Oliver Samonte “Dr. Recycle and the Art of Recycling” Interviewed and Written by Trina Moran Innovative, creative, and environmentally friendly, Dr. Recycle exhibits a pioneering way of educating the importance of recycling in a creative and interactive environment. With his self-invented ‘junkology’ anything is possible. From crocodiles to venus fly traps, Dr. Recycle can transform ordinary recyclable containers into charming works of art and children’s toys. Dr. Recycle’s workshops are filled with creative and amusing toys and projects that are age appropriate for pre-school children to grade 12 students. Dr. Recycle’s projects have been used by the GVRD for their educational programs for over the last ten years. In addition, a series of books have been published and a board game has also been developed all in the theme of recycling. Dr. Recycle, Oliver Samonte, hails from the Philippines where he learned the art of ‘creative recycling’ as a child. After studying electrical engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology, he immigrated to Canada in 1991. He later enrolled in the Self-Employment program at Douglas College to take on a new career path after developing many of the recycled creations featured in his workshops as well as earning his nickname ‘Dr. Recycle’. Oliver also teaches Sunday school at the Bible Missionary Church in Surrey. When asked why recycling is important to him, Oliver remarks that it ‘makes sense that everything can be [recycled]’ and that these choices and decisions that we make at home impacts the world as a whole. Oliver developed and based his recycle program around children as he feels that they are more understanding and accepting of these global notions: they can see and understand the importance of it, how it impacts them both in the present and the future, what previous...

  Written and Photographed by Fitnat Fahrner   Markus Fahrner is a freelance Graphic Designer, writer, photographer and Book Artist. His passion for books and eye for all things design has been a lifelong love affair. He has been a fixture at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt/Main Germany) since he was 9 years old and the London Book Fair (UK) since adulthood. Now that he is Vancouver based; the Codex Book Fair in San Francisco is one of the new arena’s for his work. A self professed ‘Mac Geek’ and letter press enthusiast Markus loves to share his enthusiasm for the arts with like minded individuals. Here is what he has to say about his craft: “I love the challenges and variety of graphic design. Typography is one of my favorite subjects. It has been a special honor to design the Alcuin Society Canadian Book Design Awards for the past two years. I am delighted to layout the catalogue again this year. The catalogues have been well received and have gained high praise from the public and industry alike.When not working on design projects I produce artist books for my own book art company called Fahrner & Fahrner. We specialize in limited edition books and individual graphic posters. Fahrner & Fahrner books have been acquired by the Library of Congress, Wash. DC, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Meermanno Museum Den Haag and the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach to mention just a few. It was fun and a privilege to give a lecture about Fahrner&Fahrner at the Berkeley Museum of Art during the CODEX Book Fair. ”My goal is to bring excellent typography and innovative, fresh design to all my projects. I enjoy providing my clients with professional advice ranging from layout, paper, printing and publishing...

Interviewed and written by Queenie Lee Dylan Cramer has been teaching saxophone in Kerrisdale Community Centre for 19 years. He is also a recording artist who has received worldwide acclaim. What is the key for his success? It is his talent, but also his “honesty” with his students and “passion” for his job. Dylan’s success did not come easily. He had gone through difficult times when he was young. The death of his father when he was 13 was the reason he started connecting to his saxophone. “It was a way to escape.” Dylan recalled. However, his way of escape brought him two of the most influential people in his life. He went to LA to study with Sonny Criss who became like a second father to Dylan. “It was like finding my father again.” Dylan described. But heartbreakingly, his second father left him just like his biological father. They both committed suicides.  With his days filled with grief, Phil Sobel was the one who put Dylan back together. “Every death brought in a birth” Dylan told me. Yes, the death of his father gave birth to his passion for saxophone and his attachment with his second father Sonny and the death of Sonny brought in the birth of his other mentor Phil Sobel. “I am very fortunate. Some people never bump into anybody meaningful in their life.” Dylan said. Success never came easily. The success Dylan has today is credited to his hard work and talent, but to him, it is credited to all the meaningful people in his life. The influence his two mentors had on him transfers to how he sees his music career and education today. Being a teacher is not a job for Dylan Cramer. He specifically said to me “it’s...

Mike Hallatt, co-founder of Benny’s bagels,premiered his first documentary film ‘Uncle Herb’ about end of life issues and how they intersect health care at Kerrisdale Community Centre’s Creative Artisti Series on January 22, 2012. Here is the movie review (For those that missed it)!! “An Exploration of Gourmet Healthcare” Reviewed by Trina Moran Someone in your family needs surgery to correct a condition that is life threatening. Now imagine if your health care system denied them the surgery. Why? They’re too old, it’s too risky, and someone else needs that procedure more than they do. Now, these reasons seem a little unacceptable, right? ‘Uncle Herb’, a documentary by Vancouverite Michael Hallat, explores this exact predicament. His own Uncle Herb, whom the documentary follows, is denied surgery to correct his abdominal aorta aneurysm. Why? Because he’s 89 years old and the Canadian healthcare system deems Herb ‘too old’ and the surgery ‘too risky’. Herb, a spry and determined ex-WWII military officer refuses to take ‘too old’ and ‘too risky’ for an answer. Instead, he heads to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the Dalai Lama of American healthcare. As far as Herb himself is concerned, he loves life and is willing to do, travel, and pay whatever it takes to ensure he keeps living. Hallat notes that Herb is proud of his service during WWII and describes the Canadian healthcare’s attitude towards Herb as ‘here’s a blanket, go home, make yourself comfortable, and die’. As far as Herb is concerned, he did not fight the Nazis to take a blanket, go home, make himself comfortable, and die. Thus, Herb and his nephew Michael set out for America in search of the healthcare Herb deserves. Hallat escorts Herb throughout the entire duration of Herb’s surgery. In a trailer they embark on...

For the first time in history, four generations are coming together, Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. We round up the best way to unlock the freedom of self-expression and our creative potential.   By Keiko Honda, Photographed by Erik Price  All programs and classes at the community centre, like most things in life, are divided by age, so why not start something different? We identified three fruitful areas for developing a program agenda for Kerrisdale Community Centre. These are community building, creativity, and intergenerational learning. Why is intergenerational learning so important? Current lifestyle increasingly has led to generations becoming distanced from one another, particularly younger from older. Today, we live in a different time; we think we have everything at our finger-tips, knowledge, information, products, and communication tools, instantly making us hyper-consumerists without face-to-face interactions. But, how does today’s way of life impact on the way we learn from each other? Are we missing the opportunities to enrich our lives from other generations? How is the life we think we have affecting our innate creative potential? For people of any age, creativity is a birthright. The truth of the matter is that we all ARE artists and we are entitled to express our creativity whatever form we choose to experiment with. But, how can we look at our lives in a way like a small child, full of curiosity and wonder and amazement? Where to begin? This is why we launched “Creative Artists Series” in order to change the way people of all ages can learn together and from each other. It is a slow and small but fresh start, with full of possibilities intended to foster lifelong learning relationships between different generations and helps to unleash creativity. As the Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki says, “In the beginner’s mind there are...