Creative Cultural Collaborations Society Project

An exciting new Vancouver-based society dedicated to stimulating, developing and executing unique cultural projects and activities including: building networks, promoting understanding and enhancing cooperation between local, national and international artists and arts organizations by facilitating exchanges of artists and brokering creative collaborative projects promoting awareness of the role of the organization.

Founding members: Barbara Bourget, Mira Malatestinic, Marjorie McLean, Esther Rausenberg, and Richard Tetrault.

The Gathering Mural Suite

This series of murals was created for install in Carnegie Centre for Creative Cultural Collaborations Society. Shown first at Heart of the City Festival 2022, this shot is of two of the pieces, the right painted by myself in 2016, and the left panel in 2022 in collaboration with artists Marissa Nahanee, Charlene Johnny and Jerry Whitehead. 

 
 
 

There’s so many levels of despair and desperation on the street,” Tetrault acknowledges. “So it’s important to remind people that there’s real community in the Downtown Eastside. This [festival] is one small way to do that—it’s like an assertion that the community is still here, in spite of all the tribulations. It is imporant....for the arts to really rise above and try to uplift people’s spirits."   Georgia Straight, November 2022 Mike Usinger 

 

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society
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Big Print Steveston 2022

Prints and woodblocks are available in a limited edition.

Please contact Creative Cultural Collaborations Society at 604-215-4492 

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society

Big Print Jazz Fundraiser/Auction 2017

 

THE BIG PRINT JAZZ PROJECT.   May 24, 2017 Performance Works Granville Island

Many of these small-editioned prints are available for sale. Images are 48" X 96".

Contact me through the website contact page for prices and information. Each print is on archival Stonehenge paper, printed with archival inks. 

Video by: Maksim Bentsianov    Interviews: Mira Malatestinic     Music: ‘Al Amor que Uno Tiene’ by Mimosa

Artistic Directors:   Esther Rausenberg and Richard Tetrault


Master Printer: Peter Braune

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society

Big Print Chinatown Project 2016

In 2016, we completed two versions of Big Print Project. The one in Chinatown incorporated prints created by 5 artists of Chinese lineage, and 5 Native artists.

The resulting prints are available for sale by contacting Creative Cultural Collaborations Society or through this website contact sheet.

A YouTube video will be launched soon.

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society

Big Print Project

Using a steamroller in an open-air summer event, a team of 12 artists created woodblocks on full sheets of MDF board that were inked and printed. This weekend of collaborative printmaking was a first for Vancouver.  Peter Braune of New Leaf Editions and Creative Cultural Collaborations produced this project in August 2014. 

Artists: Susan Point, Michael Abraham, Peter Kiss, Betsabee Romero, Arnold Shives, Jerry and Jeremi Whitehead, Cody Lecoy, Gerald Pedros, Cheryl Hamilton, Soo Sunny Park and Richard Tetrault

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society

Radius mural

 

Radius Mural 2013

A City of Vancouver Year of Reconciliation Project

 

The mural in the courtyard of the Firehall Arts Centre, Radius, is based on the cultural links and connectivity of First Nations, Chinese and Japanese communities. These distinct cultures all converge in Vancouver’s historic centre. Their imagery, symbols and narratives are woven into this mural’s design.

 

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society
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Radius mural

 

A recent mural project called Radius is based on the cultural links and connectivity of three distinct cultures in Vancouver: Aboriginal, Chinese and Japanese. The convergence of these groups is portrayed in a woven design with symbols, narratives and text from each culture. 

A large wave is a unifying element, suggesting constancy and adaptability.  Four paddles of Salish design, symbolizing the four directions, contain images of Salish Serpents, and other glyph forms. The top of the largest paddle is on flames, alluding to the great fire of Vancouver in 1886, an event that left many from the early city trapped on the shores of Burrard Inlet as the city burned to the ground. ​Indians of the Coast Salish Squamish arrived in their dugout canoes to help rescue people, sheltering them in their nearby village church. The poem that was sung as they paddled the inlet is inscribed on the bow of the canoe. The movement of the paddles is echoed in vertical bamboo along the left side, superimposed with the character meaning 'Harmony'. The Chinese banner on the left side reads  'Bright Mountain, Clear Waters', and on the right, in Japanese, 'Hometown', as Vancouver was and still is, popularly known. Japanese cherry blossoms (Sakura) represent the strong links with tradition, as well as the gesture of peace post-war, between Japan and Canada. At the upper right, a Japanese Obi, a kimono sash, takes on the form of mountains.

The mural was conceived with input from each of the three communities, with input being incorporated into the final design. Artists worked with mentored youth on the painting of the mural, that was completed throughout the month of July, 2013. An  unveiling ceremony will take place in September 2013. 

Artists: Jerry Whitehead, June Yun and Eri Ishii, with mentored artists Marissa Nahanee, Christine Cheng and Mayuka Hisata. Coordination by Richard Tetrault and Esther Rausenberg (Creative Cultural Collaborations Society) The project was supported with funds from the City of Vancouver. Thanks also to the Firehall Arts Centre for providing the venue and staff support. 

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society

Creative Cultural Collaborations Society (project 1)

Along with my partner Esther Rausenberg we founded Creative Cultural Collaborations Society, an organization dedicated to creative projects in a range of media. C3 projects include Big Print 2016 and 2014, SPOTA mosaic, Vancouver Murals website, Eastside Mural Projects and Black Strathcona.

Most recently, C3 as collaborated with GRUNT Gallery and Other Sites to refurbish The Blue Cabin into a floating artist's residency! This innovative venture provides, through its programming, a unique venue for creativity. It also preserves the Blue Cabin, once a locale where iconic BC artists Al Neil and Carole Itter envisioned and created their works. Over five years from concept to realization,  the Blue Cabin initiative saved the historic structure, breathing new creative life into it. 

 

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society

Creative Cultural Collaborations Society (C3)

 

 

Project: 
Creative Cultural Collaborations Society