Come September, many residents will saunter through the woods of Still Creek to bathe in the warm glow of hundreds of paper lanterns and candles, many of which spring from the imagination of East Vancouver community artist Yoko Tomita.
The title of a community artist is not one Tomita takes lightly. In fact, showcasing her own work is not what she says her job is about. Rather, it’s about the experience of connecting with other artists and the public through collaboration. She has served in the Renfrew-Collingwood community for 15 years since emigrating from Japan where she trained as a dental hygienist, and is one of five artists in the Slocan Park Field House residency program in which a select group of artists from the neighbourhood share the field house as a central meeting and performance space.
Tomita’s designs are splashed out in vibrant colours around the city on street banners, a mural outside of Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House and pieced in the mosaic tiles on picnic tables and water fountains in places like Slocan and Renfrew parks.
“What I always keep reminding myself is cheer up people’s spirit. If I can cheer up myself, I can give the joy to other people … and make the art project very simple, so everyone can do it.”
Before the residency program in Slocan Park, collaboration was difficult for the outlying East Vancouver artists who didn’t have a shared studio similar to ones in other neighbourhoods.
“Renfrew-Collingwood doesn’t have any gathering space or studio space like other communities. Let’s say Kitsilano have the gallery space, Commercial Drive have theatre space or Trout Lake [has] proper studio space or gallery space. We don’t have anything, so what happened to us is we end up gathering in artists’ houses.” Tomita added that the isolation limited creators from “feeding each other” with ideas and perspective.
The Sept. 13 Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival with lantern walks in Slocan Park and performances at Renfrew Park will feature lanterns made from Tomita’s workshops. The festival was created by Carmen Rosen, Tomita’s longtime colleague, who noted the amount of garbage in the ravine as the impetus for creating the festival.
Rosen used her artistic talents and sought to “change people’s attitudes,” adding, “Maybe if they saw it as a beautiful place maybe they’d be less likely to throw garbage in it.”
The festival has been a collaboration with the community ever since its inception.
“What we’re doing is connecting with the local schools, Nootka schools and Windermere leadership students. More than a hundred students volunteer for this moon festival … It’s about the involvement of the community and each youth help to set up all those lantern installations or volunteering on the day of the festival.”
This year, the festival will include new features such as puppets telling stories collected from residents about changes to the creek and ravine.
It will also have a display of lanterns made by Montagnard refugees from the highlands of Vietnam to demonstrate what their traditional village looks like in their home country.
