Browsing “People”

(Photos courtesy of Wearhaus).

There’s a lot more that goes into movies than just lights, camera, and action. Those actors don’t just show up looking as glamorous or scary as a scene may call for – there’s days of work that go into making them look just right for the role. Local costume designer, Phaedra Vandenbrun, knows all about the challenges and excitement that go in to making a theatre or film production look its best. Whether she’s digging up just the right garment, or building something to fit the part, she keeps herself busy with her costuming company Wearhaus. In 2007, Phaedra won a Community Theatre Award for outstanding costume design for Morpheus Theatre’s Yeomen of the Guard. If you think you might have seen one of her designs before – you’re probably right. Check out her portfolio here to see some of the places her work has popped up.

How did you get your start in costuming? Do you have a formal education?

Yup! I have a degree in apparel production from Ryerson, I graduated in 1994. From there I was really lucky. During school I got some jobs with a lady who owns a company called Tricksters in Toronto. I was her studio assistant and she made all the masks for Phantom of the Opera at Pantages. So I worked with her, and started learning about prop making, and masks, and I was just really lucky! Then I got started with Shakespeare in the Park with the Canadian Stage Company, as well as a few other things. I didn’t really realize it was what I wanted to do until I graduated.

I had a small business doing historical clothing reproductions for reenactors  - mostly 18th century military uniforms. It was fun!

Were you always interested in doing costume design, even as a kid?

You know… no! I wanted to be a fashion designer. I wanted to be the next Coco Chanel.

What started you on to that path?

It really started with the historical clothing. I realized upon graduation that as much as I loved fashion, what I really loved about it was fabric and history. From there, it was just looking for other ways to use that passion, that skillset that I had acquired, to see where else it could take me.  It kind of led me off into theatre and film. Slowly. Very slowly. It wasn’t initially what I had thought of. I did watch Amadeus when it came out sometime in the 80s and saw it win an Oscar for Best Costumes and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, you can win an Oscar for costume design!’ It sort of set me then onto that path.
So, walk me through the process once you start working on a film.

It’s usually pretty typical. I get asked, or I then get the script, or meet with the director and other important parties involved. Then I go away – usually, it’s a $0 or very limited budget. So I usually have to try and work with actors’ clothes, what they’ve already got. We try and break down there character – where would this person live? What would this person wear? Where would this person shop? Basically, a character profile. Then you try and work with the budget, and with what the actor has as clothes, and typically in the past we shop at thrift stores to find what we can. There really is no money to make a lot of stuff, so you certainly have to be creative. It’s sort of an organic process – maybe if you can’t get shirt A, maybe then shirt B will do. You communicate a lot with the director to find out what’s good and what isn’t.

There’s also the typical film things you have to avoid, like no stripes and hard edges in your patterns. otherwise the camera bounces.

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Photo courtesy of Jay Ingram

Name: Jay Ingram

Occupation: Author; Broadcaster

Website: www.jayingram.ca

Twitter: @jayingram

Jay Ingram is a hit with science and non-science folk alike.  You may know him from when he hosted CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks between 1979 and 1992, wrote for Owl Magazine (those of you in your thirties – think elementary school library), or contributed to various other science-related TV and radio shows.  Most recently, we’ve seen Ingram around town at The Walrus Talks as part of Calgary’s High Performance Rodeo and at events related to Beakerhead, a science and engineering happening which he co-founded.

Q: Tell us about your connection to Calgary and your current local projects (such as Beakerhead).

A: My partner Mary Anne Moser and I live in Bragg Creek.  Beakerhead (which is truly awesome) was her idea.  It’s a collision of art, science and engineering, and we are going to make Beakerhead happen on the streets of Calgary this coming September.

Q: We love when science and fun intersect!  Given your work to popularize science, can you tell us about a time when you had fantastic fun while teaching people about science? Read more

We’ve all dreamed about sticking it to the man and being our own boss, making a quick billion then swapping tales with Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Sounds magical, but also a tad…unrealistic.

Business ownership takes a mix of drive, determination, talent, time and a little luck too. It can lead to the upsides of success, but also the downsides of failure. It’s fear of this failure that often holds us back from doing what we truly love to do.

David Wald decided to push past this fear and become his own boss by starting Legendary Branding, and more recently, Social Sesame. I was recently able to chat with David about his journey to autonomy. In my interview below, he shares insight on what the realities of business ownership really are, and how to know if it’s really for you. It has some great advice for those of you thinking of going it alone.

Q. First, tell us a little bit about Legendary Branding?

A. Legendary Branding is a brand and marketing consulting company, it launched May 5, 2011. I provide an overall brand and marketing strategy for my clients and help with the implementation of their tactics.

I also recently launched Social Sesame, a new company that is strictly social media and content marketing. A lot of my clients were asking me to run their social media; I saw this as a business opportunity. It launched the beginning of January and is going strong! Read more

Photo courtesy of Clara Hughes

Name: Clara Hughes

Claims to Awesome: Six-time Olympic medalist in cycling and speed-skating; the only athlete in history to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games; Officer of the Order of Canada; Winner of the International Olympic Committee’s prestigious “Sport and Community” award… eep!  So much awesome.

Website: clara-hughes.com

Clara Hughes is a big, big name in Canadian sport, but that’s is only one part of what makes her a Good Peep.  According to Clara, “success means a lot more than earning medals, it means having a voice and using the opportunity to reach out and help others.”  You may have seen her image recently on Calgary billboards and bus-shelters promoting Bell’s Let’s Talk campaign, or seen her inspire the crowd at High Performance Rodeo‘s The Walrus Talks on January 29, 2013.

When C.I.A. caught up with Hughes, we wanted to find out more about her community work and what she’s been up to lately, now that she is no longer a competitive athlete.

Q: Tell us about your connection to Calgary.

A: My first connection was seeing Gaeten Boucher skate in his last Olympic race in the 1988 Olympics.  But I was in Winnipeg watching it on TV.  But that moment changed my life, it’s where it all began for me.  Then I became a speed skater, over a decade later, and spent 10 years living and training in Calgary at the Olympic Oval.  I ended up in 3 Winter Olympic Games myself in that span. Read more

After moving from Lebanon with her family at the age of three, 29 year old Sarah Hbeichi has happily made Calgary her home, and wants to lock Calgarians in to how much they love the city.

In November, Sarah applied for a grant by pitching an unorthodox way for Calgarians to show their love for the city – love padlocks. It’s a tradition popular throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia – two sweethearts lock a padlock to a public fixture (commonly a bridge or fence) to demonstrate their everlasting love for each other.

Often, one lock spawns a trend – causing the fixture to be completely covered in locks, to the point where the original structure is unrecognizable. It’s happened at Korea’s North Seoul Tower, Serbia’s Most Ljubavi Bridge (named after the phenomenon), and even on the Wild Pacific Trail in Vancouver Island and Toronto’s Humber Bridge. Moscow’s Vodootvodny Canal has sculptural iron trees built for the express purpose of having their branches covered in “lock leaves.”

After seeing a friend’s photo from a vacation in Europe, Hbeichi was taken with the idea.

“I thought it would be something that would fit Calgary well,” she said. She wants to find a place in the city where people can affix locks to symbolize their love.

Hbeichi works for the city in new community planning. While she has no artistic experience herself, she’d love to find someone to partner with on this project, so she can find another way to beautify Calgary’s public spaces.

Unfortunately, Hbeichi did not win the grant, but now she’s looking at next steps – putting out a request for artists that might make the idea a reality with her.

“I want people to bring their own locks. I want it to be something totally welcoming, where people can show a love for Calgary as I do.”

If you’re an artist that  might be interested in collaborating with Sarah on the project, please contact her via email at sarahhbeichi@gmail.com.

Chief Wilton Littlechild addresses a packed house at the 2013 Walrus Talks, Jack Singer Concert Hall, January 29.

As I was lying in bed the morning after the Walrus Talks, my phone buzzed with a text: “Thanks again for inviting me last night… ‘It’s hard to fly with the eagles when you’ve been out hooting with the owls!’”

It was one of the best quotes from the night before, and it made for an aptly timed text message as I contemplated heaving my groggy self out of bed.  But the Walrus Talks, and their mingly after-events, were unquestionably worth the morning-after sleepiness.

Like so many speaker events, the annual Walrus Talks assembled a set of presenters to address a range of subjects related to a single theme.  This year the theme was “performance,” and big names in Canadian culture (such as Dan Mangan, Jay Ingram, Clara Hughes, and Will Ferguson) shared their perspectives on performance as it related to sport, music, innovation, and even magic.

There were two things that distinguished this year’s Walrus Talks from the usual speaker event.  Read more

Name: John Jackson & Connie DeSousa
Occupation: Co-chefs/Co-owners at CHARCUT Roast House
Website: www.charcut.com | www.charpop.com | www.huffingtonpost.ca/freshblood (Huffington Post blog)

John Jackson & Connie DeSousa are well-known pioneers in Calgary’s culinary scene. The two met in 1999 when Connie was apprenticing under John at the now defunct Owl’s Nest lounge in Calgary. After that, John and Connie found themselves cooking around the world, from opening the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco to working in Jean-Georges Vongirichten’s Michelin-starred restaurants. During that time, they began to conceptualize opening their own restaurant together, and in 2010, CHARCUT became a reality.

In just under three years, the restaurant and the chefs have received many accolades, including #6 in Enroute magazine’s Best New Restaurants of 2010, Calgary Best New Restaurant of 2010 in Where magazine, #3 in Avenue magazine’s Best Restaurants 2012, a top 3 finish for Connie in the inaugural season of Top Chef Canada and being named in the Top 40 Foodies Under 40 in Western Living magazine and Top 40 Under 40 in Avenue magazine.

Of course, John and Connie’s reach extends beyond the restaurant – aside from being asked to cook for visiting celebrities and moonlight at special events, Alley Burger grew from $5 burgers served at random times in the back alley of their restaurant to a full-fledged food truck. Last year’s CharPOP was a great success, introducing many Calgarians to beef heart steak and crispy pig ears. John and Connie were in the midst of organizing their latest event, CharPOPluck when they took a few minutes to answer some of our questions.

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New York Linsanity, by Michael Abel. Featured in his solo show, Monumental Contradiction, on now at ArtPoint Gallery and Studios.

Calgary has a vibrant visual art scene.  However, gallery goers often don’t think much about what is required for new artists to break into the local scene.

Michael Abel is a burgeoning success story of a younger artist who’s made real headway into the Calgary arts scene.  When C.I.A. asked him about his progress, he noted that he wasn’t sure if he’d “broken into the scene” yet.  (Touché – what does that mean anyway?).  Regardless, he had a lot of good to say about the support he’s received so far.

Most notably, Abel is the winner of the My First Professional Exhibition competition, a new financial award granted by the U of C’s Art Department, through support of donors George and Susannah Kurian.  The award covers the cost of the courses towards an Arts degree in the Intensive Studio Concentration, and culminates in a solo, public art show of the winner’s work in a local, commercial gallery.

As one result of the award, Abel had the sort of budget for art materials that the average art student couldn’t afford.

“The hardest thing about being an emerging artist is the cost,” said Abel.  “Painting is really expensive.”  Thanks to his scholarship, he was able to use an excessive amount of paint to create pieces that he wouldn’t have been able to make otherwise.

Beyond the support of his recent award, Abel also appreciates how supportive the Calgary art community has been for him.  Read more

Currently, DeliverGood is working with Cenovus. They recently moved their offices into THE BOW building which displaced a large amount of office furniture, five warehouses full to be exact. In true DeliverGood fashion, they were able to find an efficient way to match such a large amount of furniture with deserving charities and non-profits by developing The Cenovus Suite Give-Away.

I got the chance to talk with Robb Price, founder of DeliverGood, to chat about the business and The Cenovus Suite Giveaway.

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Flashing her colleagues at the Christmas party: the before picture.

A couple of weeks ago I asked you, C.I.A. readers, for your most awesome office party stories of Christmas past.  I called out for amazing,  unusual, and even awkward.  And what did I receive?

All awkward.  Every submission.

Funny, that.  As I reviewed and evaluated all submissions, I felt more like the editor of Seventeen magazine’s “Say Anything” page than a C.I.A Editor.  Regardless, see below for C.I.A’s top two picks.  Big thanks to everyone who wrote in.

Awkardness seems to be at the heart of the best Calgary office Christmases, so, well, just own it this year Calgary.  You’re still awesome. Read more