Stride Studio's New Floor

The floor in Stride Studio is being replaced! The old fir floor originally in Stride had been covered with plywood then roll carpeting was installed. This produced an uneven floor surface that made erecting temporary display structures difficult. The old floor has now been removed down to the original concrete floor. From this point carpet tiles will be installed making the floor surface level and much easier installing displays. The work is expected to be complete by next week. Once the new carpet is in Doug will install new display cabinets and drywall to freshen up this display gallery space.

Storage bin in Orientation Plaza

Ooooh. So exciting! The Orientation Plaza upgrade continues. We now have a storage bin behind the Orientation Plaza for all your maintenance and programming needs. Thanks Doug for building this.

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Look what is inside!

Amazing job so far in Design.

Things are happening in Design in preparation for our summer season.  Murals in Stride studio with a moving saw and perspective drawing of a lumber mill is only the beginning.  As you can see, Ettore just couldn't resist.  How could you when a 8' x 8' cutout of two loggers, complete with steps for adults and children has been created by Doug and Carly? 

Soon, this artwork will be installed in the Village between the church and Tom Irvine's home to assist in interpreting this year's Tools of the Trade theme.

Design staff get Christmas going.

Well, the Design staff have had a great time this year getting Christmas up and running in time ... notwithstanding the vast majority of the days included pouring rain and mud!  Doug's famous snowflakes are up.  The wreath team, led by Tammy, did a tremendous job.  New reindeer are on Ellworth House porch and older lights have been fixed up.  The storybooks are once again in the village and the scavenger hunt has been recreated with some new and some old venues highlighting verses from "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  In these photos you can see some of Margaret's (and team's) handiwork as well as Father Christmas' chair, complete with stars and black velvet.  Yeah Santa!  Many thanks to all who contributed to putting on an outstanding event!

Signage Upgrades

New signs have been built, painted, and installed at the Burnaby Post and Blacksmith Shop. You will also notice hand-painted lettering on the Ice Cream Parlour windows.

A Storybook Christmas

Do you recognize either of these locations? Staff have been working harder than Christmas elves to get ready for tomorrow's opening. The site looks amazing.

White Sheets

Bring in your old white sheets. Our very creative design department can use them in Halloween decorating.

We Have a Winning Designer

Congratulations to Rachel Evans!

From the GDC-BC (Society of Graphic Designers of Canada - BC Chapter) website:

GDC/Icograda Student Selections Announced!
On behalf of the GDC BC Chapter, we’re very happy to congratulate Rachel Evans (Emily Carr Grad 2007) and Emily Curtis (Kwantlen Grad 2007) for being selected to accompany the GDC/BC delegation going to the Icograda World Design Congress in Havana, Cuba October 20-26, 2007.

The submissions received, from design schools such as Malaspina, Capilano College, Emily Carr, Kwantlen, VFS and others, were all of extremely high calibre, making the selection process difficult. The judging committee would like to bring all these young, passionate designers with us, but had to choose two. Rachel Evans and Emily Curtis both stood out from the crowd for their thoughtful, articulate and passionate written submissions, quality of design case studies provided and overall professional calibre of their entries. Congratulations Rachel and Emily for your outstanding work—we’ll see you in Havana!

Murals

Carley is at it again. The second wall mural is being painted this week. The back of the Ice Cream Parlour is getting a much needed face lift. Appropriately, the new mural features - Ice Cream. Almonds Ice Cream to be specific.

Music Shop Closure

The music shop will be closed for this week as it is undergoing some display renovations. August 27 - 30.

Great Decorations
The site looked particularly festive for the Victoria Day celebrations this year: thanks to the Design staff for their work and creativity.

New Building Numbers
The numbers used to identify some of the buildings have changed slightly because of the addition of the tram barn, and the relocation of Vorce station. New numbers were recently put on several buildings on the site. These numbers match the new map.

Asking Mabel
Mabel has not had many questions yet - so please encourage visitors to send her a note. Mabel's answers will go out to all staff and volunteers.

Shop Safety
A training session is being held in the Design shop on Tuesday for staff who work with the tools in the shop. Thank you to everyone who is participating, and to the supervisors who scheduled staff so they could attend the session.