West Coast Creatives Salon

November 2nd, 2025: Giant Heads

admin — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:49:16 +0000

For Halloween horror artist Sydney Green shared a presentation on the horror trope that frightens her the most: giant heads.

This presentation included a list of her favorite giant heads in media ranked by spook-factor, with the intention of provoking discussion on unspoken horror tropes. Discussions of horror tropes have a tendency to veer into broad topics like feminism in slasher films or existentialism in lovecraft, and rarely toward the little things that scare us.

October 5th, 2025: Structure and its Malleability

admin — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:41:39 +0000

Structure and its Malleability
How important is a predetermined structure in your work? What is the dialogue (if any) between this structure and the intuition? Does the structure leave room for sentiment, play, improvisation? What would you think if your final work bears little or no resemblance to the structure which conceived it?

We discussed these questions as well as how one could potentially create sounds with no reference to existent instruments. Brandon also shared a recording of his recent work, Saving Beauty, for solo Cor Anglais and electronics, as well as other experiences from his year at Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Netherlands.

March 9th, 2025: Urban Ruptures

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:46:20 +0000

Glitch artist Dizz McGruber presents his collaboration with PJ Patton, Urban Ruptures: Glitched Realities, featured at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster.

“Our goal is to explore and push the degradation and rebuilding of images and motion”

— Dizz McGruber

January 5th, 2025: The Vows of Beasts

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:44:49 +0000

This month Sydney Green presented the final version of her comic book The Vows of Beasts. She shared insights into her process, influences, and inspiration.

“Paloma is a young woman on the eve of her wedding, but she has a secret: she is forever stalked by a terrible and ravenous beast.”

— Sydney Green

October 13th, 2024: Canadian Animation

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:42:53 +0000

This month’s first presenter is Sydney Green. She showed off a few animated shorts funded by the Film Board of Canada, and highlighted her favorite: “Madame Tutli-Putli” Directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski – 2007. Animation aimed at adults is an oft-forgotten art form outside Japan, and tends to take the form of short films funded by governments. Canada does this too, and our country often creates beautiful work that should be celebrated.

Image: “Madame Tutli Putli” Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski (2007)

August 11th, 2024: Strange and Wonderful Buildings

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:40:12 +0000

Miya Bah lead a discussion on architecture that inspires her from across the world, including cathedrals, mosques, shrines, and residences from Tehran to Jeonju to Ohio.

Image: “The Jeonju Pungpaejigwon in Jeonju, South Korea” photographed by Zoran Karapancev

July 14th, 2024: Aura Soave…

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:38:16 +0000

Join contemporary composer Brandon Chow as he presents a recording of his recent work, Aura soave…, which was performed at the Academie Domaine Forget in Charlevoix, Québec, as well as a discussion on music and meaning.

Image: “O Concerto” Nicolò dell’Abbate  (~1500)

June 9th, 2024: Between Panels

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:31:04 +0000

Join comic artist Sydney Green in a discussion about how author Emil Ferris utilizes the gaps between panels to tell stories. How do comic artists pass time between panels? How is motion conveyed? What techniques can be used to bend and break comics into something unrecognizable?

Image: “My Favorite Thing is Monsters” Emil Ferris (2017)

April 14th, 2024: Dreams and Subconscious Thought

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:30:03 +0000

In this salon Dizz McGruber would like to confront attendees with the question “Is your work who you think you are, or is it merely a stream of consciousness showing the world how you interpret things around you?”

Is the process of overthinking merely an editing tool seeking to make improvements to your work and process, or is it a blockade of honesty and freedom of creativity? Join us to listen to and share your own ideas about subconscious creativity.

Image: “I Don’t Believe You” Dizz McGruber (2022)

March 10th, 2024: Olivier Messiaen

admin — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 18:28:44 +0000

Join contemporary music composer and WCCS Board President Brandon Chow for a multidisciplinary discussion on the maverick 20th-century French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). Throughout the discussion, Chow will highlight the influence of Messiaen’s music and musical thinking on his own compositional practice, referring to Messiaen’s groundbreaking 1974 orchestra piece Des Canyons Aux Étoiles as an example.

Image: Olivier Messiaen against Bryce Canyon)