Wellington Oracle

This year’s version of the annual Candela show, held last week at the Cube Gallery, was a chance for the lighting design industry in Ottawa to showcase its best innovations in the past year.

We caught up with award-winning designer Ross Nicholson while he was displaying his entry in the show. Nicholson is good value when he turns to his attention to a favourite topic; the good, the bad, and the retina-searing in the world of public lighting.

Play the audio below to hear Nicholson on some of the do’s and don’ts of illuminating your patch of darkness. (more…)

 

 Lighting pro Ross Nicholson: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Recent media attention has focused on the city’s stubborn refusal to allow the Uth Ink street playwright program to post signs in Hintonburg. Councilor Leadman has vowed to fight for the program’s signs and no doubt the story isn’t over yet. ( Editor’s note: it now looks like Leadman has won the day, see CBC story here)

Meanwhile, the Oracle has news of group of residents on a neigbourhood street who have been coming together to post their own signs for the past several years

They are happily ignoring the signage bylaw – and in the process adding visual interest and no small amount of pride to their particular block.

One resident of Stirling Avenue was there when the idea for the Hip Strip was born; she gives us the inside story in the audio clip below.

 

 Hip Strip explained: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Parkdale Gallery’s James Robinson is justifiably proud of his volunteer team’s summer work transforming the rubbish-strewn fire hazard behind Parkdale Mini-Storage from something that looked like this to the trim-looking courtyard seen in the adjacent photo.

He still has big plans for the space, and when we caught up with him over the weekend he talked about his progress and what is still left to do.

 

 Courtyard Progress: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

review by Gilda Furgiuele

We can all relate to the bittersweet awkwardness of puberty. The drama that ensues from the hormonal rollercoaster of being not quite a teen is the inspiration for I, Claudia, the first play in the GCTC’s 2008-09 “Stages” season.

The one woman show, starring Lisa Repo-Martell, gives the audience insight into the life and times of Claudia, a twelve (and three-quarters) year old girl about to graduate from elementary school. Exploring the stage with extravagant motion, she recounts an emotional struggle, dealing with puberty, unpopularity, and divorce. (more…)

Thanks in no small part to  Paul Gessell’s blogging on it in the Ottawa Citizen, a five-venue “Gallery Hop” drew gallery-goers from across the city to the West Wellington area this past weekend.

Click the photo to see the Parkdale Gallery on the last night of the hop and an “edible installation” pleasing the lucky visitors to the Cube Gallery.

While we were at the Cube, Don Monet to give us an idea of the interest the hop generated for the galleries linked to the tour; click the play arrow below to hear the audio.

 

 Gallery Hop: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A two-story frame house directly across Hamilton from Parkdale park appears to be uninhabited and has been so for years according to area residents.

The parking area is used by market vendors and a nearby furniture business but there are no occupants and the yard and frontage is in a rundown and unkempt condition.

Several photos of the property can be seen by clicking the image attached to this story. Absentee home owners have been a problem in Hintonburg in the past; if anyone has information as to the building’s ownership please contact the Oracle and we will follow up on the story.

As part of the ongoing clean-up of the toxic waste under the old Honeywell plant on Parkdale a drilling operation has begun to text for fractures in the bedrock under the area.

Core samples are being extracted from under adjacent streets and are being examined to ensure that there are not channels in the bedrock that would allow the chemicals to disperse across a broader area.

The Oracle has just heard from unofficial sources that the Wellington Street crosswalk being lobbied for by a group of local residents has been approved but at Harmer Avenue rather than at Caroline as had been expected. It would represent a move of only a few feet and would seem to have implications for a bus stop and for users crossing from the south side of Wellington near Bridgehead

If any reader has more specific knowledge please share it with the Oracle; we can be reached via the ‘contact’ details at the top of the page. Meanwhile we’ll be following up with Councilor Leadman’s office.

Messages left with the city’s engineering department appear to be going unanswered for the duration of the Big Dig.

Disturbing Reports in Vicky Smallman’s blog and on CBC radio of vandalism at Fairmont Park prompted the Oracle to inspect the situation on a recent sunny day; we are pleased to report that the yellow tape is gone and that the park is back in general use by area families.

For those who don’t know about the surprises in store at Fairmont Park try this sometime: bring your kids to the park and ask them to see how many hidden treasures they can spot hidden in the bushes and half-buried in the flower beds. You’ll have an hour to sit and read the paper as the little ones explore.

Besides featuring these donated ornaments, the park hosts dozens of shared playground toys and has its shrubberies and flower gardens kept in trim by a dedicated team of neighbourhood volunteers.