Octopus Studios

Best Wishes!!!!

2011-12-19T23:57:00.001-08:00

Artist Travis Watters at Octopus Studios, Eastside Culture Crawl 2011

2011-11-21T00:07:00.001-08:00

Artist Ellen Scobie at Octopus Studios, Eastside Culture Crawl 2011

2011-11-21T00:04:00.000-08:00

Vancouver Sun in Octopus Studios

2011-11-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Photos+Paintings+multimedia+peculiar+instruments+display+Culture+Crawl/5738686/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/regional-news/Electric+guitar+made+fishing+tackle+view+Culture+Crawl+studio/5738641/story.html

Luthier Kim White has fashioned an old fishing tackle box into an electric guitar.

He made the first one for birthday present request for Brad Barr of the Montreal band, the Barr Brothers (the video is online at YouTube - bit.ly/s3iFUD).

He also turns old tin chocolate boxes into electric guitars and makes ukuleles out of old cigar boxes.

His work, made under the name Hobo Nation Guitars, is on display at Octopus Studios at 393 Powell Street in Vancouver as part of the Eastside Culture Crawl, which continues today and Sunday, Nov. 20.

The event allows the public inside the studios of 300 artists to view their work.

More than a dozen artist share space at Octopus, ranging from painters Luchia Feman, Kelly Cairns and Travis Watters, to textile and jewelry maker Beata Kacy, who also does underwater portrait photographry (undersee.ca).

Culture Crawl is expected to attract more than 10,000 people this weekend to artists' studios.

The event began 15 years ago with 45 artists in three studios located in Strathcona, one of the city's oldest residential and commercial areas.

A directory of studios participating is online at eastsideculturecrawl.com nhall@vancouversun.com

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Electric+guitar+made+fishing+tackle+view+Culture+Crawl+studio/5738641/story.html#ixzz1eGXADuaX

2011-11-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

Interview with Jessica Werb from Straight

2011-11-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

http://www.straight.com/article-540081/vancouver/space-invaders

Recently, an unlikely group of people sat around a table in Octopus Studios at 393 Powell Street, discussing their work and shared artistic headquarters. Among those present were a pro wrestler, a university administration assistant, and a game designer—as well as a couple of jacket-sporting Chihuahuas. A scene out of the homogenous sitcom world of Friends, this was not.

At the Eastside Culture Crawl, mixed media defies definition

But in the cutthroat world of Vancouver artist studios, where space is at a premium, diverse groups of individuals who might never cross paths otherwise are sharing close quarters—and making it work.

“As artists, it’s tough to get your stuff out there and it’s tough to find affordable space,” notes part-time painter Travis Watters, who has rented a studio at Octopus for the last six months. A tanned, beefy guy who also makes a living as a pro wrestler under the stage name Ladies Choice (slogan: “the man with the plan and the golden tan”), he quietly sips a cup of tea as he describes his experiences of working in the Vancouver art world. “We’ve got to have strength in numbers,” he continues. “And it’s good people here, you know? It’s nice to have a kind of a space where you can meet and see other people’s work.”

Watters is one of the 12 artists at Octopus Studios who will be participating in this weekend’s Eastside Culture Crawl. But as Beata Kacy, the part-time multimedia artist and full-time software designer who runs the studio with her partner, leathersmith Nik Palmer, explains, there are 18 individuals in total working in the 3,000-square-foot space.

“We started five years ago with eight—that’s why we called it Octopus,” notes the Poland-born artist, who works in jewellery, textiles, and photography. “But then the recession was kind of happening and we noticed that people started asking if they could share spaces with other people to cut the cost. So most of the time we do have spaces with two people.”

According to Jeffrey Boone, executive director of the Crawl, the days of the solitary artist working in a spacious, light-filled studio are fast becoming history in Vancouver. “There’s been so much change, and there’s pressure on real estate in the city from every sector,” he observes. “As always, artists kind of get into the cheapest available real estate, and that is the stuff that’s being bought and flipped.…We keep hearing of people who are sort of subletting space in order to, I guess, reduce their own costs or to make ends meet.”

Wanting a space of her own to work in is what spurred Kacy into taking over the small building that became Octopus Studios, and while she initially worried about her ability to fill it, she’s found it to be in great demand from artists such as Luchia Feman, who joined the studio six months ago.

Feman, a painter working in a variety of materials, says she was forced out of her space at Georgia Jackson Studios at 505 East Georgia due to a renoviction.

“It was a great studio, but we had to move,” she recalls. “I looked at, I think, five other places.…And I came here and Beata said, ‘Oh, you know, it’s first come, first serve, we don’t get into this process.’ And I was like, ‘Right on!’ I don’t want to have anything to do with these elitist groups who are checking you out and seeing if they like you or if they want to be with you. I just want to be able to do my thing and basically be left alone, you know?”

Welcome Zinnia Hertland

2011-10-25T22:23:00.000-07:00

Zinnia Heartland is a multidisciplinary, mixed-media artist. She has lived on PEI, in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. She calls East Vancouver home.

Zinnia began her fascination with urban and rural landscapes at a very early age. Through her many moves as a child she developed a method of mapping out and exploring the environment around her in order to connect with the new place she was in. She was given her first camera at age 14 and has been taking pictures ever since. She brings her camera along on many adventure near her home in East Van as well as on her travels to places near and far.

Her photos capture neglected spaces, places left to their own devices; places that have developed on their own, places that inhabitants engage with lending each place its own unique colour.

Her mixed-media art work is a visually engaging combination of paint, collage, found, objects and photographs, a living document of where she has been. Her work takes you along, engages you in the process as she unravels the places has traveled to in her life. Zinnia actively maps out her life through through art and adventure and hopes to inspire visitors to create their own places to unfurl.

Luchia Feman

2011-06-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

The most interesting development for me over the years has been my continued passion for what I call ‘comfortable bodies’. I’ve noticed that some people and ‘things’ are intensely at home in their own skins. When successfully incorporated into sculpture or painting, the essence of these unexpected shapes and forms feel good to look at regardless of the circumstances.

Currently I am working with acrylic, oil, wax, and photography to produce a series of mixed media works entitled ‘Everybody Knows Your Name’. The work, which began as an offshoot of a street art commission, has evolved into a personal challenge, an exploration into my own social views and of course, a look at some very interesting bodies. After years of mucking around with cement, acrylics and oil, I have recently exploded into encaustics and have taken to offering archival canvas prints of selected works in addition to my originals in response to customer requests.

Luchia Feman is a Vancouver artist living and working in historic Gastown. She is passionate about creating and using public art as a means to encourage thought and exploration, for complex social issues. Outdoor venues are particular favorites, and she has proclaimed rooftops to be the great unexplored gallery spaces of our time.

Welcome Tracy Matthews

2011-05-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tracy Matthews has been a glass artisan for over 18 years. After a long break of raising her son, she is now back with a new found passion for all things creative. Tracy creates jewelry out of glass, enamel, broken shards of vintage plates, buttons and anything she considers pretty. Hence her business name VeryPrettyThings. She sells her work on her ETST site http://www.etsy.com/shop/veryprettything or at Arts off Main on 28th@ main st. http://www.artsoffmain.ca where she is a co-owner/partner. You can also contact her in person at veryprettythings@hotmail.com

Megan Davidson

2011-03-04T22:25:00.001-08:00

Meagan was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. Most recently she was working out of the Gam Gallery. Meagan has been an artist since she could first hold a brush, focusing on Make-up Artistry (meagandavidson.com) for many years before she devoted herself to the fine arts. Now studying at Langara College she hopes to continue in the direction of Interaction Design. Meagan has an active role in Vancouver’s Art community, and focuses her free time to her studies and volunteering and fundraising for community outreach programs like AIDS Vancouver.
Meagan’s Artwork is ever changing, and currently she is moved by how idealized identity, consumerism, and self-respect are connected. Working in mixed mediums, you will always be able to find something provoking, interesting, and moving in her work.

Welcome Carmen Larsen

2011-03-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

Carmen Larsen was born in the city of East London in South Africa in 1982 and moved to Johannesburg at 9 where she lived until the age of 14. She then immigrated with her family to Vancouver, Canada. She most recently worked from a studio located in the Gam Gallery (www.gamgallery.com) Carmen has an eclectic background in the Arts and Creative fields with professional experience in Design, Event coordination, and Marketing. Carmen works part time in Marketing for Joel Berman Glass Studios, an Architectural glass company founded and manufactured in Vancouver. Her educational history includes diplomas achieved through various Art institute’s and programs in Vancouver including The Vancouver Film school and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, as well as a collection of independent creative projects with marketing consultants, photography studios, fashion designers and professional artists over the last 13 years.

Her work as an artist is heavily inspired by her ongoing fascination with philosophy, ancient studies, symbolism, mysticism, metaphysics, abstraction, transformation and reforming of objects. Carmen works in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, photography, writing and wearable designs. Her newest work is derived from a profoundly more personal approach and raises awareness of critical social issues. Carmen possesses a strong passion for community and social work and views art as a medium by which to evoke compassionate thinking and stimulate change. She is active member of the Arts community and is involved in many fundraising and awareness initiatives specific to the Women of the DTES and those exoeriencing a life with and around mental illness. Recycling and rebirthing of objects and materials is a common reoccurrence in her work in any medium. Her work embodies an overall eerily dark yet romantic sensation, through feminine, surreal imagery and intensely saturated colours. Her paintings and drawings consist of many detailed layers, organic textures and rich gel glosses creating visual depth.

www.carmenlarsenart.com
www.carmenlarsen.blogspot.com

Welcome Cam Reid

2011-01-12T20:03:00.001-08:00

Reid grew up in the Comox Valley, developing his artistic abilities and passions at an early age. He went to art school at the North Island College - Emily Carr University satellite program from 2006 to 2010, achieving his BFA and excelling primarily in painting and printmaking throughout his time there. He currently works with ideas surrounding the human experience of time and memory: subjective time, memory recall, and false memory are common recurring themes in his work. These works are manifested in paint on canvas, and in drawing installations utilizing etched plexiglass and digitally printed plastic film. Reid recently won first place at the Victoria Emerging Art Awards in Victoria, BC, and currently shows there regularly. Reid is currently represented by the Victoria Emerging Art Gallery.

Welcome Lisa Dawn to Octopus Members

2011-01-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

Lisa Dawn M. is a 2010 graduate of Emily Carr University. She has chosen to work with porcelain because it is a material with equal qualities of strength and fragility. It requires care, patience and undergoes extensive transformation during its handling process. It has history and memory.

All of her work is available for commission and collaboration – all of her buckles, pendants, textiles and sculptures are one-of-a-kind, but she is able to make replicas that are near identical, but still original, if you see one you really like.

Lisa is available for public, private and commercial work. If you see something you like, or have an idea for a piece and her style fits your idea, contact her. She also supplements her artistic endeavors through the film industry as a props maker.
She welcomes people to her studio if they are interested in her work or have any queries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2010-12-15T23:56:00.000-08:00

Octopus Studio East Side Culture Crawl 2010

2010-11-30T23:36:00.000-08:00

Paul Tanner

2010-10-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

After completing a four-year jeweler/goldsmith apprenticeship in only three years, I spent 10 years working professionally as a goldsmith, creating a variety of standard and custom jewelry pieces. I then went to The Vancouver Film School and completed their one-year 3D animation and visual FX program. I’ve spent the seven years since then working in the video games industry as a character artist, working for such studios as Electronic Arts, Disney and Ubisoft.
In addition to my “day job”, I sculpt and make jewelry on the side, and continue to study sculpting and anatomy by taking a number of classes, including one at the California studio of the renowned American figure sculptor Richard MacDonald.

Matt Klein

2010-10-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Matt Klein is a Vancouver artist who has enjoyed painting the western landscape for more than 15 years. Not limited to the subject of landscape, he also enjoys the challenge and rewards of painting the human figure. With a colorful, "painterly" style leaning toward impressionism, Matt creates his realistic subjects with loose, textural brush strokes, giving the paintings a vibrant, modern feeling. Finding the beautiful, abstract nature in everyday objects and scenery is what Matt lives for as an artist.

Classically trained at a French "atelier" style art school in Boulder,Colorado, U.S.A., Matt developed a classical art foundation that serves his realistic tendencies. He has studied with many renown U.S. artists including Quang Ho, Scott Christensen, Kim English, Michelle Torrez, Robert Liberace, Sherrie McGraw, Kevin Weckbach, Robert Spooner and Chris Groves. Matt also loves to teach, and is currently organizing a landscape painting course in Vancouver. (click CLASSES on the home page).

Suzy Stroet

2010-10-22T22:36:00.000-07:00

Suzy Stroet was born and raised in Vancouver and continues to live and work in the city. She is an emerging artist whose work focuses on people and how they interact with, and inhabit the spaces they create.

Suzy received her BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2003. She also studied art at the Universidad Polytechnica de Valencia as an exchange student in 2002. In 2005 she graduated from UBC with a Masters in Library and Information Studies. During this program Suzy completed a practicum at the library of the National Gallery of Canada.

Most recently Suzy has exhibited in the group show “ Queertopia” as part of the Queer Arts Festival at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. In 2009 she coordinated and participated in a show entitled “ Resilience: Out of the Shadows” at the Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice. Suzy has also shown work at Rhizome in 2007, at the Queering Femininity Conference in Seattle in 2003 and at the Universidad Politechnica de Valencia in 2002.

Her paintings are representational to varying degrees. Her figurative work focuses on how people present and view themselves within their communities and the larger communities that they are a part of. For example, the paper doll explores being feminine within a queer community and being queer within a larger community where straightness is assumed. Her representations of spaces are of human made places but act as landscape by creating a space for viewers to imagine themselves inhabiting. Her work addresses the ever-evolving nature of human made places and the tension between physical, digital, social and emotional spaces.

Currently Suzy works as a librarian for the Vancouver Public Library and spends the rest of her time building her art career.

Ellen Scobie

2010-10-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

The smallest unit of life is a cell, the building block of all living things. Each cell contains the cell genome, or DNA, which stores information. In reproduction, DNA is replicated and passed on to off spring so linking generations.
My digital paintings are the off spring of my photography. I capture the landscape digitally, recording images in pixels. Each pixel is a capsule of information analogous to a cell containing DNA. I use these cells of information to create something new, digitally recombining pixels from a myriad of images. I am fascinated by the ability to mutate and transfigure digital data in endless ways in the service of image-making.
Intended to be experienced on an emotive level, these interior landscapes may evoke past remembrances or an undefined sense of the familiar or a new, yet somehow appealing,expression. I work hard at developing a visually rich surface, using image fragments plucked from time’s continuum, reinvented to suggest the possibilities of a new narrative.

Guzin Taskirand and Beata Kacy photography project

2010-09-27T22:08:00.001-07:00

Concept by Beata Kacy

Eight months and three weeks pregnant I had an urgent need to capture my state in an unusual way. Swollen feet, heavy boobs, protruding belly button and growing abdomen i felt like something not belonging to this world. To capture that moment I was looking for unusual environments, where gravity feels different. I found water the best medium to memorize those moments...peaceful, slow, whilst feeling close to what my baby is feeling while we where both emerged in "fluids". The whole process felt like a bonding project for us.

Execution -by Guzin Taskiran (camera) and Beata Kacy (edits)

With a simple underwater camera, some clothing from the local Thrift store, diving weights attached to my legs and a diving flashlight, my friend Guzin Taskiran and i entered the swimming pool with few expectations of success. To our surprise we loved the result. We managed to capture the moment of peace and happiness, light and delicate movements. After the pool adventure all the pictures went through my freeform creative digital processing to emphasize the moment plus removing all traces of what was a public swimming pool :)

Roksan Kohen - new studio member

2010-08-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

I started to express myself creatively through fine arts at a very young age. As I had both talent and interest in this area, I attended workshops and drawing lessons so that I could develop my talent. All through my primary and secondary education, my objective was to study arts at university level.

After graduating from MSGSU , the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, I had the incredible opportunity to work as an artist and an art tutor as well. Since then, free of deductions, my life is full of observation, challenge of creation, fun in my own way and I thoroughly enjoy sharing my passion with my students and others.

Open Doors Project 2010

2010-08-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

Open Doors Project

2010-07-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Please join Octopus Studios during Open Doors Project on July 31- August1. Open Doors is collaborative project led by the Powell street Festival Society and the Japanese Canadian National Museum. Founded under the City of Vancouver's Japantown Revitalization project, the Open Doors initiative is to commemorate the divers histories of 300 and 400 blocks of the Powell Street neighborhood.

New Classes at Soigne in Octopus Studios

2010-04-12T21:32:00.001-07:00

Were you always amazed with intricate wire chains and do you wonder how they are made? Then It is time to explore new skills, using only a few tools, Soigne wire chain course will introduce you to 10 different styles of chains and wire jewelry without soldering.

Perfect for you to learn how to make your own jewelry at home with only a few tools. After this 4 hour course, you will be able to produce jewelry with wire and make your own designs using various styles and techniques!

More info under the link: http://soigne.ca/about/wire-chains/

Octopus presents Ernest Swanson

2010-03-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

Ernest began engraving in 2004 under Haida jeweller, Jim McGuire. In 2005, he started carving wood with Christian White and his cousin, Jim Hart. This same year, he also won an ‘Emerging Artist’ award from British Columbia’s Alliance of Arts and Culture. In 2009, Ernest graduated from Vancouver's Northwest Coast Jewellery Arts program under established Haida/Kwakwaka'wakw artist, Dan Wallace. Recently, Ernest has been working on a large pole with Jim Hart at the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver.

Octopus presents Ellen Scobie

2010-03-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

Artist Statement

I am interested in extracting specific moments from time’s continuum and using them as building blocks in a new narrative – the creative of memory as an inventive activity. Pixels are both the medium and the content of my artwork, each pixel carrying with it information from its source, a photographic capture. I use pixels as I would ink or paint in developing an optically layered and visually textural work. The digital camera may be a relatively new artistic tool, but the tradition of photo montage, practiced by artists for decades, is at the foundation of my art making.

Biography

Ellen Scobie was born and raised on Vancouver Island. She attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art History from the University of Manitoba where further training in lithography introduced her to the process of fine art printmaking. She continued her art studies in England at the historic London College of Printing. After several years in Spain, Ellen returned to the West Coast where she experimented with a wide variety of media and techniques. All of these influences have shaped her current artistic practice of digital photo montage. The artist has one daughter and lives with her husband in Burnaby, BC.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OCTOPUS STUDIOS

2009-12-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

Octopus Studios on The Express TV Shaw

2009-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ9uI-xGppA

Blogs featuring Octopus Studios

2009-11-23T23:49:00.000-08:00

Kimplumley's blog:

http://kimplumley.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/8-arms-needed-at-octopus-really-to-carry-all-the-things-you-want-to-buy/

Meanderinginlotusland:

http://meanderinginlotusland.blogspot.com/

Another feature on "24hours" interview with Tomoko Kawabe

2009-11-23T23:42:00.000-08:00

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2009/11/22/11873256.html

CBC features Octopus Studios during ECC

2009-11-23T23:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Local_News/BC/ID=1339006063 watch us on 14:55

Thank you all for visiting Octopus Studios during the Eastside Culture Crawl

2009-11-22T22:27:00.000-08:00

Sneak Peak about Octopus Studios on “Express Shaw TV”

2009-11-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

Three more days to the Eastside Culture Crawl. Octopus Studios were pleased to entertain Express Shaw TV, showcasing what's new for the Crawl this year. You can see the show on Shaw TV, on the 18, 19, 20 of November at 6pm and 10 pm. See you all at the Crawl.

Jonathan Paine workshop

2009-11-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

Today was the last evening with Jonathan Paine at Octopus Studios. Please enjoy some creatures during the production. More information about Jonathan latest workshop you can find in the blogs archive under September posts. Stay tuned for more classes in 2010. Thank you Jonathan for great 8 weeks of instructing.

Sean Karemaker

2009-10-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

Sean Karemaker documents the small things that occur in strange places. He enjoys to illustrate slow stories at high speed and capture mundane madness in passing. His weapons of choice are clay, pens, and mixtures of paints.

Tomoko Kawabe

2009-10-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have been creating clutch purses. They are colourful and fun pieces which can be used to keep your cosmetics, candies, coins, and more.
I also have been in the process of selecting images from my Lomography collection to showcase at the Eastside Culture Crawl.

Lynn Corcuera

2009-10-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

DJ Bles-sed (SVSVANCITY.COM/HASTINGS SET) will be spinning hip hop, funk, soul, disco, electro and classic house.

Kevin Foster

2009-10-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

The KGF (aka Kevin Foster, aka Grand Master Hex, aka KK Styles) spins the dopest tunes, gets the flyest girls, and makes the biggest moves, dig? He’s straight out of the suburbs of C Town and won’t take no prisoners or excuses, so watch out. Ain’t been no person who wanted to hear good smooth dance tunes that heard the KGF and then said they didn’t hear it later! Yeah. Feel it. Kev also likes eating and cooking organic.

Kim White

2009-10-16T00:56:00.000-07:00

Kim builds classical, steel and cigar box guitars one at a time by hand. He trained with Master Luthier David Freeman.

Kelly Cairns

2009-10-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

Originally from Saskatchewan, I have lived in Vancouver for three years. I work as a painter and fashion designer, using recycled skateboard decks as my canvas, and some up-cycled fabrics in my designs. This is my first year at the Eastside Culture Crawl. I am also currently setting up a store on etsy, to be opened mid-October. I am a new addition to Octopus Studios on Powell and look forward to seeing you all at the crawl where I will have a variety of art and clothing for sale.

Lisa Wills

2009-09-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

For Miss Wills, the medium actually is the message. Every surface tells its own story.

Her Abstract Expressionism is the interplay between colour and texture with an extreme sensitivity to the needs of the media.

Her careful consideration and choice of process allows for a confidence and tension that has an organic quality.

Miss Wills has studied at Emily Carr, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and West Dean College in England.

Soigne handfelted bags

2009-09-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

My recent love of leather and felt can be seen in my new designs. These new bags have a soft and cozy touch for the winter season, and are finished with leather elements for form and function. Inside they are all lined with a contrasting fabric. Please check www.soigne.ca for more info.

Jonathan Paine guest teacher at Octopus Studios

2009-09-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Paine and Octopus Studios are pleased to be offering a course in character sculpting. Enrollment is limited and seats are ﬁlling quickly.

Maquettes are used in leading animation studios as a reference and style guide. This course will be invaluable to animators and character modelers wanting to have a physical model of their design. Learn how to sculpt from an artist with 25 years experience. During this course you will learn all the steps necessary for creating your sculpture from scratch. We will cover tools, materials and sculptural procedures from building an armature for support, blocking in, to ﬁnishing. Basic anatomy of the face, neck and upper chest will be discussed and how that impacts your sculpture, whether you are sculpting something realistic or caricatured. For this class it is recommended to do an animated character bust. Realistic portraits will not be covered in this course. Prerequisite: Although this can be considered a beginners class, prior drawing and or sculpting experience is recommended.

Start Date: September 23
Duration: 8 x 3Hour sessions
Cost: $400 + Supplies and Equipment
Supplies and Equipment: $50 approximate
Enrollment is limited to 12 students

To enroll and for details please contact Jonathan Paine directly at claypixel@gmail.com

Location: Octopus Studios 393 Powell Street, Vancouver

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Jonathan's career spans 25 years with a skill set that is enviable. In the late 80’s he performed with the Muppets, was a miniature model maker on Captain Power and was a stop motion animator at The Animation House. When he wasn’t animating Jonathan was running his own toy prototyping business, servicing clients such as Disney, Warner Bros, and Thinkway Toys. After moving to Vancouver in the mid 90’s, Jonathan taught Sculpting, Colour Theory and Lighting and was a modeling mentor at VFS. After hours he spent his time learning how to translate his skills to the computer and with 4 1/2 years teaching experience left to work on the 3D animated features “Ice Age” for Blue Sky Studios in New York and then at Pixar for 5 years where he worked on The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Cars, and Up and several shorts. Jonathan has been responsible for sculpting and character modeling some of the most memorable characters in ﬁlm.

Octopus featured on Glass Addiction

2009-08-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Jennifer Cameron for featuring Soigne and Octopus Studios on http://www.glassaddictions.blogspot.com/.

Thank all for leaving lovely comments.

Cheers
Beata

Yuki Takahashi and her doll addiction

2009-07-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm working on a 1/6 size fashion doll design. I'm working on the full design, sculpting, and prototyping. This doll will be released in fall, 2010 in Tokyo. I'm going to have the pre-release art show in Vancouver next June before Tokyo. The picture (attachment) is my style guide. It's the feel of what my doll is going to look like (which I still can't show)!

I'm also designing/sewing outfit for the doll. Based on the feel of its world, I'm also designing few original fabric that I'm going to use for the outfit. I will display some of it at the CC.

Nik Palmer as PalmerAndSons

2009-07-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Currently I am spending most of my time in the studio working on leather bags and suitcases. This is something new for me based on my last two years working with wood, leather and metals. The designs are practical, very hard wearing, and based on renewable materials. I incorporate a small amount of woodworking into the handles and other areas but i hope to increase this as i add to the designs. I really love the Octopus Art studios as it's so peaceful and relaxed. My online brochure for my designs is at www.palmerandsons.ca if you want to check them out.

Guzin Taskiran

2009-06-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

I started photography as a part of passion to know myself and I liked the idea of painting with light. More importantly, I realized I had found an instrument to serve my unconscious desire to stay in the moment without being lost in useless regrets of the past, which was already over and purposeless anxieties of the future, which may never come. I was mesmerized by the spiritual power of the camera to help me stay still and be in the moment.
I'm neither my past nor my future. I'm neither the story written by my words nor by my photographs. What you will find in my photographs is just a confirmation of the moments when I know that I exist and my inner "yes"es to those moments.

Colin Merriam

2009-06-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

My current work involves using existing imagery from films and representing selective elements and moments from them in order to try and capture the general impressions and aesthetics from a particular sequence within a single image. This is done with mixed media images of collage and acrylic on plywood.

Beata Kacy and her Soigne

2009-06-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

Soigne was born from my passion for metalwork, nature and photography. All 3 aspects combined together let me explore different methods of jewelry making using glass, wood, metals, cement, resin, images and found objects. Meanwhile, I am holding classes of mix media jewelry, felt and soap making at my art space - Octopus Studios. Please check my blog www.soigne.ca for any art and crafts updates, my students work and my new explorations.

Merry Christmas !!!!!!!

2008-12-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

Culture Crawl 2008; 830 visitors

2008-11-23T23:50:00.000-08:00

Octopus Studios had over 830 visitors, great fun and fantastic energy. First year in the Crawl with big success. Special thanks to Kall and his Belly Dancer guest and DJ Kevin Foster for making better energy with his rhythm. Thank you all for support, please visit us next year. More pictures to follow.

Ginger 62 press coverage

2008-11-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Please check out the Village Gamer site (link below), which showcases Ginger 62 event and Memebrs of Octopus Studio: Beata, Yuki, Ben, Paul's involvement in the East Side Culture Crawl:

http://www.villagegamer.net/

Ginger 62, Art Show

2008-11-13T23:39:00.000-08:00

Nik Palmer

Ben Hasketh

Paul Tanner

Yuki Takahashi

Beata Kacy

Few members of Octopus Studio and East Side Culture Crawl - Yuki, Beata, Ben and Paul where participating in the Art Show at Ginger 62.
http://www.ginger62.com/

Our Gallery

2008-10-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Our latest gallery, thank you to all the artist for their participation.

New Mural!!!

2008-10-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Shannon Harvey we have our new mural with Octopus Studios logo. It is still working progress, I will update with the final art soon.