While shows, readings, plays and every type of creative get together has been cancelled, we decided to reach B.C. artists of all types to answer what we are calling our isolation questionnaire.
From authors and animators, to a B.C.-born superhero with a potty mouth, take a peek into how B.C.’s artists and creatives are spending their time these days.
Scroll down and click each name to read the full questionnaire.
Alison Snowden and David Fine
Animation power houses Alison Snowden and David Fine are the creators of numerous TV shows and short films, including the Academy Award-winning Bob’s Birthday, which became the TV series Bob & Margaret, and their latest film the Oscar-nominated Animal Behaviour.
Dan Mangan
Juno Award-winning singer/songwriter Vancouver-based Dan Mangan took some time to talk about what he is up to in these strange times.
“I’ll never look at crosswalk buttons the same.”
Vincent Gale
Vincent Gale’s most recent credits include Snowpiercer, Van Helsing and Supergirl.
“There is a lot of wine in our house at the moment. I joked for years that Jen has been storing food for the apocalypse. So we are well stocked.”
Colin James
“I am currently reading The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson, who is one of my favourite historical fiction writers. Loving it.”
Ken Lum
Answering the isolation questionnaire is internationally renowned visual artist and writer (Everything is Relevant) Ken Lum — he’s the guy behind the East Van cross and the boats on top of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The Vancouver native is currently living in the Philadelphia area where he is the chair of the department of fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
Nazanine Hozar
Vancouver author Nazanine Hozar, whose debut novel Aria has just been nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (a B.C. Book Prize awarded annually to the best work of fiction by a resident of British Columbia), has taken some time to answer our isolation questionnaire.
“I haven’t overstocked. I don’t have a lot of anything. It’s important to free up the supply chains and understand there is enough produce and goods to go around.”
Aaron Grain of Washboard Union
“I am spending most of my time with my kids and wife, completing things I don’t feel I have time for in ‘regular’ life, and working out options for remotely collaborating with David and Chris (Roberts and Duncombe, respectively, of Washboard Union) all from my house in Vancouver.”
Ryan Reynolds
While that may sound like the set up for an actual movie, it is the reality of the COVID-19 crisis, as Deadpool himself is self-isolating at his New York home with his wife, actor Blake Lively, their three daughters aged three, five and eight months, and Lively’s mother.
“Yeah it’s nothing but estrogen, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” said Reynolds, reached by phone recently to take part in our ongoing isolation questionnaire series.
Charlie Demers
Vancouver comedian and author and radio regular Charlie Demers, who’s latest novel Primary Obsessions will be out in September, has taken some time to answer our isolation questionnaire.
“I’m with my wife, our six-year-old daughter, and our 10 1/2-month-old Schnauzer. It is no longer easy to apportion blame for who has been chewing furniture.”
Jennifer Clement
The head of the Vancouver Film School’s acting department, and one-time busy actor herself, Jennifer Clement has taken some time to answer our isolation questionnaire.
“I’m learning how to do adapt-as-an-actor warm-up to a Zoom room. We are doing virtual stand-at-your-desk actor warm-ups with our VFS students who are now back at their homes around the world.”
Brian Markinson
“I vet my news carefully. I try to stick to the experts, stay away from the political hackery, the Government of Canada website, WHO, CDC and I am a slave to podcasts.”
Yasuko Thanh
“It took four years of dating and an apocalypse to get my long-distance boyfriend to move in with me. Adonis, you rock. B.C.’s declared state of emergency is nurturing our love. He is my light and source of strength.”
Shari Ulrich
“Staying home! I’m LOVING IT! My usual touring life offers very little time at home and it’s my favourite place to be. I have a long list of things I never have time to get to — working in the yard, viewing and documenting boxes of archival footage of family performances footage for digitizing, culling 25 years of possessions collected from living in one place so long.”
Gabrielle Rose
Iconic Vancouver actor Gabrielle Rose has taken some time to answer our isolation questionnaire and give us a little insight into her and her husband Hrothgar Mathews’ day-to-day life.
“Both Hrothgar and myself are in our house and sometimes in the garden, which we are so thankful to have.”
Michael Christie
“The spread of falsehood and unfounded speculation is rampant right now on social media, so I avoid reading anything virus-related. Instead, I’m getting my information from Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia. She’s been handling this crisis with incredible empathy and expertise, and our debt of gratitude to her and all our health care professionals will be impossible to calculate after this nightmare is over.”
Mina Shum
“I’m about to make an isolation film. Ten minutes from me to be joined with nine other female filmmakers, all making 10 minute films in isolation, from around the world. The Exquisite Cadavar project. I also bang the pots and bells with my ‘hood at 7 p.m. every night.”
More to come.