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Tolmie Ln Night Markets
Dear Friend,
This Thursday the 6th of July I’d like to personally invite you to the first of our weekly summer Tolmie Ln night markets! We’re gearing up for a serene evening of art and other delights from 6pm to 10pm, here at our one-stop workshop at #3 676 Alpha St, which is accessible through Tolmie Ln. Each of our night markets is proud to host one or more featured artists, and I thought to kick-off the season by hosting the first exhibition! I’ll be showcasing my design tile display, custom brands (with demonstration), and a few other of my favorite projects. I’d love to see you there!
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I’m really hoping to meet any artisans interested in coming out. If that’s you, I’m eager to meet with you and your work. We’re always looking for more kiosks at our events, and more importantly, I’m always looking for friends to share in our wonderful art community. We’re excited that Hotdog Hustlin’ is going to catering our favourite mouthwatering Filipino bites, I’ve been dreaming of their pork belly since our open house!
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Our own communications coordinator Zuber is going to be busking an acoustic music set, and from what I hear it’s quite jazzy! We’re hoping to curate an artistic environment, to which end we're happy to host live painting, and a kiosk manned by my friend Hina who will be providing Moroccan style henna tattoos for sale.
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And this is only the first in a series of events! As a teaser for next week we’re excited to have our second featured artist, Lucas Shawcross join us on the night market. Like me, he’s a local artist born and raised on Vancouver Island. Like me, he is a skilled tradesman, and like me he has a strong foundational philosophy of DIY or Do-It-Yourself.
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Lucas Shawcross: Featured Artist for July 13th
Lucas is always striving to manipulate as much as he can with his hands, so as to make whatever he imagines in his mind a created reality. That of course struck a deep chord of admiration in me, as I found much in common with my personal creative philosophy. As we say around the shop: mind to matter, sketches to structures, and imagination to innovation. Given his propensity for acquiring skills, Lucas has acquired diverse and truly bespoke artistic accomplishment in media such as denim, embroidery, patches, wood working, metal working bracelets, terrariums, sketching, clothes modification, motorbike mechanics, tattoos, knife making, and even producing electronic music. I’m sure you can imagine why we get along so well!
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Lucas’s lifelong love for creation began when he was a youth, when he was spending time with his father. “I wanted a skateboard, but times were tough back then” Lucas chuckled, “My dad and I made a skateboard from scratch and that’s where it all started”. This whirlwind of creativity with his artist father continued, from learning how to draw with him, to learning the tricks of the hardwood trade from him later in his youth. “My dad taught me to work with my hands” Lucas explained, “and I learned the tradition of hardwood flooring from him too. I appreciated pretty quickly that hardwood flooring is a fine art in itself.”
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Since then, Lucas has applied himself to innumerable art forms. As he grew into a man, he realized that he couldn’t afford his dream tattoos. Lucky for him, he had a steady hand, a lot of artistic skill, and a can-do attitude. Lucas did the due research and soon fabricated his own tattoo gun to get to work. “The snake and skull tattoo is my favourite” Lucas beamed. Soon enough, Lucas was designing and doing tattoos for his friends.
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Having soon become an accomplished tattoo artist in his own right, Lucas then tried his hand at motorbike mechanics. He recently completed building his own motorbike, an undertaking he devoted a lot of passion towards. “Finishing my chopper has been my biggest endeavor. I did everything, even painted the flames on it. I fabricated so many parts on it, and I’ve had my hands on every little piece on the bike. The whole machine is just a work of art.” Since completing his motorbike project, Lucas has been mastering clothing modification since the winter.
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Lucas got back into his old family trade of hardwood flooring recently as well, and is now the owner and operator of the aptly named Traditions Hardwood, who provide excellent hardwood installation, scraping, and dustless refinishing services for flooring in the greater Victoria Area. Like us, Traditions Hardwood is a local and family run company offering a highly skilled and artisanal service within our community with a passion for quality work and leaving a great impression. Speaking of traditions, Lucas is often spending time with his daughter Willow making art in various mediums, just as his father did with him. It seems she has the family artistic spark too!
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On the 13th of July, Lucas is going to be bringing his custom modified denims and other clothing, patches and possibly some of his bespoke magic staffs, of which only two are in existence, one for him, and the other as a thank you present to his therapist. Magic staffs are usually crowned with a big crystal on the top and few designs wood burned into the ends. Each piece is wrapped up with some chords, feathers, and other decorative and mystical trinkets.
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Regardless you can be certain that Lucas’s display is going to be absolutely magical, and personally we can barely wait! At Lopez Contracting & Design Ltd, our team is eager to provide a collaborative platform and space for artisans to showcase and immerse in their craft. We're excited to share access to top-notch equipment and expertise in both metal and woodwork, and want ensure an unforgettable creative experience all who attend. I hope to see you on on the 6th and the 13th for what is looking to be a precious evening, and a great kick-off to our night market season!
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Raffle Prize Winners
Speaking of the night markets, we did want to announce the winners of our price raffle from the April 22nd Open House! To that end, a huge congratulations to Shan Dobson and James Liira, both of whom have won a beautiful live edge table complete with spray finished reclaim metal legs, ready to be picked up and finished as one desires! We are hoping to have even more prize raffles at our night markets and are currently designing a wheel of fortunate. We welcome you to check in at the gate to enter our contestant pool, and we’re excited to announce upcoming prizes, as well as featured artists for the following weeks.
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Thank you so much for your time, Friend. We deeply appreciate your support of our friendly neighbourhood on-stop workshop! We're always glad to be of service, and on behalf of our team we wish you a very happy summer!
Kind regards,
Matthew Lopez
General Contractor
Lopez Contracting & Design Ltd
matthew@lopezcontracting.com
+1 (250) 885-2902
www.LopezContracting.com
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About Lopez Contracting & Design Ltd:
Lopez Contracting & Design Ltd is a local and emerging artisanal contracting company that specializes in highly custom projects, ranging from renovations to bespoke commissions such as live-edge furniture. Our one-stop shop strongly values our community, and we strive to operate within a 100% local network of partnered suppliers, sub-trades, artisans, and specialists. Our wood supply network, for example, sources largely from local ethical arborists.
We host a beautiful and diverse display of Vancouver Island’s finest lumber specimen, ready to be kilned, milled, sanded, edged, finished, or otherwise prepared right here in our shop for any discerning patron or project. Our one-stop shop offers singularly rare and unique services right here in the heart of Victoria, including one of downtown’s only kiln, lathe, and CNC services.
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