I’m Not The Only One - Part II

My last blog entry shared the stories behind the ideas and inspiration that influenced the creation of a twenty-foot long wall mural entitled, “I’m Not The Only One”. To date, I’ve only shown you the first of the five panels used to create this mural…

Here it is again, in case you forgot what it looked like.

I mentioned, briefly, that I’m also creating an animated video to tell the story of this mural, leading up to the opening reception. I’ve created these 3 image sequences to share this idea on my Facebook pages. There are many more photos that will be appearing in the video, but the 3 image sequence gets the idea across.

In each 3 image sequence, one completed mural panel is showcased. The artwork created by the students who ride The Peacebus is used to create the words in these mural panels. Each panel also shares stories about some of the adventures that have happened on the bus. This panel showcases all eleven pages of the book entitled, “A Turtle’s Great Adventure” that was created at the beginning of this school year, last October.

http://www.bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2011/10/turtles-great-adventure.html

Now that a mural panel has been loaded into my car, it is time to venture to the Cherryhill Library where it will be hung for the opening reception – Vroom! Vroom!

And now I’m unloading the mural panel and taking it into the mall where the library is located. But wait!? What’s this???? Above we see that I’m loading the panel “NOT” into the car, so how is it that I’m unloading the panel “THE” when I arrive at the mall?

HA! When this idea popped into my head I laughed! I thought that this would be a fun way to showcase each individual mural panel and also show the journey that all the mural panels went through, at the same time.

And this is the completed 3rd panel in the sequence. As you can see, there is a lot going on inside each panel. There’s no way that this art creation could be fully understood just by a passing glance. This artwork demands a closer look!

I wanted people to get a sense of how this project would look when it was completed, so I made this image showcasing the first 3 of the 5 panels. I was very satisfied to see that the bus (painted in shades of gray) was becoming very visible.

After entering the mall (above), I’ve now entered the library and I’m carrying the “ONLY” panel to the Cherryhill Room, inside the Cherryhill Library, which is found inside the Cherryhill Mall, where I will soon be hosting the opening reception.

This panel was a bit more challenging – it has the most letters in it. If I had made all the letters the same height (as the rest of the mural panels) then the letters would have been very thin, making it almost impossible to read. This panel looks a bit more abstract but that’s okay with me.

The “O” in this panel is dedicated to many of my Facebook friends. It tells the story about how I used photos sent to me from these friends to be the first art decorations on my bus.

http://www.bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2009/06/peaceflowers-from-around-world.html

This is the final 3 image sequence that I’ve put together. It was meant to be a bit of a tease, because you’d possibly expect me to have shown the whole mural. If I did that then there would be no need to attend the opening reception… and I wanted you to attend!

It was Thursday, June 14 at 2:22pm when the last artwork was glued onto this mural panel. This was a great moment – I could relax for about 30 seconds! The opening reception would be in two more days and I still had a lot of work to do to get ready.

This work took me until the day of the opening to complete. One last minute run down to the photocopy centre and then back home to pick up Joanne and Devon and I arrived at the library with 43 seconds to spare! Wheewwww!!!

I made just twenty prints of this ‘mini poster’ and then I numbered and signed each one. I made them to be small souvenirs for any of the Peacebus students who attended the opening reception….

… and several did!!!! The first to arrive were Abbey and Liam with their father. You can see that Abbey was having fun giving Mr. Jim the ‘rabbit ears’!!!!

As you can imagine, Devon and I made it into many photos, but since this part of my story is about those who attended I’m just going to show those photos. I quickly learned that Andor’s father loves babies. Seconds after this photo was taken, he was playing with Devon on the play mats that I had brought into this room.

It was very nice having many moments to chat with the students and their parents outside of the school yard and bus stops. I see Justine’s parents almost every morning and usually we just have a few seconds to exchange some fun words, so it was nice to be able to have an actual conversation.

It was hard to remember to take photos of everyone who attended. Although the atmosphere was relaxed, there was always a lot going on.

I was really happy to see that Carrie had come to visit with her mom and her son Jakob - who I’ve known since only a few hours after his birth!

Even my real estate agent Bud (there’s no Bud wiser!!!!) made a huge effort to be a part of this days happenings. He had spent the afternoon working in nearby Strathroy and noticing that it was getting near 4:00pm (the end of the opening reception) he quickly wrapped up his business and zoom zoomed his way to London to check out this mural. Thanks Bud!

A great surprise for me was seeing one of my closest friends from high school. Because it was a two hour drive to London, Brenda decided to make a day of it with her daughter Alyssa. They spent the morning at Storybook Gardens and after lunch then arrived at the library to meet my family and see the wall mural. It had been almost 21 years since we last saw each other and I hope we won’t wait another 21 years until we get together again.

There was an interesting surprise waiting for Don, when he surprised me with his visit. It seems that there were many surprises for many people during this two hour long event!!!! Don’s surprise was seeing his picture in this wall mural!

Two summers ago, I had arranged to use the Peacebus to transport (for free) people from across London to a local organic blueberry farm. Photos from that event made it into this mural and since Don also attended the ‘Blueberry Daze’ he is now a part of the story.

http://www.bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2010/08/blueberry-daze-continued.html

This is Grace. She is one of the many people who I see when I’m working at my second job. My second job is driving mini-buses around town, helping people with mobility problems. Sometimes my passengers are going to doctor’s appointments and sometimes my passengers are visiting local libraries to see art mural installations!

All in all, it was a great event!!!! It would be hard for me to plan anything better – even if I could. All the smiles and silly jokes, rabbit ears and crying babies, hugs and memories shared made this an afternoon I will cherish for the rest of my life!! Thanks to all for sharing these moments with me!

Since then (and this event only happened a week ago) I have received emails and posts on my Facebook pages by other parents and students who have also gone to view this mural. Even some fellow bus drivers have made it down to the library for a look-see.

If you would like to pop in to check it out, it will be on display at the Cherryhill Library until the end of July, before it continues its tour through three other London Libraries over the next six months.

If you decide to go I will make just one simple suggestion… be prepared to smile!

Mr. Jim

I’m Not The Only One – Part I

To say that the last few years of my life as an elementary school bus driver have been interesting would be a grand understatement. The stories, songs and artworks that the students of The Peacebus have shared with me have filled me with the most positive of assurances that these ‘Future Leaders of the World’ will grow to respect our Earth and all of the lifeforces that abound here in ways that I can’t even begin to imagine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD7j_STtc_8

About two years ago, I began to wonder what I would do with the hundreds and hundreds of peace art drawings that these students are continuously creating. An idea began to form, in the back of my mind, and since then I’ve spent much time developing this idea. My plan was to create a large mosiac mural, using all of these artworks.

Since I knew that this mural would be a very unique art creation, I thought that it would be a great plan to be able to share this with the community. I began to organize a small art tour throughout the libraries, here in London, Ontario.

The construction of this mural began five months ago. Wood panels were cut and primed, wood supports were fastened and eye-hooks were mounted so that the panels for this mural could be easily hung from a wall.

The inspiration for my art concept came from John Lennon’s song entitled “Imagine”. The lyrics from this song are very inspirational and found myself being drawn to one line in particular: “You may say ‘I’m a dreamer’, but I’m not the only one”.

I wanted to create an art mural that would show John (rest his soul) that indeed he was not the only one to have dreams about ‘Peace on Earth’ – the children of today (40 years after this song was written) also have thoughts and desires to realize humanities destiny to bring peace and balance back to our global civilization.

The mural concept focuses on just five words from this song – I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE. Since there are five words in this expression my mural is designed using five separate panels – one word is found in each of the five panels. The students’ artworks will be used to create these words in large capital letters.

Since all of these artworks were created to decorate The Peacebus, it seemed obvious to me that the background image – filling the rest of these mural panels – should be of The Peacebus.

I decided to paint the image of The Peacebus in many shades and tones of grey. I figured that this would make a nice background.

I really want the students’ artworks to stand out, so they’ve been printed using full colour which, when set upon the grey background, really sparkle with life.

Early on, I realized that I wanted to do a little more than simply showcase all of the individual artworks that the students have created. I decided to highlight many of the art adventures that we’ve had, as well.

Part of the first mural panel, tells the story about how Peacebus buttons were created with the generous donation by a Peacebus fan.

http://www.bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2010/07/buttons-for-bus.html

Another panel shares the story about how I shaved my head to raise money for the children of Kenya.

http://www.bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2012/05/mr-jim-goes-bald.html

Another panel shares the Earthday adventures where students joined me at a local park area to help plant trees and learn about birds of prey.

http://www.bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.ca/2012/04/mr-jim-celebrates-earthday-2012.html

And so on! In the end this mural will become more of a history of the students and my adventures over the last several years.

I’ve also been taking many photos of the mural’s creation – right from the beginning where I spent time priming the wood panels that are being used. The photos in this blog story have been grouped into sets of three – highlighting each of the stages. Many more photos have been taken and my plan is to create a fun animation film that I will be sharing in another several months, once it has been finished.

To conclude this story, I’m going to leave you will the promotional flyer that I’ve recently created to invite the community to the opening reception and the art tour that is to follow.

The opening reception is taking place at the Cherryhill Library on Saturday, June 16th, 2-4pm.  Please, consider yourselves ‘invited’ and I’ll hope to see you in a couple of weeks!

Jim

Artist United!!!!

…Against the Mega-Quarry!

Over the last year, I’ve shared four stories about an issue of great concern for me and for tens of thousands of other Ontarians…

An American company stole into the beautiful hills of Melancthon Township, lied to farmers as they gobbled up precious agricultural land. Their intent – build North America’s second largest open-pit mine!

This mine could be deeper than Niagara Falls is high and it could achieve a size equivalent to 1/3 the size of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area – including Mississauga, Scarborough, North York, Brampton…).

Five major rivers that traverse the landscapes from this region to Lake Ontario are in jeopardy of being polluted with heavy waters created by the residual left behind from daily blasting of nearly 20 tonnes of explosives.

300 heavy hauler trucks an hour (!!!!) are expected to be destroying all the roadways in this region as limestone and gravel is exported south of our border.

Boy! I’ll bet that the Highlands Co. is sure surprised that in less than one year we stupid red-neck hicks have been able to organize in all levels of government to protest their desires!

To read in more detail about this issue please link to this story – http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2011/06/dufferin-county-jobs-and-destruction.html

To read about how people have come together to petition this irresponsible aggression – http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2011/10/foodstock.html

Today, I simply wanted to let you know about another event that is scheduled to happen in just a few days…


This flyer may be a little difficult to read so here are the points of interest…

Where – Studio 5 – 1362 Bathurst Street – just south of St. Clair West – Toronto

When – Opening Friday February 3rd – 6:00-9:00pm and Saturday February 4th – 11:00am – 5:00pm

Sandi Wong is the artist responsible (in part she always reminds us) for organizing this wonderful display of colourful landscapes, created by many concerned artists and I want to thank her for this amazing effort! Although I will not be able to attend this event, I am busying myself and my paints to create some new originals that I will be showcasing at other upcoming events.

But that’s another story….

Jim

PS – If you attend, please have a great time and return to this blog and post a comment sharing your experiences at this unique and noteworthy event! Thanks!!!

Let’s Take Care of The Earth!

I love the libraries, here in London, Ontario! They are very supportive of the arts, they don’t charge a fee to display and they don’t take a commission if an art peace happens to sell. That’s why I display my artworks at the libraries, as often as I can – I’m actually working towards a one year art tour throughout many of the city libraries, starting next summer!

Whenever I’m at a library, to use the internet or to do research, I always take a few moments to enjoy the colourful displays that have been put up by other London artists.


Just last week, I was in the Central Library – downtown – when this large and beautiful painting caught my eye. It reminded me of the many ‘peace-earth’ drawings that students have created for me and The Peacebus, over the last few years!

I took a closer look and saw many names printed around the outside of the image and I realized that this was a collaborative effort. I took a closer look and then I saw the name of an artist who I’ve been wanting to work with for a while, now.

Vanessa and I have shared many emails over the last few years and we’ve enjoying each other’s art adventures. She loves that fact that I’ve had a few successes in organizing children’s art classes and we spoke about doing something together. Unfortunately, to date, we haven’t been able to further these ideas, but that has not stopped either of us from continuing with our own plans.


This art display wall is known in the community as ‘The Red Wall’, for obvious reasons. As you can see, over 20 original canvases are now on display for people to enjoy.

These artworks are the result of a class that Vanessa created for children in the community. Some of the children are refugees to Canada, or come from a broken family and are living with great challenges that children should not have to be burdened with. Vanessa designed her classes to teach these children about the healing power of art and creation! “Art heals. Art is life and faith!”

I was really delighted to witness all of this creativity and I emailed Vanessa to ask if I could showcase a few of these artworks to help her promote this art show. Of course, she said, “Yes!” She told me that it is time to tell the community and to tell the world that we must, “… start loving our planet!”

Since I want to encourage London readers to go to the Central Library to see these artworks for themselves, I chose to only showcase my favourite five…


Manuela is just 4 years old and already she has mastered many techniques. The background is beautifully textured and the colours used to create the butterflies and hearts are very complimentary. I would like to see if there is a person on this planet who wouldn’t smile when seeing this painting. It is such a joy!


Wow! Juan David is truly a great storyteller. I wonder if he realizes this fact, himself?! The variety of details that he uses in this painting, captures the essence of an arctic landscape with so much accuracy. You can feel the weight of the starry heavens. You can feel the slipperiness of the ice. You can feel the abundance and variety of life that flourishes underneath the waves.


I don't think that this is the same Manuela as the artist from the first painting that I showed you… but if it is, then Manuela made my ‘Top 5’ list twice!!!! I absolutely love this! A happier monkey and elephant would be hard to find. Notice all the shades of colour that are used to bring this creation to life. The elephant isn’t just one boring shade of grey, but many shades, created using a variety of texture techniques.


Ahhhh! One of my favourite topics… turtles!! Look at the variety of colours and how they were applied to create such a flowing, watery background. The outlining, again using complimentary colours, of the turtles along with the variety of shades and textures really make these animals animate as they swim through this painting. Great job, Vanesa!


I’m going to have to find out what school Jorgito attends so that I can see if I can be his bus driver, next year!!! I would love to have his talent of The Peacebus. His message to the world is very loud and clear. I just hope that people are listening!

So, there ya go!!! Just a few of the wonderful artworks that you and your family and friends can enjoy, for the rest of this month, down at the Central Library.

If you would like to know more about Vanessa and her artistic efforts, you can find her on Facebook. Just search ‘Vanessa-Garcia Artist’.

It’s such a breath of fresh air - in this world dominated by corporate greed and deceit – to know that a generation is growing up learning about the true values of life and love.

Jim

The Show Must Go On!

Several months ago, I received an invitation to participate in a new community festival. The event was called ‘L.O.O.K. It’s A Party!’ Local artisans and environmental organizations had joined together so that we could share our Locally Organized Organic Knowledge. Ha! This acronym still cracks me up!!!

Of course, I said that I would love to participate in this event!

It was Saturday morning on October 02 – just two weekends ago – and when I had arrived (around 8:30am) the rain was still coming down.

There was lots of activity, at this time, as everyone was setting up their tents and displays.

Like this one!

This is an artisan who creates chairs, tables, lamps and other interesting things out of old bikes. Really cool stuff!

Ha! I just love these tiny ornamental animals that were created using bicycle chains!

As well as artisan and environmental displays, people were also occupied with getting the equipment in place for all the musical performances that were another part of this day’s events. These guys are setting up a small tent to cover all the sound equipment that will be needed.

Since I didn’t have a professional tent covering, like everyone else, I had to use a little imagination. I had brought my camping tent to shelter me from the rain and my art displays were set up inside. I moved a picnic table over and I taped my beach umbrella to it to keep the rain from leaking into my tent.

Inside, I had layered the floor of the tent with some colourful Mexican blankets to create a warm inviting feeling as people checked out my Stik-ers…

… box of prints for sale and a few original paintings. The rain never let up on this day and a few hours later I had to zip my tent shut as rain was leaking in. I was a bit sad that no one had a chance to see any of my art – it was a bit of a wasted effort and all I got out of it was a pile of wet blankets and a small head cold.

I decided to focus my attention on other aspects of this festival – namely the music!

I spent a good part of the morning helping out with setting up a couple of tents that would be needed for all the musicians – myself included – who would soon be taking the stage.

The tents were needed to keep this funky looking machine – and all of its riders – dry. I’m not sure what this machine is called but its purpose was to create all the electricity that would be needed by the musicians. People would volunteer their time to sit in the chairs and pedal with their feet. There were eight seats available. As everyone pedaled, energy would be created and this energy would be converted into electrical currents that would power all the guitars, microphones, speakers and soundboards.

This was a great idea – meant to inspire people to realize that we can find more environmentally friendly ways to create the energy that our societies need. And after pedaling for a while, people came to appreciate the effort that is needed to create electricity!

There was just one problem… The sponsors who were to donate a special kind of battery that would be needed to store our energy until it was needed, backed out at the last minute. Unfortunately, we had to plug the stage and equipment into London Hydro for this event.

But… we still wanted to show the people who came to our event – and this number never exceeded 30 – that we could do something with the energy we did create. Someone came up with the idea that we could plug in a beverage warmer and fill it with apple cider!!! We all thought that this was a great idea!

I spent a bit of time on ‘the bike’ to keep warm and the other times I was hanging out on the stage, keeping the rain off my head. I was a bit surprised when the Mayor of London, Anne Marie deCicco-Best, appeared on stage to join us. I introduced myself to her, shook her hand and – of course – gave her a few of my peace Stik-ers!

The mayor was there to make the opening announcement for the event.

And as you can see the audience was all ears! Wait – that’s not the audience… it’s one of the band’s photographers.

Ahhh yes – this is a better shot of all the millions of people who attended!

Well, the show had to go on… and it did! This is a band from St. Thomas and they helped to lift everyone’s spirit with some good ‘ol Rock’N’Roll!!!

I was scheduled to take the stage after this band, and I was freezing, so I decided to hop back onto one of the bikes to warm up. The bike helped to get my blood moving again…

… and this warm apple cider helped to warm my insides!

Delicious!!!

Later, I was inspired to write this poem in honour of all the people who came out to make this day possible and in honour of my latest ‘peace poem’ efforts (see last 2 blog stories).

Now that I was warmed up, I was ready to share a few of my songs with all of the other artisans and bike pedalers!!!

I sang two songs while playing my guitar and then I decided to do something in honour of our attempts to create enjoyment without the aid of electricity, since we couldn’t make our own. I put down the microphone and stood at the edge of the stage, in the rain, and with everyone’s help…

… we were able to fill the air with song, spirit and wishes for a better future!!!

It would have been nice to have had a beautiful day for this event, but we didn’t. It would have been nice to have had the support of all our sponsors, but we didn’t. It would have been nice to share our art and our talents with the community, but no one showed up.

We did the best we could with what we had. We persevered through the rain and cold by using our imaginations. We joked, we laughed and our small communion embraced in honour of what brought us together – our attempts to inspire a brighter future for the world.

In a funny sort of way, it was better this way! We were there to show the world that we love her and I know that she was there, listening and smiling!

Jim