Island Garden Party & Art Opening

Last summer my sister introduced me to Strathcona Press, a letterpress home studio and gallery run by Jen Van de Pol and Adrian Robertshaw and this last weekend we had the chance to go back for their opening of a photo and letterpress exhibition with photography by Gregory Crow.  The exhibition featured images taken in an old building in Saskatchewan while Adrian and Gregory were out filming there this last spring.  The lovely light and minimal scenes of 'institutional yet homey' spaces were pared with letterpress descriptions that added to the narrative. 

It was so good of Jen and Adrian to include us in their Garden Party for guests that had traveled out from the city to be around for the show.  Their amazing house (full of antiques, beautiful art and found objects from all over the world) and picturesque yard made it a beautiful setting to eat garden-fresh salads and sip on wine. 

For more images of Strathcona Press' gallery and their vintage letterpresses, check out this post by 'any spun thread'.

Farm & Art Tours

I had a great weekend on Vancouver Island visiting my sister's new home! One of the highlights was going on a mini farm and Art tour around the Nanaimo area. We really only got to 2 places this time around, considering that I had one sick boy to contend with, but here are the goods!

First off was an amazing Letterpress Studio and Art gallery called Strathcona Press, started by Jen Van de Pol and her partner Adrian Robertshaw, who I actually graduated from Emily Carr with- small world! It was great to connect with these two who moved from the Strathcona area in Vancouver last year to this amazing little property with a lovely house, yard, and beautiful studio! They are both full-time artists, working on a variety of projects, but fell in love with the letterpresss process, the presses, typography and printmaking along the way. The little gallery had a variety of vintage photographs with frames, lovely little drawings, letterpress prints and some Vancouver Roasted Coffee with letterpress printed labels. If you are ever on the Island, do stop by during the summer as they are open fri-sun, 3208 Hill Road, in Cedar, BC.
Then it was off to Hazelwood Herb Farm to see their garden and amazing different products that they make on the premises with the herbs they grow. From shampoo to soaps, ointments to dried herbs, this place had it all with a lovely little garden to roam around in too.