Still Moon Arts Society

We are less than a month away from the Moon Festival and it’s getting very exciting!

Next week we will be making lanterns with Renfrew-Collingwood Seniors, and the grade 8 and 9 leadership students at Windermere. On Friday is our first rehearsal for the finale with youth who recently completed the Performance Intensive camp and community members who want to join in

Rehearsals are Fridays 4- 7pm at Windermere High school drama room, Sept 10, 17, 24. There is also an extra rehearsal with the band on Thursday Sept 23rd at Renfrew Park from 4-7pm

September 13th the public lantern workshops start with artist Yoko Tomita – Renfrew Community Centre room 208, 4-8pm Mon – Friday Sept 13 – 24

Come and get involved

In more ways than one the Ravine Cleanup on August 14th should be considered a success. In the blistering heat 15 individuals gave up their day to provide stewardship to the ravine, pull out garbage and to help tend to one of the native plant gardens. In total there was three massive piles of plant material that were removed; most of which was highly invasive such as Japanese Knotweed, English Holly and Ivy, and Himilayan Blackberries.

In other ways there are indicators of long term success at revitalization. 14 years ago in 1996 when the first ravine cleanup took place nearly three dumpster were filled with debris that had been dumped into the ravine over the years. On the 14th we pulled out only about 6 garbage bags worth. This fact alone is significant but the change has only taken place because of the dedication of hundreds upon hundreds of individual volunteers over the last decade and a half. Less garbage means that we can focus more attention on invasive species pulls and spend more time planting native plant species.

Thanks to everyone who came out and we hope to see you all again next time!

The Summer Ravine Cleanup is this Saturday the 14th!

I hope to see many people there. There hasn’t been a cleanup for a while so unfortunately we are almost assured to find plenty of ‘interesting’ stuff down in the ravine.

What: Summer 2010 Renfrew Ravine Cleanup
Where: Meet at the Mosaic Bench near 22nd Ave and Boyd Diversion
When: Saturday August 14th 10am-2pm
Who: Everyone! Students, families, neighbours.

World Peace Day - musicians played on the beach and Fish Out Of Water danced as we prepared the prayer boats and candles for the water

Still Moon had a wonderful day in Steveston yesterday. We spent the afternoon folding origami boats and cranes and talking with people about World Peace Day, Hiroshima 66 years ago, prayers for world peace and prayers for world water peace. Our first family of many many families was Japanese and they really appreciated the opportunity for their children, and they helped us remember how to fold cranes. Cranes are traditional to fold  as a prayer for healing. Ground Zero in Hiroshima is a beautiful park and all the trees are laden with clusters of 1,000 cranes that have been folded as prayers for peace and that no one else will ever suffer the horrors of a nuclear bomb. We also added folding origami boats as prayer for World Water Peace.

Still Moon origami booth at Gulf of Georgia Cannery

folding origami with Crecien

Fish Out of Water dance in front of the Cannery

parading with prayer boats and 1,000 cranes

Crystal and Clara dance past the fish truck

Lighting the candles in the boats .... or trying to ... the breeze was very capricious

origami prayer boat floating on the water

Shepherding a prayer boat

boats drifting into the reeds

Prayer boats in the reeds

Peace

Two special events are coming up this weekend!

1. On Friday August 6th Still Moon Arts Society will be at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery in Steveston for the next phase of Spirit Fish. The event takes place from 12 until dark. We will be there all afternoon building origami boat lanterns and making Prayers for the Water and World Peace. Starting at 6:00 there will be performances of Taiko Drumming and music about the sea from the Fraser Union. At 7:45 we will parade to Point Garry Park with live music and lanterns and float our Prayers for the water at the mouth of the river. For more information please see the main Spirit Fish page.

2. On Sunday August 8th come back to the Georgia Cannery for the 2010 Salmon Stomp. Still Moon Arts will be present and we will have a number of performers at the event. The Salmon Stomp runs from 12-5 and there will be free admission to the Cannery. Still Moon Arts will be attending the event with artists from 1-4.

We hope to see you all there!

Come out and help take care of the ravine. It is in need of your care and stewardship. The next ravine clean up will take place on August 14th 2010.

What: Summer 2010 Renfrew Ravine Cleanup
Where: Meet at the Mosaic Bench near 22nd Ave and Boyd Diversion
When: Saturday August 14th 10am-2pm
Who: Everyone! Students, families, neighbours.

Come meet your neighbours, have some tasty treats, and enjoy the natural beauty of the ravine while helping to make it even better! We would love it if you came out and help for any amount of time that you are able. No experience or equipment required. We’ll see you all on the 14th!

For more information please contact community.stillmoon@gmail.com

Visit the cleanup event on Facebook

Renfrew Ravine Labyrinth: There is a labyrinth in Renfrew Ravine Park at 27th Avenue east of Atlin Street. Just steps from the 29th Avenue Skytrain Station, locals and visitors use the labyrinth for meditation, for health, for reflection, and for play.

Call for musicians: On the last Sunday of every month, from 2-4pm, a labyrinth steward from Still Moon Arts Society attends the labyrinth. We are looking for small groups or individuals who would be willing/excited to play music near the community labyrinth. Musicians would play to an audience of labyrinth walkers/weeders and a variety of people passing through on their way to the Skytrain station or who are just out for a stroll.

●    Dates: Any Sunday of July 25th; Aug 29th, Sep 26th, Oct 31st.
●    Session length: a period of time between 2 and 4 pm.
●    Public space – no electric or water hookups.
●    Given enough lead time, the last Sunday musicians publicized in media articles, the labyrinth blog, and community posters.
●    A short video of the musical event posted on the labyrinth blog. ●    Thanks for sharing your music!

See http://renfrewravinelabyrinth.wordpress.com

Contact: Paddy Fahrni. pfahrni@shaw.ca

Still Moon Arts Society Interns Kevin Chan and Crecien Bencio have recently finished resurfacing the benches at the Ravine Sanctuary Garden (near 29th Ave Skytrain) and at the North Ravine Garden (near Boyd Diversion/22nd Ave).

The benches have been sanded, and most of the graffiti has been removed. Unfortunately there is still significant fire damage on the hand carved bench at the Sanctuary Garden; although it has been greatly improved. There are plans for further restoration projects to take place on that bench in the near future.

There are still a few spaces left in the Performance Intensive Camp taking place from August 16-27th.

Learn to spin hoops, flags, and poi, walk on stilts, build a costume, and make shadow puppets. Successful graduates will be featured in a community showcase on August 27th and are eligible to participate in the 2010 Moon Festival Finale.

For more information see the Performance Intensive Page or email community.stillmoon@gmail.com

The camp runs for two weeks with 3 classes each day.

Cost:

250$ per week

400$ for two weeks

* On week 2 we are offering a professional development stilt walking workshop with Isabelle Kirouac for already experienced stilt walkers who want to take their skills to the next level. Cost is 100$ for the week. (1 class each morning).

To register please email community.stillmoon@gmail.com