Naomi Singer is either one of Vancouver's most community minded creative artists… or one of Vancouver's most creative community artists…
I had the pleasure of meeting her last week at Government House in Victoria, as we were both awarded the BC Community Achievement Awards.
Naomi Singer wore one of her “trademark hat” when she accepted her BC Community Achievement Award from Premier Gordon Campbell and Lt. Gov. Stephen Point.
Naomi Singer was honoured because:
enrichment and cultivation of community-based celebrations and public
events. The most significant of these is the Winter Solstice Lantern
Festival which is now in its fourteenth year and which attracts 12,000
community participants in five different Vancouver neighbourhoods. The
creative talents of hundreds of multi cultural performers, artists and
musicians, are all coordinated by Naomi. Her gifts and abilities reach
people from all walks of life in spaces between buildings, streets and
in other urban environments.”
Check out the Secret Lantern Society website http://www.secretlantern.org/
Check out my past stories about attending Winter Solstice events http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog?cmd=search&keywords=winter+solstice
Check out this Vancouver Courier story that features her:
Burning passion
Inspired by their
experience at the annual Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert,
hundreds of Vancouverites have brought its vision to the Lower Mainland
Michael Mccarthy,
Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, May 02, 2008
Fourteen
years ago, Vancouver artist Naomi Singer travelled to Black Rock Playa
in Nevada to attend one of the first Burning Man public art festivals.
She saw thousands of people gathered in the heat of the desert sun to
build a wild and diverse community, create art, perform, and celebrate,
all culminating in the burning of a giant wooden structure, shaped like
a standing human, which gives the festival its name. Singer was
transformed. She met Burning Man founder and organizer Larry Harvey,
watched what was going on at the festival, and decided “to bring
something like that home to Vancouver.”
She went on to create
some of the key public art events now held in the city. This month,
Singer received recognition for her work from the British Columbia
Achievement Foundation, established by the provincial government to
celebrate excellence in the arts, humanities and community service.
As
artistic director of the Secret Lantern Society, which organizes the
annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival, Singer personifies what she
prefers to call “community engaged art,” wherein members of the public
get involved to make crazy stuff that brings out the best in
participants.
Singer,
notable for the giant purple Alice in Wonderland-like hat she wears,
credits Burning Man for advancing her artistic vision. She's just one
of many Vancouver artists who say the same thing.
Read more: Burning passion