver Community College. Grace was also a homemaker during her studies and raised two children to adulthood and is active in the Filipino community. Grace picked up the camera and quickly discovered it was a “glorious way to spend time in another world” where it “feels good and uplifting” and has not stopped taking photos since.
Pearl was one of three swan babies born in Spring 2009 to three different sets of parents in Stanley Park's beautiful Lost Lagoon. Rob Scharein spent many hours sitting near the stone bridge waiting for lovely Pearl to float by with her parents. Pearl was unusual for a cygnet in that she was pure white (normally they are grey). She certainly captured the hearts of all who saw her.
© 2020 Rob Scharein
