FIONA VANDALE’S ‘HERON CATCHING SALMON’ GRACES COVER OF AUGUST 2009 ‘FOCUS’ MAGAZINE

JAMES BAY CELTIC ARTIST’S EZEKIEL’S WHEEL 

GRACED COVER OF LA ROSA NO. 31 IN DEC. 1995

 

Fiona Vandale, a LA ROSA cover artist in the December 12, 1995 number of that occasional paper publication formerly published and edited by the present editor of this website (Gregory Hartnell, alias ‘Goyo de la Rosa’), has had another exquisite example of her startling work reproduced on the cover of the new Focus magazine, founded and edited by Leslie Campbell.

While three examples of Fiona’s work in LA ROSA NO. 31 were only reproduced on the cover and an inside two page spread in a purplish-blue ink, the August 2009 number of Focus has just the one full colour unattributed example of her work on the cover, with an explanatory note inside on the contents page.

Despite this oversight, Fiona’s work is instantly recognizable for its bright colouration, the intricacy of the detail, the careful linearity of the design and the distinctly Pacifican fusion of Celtic, ecological and Buddhist elements of symbolism.

HERON CATCHING SALMON

‘Heron Catching Salmon’ shows a stylized bird with a perfect circular stomach in the middle of the design, the inside of which is swirling with spirals.

 The heron’s neck is decorated with Celtic interlace, as is the very intricate framework surrounding the whole.

 Three corners of the design are similar in treatment, but the fourth, whimsically, is a larger, out-of-scale Buddhist mandala.

 The heron has a stylized salmon with an exotic tail in its beak.  The bird’s wing feathers make up a large part of the design, with beautiful turquoise shades emphasizing the variegated watercolour technique, and deft touches of bright crimson at the tips of feathers.  

Bird and fish are placed within the Celtic interlace frame on a stark white background, only relieved somewhat by yet more interlace in two triangles in  the upper left and lower right corners.  

Heron Catching Salmon is certainly a masterpiece of  Fiona Vandale’s  mature  Celtic art and is well-suited on the cover of Focus, as the topic of endangered wild salmon is on the minds of many readers with ecological consciousness as salmon researcher Alexandra Morton passes her torch to others to fight the good fight for wild salmon.

FIONA VANDALE BIO 

Here is the relevant text on Fiona Vandale from Focus August 2009, Volume 21, Number 11, on pages 3 and 22:

ON THE COVER: ‘Heron Catching Salmon” by Fiona Vandale, 24 x 18 inches, watercolour on paper.

 You can visit Fiona and 21 other James Bay artists in their studios on the James Bay Art Walk, Labour Day weekend, September 5 and 6, 11 am – 5 pm. See story on page 22.

On page 22 we read: Focus’ cover this month is by one of the artists on the Walk.

Fiona Vandale has spent years studying Celtic design from earliest times, working to master its complex techniques and using them to develop her own interpretation – in watercolour – of the wildlife and colours of Vancouver Island.

“Celtic maze patterns describe the cyclic nature of life, death, and rebirth; we arrive at the end only to begin the journey anew,” says the artist, who turned to myth, history and art when drafting plans for subdivisions and roads lost its appeal.

JAMES BAY ART WALK

The James Bay Art Walk takes place from 11 am – 5 pm on September 5 and 6.  

Complete details, with a map of the studios and artist bios are available at http://jamesbayartwalk.ca.

Brochures are available in the James Bay neighbourhood.

 

LA ROSA – CCC – TRANSCULTURAL ARTS PROPAGANDA 1995 – 2009 

 

JOHN BIDLAKE: ‘I AM ASHAMED TO ADMIT I VOTED LIBERAL IN THE LAST ELECTION’

HEADLINES TELL THE STORY OF LIBERAL DISHONESTY

 

The headlines in the July 29 [Times Colonist] paper on the front and business sections are interesting.

“B. C. Ferries put under province’s microscope,” says the front-page headline.

Maybe the taxpayers of this province should put the Liberals under the microscope.

I happen to be, as Paul Willcocks appropriately says in his column, one of those people who has been played for a sap.

I am ashamed to admit I voted Liberal in the last election.

As for the headline in the business section, “B. C. to ease HST blow to restaurants,” what does Finance Minister Colin Hansen have to say?

“The HST, in my view, is absolutely the right public policy for British Columbia.”

Misleading taxpayers would appear to be the public policy for the Liberal party these days.

Only three months ago the HST was not on their radar.

What hogwash!

 

John Bidlake

Victoria

 

[CCC reprint: Victoria Times Colonist, timescolonist.com

‘Headlines tell the story of Liberal dishonesty’

Friday, July 31, 2009, page A11]

 

CCC

BRENDA HARFIELD: ‘There was not any honesty, openness or public discussion regarding sale of B. C. Rail, missing emails + recently introduced HST’ by Gordon Campbell’s Liberals

HST THE LAST STRAW FOR LIBERAL HONESTY

 

Like many other B. C. citizens, I fretted to learn that less than 50 per cent of us exercised their right to vote.

But in light of the actions of our recently elected Liberal government, I’m likely to join the non-voters next time around.

Transparency and accountability are a joke.

It’s one omission and sleigh of hand after another.

It seems the decision voters make is about whose brand of lies you want to believe, hold your nose and vote … so why vote at all?

There was not any honesty, openness or public discussion regarding the sale of B. C. Rail, missing e-mails and the recently introduced HST.

The legislature sits as little as possible.

None of these issues, nor the ballooning size of the deficit, was openly and honestly shared with the public during the election campaign.

 

Brenda Harfield

Sidney

 

[CCC reprint: Victoria Times Colonist, timescolonist.com

‘HST the last straw for Liberal honesty’

Friday, July 31, 2009, page A11]

CCC

PAUL G. STEER: GORDO CAMPBELL’S Liberals ‘appear not to care about the poor, middle class or seniors who will now pay more taxes to help pay for the overruns for the Olympics’

TIME TO RECALL THE LIBERALS?

Is there nothing that we, as residents of B. C., can do to change this dictatorship of a government?

The Liberals have subverted the intent of democracy by trying to install the harmonized sales tax without consultation with the people of this province.

Not only that, but they appear not to care about the poor, middle class or seniors who will now pay more taxes to help pay for the overruns for the Olympics and the Vancouver Convention Centre.

The only reason this tax is to be installed is to help the government get out of debt at the expense of the taxpayers.

There must be some way to recall these officials – perhaps a class action suit regarding their falsehoods.

 

Paul G. Steer

Victoria

 

[CCC reprint: Victoria Times Colonist, timescolonist.com

‘Time to recall the Liberals?’

Friday, July 31, 2009, Page A11]

CCC 

CHARLES WILLARD BATT: ‘The Hummingbird Man,’ R. I. P.

BATT, Charles Willard (Chas)

Passed away July 24, 2009.  

He was raised in Victoria, however a local personality of James Bay.

He was a self trained artist and trained as a carver by Tony Hunt in his younger days.

He was known as the Hummingbird Man, carving little humming birds to anyone passing by and local businessmen to hang in their stores.

He leaves to mourn his passing his son Glen, his sister Shirley Rivard, brother Doug (Ann) Zeigler Moch, his half brothers Al McKay (Helen), Ron Batt (Frances), half sisters Melanie Batt, Cindy (Jim) Christou, step-mother Mary Batt, step-brother Gary Batt, step sister Valeria (Alan) Gardiner.

His many cousins, nieces and nephews, his friends in greater Victoria and the James Bay community.

An informal memorial will be held at Clover Point, Dallas Rd., Sunday August 2, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.

No flowers please, donations in Mr. Batt’s name may be made to Canadian Diabetes Association, Lung Association or the Heart and Stroke Association.

 

CCC – LA ROSA TRANSCULTURAL PEACE PROPAGANDA 2009

CITY OF VICTORIA GUILTY OF HISTORICAL REVISIONISM: No mention of Johnson Street Bridge designer Joseph Strauss at ‘Blue Bridge’ section of City’s website

TOTALITARIAN TACTIC DESIGNED TO INDUCE ARCHITECTURAL AMNESIA?

by Gregory Paul Michael Hartnell, President

Concerned Citizens’ Coalition

 

As if further evidence weren’t already needed that the City of Victoria is headed in a distinctly creepy philistine direction, what with its lamentable decision to tear down and replace the Joseph Strauss-designed Johnson Street bascule bridge, I find to my utter incredulity that there is no mention whatsoever at the City’s official website of this great American engineer at all.

What is it about the illustrious history of this man who also designed San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge that the City Councillors and their benighted staff don’t want us to know about, I wonder?

If one goes to the City of Victoria website and clicks on ‘Blue Bridge,’ one is taken to a one page article entitled ‘FUTURE OF JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE.’

There we learn that the ‘Johnson Street Bridge was designed under the direction of Mr. F. M. Preston, a City engineer in 1920 and opened to the public in January 1924.’

This would lead one to believe that this Mr. Preston, a name previously unknown to this writer, was the man solely responsible for the project, which apparently took four years to complete.

A number of local architectural historians have asserted that American engineer Joseph Strauss is in fact the man mainly responsible for the design of the Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria.

One wonders why this very important historical fact has been obscured, and why no tie-in to Strauss’ more well-known structure in San Francisco (the world famous Golden Gate Bridge) is not mentioned either?

Could it actually be the case that these philistines have made a conscious effort to revise or distort our architectural and engineering history in a foolish and futile attempt to somehow diminish this history and replace it with something as yet undefined in terms of design, construction time frames and ultimate costs?

Just asking…

CCC

 

[For a link to the City of Victoria’s page on the so-called ‘Blue Bridge,’ please refer to the comments section below.]

BILL CLEVERLEY: ‘VICTORIA’S PRELIMINARY BUDGET WILL BE DRAFTED WITH A 5.46 % PROPERTY TAX INCREASE’ IN 2010: ‘Further tax increases of more than 4% are projected in 2011, 2012 and 2013’

”’It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have to do a tax increase

and not be able to increase services,”

said Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin’

 

Victoria homeowners still smarting from this year’s tax bill are facing a property-tax increase of more than five per cent next year.

And that’s with a bare-bones budget.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have to do a tax increase and not be able to increase services,” said Mayor Dean Fortin.

“It’s just hold the line.  

“It’s just because of inflation and wage increases that we have that increase.”

Victoria’s prelimary budget will be drafted with a 5.46 per cent property-tax increase, even though city departments have been directed to prepare core operating budgets with:

* no increase in full-time employees

* no new services or service increases

* a two per cent cap on non-salary inflationary increases

Committee members were told this week that a property-tax lift of 2.9 per cent is needed just to cover increases in salary and benefit costs for City and Police employees.

Further tax increases of more than four per cent are projected in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Corporate services committee chairman Coun. Geoff Young worries the projections aren’t sustainable.

“For me, the important thing is that [the increases] are 2.5% above the expected inflation [rate] and that to me indicates a fairly rapid increase in taxes and I don’t believe that can continue indefinitely.”

The projections are of particular concern because they don’t reflect any increase in the police budget, or meet Council’s objective of reducing the tax burden on businesses, said Young, adding Council is assuming responsibilities in too many areas.

“We want to be leaders in providing social services and leaders in providing housing, even though both of those areas are traditionally the responsibility of higher levels of government, and we also want to show leadership in areas like heritage preservation and green buildings, and all of those things come with price tags,” Young said.

“We have to remember, I think, our priorities, which are: water, garbage, police, fire, parks and doing those things well.”

Committee member John Luton said he, too, is concerned about the potential tax increase, but says the City has no choice but to pick up pieces other levels of government are letting slide.

“I’m concerned about it, but I’m also mindful of the problems that municipalities continue to face because other governments in their rush to cut taxes are also cutting services.

Somebody at the end of the food chain, like municipalities, [is] being forced to pick up the slack.”

Victoria taxpayers saw a tax increase of 4.8 per cent this year.

 

[CCC reprint: Victoria Times Colonist, timescolonist.com

Bill Cleverley, bcleverely@tc.canwest.com

‘Five per cent tax hike predicted,’

Sunday, July 19, 2009, page A4]

CCC 

 

BILL CLEVERLEY: ‘”WE HAVE MONTHS TO BUILD THIS BRIDGE. We don’t have months to consult about it,” [Victoria Mayor Dean] Fortin said’

CITY OF VICTORIA HIRES VANCOUVER FIRM TO MANAGE DEMOLITION + REPLACEMENT OF ‘JOSEPH STRAUSS BRIDGE’ 

 

VICTORIA APPLIED IN MAY FOR STIMULUS FUNDS TOWARD THE  $63,000,000 JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT

 

City of Victoria is ‘ready to get this done,’ Mayor Dean Fortin says;

No word yet on $42,000,000 funding from feds and province

 

Victoria has hired the Vancouver engineering firm MMM Group Ltd. for $3,200,000 to shepherd its $63,000,000 Johnson Street Bridge replacement project through to completion.

As owner’s representative for the City, MMM Group will manage the project to replace the 85-year-old bridge.

In essence MMM Group will be the City’s general contractor on the project, said Mike Lai, assistant director of engineering.

“They’re responsible to hire the actual contractor, the actual builder.  

“They search out and put out the requests for getting that expertise on what we call a design-build team in order to do the full detailed design of the project and then get it built,” Lai said.

“They will be there on a daily basis to monitor progress; to ensure that the design meets the technical specifications that are outlined by the owner’s representative and the City.”

Mayor Dean Fortin said the hiring represents a signficant step forward.

“We’ re ready to get this done,” Fortin said.

More than 30,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day.

But City consultants say they will try to keep road closures to a minimum during the project.

The City has also appointed a citizen advisory committee to provide advice on the bridge replacement.

Fortin said the City doesn’t have the time to go through a normal consultative process.

“We have months to build this bridge.  We don’t have months to consult about it,” Fortin said.

“It’s going to be important that we have an opportunity for community input.

“Given the timelines we wanted to make sure we had an advisory committee to help guide Council in its decisions in the end design.  

“To make sure we’re bringing the project in on time and on budget.”

Members of the advisory committee are: urban designers Sid Chow and Jim Kerr, former New Democrat MLA David Cubberley, a cycling and pedestrian consultant, heritage expert Richard Linzey, sustainability expert Allison Ashcroft, former B. C. Supreme Court justice David Vickers and developer Joe Van Belleghem.

Victoria has been in a race against time on the project since May when it scrambled to make a last minute application for federal/provincial funding through the federal Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

There is still no word on whether the grant has been approved.

If the funding goes through, senior governments will pay two-thirds of the cost of the project.

But in order to meet grant rules, the project has to be substantially completed by March 31, 2011.

That leaves no time to waste.

Federal Fisheries allows construction only from July to February and City consultants say work must begin in the water this November for the bridge to be completed by the 2011 deadline.

Meanwhile, the City is also advertising for two communications officers to work on the bridge project.

“We recognize for the bridge project itself, communications is going to be important – everything from building the actual bridge to delays and traffic diversions.

This is one of the most significant signature projects in the region and we’re going to make sure we’ re managing the communications for our residents,” Fortin said.

An assessment done by consultants earlier this year found the blue, bascule-type bridge is in need of extensive repairs or replacement.

 

[CCC reprint: Victoria Times Colonist,

Bill Cleverley, bcleverley@tc.canwest.com

‘City hires firm to manage blue bridge project,’

page A4, Saturday, July 25, 2009]

CCC 

GREGORY HARTNELL TO BILL BENNETT, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MINISTER ON REASONS TO SAVE ‘JOSEPH STRAUSS BRIDGE’: CCC President writes to BC Liberal MLA citing social, fiscal, democratic + conservation reasons to oppose demolition + replacement of JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE

CONCERNED CITIZENS’ COALITION

1357 Rockland Avenue

Victoria V8S 1V7

Tel. 250 382 97 67

CCC BLOG: gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com

Thursday, July 30, 2009

 

HONOURABLE BILL BENNETT

Minister of Community and Rural Development

P. O. Box 956 STN Prov Govt

Victoria BC V8W 9E2

Tel 250 387 22 83

Fax: 250 387 43 12

cd.minister@gov.bc.ca

MLA office: 250 953 42 46

Bill.Bennett.MLA@leg.bc.ca

 

Re: DEMOLITION AND REPLACEMENT OF

JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE, VICTORIA

 

Dear Mr. Bennett:

I am writing to you today in alarm at the prospect that you might be tempted to approve the granting of a considerable sum of public money ($21,000,000) to the City of Victoria’s Councillors to support their foolish plan to demolish and replace the Joseph Strauss-designed Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria.

As you may be aware, there are a number of very good and compelling reasons why this plan should not be supported by the provincial government.

We hope that you will take the time to carefully consider these reasons and to bring them to the attention of your colleagues in government.

The first reason to consider is that this project was not mentioned at all during the last civic election campaign in Victoria.  Instead, all campaign participants, and certainly all the winning members of the race who now comprise the present Victoria City Council, professed themselves to be concerned about homelessness as their first priority.

I can vouch for this fact because I was, with two other Concerned Citizens’ Coalition candidates, a candidate in that election, and I attended all all-candidates’ meetings in the City of Victoria during the 2008 election.

Homelessness was the issue then and still is the issue now of primary concern for most Victorians.

Secondly, the City has produced no compelling engineering evidence that shows that there is any real reason to demolish the present Johnson Street Bridge.

For proof of this assertion, I draw your attention to minutes of a City of Victoria meeting, cited by architectural historian Yule Heibel, where City of Victoria engineers admit the present structure is safe.

That reference is found in her postings at the johnsonstreetbridge.org website.  For a direct link to this new site, please refer to the comments section below.

Thirdly, it is well known that both the BC Liberal government and that of the federal Conservatives in Ottawa are both running alarming deficits, and we believe that this request for funding is nothing more than an opportunistic attempt by this Socialist- Green dominated civic government in Victoria to get hold of this ‘stimulus’ money, and to spend it for their own grandiose reasons, and nothing more.

We note that the City of Victoria has been arbitrarily raising residential property taxes for quite a number of years running, irrespective of whether we are in an inflationary spiral or not.

They recently raised residential taxes again, citing inflation, during a global recessionary period. 

This kind of Socialist irresponsibility can only add to the list of those losing their homes to foreclosures, due to their inability to pay such constantly rising residential property taxes.

These ever-rising property taxes also hurt the poor who rent from landlords who pass the tax burden onto those who can least afford it.

We would caution you, therefor, to refrain from granting such a huge amount as $21,000,000 to this profligate civic government in Victoria for an unneeded infrastructure make-work project and to rather reinvest it  instead to serve real human needs: appropriate abstinence-based recovery detoxes, rehab and residential treatment homes for the severely addicted among the poorest of the poor.

Members of your Cabinet should also bear in mind that granting such a huge amount of provincial government money to such a Council would really provide little or no payback for your government, as the  Victoria City Council is dominated by the NDP and Greens, the local MLA is the leader of the NDP and the local MP is a member of the same party. 

Lastly, it is surely significant that this is a matter of conservation of a very significant heritage structure.  Architectural historian Yule Heibel has already been mentioned.  Other noted local architectural historians have spoken of the significance of this Joseph Strauss-designed bascule bridge.

They include Martin Segger, former Victoria City Councillor, published historian and director of UVic’s Maltwood Museum and Danda Humphries, author of four popular histories of Victoria’s built environment.

In the interests of strict responsible democracy in Victoria, social justice for the homeless, fiscal prudence for all in the province and conservation for the nation, please do not give the City of Victoria any money for their misguided project to demolish the Johnson Street Bridge.

 

Very sincerely yours

Gregory Hartnell, President

CONCERNED CITIZENS’ COALITION

gregoryhartnell.wordpress.com

goyodelarosa@gmail.com

CCC

 

 

YULE HEIBEL: CITY COUNCIL HAS NO EVIDENCE JOSEPH STRAUSS-DESIGNED JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE IS UNSAFE

JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE BLOG: johnsonstreetbridge.org

Yule Heibel has produced the ‘smoking gun’ that haunts the nightmares of the Mayor of Victoria, Socialist spendthrift Dean Fortin: she proves that there is absolutely no compelling engineering evidence whatsoever for the Victoria City Council to rush ahead with its mad plan to borrow $63,000,000 to tear down and replace the ‘Joseph Strauss Bridge.’

The ex-FOCUS columnist is now one of the most enthusiastic of nay-sayers, at the new Johnson Street Bridge blogsite: johnsonstreetbridge.org.

For a link to the posting where Yule Heibel cites the City of Victoria staff report which effectively admits the bridge is safe, please refer to the comments section below.

– Gregory Paul Michael Hartnell, President

Concerned Citizens’ Coalition