John Folk at work, literally “on” Davie Street.

JOHN FOLK
Now Exhibiting at VanCity

by Karen Petersen
(click images to enlarge)

Perhaps you too have noticed the latest effervescent art attraction in the window of VanCity Credit Union at the corner of Robson and Denman (who invest in local artists as part of their mandate in building connections within the community.)

This is a three-part sample of John Folk’s latest nine-part mixed media series “Who Are We?”

John made his way - “a hop, skip and a jump” - from a homophobic adolescence in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to a stint in Calgary at SAIT (Southern Alberta Insitute of Technology) - predominantly studying Single Cell Animation - before bursting onto the Vancouver scene in 1985.

And it was here that John blossomed.

At one point, he and his partner owned and operated three vintage clothing stores called Antix - one at 1072 Davie Street, another at 2872 West Broadway, and the third at 13 Lonsdale in North Vancouver. All three of these stores were replete with John’s artwork.

John also specializes in chalk and liquid chalk work, in addition to illustrated sign making.

Long time residents may recall that years before Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017, Whole Foods acquired the sorely missed Vancouver-based grocery store Capers in 2007.

The Capers at 1675 Robson Street was John Folk’s domain for many years - he did all the signage in the store and was blessed with his own in-store studio in which to create.

John also enjoyed many years of consistent work doing chalk illustrations for the windows of many establishments, including Checkers and the sadly gone Ciao Bella on Denman.

Mr. Folk is also blessed with a remarkably mellifluous voice, which he put to good use as a DJ for Moffat-CKLG-FM (before it became CJAX-FM), as well as being a featured DJ for many West End clubs over the years.

Mia Weinberg, art consultant for Vancity observes “...this new collection is an adventure in media-mixing. It combines acrylic with oil, wax crayon, chalk and liquid chalk, magazine and newspaper snippets, nail polish, spice and glue for adherence.”

John’s latest vibrant work is thematically and chromatically connected - which “expresses an abstract representation of our little neighborhood” as Mr. Folk so dearly puts it.

The current collection will continue to be on display at VanCity until November 3rd.

Above - A selection of images from John Folk’s current exhbition “Who Are We?” at the Robson Street VanCity Credit Uniion, and (bottom right) sidewalk chalk works, “My Hand On Concrete”.

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Kevin Dale McKeown
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