Thank you!

COAST REPORTER Ian Jacques, Cathie Roy, Jan de Grasse, Brent Richter, Peter Kvarnstrom

CITY OF RICHMOND & Ann Phelps

COAST CULTURAL ALLIANCE

DISTRICT OF SECHELT & Connie Jordison

RENEWABLE POWER CORP

SECHELT TORCH RELAY TASK FORCE & Hammy McClymont

SUNSHINE COAST REGIONAL DISTRICT

2010 LEGACIES NOW

Claytons, Extra Foods, Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Sechelt Downtown Business Association, Sunnycrest Mall, Sunshine Coast Bed & Breakfast Cottage Owners, Sechelt Information Centre, Sunshine Coast Tourism

VOLUNTEERS: Al Burns, Duane Burnett, Gary Gronlund, Pete Mason, Brett McGillivray, Thor Olsen, Brenda Sopel, Sanober Nair, Steven Tang, Krisha Lim, Joey Lo, Tony Mok, Tracy Stefanucci, Jaz Halloran, Sheryl Latimer.

OUR CHOREOGRAPHERS: Gerardo Avila, Maggie Guzzi, Jean Pierre Makosso, Brittany Robertson and coordinator Shelley Harrison-Rae

LOCAL PRESS: COAST CABLE , COAST REPORTER, ZOOM Magazine, JUST BUSINESS

Ice Box

Gord's new working design for ICE BOX, the next installation. Images from interior (below) would be projected onto the surface of the box. The new box would be easy and cheap to assemble, a fraction of the cost and effort of the wall for ICE GATE.


Working on filling that 2010 and 2011 calendar now, with a potential for a New York installation as early as October.



Just the other day, Performance for Ice Gate coordinator Shelley Harrison Rae sat me down with Cheryl Latimer and had me open a wonderful THANK YOU box, so artfully and lovingly created - an artistic masterpiece in itself. This delightful gift was discovery of all the dancers - signatures of many popping out of an accordian style hand made card with images from the event. Truly a community event! Thank you Cheryl!



For story & pics of take-down of ICE GATE go to: http://posticegate.blogspot.com/.

Just came across an editorial written while we were working on ICE GATE ..

IAN JACQUES/EDITOR
If the photo on today’s front page of Jean-Pierre Makosso embracing Roberts Creek artist Gord Halloran in a huge bear hug doesn’t scream Olympic spirit, we don’t know what will.

Halloran’s golden Olympic vision, his gift to the Olympics, opened to much fanfare and praise Tuesday night at Richmond’s O Zone. Halloran and a team of volunteers have been working long days and nights for the past several months creating Ice Gate. The monumental ice structure is impressive, not only in stature, but also in the amount of blood, sweat and frozen tears that have gone into creating an enduring image of all that is good about the Olympic Games. Halloran is an artist of great passion and vision, and his work is a testament to the heart of the Olympic spirit and his love of the Sunshine Coast. An estimated 400,000 visitors could pass through the O Zone during the two-week Olympic Games. These visitors will come from all over the world and be left with a lasting impression of their Olympic experience, and also an amazing artistic experience. We’re so fortunate to have an artist of such talent as Halloran on the Sunshine Coast. He is indeed a champion and one we should celebrate.

After

For the story of the STIKE, go to: www.posticegate.blogspot.com

With glowing hearts

The clouds parted, the sun broke through and we spent our last day in the streets wearing Canada red and celebrating our athletes, ourselves, our fellow human beings, our country.


The Olympics were just an excuse. The media seemed obsessed with 'Own the Podium', but for most people, being a proud Canadian was all about celebrating our us-ness together in the streets. We were proud to host the world, to show them our country, to share and to be seen.


Today, everyone wanted to pose in front of ICE GATE.










At noon, we all gathered in the square to watch Canada vs USA men's hockey gold medal game. The streets emptied for this one, we were glued to the screen.


It was a sudden death pass by Iginla and a quick shot goal by Crosby and across the country you could hear a roar, collective happiness -what a way to end the games!


Afterwards, the little boys in the streets couldn't wait to become Olympic champions.

The rest of the afternoon cars honked incessantly in the clogged streets, flags still waving.

After the Closing Ceremonies - Katy Halloran was one of the dancers in white with the snowboards - we visited ICE GATE as fireworks exploded in the sky over the OZone.


A photographer tried to capture its essence as Gord turned off the lights, one by one.

NBC comes through

News from NBC producer Mary Murray: "spot going out today to 200 local affiliates and web extra. I'll send you link when it gets in."


Our docents and crew fill in on site, maintaining the exhibit during opening hours. Back on the coast, we're paying bills, planning for the strike; sending info to next gig venues; trying to decompress.



And there's a lot of Olympics on the tele. Canada's young ice dance couple used a favorite piece of music and swept me away: Mahler's 5th symphony - it was a moment of pure transcendence and they deserved the gold for it. To be that beautiful, that talented and . . . that young!


If you live nearby, you can come early to the site on March 1st and pick up a bit of frozen artwork before the crew must destroy it - and take home a piece of Olympic history! Photos by Al Burns today.

Canada Red

We had to go to an event, just to say we were at The Olympics.

You can go to the concerts and freebies, you can walk the streets and sidewalks, you can be part of a featured exhibit, but there is nothing like a competition.

We had tickets to a Women's Hockey games game; Canada vs Sweden. In the first period, Canada scored six goals.

Amidst nutballs, babies, and a lot of Canada Red, in the second period, Canada scored four goals before Gord got back from the men's room. Next to us, one voice, then a few more, then many, shouting, "Go, Sweden, go!" Only in Canada do you root for the other team when they're down.

We left when it was 12 - 0, not being able to stomach the slaughter. Then it was back to Ice Gate for an interview for CBC's North by Northwest.


Jaz opened up the exhibit.


Brett visited with Jake & friends. Debi Pratt took us to dinner, and the next day, we finally had the delayed Inniskillin/Vincor letter in hand.




Orientation for some new docents included a wine tasting with those yummy ice wines from Inniskillin: Tony Lo, Joey Mok and Sanober Nair.

Moira, a friend from New York's Ice Dance Theater treated us to dinner and I gave her my red Olympic mittens. She wants us to create some paintings for their 25th anniversary at Rockefeller Center, so we wrote some lists for swift action - it would be October! We watched Men's finals in the bar as Evan Lysacek won the gold; with commentary from Moira, a real, live figure skater who knows all the players.


It's a roller coaster ride - teaching us to breathe, to let go, to be present.

A day of

All that adrenaline means only one thing: there will be a day of reckoning.



But first: what have we been doing since last week? Everyone asks.


The day after we opened, Heather Hiscox interviewed Gord for a short segment on CBC - we met Ian Hanomansing and Bob Nixon again in the newsroom.


On the way out, got nabbed by a producer for Mark Forsythe radio show.


Two days later we came back for the opening of the games. A rainy day. Gord and Ari worked on the fan/blower system - now it works.


At ICE GATE, the excitement of the games was everywhere. Here's Marjorie Johnson, working with the Richmond School District Olympic Ozone Choir, 3,500 voices strong in grades one to 12 from all the schools in Richmond; including 160 band students.


These kids are from Walter Lee Elementary and McNair High School. But the story that's soooo cool is someone in Richmond donated $300K to have those spiffy uniforms made for all 3500 of those students! I thought they were an Olympic team! And it turns out they were.

Then some sprightly characters from the Canadian Olympic Committee Cheering Squad wandered past ICE GATE, on their way to 'painting the town red', and spreading Olympic cheer, which was in ample supply, however cloudy the skies.

In the process I got the Canadian maple leaf painted on my cheek.



On the big screen outside City Hall, we watched the torch passed from a canoe in False Creek. A magician entertained crowds waiting in line for the OZone.


James Shih, from Japan Broadcasting Corp, stopped by and shot some pix of iCE GATE from the inside. Gary Young brought a couple of visitors from London, the host of the next Olympic (summer) games. They talked about legacies for businesses, and I had to ask myself: how about a legacy for the art? How about we preserve a section of ICE GATE for the next venue which hosts Paintings Below Zero.





We watched the opening on the tv back at the small apartment - KD Lang took down my house - and I loved the R&B version of 'Oh Canada!'

Back on the coast for this Saturday, we attended the wrap-up party for the dancers in PERFORMANCE FOR ICE GATE. Like millions of others around the world, we watched the athletes in ice skating, mogul skiing, snowboarding & hockey on television. Delayed, so we could wind past the ads. I paid some bills, did the laundry, talked on the telephone.

Today it hit and we finally had to ask ourselves, how long does tired last?

When the phone rings, I look at it and wonder if I have the energy to answer it and say 'hello' before it goes to voice mail.

Photographers contributing to today's post: Kent Kallberg, Caitlin Hicks, Brent Richter.