Crows

I have worked for almost 25 years as a commercial artist, happily creating whatever my customers have ordered, working with children in the Vancouver school system on large art projects, and painting murals for Children's Hospital and other institutional, business and residential clients. I love my job, and am generally happy to be screenprinting, painting walls or graphic designing. I consider myself to be one of the "working stiffs" of the art world, grinding away at the nuts-and-bolts art jobs that fill my 40+ hour work week, rather than tackling imaginative and risky projects to please myself.

Thanks to a conversation with Sylvia Oates for several years ago, I found myself committed to fill these walls for Britannia's Gallery Project. This has forced me to take time to think about, and create a project that would interest both me and the adults and children who use this library. Crows filled the bill. They are beuatiful, clever, intriguing, fun to watch and draw, and at this point in their history, they need some good PR. Too many negative stories are being told about them and too many threats have been made recently. In the past month several articles in the Vancouver Sun have suggested "culling" (i.e killing) local crow populations.

These prints and the words that accompany them are a small celebration of the crow. Next time you come across one of these remarkable creatures, take a good look. I believe that art is all about taking a good look at life, at ourselves and at our fellow creatures on this planet.