Tom Froese

A video posted by CreativeMornings/Vancouver (@creativemorningsvancouver) on Mar 6, 2015 at 1:15pm PST

Our March speaker Martin Jackson is so humble and got the crowd really fired up about INK! (at SFU Woodward’s)

Danielle Krysa has a BFA in Visual Arts, and a post-grad in Design. She has worked as a graphic designer and Creative Director for 15 years, and is the writer / curator behind the contemporary art site, The Jealous Curator (launched 2009). Danielle writes daily posts showcasing artwork from around the world, has written articles for several magazines including Anthology, and Frankie, and in 2014 she published two books, both with Chronicle Books, titled “Creative Block” and “Collage”. Danielle has just started writing her third book which will be released Fall 2016. Danielle has curated art shows in Washington DC, Vancouver Canada, Chattanooga TN, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She has also had the great pleasure of being a guest speaker at PIXAR, and was recently featured in several video segments on oprah.com. The Jealous Curator has been featured by Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post, Brain Pickings, Sunset Magazine, Frankie Magazine, InsideOut Magazine, Flow Magazine, The Vancouver Sun, Apartment Therapy, and Glamour Paris.

How do you define creativity and apply it in your career? 

This is a strangely hard question to answer! I suppose, to me, creativity means looking at the world in your own unique way, and then being able to make your ideas into reality in whichever form works for you… visual art, design, craft, writing, music, etc. I have a BFA followed by a design degree so I’ve had a creative career since my early 20s. When I got my first design job out of college, I can clearly remember thinking how insane it was that I just got to make stuff all day long… and they paid me!? Granted, a creative career can be pretty exhausting on the days when there are NO ideas to turn into reality, but hopefully those days are few and far between! 

Where do you find your best creative inspiration? 

Thrift shops. 

What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

I wish I’d known that everyone has an inner critic. I truly thought I was the only one that heard that mean little voice, and I let it stop me for a really long time. If I’d known that every creative person hears it from time to time (or all the time!) I would have cut myself some slack. 

Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings? 

Mary-Jo Dionne 

How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader? 

My plan had been to be a back-up dancer for Janet Jackson. I’m still waiting for that to work out. 

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck? 

Eat chips. But right after that, I cut things up. Whatever I’m working on that isn’t working gets chopped up, moved around and transformed into something completely different. It usually works. 

What is the one movie or book every creative must see/read? 

I love Wayne White’s documentary, “Beauty is Embarrassing”

Martin Jackson, professional calligrapher lives peacefully in Vancouver and has run his own design studio here for almost half a century! We want to give him a standing ovation already. He is one of Canada’s foremost calligraphers. He studied the manuscripts of early scribes and has made a career of travelling the globe sharing his deep passion and knowledge with students. He has created commissioned pieces - text, graphics, logos and fine art for many clients who appreciate his love of the craft. He shares with us ‘I’m really no different than a plumber or carpenter, I can’t be too Artsy!’ His sense of humour and quickness lights us up. He has gifted the Prince and Princess of Wales and Pope John Paul II in the 1980’s pieces of his original work. Martin shared with us his deep belief that “for handwriting one of the greatest disasters of all time was the introduction of the ballpoint pen, all thanks to Laszlo Biro who invented it, ever after we were all writing in a scrawly monoline ‘style.’” Creative Mornings this March is going to be one to remember. Bring your favourite pen! Take notes. Think about it. Here’s a fun fact to get you amped up for the morning of Friday March 6th, Martin produced all the calligraphy for the wedding reception of Bill Gates. Yes. He’s a rare one.

Martin Jackson was born in Sheffield, England, and emigrated to Canada in 1966.

He has almost 60 years of experience as a graphic designer and calligrapher, and for over 46 years has run his own design studio in Vancouver.

As one of Canada’s foremost calligraphers he has lectured and taught across Canada, the US, Japan and Europe.

Among his many commissions are pieces for their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, and for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1984. He also produced the calligraphy for the wedding reception of Bill Gates.

When not working on his calligraphy he is an avid nordic skier, and he collects and rears moths and butterflies.

How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
For me it is always the challenge of meeting the clients expectations. Usually I am presented with raw text, and working with this I have to create something which must not only be legible, but also something that is visually beautiful to amaze and delight them, and also on time and on budget. I must never forget that I am just offering my services, really no different from a plumber or a carpenter etc., I can’t be too ‘Artsy’!

Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
From studying early manuscripts. There is so much to be learned from the early scribes who produced such beautiful work using the most simple tools and materials.

What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Not to get too carried away with trends and fads, they soon fade, it is not good to always be ‘one of the herd’. If you have all the essential basic design skills it is better to develop your own style, it just takes time.

Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings?
Crispin Elsted of Barbarian Press.

If you had a magic wand, where would you be in five years?
Alive, and still able to do calligraphy!

Why is it important we don’t lose the skill of writing things by hand?
Handwriting can be so beautiful, it is part of who we are, it can say so much about our personality.

When you check your mail box there is something very special about finding an item addressed to you that has been written by hand, it makes an immediate contact somewhere deep within us. Part of this is because you realize that the person writing to you was also thinking only of you, and will have taken more care over the choice of words, and spelling etc. I can guarantee you will open this item first. No matter what font you use for an email it will never match the magic of hand writing, and how could anyone possibly think of writing a love letter using a computer!

It is not by accident that many of the other items in your mailbox will have used fonts that look like they are handwritten, hoping you will be fooled into thinking that “dear householder’ really is meant just for you, right?

Even those who say their handwriting is awful would be surprised at how much improved their writing would be if they used a Fountain Pen. The feel of a fountain pen in your fingers and seeing the flow of the ink and hearing the sound of the nib on good paper is quite sensuous. For handwriting one of the greatest disasters of all time was the introduction of the ballpoint pen, all thanks to Laszlo Biro who invented it, ever after we were all writing in a scrawly monoline ‘style’.

How sad that so few people can find the time to ‘put pen to paper’, I don’t think there is yet an ‘app’ to solve this.

Nicole Bridger speaks on Creative Climate and Mindfulness this Friday for our February edition of Creative Mornings Vancouver. What does creative climate mean? This teaser video is a glimpse into Bridger’s creativity on demand style and how she manages stress in an awesomely authentic way. She’s got the tools to cultivate strength through mindfulness and her daily practice include meditating for 30 minutes and working through interruption. This socially conscious Vancouver clothing designer brings her honest truth to Creative Mornings this Friday, February 6th. We can’t wait to snag all her insights and kickstart the weekend with a healthy way of looking at change and relaxing one of the biggest words of our time, climate.

Pete Dupuis, from CEO and President of S&P Real Estate Corporation to entrepreneur for social change discusses World Housing on the topic of ‘Ugly.’ Inspired by TOMS shoes founder, Blake Mycoskie on a flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver in 2009, Pete spent the next three years studying social entrepreneurship, slum housing and landfill communities. In January 2013, World Housing, a housing supply program through a first world one-for-one real estate gifting model is born.

Peter Dupuis, social change visionary and the force behind World Housing fills the room at Creative Mornings speaking on the theme: Ugly.

Born and raised in Vancouver, fashion designer Nicole Bridger received her BAA in Fashion Design from Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. During an internship in London with Vivienne Westwood, Nicole learned the art of sculpting, draping and layering fabric. It was here that she began to realize that her talent for fashion design could also be used as a vehicle for positive social change.

In 2006, Nicole aligned herself with Chip Wilson, the owner of Lululemon. Together they founded Oqoqo, a pioneer in the North American eco-fashion market. After her experience nurturing the growth of Oqoqo, Nicole was poised to unite her passion for high fashion and eco-consciousness, and in 2008 she founded Nicole Bridger Design.

How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
Creation

Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
Nature

What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Meditate

Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings?
A professional dancer.What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Started my own business.

What did you learn from your most memorable creative failure?
That failing isn’t the end, it’s a stepping stone to the success.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?
Buying shoes.

What fact about you would surprise people?
I had a band in high-school, I was the singer.

How does your life and career compare to what you envisioned for your future when you were a sixth grader?
I was going to be a millionaire and be done birthing children by 30, so…

What keeps you awake at night?
That I’m forgetting something or not seeing a solution.

What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?
That everyone is creative not just artists.

What are you proudest of in your life?
My son.

Where was the last place you travelled?
Costa Rica

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?
Go for a walk in the woods.

If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
Meditate.

Want to share your creative event with our wonderful audience?

Each month we’ll invite a couple of people up on stage and give them 30 seconds to tell everyone about something happening in our community that they should know about.

If you’re interested, email your brief pitch to vancouver@creativemornings.com. Be sure to include a slide (1024 x 768) for the big screen.

If we love your pitch, we’ll let you know and make sure you get a ticket to the event. We’ll then call you up for your 30 seconds of fame just before the talk gets started.

The deadline to submit your pitch is the day prior to the event at noon. (And It may go without saying, but please make sure you’re able to attend the event before sending your pitch.)

Thanks, and good luck!

Excited to confirm UX designer Dana Chisnell as our future speaker this August in partnership with http://www.designcontentconf.com