art i would crawl for

i love art. i will say it again, i love art. be it big or small, clever, quirky, richly hued or moody. i love walking into a gallery when the faint scent of paint is still in the air after hanging a new show. i love wandering through a working studio to see splattered walls and tools lined up at the ready and rows of paint in tubes. i love being around artists - those talented humble ones, not the pretentious poser ones.

there have been a few memorable occasions that still stick with me of walking into a gallery or studio and being knocked out - literally stopped in my tracks by what i consider to be great work. to me great work is not necessarily expensive art or fine art or art that is in vogue; we all have our own tastes. to me great art makes me smile or makes me think - it is art i can get lost in - having dabbled a bit in the arts myself - great art amazes me with it's 'how did they do that?' factor.

this is the season for art in vancouver and this weekend is the 12th annual eastside culture crawl. in 2007 i was completely knocked out by galen feld - i stood in her studio for well over an hour (twice) gazing (gawking) & talking to her and i finally went home with one of her smallest (read: i could afford) pieces.

in 2006 i had a similar experience with jordan bent as i rummaged excitedly through his work space touching hundreds of amazing sketches.

this year (trying to manage false low expectations) i look forward to new collections and snooping through artist studios and rubbing elbows with creators and finding more treasures on the crawl!