Gritty and urban, the outward appearance of the old buildings that sit on the fringes of new developments in Vancouver’s Eastside may lead passers-by to believe that they are simply pieces of a forgotten past. But the old apartments and factories of the Eastside are far from relics of another era—a fact that this past weekend’s Eastside Culture Crawl allowed the public to discover for themselves.

The free three-day visual arts festival opened the doors of 60 art studios in the Eastside. A trail of yellow balloons led crawlers from the homes of exhibiting artists to buildings as big as the converted factory on Parker Street where over 80 artists could be found in their element. Mediums ranged from paintings to sculpture to woodwork, demonstrating the eclecticism of the neighbourhood.

Even though the event attracted attention to the artistic and cultural activity that goes on behind the ostensibly outmoded exteriors of Vancouver’s Eastside, it was unfortunately too little and too late for one of the cultural cornerstones of Vancouver’s Eastside—901 Main Street.

“We’ve lost that building,” said Valerie Arntzen, an assemblage artist and Executive Director of the Crawl from her residential studio space at 800 Keefer Street. The space on Main, which has been used as a studio space since 1972, was recently bought out by a real estate development firm.

Despite the lack of availability of studio space becoming a serious issue for artists working in Vancouver’s Eastside, Arntzen remained optimistic about the area.

“Artists have lived here for a long time,” she said. “They’re very resilient, they’ll figure it out.”

If the solutions of the energetic up-and-comers at the Crawl are as creative as their work, Arntzen is right to have such confidence in the staying power of the area’s artistic presence.

Jeremy Green, a painter and sculptor working out of 339 Railway Street, exhibited his Emily Carr graduation series: oil–on–canvas paintings of anti-heroes inspired by personalities such as Kurt Cobain and Clint Eastwood.

Down the rutted wooden hallway from Green, Cara Guri, another young artist, exhibited portraiture and oil paintings that she works on a minimum of four days a week despite being a current student at Emily Carr.

“I’m interested in asking questions with my work as opposed to giving answers,” said Guri, confirming what could be seen in the probing eyes of the subjects in her portraiture. “I use art as a vehicle to reflect on the world that I live in.”

Though full of questions, the luminosity of Guri’s light-filled paintings was a reminder that the space between Main to Commercial and First to the waterfront is worth protecting. While the reality is that redevelopment and gentrification will remain an issue for the artists of Vancouver’s Eastside, this year’s Crawl seemed to encourage an even stronger sense of community.

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