Another year of successful Culture Crawl in East Vancouver

Paintings by local artists were one of the features of the annual East End Cultural Crawl.

Crowds of people in Vancouver went on a Culture Crawl on the weekend of Nov. 15. The 17th annual Eastside Culture Crawl was a three-day event, where local artists showcased work in the studios where they work, and most often live as well.

This visual arts, design and crafts festival allowed Vancouverites to meet local artists, ask them questions about their work and buy their favourite pieces of art. There were 84 buildings to visit and 441 artists who are ready to talk to you about their work.

Lynda Gerty, a local artist who took part in the festival, said her experience has been wonderful.

“I have been participating for five or six years and every year it’s just wonderful to hear what people’s reactions are to the work, how it makes them feel, what they think about it, what they react to,” Gerty said.

Gerty also thinks the festival helped her in evolving her work.

“In my first year, I had lots of different styles. It’s been a big experiment and then I evolved things over the years based on partially what I like and also what people responded to. Overall it’s been a wonderful weekend. It’s worthwhile in many ways: feedback point of view, sales and building the audience.”

Lori Goldberg, another artist and art teacher who was featured in the Culture Crawl, described her experience as exhilarating.

“I am educating, I am receiving and giving back. It’s nice to see so many people interested in art,” she said. Goldber said the people that come to see her work remind her why she is doing what she is doing.