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Vancouver’s Coolest Public Art: Douglas Coupland's Digital Orca

Photo: Ted Topping

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks, Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

If you showed up in Vancouver right now and only had the time to see one piece of public art, I’d recommend you head to see Douglas Coupland’s Digital Orca. It is located outside the new Vancouver Convention Centre that acted as the Broadcast Media Center for the Olympics (the ”old” Convention Centre right next to it was home of the print media).

The Orca is also immediately next to the outdoor Olympic cauldron, originally lit by Wayne Gretzky during the opening ceremonies. In a handy three-for-one, you’ll get to see the Orca, the cauldron and the new Convention Centre, plus you’ll enjoy a fantastic view of the North Shore Mountains, too.

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Vancouver’s Coolest Public Art: The Totems in Stanley Park

Detail of Ga'akstalas pole carved by Wayne Alfred and Beau Dick. Photo: Ted Topping

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks, Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

New, colorful public art can be found in Vancouver even at one of the most-visited tourist sites in all of British Columbia, Stanley Park. Here you'll find the Brockton Point totem poles, where tourists pose day in and day out, overlooking the detailed magnificence of the totems.

The totems and their interpretive storyboards tell fascinating stories of the past. Even if you have visited the totems before, now is the time to return to check out the awesome updated carvings.

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Vancouver’s Coolest Public Art: The Monument for East Van

Photo: Scott Massey

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks, Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

Ken Lum’s Monument for East Vancouver is definitely in the cool category of Vancouver’s new public art. In its simplicity, earnestness and tongue-in-cheek quality, the funky sign-like sculpture matches the sensibilities of the area. The locals just call it "The East Van Cross."

An imposing landmark at the crest of East 6th Avenue and Clark Drive, it is visible from many vantage points, including the Skytrain. The East Van Cross is shaped like a Latin cross and bears the giant crossword "EAST VAN." According to the Vancouver-born Lum, the shape and wording are a well-known unofficial East Vancouver “logo” that he was able to trace back to at least the 1940s. This symbol has been seen in graffiti and T-shirts for a long time and Lum wanted to make it “official” this way. The Monument for East Vancouver was erected in January 2010 as part of the City’s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program.

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Vancouver’s Coolest Public Art: The Birds at the Olympic Village

Photo: Tuija Seipell

Vancouver is still basking in the afterglow of the 2010 Winter Olympics and one of the best remnants of the Games is the public art that now decorates the city’s parks and buildings. For the next few weeks, Jaunted's Vancouver Embed Tuija Seipell of The Cool Hunter will be reporting on the best of the bunch.

There is no avoiding public art in Vancouver these days, especially in the downtown core and in neighborhoods within walking distance from it. New and prominent installations seem to be everywhere. In addition, the art we have accumulated recently appears to be particularly engaging and fun, as I have never seen as many people taking pictures of public art as I have this summer. People pose among the art, mimic the poses of the sculptures, climb them (although in most cases one probably shouldn’t) and give them fun names.

With the City’s Olympic and Paralympic Public Art Program, the new Convention Centre’s art program, the Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale, plus the many new buildings all presenting public art, it’s been a tough task to choose eight key pieces for this series of Vancouver’s Coolest Public Art, but I’ll start at the Olympic Village, which is now open to the public, and its sculpture "The Birds."

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Learn to Sail with Charlie St. Cloud in British Columbia

Charlie St. Cloud, which opens in theaters today, stars Zac Efron as Charlie, a young man dealing with the fact that his little brother was killed in a car accident while he was driving. Sounds like a downer, right? The good news is that Zac's character is also an avid sailor, which provides some serious travel inspiration for the rest of us, even if Charlie is a little messed up.

Though the movie was set in Massachusetts, it was filmed in and around Vancouver, meaning Charlie did much of his sailing off of Deep Cove and in Port Renfew. For the sailing novice, there are several outfits in the area that will take you out for a day, or even overnight excursions, so you can learn the basics.

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The Olympics Will Hang Around Vancouver for a Little Longer

The 2010 Winter Olympics are officially over and out and while we got excited yesterday about the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the reality is--none of us can wait that long.

If you weren't able to get to Vancouver for the Olympics, there are still a bunch of Olympics hangovers you can partake in around town, especially when the 2010 Paralympics kicks off on March 12.

The LiveCity Downtown venue on Georgia Street will be open on select dates in March and the Robson Square Celebration Site (Robson Street, between Hornby and Howe Streets) will reopen on March 12 for the Paralympics. Plus the Olympics torch will be relit on March 12 as well.

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Jaunted Winter Olympics Embed: Going for Hockey Gold

The 2010 Winter Olympics are finally here and the Jaunted Embeds are on the scene. All throughout the games we are going to be providing you first-hand observations and tips from a Vancouver local. Tuija Seipell is a Vancouver-based writer and a dual citizen of both Finland and Canada--so she is bound to get a medal or two right? You can follow her on Twitter here, or just follow the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tag.

Vancouver is hockey crazy. At least for Canadians (and Finns), hockey is the one thing that REALLY matters at the Olympics. We adore our other medalists, but hockey gold is what we want.

Many stores here have caught the spirit of the game, especially Nike on Robson Street, and even the upscale Holt Renfrew that fitted its mannequins with runway fashions, figure skates and pink Dolce & Gabbana hockey sticks.

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Jaunted Winter Olympics Embed: The Final Days

The 2010 Winter Olympics are finally here and the Jaunted Embeds are on the scene. All throughout the games we are going to be providing you first-hand observations and tips from a Vancouver local. Tuija Seipell is a Vancouver-based writer and a dual citizen of both Finland and Canada--so she is bound to get a medal or two right? You can follow her on Twitter here, or just follow the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tag.

As we head into the final days of the Winter Olympics, I'd like to share what I've really enjoyed about this experience happening in my town. First, I've really loved the overall evening vibe in the city. I’m not talking about just the crowds on Robson Street or at the two Live Cities, or at Molson Hockey House, Club Bud and the many other Houses where long line-ups, expensive beer, large screens and great live music are to be found.

No, what I really love is the happy masses of humanity -- people of all ages from all over the world just walking about, many wearing their national colors, photographing and checking out the Olympic cauldron or the light show at Robson Square.

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Jaunted Winter Olympics Embed: Watching The Pretty Wonders On Ice

The 2010 Winter Olympics are finally here and the Jaunted Embeds are on the scene. All throughout the games we are going to be providing you first-hand observations and tips from a Vancouver local. Tuija Seipell is a Vancouver-based writer and a dual citizen of both Finland and Canada--so she is bound to get a medal or two right? You can follow her on Twitter here, or just follow the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tag.

Yesterday I was at the women’s figure skating morning training session at the Pacific Coliseum and it was quite amazing to see all of the best skaters in the world working on their routines at the same time! Much like the men's training session, the competitors came on ice in four groups. Each group starts with a short warm-up and then each athlete’s music is played.

Some skated through their entire program, some did just some key jumps while others, including Canada’s Joannie Rochette whose mother died suddenly on Sunday, did not jump much at all but went through their program’s other parts.

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Jaunted Winter Olympics Embed: Canada Has 'Probably The Best Coverage Ever'

The scoreboard from the USA-Sweden Women's Hockey game, which Canadians were able to watch at home, LIVE.

The 2010 Winter Olympics are finally here and the Jaunted Embeds are on the scene. All throughout the games we are going to be providing you first-hand observations and tips from a Vancouver local. Tuija Seipell is a Vancouver-based writer and a dual citizen of both Finland and Canada--so she is bound to get a medal or two right? You can follow her on Twitter here, or just follow the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tag.

We have heard complaints about NBC’s horrendous TV coverage, but Canadians have enjoyed probably the best Olympic coverage ever. The official network CTV has its sports channel TSN, plus it licensed with Rogers Sportsnet to create the CTV-Rogers consortium to broadcast almost 900 hours of continuous coverage.

So, we have three channels working together, covering various events and ceremonies, and keeping viewers informed at the bottom of the screen of what’s on on each channel. Pretty much every competition, event and ceremony is covered live.

CTV-Rogers consortium is very happy. The US-Canada Men's hockey game this past Sunday had the largest- ever audience for a sporting event in Canada: 10.6 million viewers. That's pretty huge for a nation of 33 million. And there is no doubt that each hockey game from now on will have as big or bigger audience. Of course, it would be nice to see the Canadians win from now on!

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Jaunted Winter Olympics Embed: What Everyone is Waiting For

The 2010 Winter Olympics are finally here and the Jaunted Embeds are on the scene. All throughout the games we are going to be providing you first-hand observations and tips from a Vancouver local. Tuija Seipell is a Vancouver-based writer and a dual citizen of both Finland and Canada--so she is bound to get a medal or two right? You can follow her on Twitter here, or just follow the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tag.

The final week of the 2010 Winter Olympics has begun and crowds are reaching peak numbers. There is a line-up for everything. One of the longest has been the six-plus-hour wait for the 30-second zip across Robson Square. Amazingly, everyone says it is worth the wait, and that they had fun in the line-up.

Another consistent queue has been to the Olympic superstore at The Bay that sells the official Olympic merchandise. People have waited on average for 1.5 hours to get in the store and another hour or two to get through the checkouts and out. Some have arrived at 6 a.m. for the 9 a.m. store opening.

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Jaunted Winter Olympics Embed: The Wonderful World of Curling

The 2010 Winter Olympics are finally here and the Jaunted Embeds are on the scene. All throughout the games we are going to be providing you first-hand observations and tips from a Vancouver local. Tuija Seipell is a Vancouver-based writer and a dual citizen of both Finland and Canada--so she is bound to get a medal or two right? You can follow her on Twitter here, or just follow the Vancouver 2010 Olympics tag.

I went to my first-ever curling event with 5,600 other spectators this week for men’s round robin session with USA-Norway, Canada-Germany and China-France. (Norway, Canada and France won). Surprisingly, curling fans are boisterous, loud and fun. There were cow bells and bull horns, chanting and singing, and wild support for all teams, especially for “Norway’s Pants.”

In a fantastic PR stunt for a game with a dull and boring reputation, Thomas Ulsrud and his teammates from Oslo have drawn huge attention with their clown/pajama pants in the Norwegian colors. There were even some wannabe “Norway’s Pants” in the audience. If Norway wins a medal, curling – and especially curling attire -- may never be the same again!

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