Here’s one of the gardens at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, right smack dab in the middle of the grasslands of Ellison, north of Kelowna. Given that the American half […]
The Garden and the University
Art & Urban Renewal
Today, an idea that I’ve brought back to the valley from my years in Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, where the sculptor and painter Ken Blackburn has worked for years to free […]
Weird Things People Do to Trees
Trees are ancient creatures. Then humans came along. Somewhere along the way we forgot this: The Green Man An ancient symbol of human origin, the green man remains relatively common in churches […]
Getting Out of Town
History eventually becomes the present. For instance, to look back to the day when the entire Okanagan was a part of Oregon and the only business going was the raising of cattle […]
The Art of Walls (and Citizenship)
In the urban spaces of the valley, walls are vital. These very public spaces are used to enclose very private ones. It is a relationship that doesn’t come without its stresses, as […]
Urban Okanagan
I recently spent two summers in East Germany. I fell in love with the place, partly because of the very public nature of its politics, and how it is conducted through nightly […]
The Problem with Winter
Spring, summer, autumn and winter, the four seasons, right? In the temperate zone, of course. But what about the wet season and the dry season? In Vancouver or Seattle or Reykjavik, for instance, […]
The Art of Water
Cameras are intriguing machines, that not only capture light, but allow their operators to frame it in a visual space. That space is human. The photographs we take would be useless to […]
The Earth is Alive
We are not alone. This is fantastic news. Burrow in the Valley It looks like the resident is at home, too, waiting out the months of bad hunting. Such times of rest […]
Eagle and Turtle
There’s an old Okanogan story about Eagle and Turtle. Here’s a simple version from Colville, Washington. A more complex version from the head of Okanagan Lake is embedded in an interview, here. In the […]
Okanagan Okanogan 