The 2005 North of Nowhere Expo features over 350 pieces of visual art including a comic art exhibition at Happy Harbor Comics, and a massive anti-war poster exhibition split between three venues: the Stanley A. Milner Library (downtown branch), the Red Strap Market (across from the courthouse) and the Bomb Shelter, our primary music venue (see Venue page for addresses).

We are also pleased to present a huge exhibition of 14,000 peace cranes and the Near Shima Hospital Photo Panorama Project, which were created to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing. Last but not least, we're presenting a small preview of the Transcend: Arts & Peace Network (T:AP) members' exhibition which will be released at the IPRA Conference in Calgary 2006.

All visual exhibitions will be installed for public viewing between Sept. 16-30, 2005, with exception to the Stanley A. Milner Library, which will remain installed between Sept. 2 - Oct. 30, 2005.

Please click here to see a sneak peek of (some of) our visual installations at the North of Nowhere Expo
We still haven't had a chance to take pics of the art at the Bomb Shelter but I'll add those (and any band photos people send in) when they're ready.

Venue information (including accessibility & transit) can be found on the venues page, click button at left.

The ESPA gratefully acknowledges the support of Black Cat Press, Project Ploughshares and all Participating Artists, Collectives & Volunteers in the production of these exhibits.Please see our Sponsors & Credits page for other important acknowledgements.

The anti-war poster exhibitions at the Stanley A. Milner Library (theatre foyer), the Red Strap Market (2nd floor), and the Bomb Shelter includes the artwork of: www.anotherposterforpeace.com
www.whitehouse.org
www.anti-war.us
www.miniaturegigantic.com
www.brushstroke.tv
www.nowarfont.org
www.bloodforoil.org
www.capedmaskedandarmed.com
www.know-our-enemy.net
www.putuporshutup.org
www.wanderoo.net
www.20daysinspring.net
www.adamnieman.co.uk
www.protest-records.com (and more…)

Library & Red Strap exhibits are open during regular public hours. Specific components @ the Bomb Shelter include "Gorgeous George (aka Bush Sucks)", "All the President's Men" & "Collateral Damage" - parental discretion is advised - and are only open during our music events (see Calendar of Events for details).

Please see the websites listed above for more info about the anti-war poster exhibitions, and read on for more info about the T:AP 2006 Preview, Happy Harbor Comics' exhibition, and the Hiroshima Peace Cranes & Near Shima Hospital Projects:

T:AP 2006 Preview


http://tapnet.info
Director: Olivier Urbain (Japan/Belgium) The TRANSCEND: Art and Peace Network (T:AP)is a virtual space where artists, musicians, peace activists, researchers, educators and people interested in the links between peace and the arts can meet. The T:AP Mission Statement: to T:AP into the human potential for peace by supporting creativity and the arts. International members communicate freely through an e-group and interactive website, hold virtual exhibitions of artworks, and post articles. Once in a while all people interested in T:AP get together, and the next opportunity will be during the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) conference to be held June 29 - July 3, 2006 in Calgary, Canada. For more information, please visit the T:AP website.

Visual Exhibits installed at Happy Harbor Comics features the artwork of:


Greg Oakes (Winnipeg)
www.gregoakes.com (originals & prints)
Greg Oakes was born in Winnipeg in 1973 and spent most of his years in Good ol' Transcona. He has a wide range of influences, from Bugs Bunny, the Muppets and Mad Magazine, all the way to Robert Crumb, Brian Froud and HR Giger. Greg is a Graduate of Red River College's "Advertising Art" program, has been sketching caricatures for well over a decade, and has former Eatons Downtown Display Department to thank for getting him started. During the same period he worked as a professional illustrator & graphic designer, and continues to do so to this very day. Greg was a regular contributor to the now defunct Winnipeg indie comic zine Sunburn ('96-'01) and over the years has created an eclectic mix of print media illustrations and designs. When not drawing for indie-geek's pleasure he works as an internal product designer for Palliser Furniture Ltd. in Winnipeg. This little slice of Greg's life is dedicated to his lovely wife Sabina, and their three beautiful daughters Kira, Chloe and Payton.

Damian Willcox (Calgary)
www.dorkboycomics.com
(originals & minicomix) A few years ago during a lunch break in college, a friend of Damian's had 1 page left to fill in his 'zine. Damian cleverly tricked his friend into letting him draw a comic on that page, and in the span of 10 minutes had come up with a story involving exploding heat seeking turtles, nazi warplanes, and flying toothbrushes and potatoes. Shortly thereafter he created the first dorkboy comic which he gave to friends and family instead of the usual Christmas card. It was very well received, and the rest is history.

Chris Labrenz (Edmonton)
www.members.shaw.ca/labrenzink (originals)
Chris Labrenz was born like any other humanoid monkey baby... But in 1977. With a pencil. He began to draw action figures & cartoons at an early age and a couple of decades later they are still his way of life. Inspirations included Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane, D.C. Comics, Chuck Jones, Jim Henson, Bill Waterson, Jhonen Vasquez, Hanna - Barbara and Ren & Stimpy. Music helps fuel the passion, as do horror movies, as is clear by his dozens of fan posters smothering the walls at his day job "The Movie Studio".

Billy Mavreas (Montreal)
www.yesway.com
Billy Mavreas is a Montreal based artist known for his internationally published comics, illustrations and visual poetics. His work has appeared in over 15 solo exhibits, 35 group shows and well over 50 publications ranging from small independent 'zines to perfect bound literary anthologies. A collection of his graphic short stories, The Overlords Of Glee, was published by conundrum press in 2001, and he co-edited Matrix Magazines' special section on the theme of 'The Public Domain' with Andy Brown in 2003. As EHEL, he participates in the international mail-art network contributing his stuff to various projects in all directions. He is currently expanding into the fields of soundart, performance, animation and psychic healing. Billy works out of the Monastiraki Boutique on Boul. St. Laurent.

The 2005 NoN Expo mascot is on virtual loan to us courtesy of Dan Piraro:
www.bizarro.com
An avid artist since childhood and an art school dropout, Dan Piraro had a successful career as a commercial illustrator before becoming a cartoonist. BIZARRO was first syndicated in 1985 and since then has built a steady and loyal following in the United States and Canada, as well as in parts of Europe, Asia and South America. BIZARRO won three consecutive Reuben Awards between 2000-2002 from the National Cartoonists Society for Best Cartoon Panel of the Year. Piraro regularly speaks to school children, community groups and colleges and works as an animal rights activist (hence being accosted by the ESPA for being an awesome kind of Human Being). Piraro resides in New York City with his wife, Ashley. All of his closest friends think he's a swell guy.

Near Shima Hospital: The Hiroshima Panorama Project, Photography of October, 1945
Out of print since 1975, through special arrangement with the original publisher in Japan, Near Shima Hospital has made available again the three photo-panoramas of the destroyed city of Hiroshima. This is a not-for-profit project created for education about the effects of nuclear war. The project has no official connection with the city of Hiroshima, nor with Shima Hospital there, but the project coordinators believe both would support this effort. The project name is taken from the title given to one of the panoramas in 1973. The panoramas are:

  1. NEAR SHIMA HOSPITAL (Ground level from the hypocenter) by U.S. Research Group. Almost 360 degrees, Paper: 13.75" X 91.5"; Photo: 10.25" X 89.25"
  2. FROM THE (roof top) FORMER CHUGOKU SHIMBUN BLDG. by Shigeo Hayashi; 360 degrees , Paper: 13.75" X 106.6"; Photo: 10.25" X 104.5"
  3. FROM THE (roof top) HIROSHIMA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BLDG. by Shigeo Hayashi; 360 degrees , Paper: 13.75" X 106.5"; Photo: 8.1" X 102.4"

The panoramas show the physical effects of a small (15 kiloton) nuclear weapon on a city of 400,000. Japanese and English text in the photo border indicates significant landmarks. This is a remarkable photo-record of an extraordinary historical event. Displayed, they should provoke serious thought from students and adults.

The Hiroshima Panoramas: http://titan.iwu.edu/~rwilson/hiroshima/
Translations of Two Leaflets Dropped on Japanese Cities Shortly after the First Atomic Bomb was Dropped August 6, 1945: http://tinyurl.com/9wj5y
Shadows: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/hiroshim/bridge1a.mov
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki for College Teachers" Workshop: http://titan.iwu.edu/~physics/Hiroshima.html
For more info:

Raymond G. Wilson, Ph.D.
Instructor: Physics 239 - Problems of Nuclear Disarmament
Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL 61761
TEL: 309-556-3176 / FAX: 309-556-3864
Home Page: http://titan.iwu.edu/~rwilson/

Project Ploughshares' Hiroshima 60th Anniversary Commemoration Peace Cranes Project:

SADAKO'S STORY: The paper crane has become an international symbol of peace in recent years as a result of it's connection to the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb" disease. Sadako's best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve. The point is that she never gave up. She continued to make paper cranes until she died. Inspired by her courage and strength, Sadako's friends and classmates put together a book of her letters and published it. They began to dream of building a monument to Sadako and all of the children killed by the atom bomb. Young people all over Japan helped collect money for the project. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park. The children also made a wish which is inscribed at the bottom of the statue and reads: "This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world". Today, people all over the world fold paper cranes and send them to Sadako's monument in Hiroshima.

MISSION STATEMENT/HISTORY:
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Project Ploughshares Edmonton called on citizens of the Edmonton Capital Region to reflect on the consequences of that horrible event that changed the world forever, appointed a steering committee and provided a grant to begin planning and preparations of an appropriate event which would honour the victims, express our sorrow, raise awareness, work towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons, and promote lasting peacemaking actions. The result was 19 schools in the greater Edmonton area each contributing 1000+ cranes each, and included ancillary actions such as essay contests for junior and senior high students, origami crane making for elementary school students, art displays in public venues and a Shadow Project which was designed to invoke a symbolic landscape of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at ground zero where the heat of the atomic blast vaporized human beings, leaving only a shadow image etched permanently into the pavement. This special project was launched on August 6, 2005 at Edmonton's City Hall and the NoN Expo is honoured to be able to further present this exhibition to the public.

"May peace prevail on earth.
Let all souls here rest in peace for we shall not forget the evil"
(inscription on the Hiroshima cenotaph)

WHAT WE CAN DO:

Edmonton-area Schools involved in the Hiroshima Peace Crane Project (19): Bishop Greschuk / Bissett / Ellerslie North Campus / Garneau / George H Luck / Guthrie / Jackson Heights / James Mowat / Kildare / Malmo / Maria Goretti / McKee / McKernan / Meadowlark / Meyokumin / Mount Pleasant / Northmount / Weshosford / Youngtown

For more info:

Patti Hartnagel (780) 435-7051
Project Ploughshares' website: www.members.shaw.ca/Projectploughshares/

Learn more about Sadako: www.sadako.org/
Learn how to fold an origami peace crane: www.hiroshima-is.ac.jp/Hiroshima/foldcrai.htm