Northwest Shirts opens retail space
Filed Under Craft, News, Vancouver | Leave a Comment
Maker of iconic Northwest-and-other themed t-shirts Chris Stevens is celebrating the grand opening of his new retail store and printshop at 807 Grand Blvd. in Vancouver on Dec. 5. Northwest Shirts will be open from 11-6 on Saturday for shopping and free coffee from local roasters Paper Tiger and in the evening from 7-10 for beers and music.
Help Chris end shirtlessness (and support other local artists and crafters, too!)-
J.
Celebrate Fall Harvest with Vancouver Food Co-op
Filed Under A Green Life, Devour, News, Vancouver | Leave a Comment
The Vancouver Food Co-op is celebrating the Fall Harvest on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Vancouver Marketplace on Columbia and Evergreen. The event will be catered by Woody’s Tacos, featuring appetizers and desserts made from ingredients grown by local farms (and you can bet when the VFC is doing it, that’s LOCAL farms, not the tri-state area).
The Co-op will be unveiling its new logo, designed by Vancouver’s Tribe2 Graphic Design and Creative Services, the same folks responsible for the Turtle Place mural, and talking about store opening plans. Bluegrass band The Grey Sky Boys will play.
The event is FREE, so don’t miss it. My only regret is posting this so late!
J.
WSUV Digital Technology and Culture Program prepares generation 2.0 for local service
Story + Photos By Jessica Swanson
The Washington State University Vancouver Digital Culture and Technology Program is heading into its teen years and growing up fast.
The department is also playing a big part in the success of Clark County nonprofit organizations, businesses and the arts community.
Students concentrate in one of three areas: multimedia authoring, informatics or culture and technology. Many intend to pursue careers or start companies in design, production, music, web analytics and other areas of technology communication. These are student entrepreneurs. Twenty-two-year-old Sarah Richards plans to head into music promotion after graduation. A DJ at KOUG radio, she transferred into the DTC program from Clark College, but said many of her peers are transferring in from other WSU programs.
“I know many people who are switching over to it because it sparked their interest,” she said. “It allows us to be more creative.”
Matthew Wright, 26, wants “to be able to get a good solid job in a technical field,” such as producing music for websites. A former music major at Eastern Washington University and an electronic music junky, DTC is a good fit for his interests. Matthew is heading up a project to create a promotional video for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
“It’s about how orchestral music and community symphony benefit the community,” he said, adding that a perk of the project is spending time with a professional composer and conductor, paths he can also see himself pursuing.
The Vancouver Symphony video is an example of a Senior Seminar project. DTC majors can choose to intern at a for-profit business or be part of a team project for a nonprofit in their senior year. Teams of DTC students have created videos for the Council for the Homeless, Bonneville Lock and Dam, Vida’s Ark and Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington; websites for the Columbia River Economic Development Council, At Home At School, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Living in Southwest Washington; and animations for the Clark County Fire and Rescue.
DTC on the web
The opportunities are many, but Program Director Dene Grigar and Professor John Barber don’t advise students to jump into opportunities before they are ready. They do stay close by in order to push when the time is right.
Matthew’s Vancouver Symphony team was put together in just this way.
“They’ll recommend things to you that are your strengths,” he said, “and help find people to compensate for your weaknesses.”
A force in the community
Dene believes the best way to grow the program – and to get her students the careers they want – is to be a force in the community. She approached Vancouver’s North Bank Artists Gallery because a gallery was an important venue the
program was lacking. It has proven to be a good match. The gallery has hosted events of all sizes there, and at least a dozen students have been accepted into North Bank’s shows, said Gallery Manager Kathy Rick. Kathy, a multimedia artist and photographer, also teaches a class in the DTC program, Digital Diversity and Culture, which deals with cultural issues such as racism, politics and gender and how technology plays into them. Dene invited her to teach the class, and she loves it.
A DTC multimedia forum is scheduled for October at the gallery, and the relationship seems destined to continue for some time.
“I think it’s been an incredible pairing,” said Kathy. “The DTC program is so incredibly vital and exciting, and we
celebrate that with them.”
Dene, who was hired in 2006, has a master plan for the program. She has spent her first three years building the program and making relationships in the community. Now, she is devoting time to formulating a Master’s degree program and would like to see a post doctoral think tank-type of organization housed at the university, an “institute of the future.”
But now, a big focus is on getting her students into the workforce, and started on creating future workforce opportunities – a special challenge in this economy.
“This is what the community needs,” she said. “We want to turn out people who are going to create jobs and create opportunities.”
Grow the YWCA Community Garden
Filed Under A Green Life, Home + Garden, News, Vancouver | Leave a Comment
A reminder from my e-pal Glenn Grossman — thanks Glenn!
There are only 15 days left in the Umpqua Bank Click 4A Cause contest and the YWCA Community Garden project has fallen from a commanding lead to trailing by over 1000 points. If they win this contest, they’ll get $15,000 to devote to their project and they need your help TODAY. You can vote once per week, so that means you still have time to get a couple of votes in. Please click on the link, cast your vote, and help the fantastic folks at the YWCA win some serious money to help them with their community garden project!
I voted today! Woot!
J.
Local boutiques join up for sales
Filed Under Camas, News | Leave a Comment
Last minute chocolate alert:
All day Friday (today) and Saturday, Lizzabeth A in Camas has sales of 20% to 50% off of selected merchandise. In keeping with the First Friday Camas theme, Chocolate, the shop is giving a free mini heart bag and chocolate mints with purchase.
In other shopping news, on Sunday, Feb. 8, a dozen local boutiques are having a joint spring clearance sale called Rock the Racks at 3215 SE 192nd Ave. (192nd and SE 34th) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Retailers include: Willows, Contessa, Lily Atelier, Luxe, Le Reve, T3Sixty, Clothestime, Kazoodles, Lizzabeth A, YoungArt, La Lunetterie and Ashbrook Aesthetics.
Shop local!
J.
Library hours squeezed
Filed Under Clark County, News | Leave a Comment
If you are like me, you are checking more books out of the library these days rather than buying them. And, if you are like a lot of folks right now, you are using the library’s resources to help look for employment or find funding to pursue more schooling.
Sadly, with layoffs and cuts, you’ll have to squeeze your library time in during shortened open hours starting Feb. 1. Check here for changes to your local Fort Vancouver Regional Library: http://www.fvrl.org/aboutus/branch_list.cfm
Don’t just look, check out a book! (Heh heh — you’re lucky I don’t rhyme stuff more often….)
J.
Agave’s getting ready to rock
Filed Under Clark County, News | Leave a Comment
Ever heard of Agave Jeans? Ever touched one of their last-forever cotton pullovers? Trust me, they’re a big deal.
Agave Jeans Co. is getting settled in its newly built Ridgefield headquarters, and the building is just about as hip as the apparel. Lucky for us locals, Agave President Jeff Shafer is planning to open a wholesale retail outlet inside the headquarters. That’s right– wholesale-priced designer clothes for sale in the same space where they’re designed. Pretty rockin’, if you ask me.
What’s even more rockin’ is the party Agave is planning to debut the retail space. Shafer is planning it for sometime this spring, and he wants it to be big, with multiple live music acts and players from the fashion industry mingling with local Agave fans. Coming from a guy who sells fancy pants around the world and plays dance music in his custom-designed office, Agave’s debut is sure to please.
Watch this blog for coming details.
-Charity
On my first day with North Bank and the Vancouver Business Journal, my editor took me on a tour of Clark County businesses. One of the first we visited was Farrell and Eddy, an upscale women’s boutique in Ridgefield’s small but lovely Old Town area.
That visit to Farrell and Eddy told me that Ridgefield was a small town on the move. It was one of a handful of sparse but impressive retail spots. It had a price range that drew shoppers with money to spend. It was classy and cute. It seemed good for the growing town.
So imagine my surprise when I drove through Ridgefield today and saw this:
Talk about signs of the time. It’s a little bit heartbreaking.
After nearly two years in business, the shop is liquidating, and locals say the economy is to blame. It’s a great time for bargains, ladies, but an even better time to remember that local businesses need our support. We’re all stretching our dollars. But if we keep them local, they will do us a lot more good.
-Charity
Snow on Main Street
Filed Under News, Vancouver | Leave a Comment
Went for a walk in Uptown, Vancouver, today. Snowy and cold, but lots of shops and restaurants were open on the fifth shopping day before Christmas….
J.
Marketplace News
Filed Under News, Vancouver | Leave a Comment
A newsstand comes to West Vancouver! Finally…
I am so pleased to see that a newsstand has opened at the Vancouver Marketplace on Evergreen and Columbia. It’s quite small and has lots of prime real estate dedicated to pulpy best sellers and magazines with Brangelina on the cover. HOWEVER, I can now buy a New York Times just minutes from my home and work from an actual person, and some Skittles, if I so desire.
Go. Read. A newspaper.
J.
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Event Calendar
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