Ignite Presentations
Peter Armstrong
Peter Armstrong is the founder of Ruboss, the co-founder of Leanpub, and the author of Lean Publishing, Hello! Flex 4 and Flexible Rails. Peter coined the term "lean publishing", which describes the act of self-publishing an in-progress ebook. He has written a manifesto about lean publishing (leanpub.com/manifesto), and is writing an in-progress ebook about it. Leanpub was founded based on the principles in this manifesto.
Linda Doherty
Linda Doherty has been part of the BC ceramic arts community for the past 35 years, learning, working and teaching. She has served on the boards of the North-West Ceramics Foundation, the BC Potters Guild and The Canadian Clay Symposium. Linda produced the book, Made of Clay – Ceramics of British Columbia, showcasing ceramic artists of BC and has also had her own work published in several books. Linda’s passion for learning about the art of clay has taken her to several countries: Australia, Germany, Peru, Argentina, Spain, India, Turkey and most recently China. The serene setting at her Stump Lake Studio in the Nicola Valley is conducive for creating her ‘one-of-a-kind’ pieces and through her teaching at the Shadbolt Centre of the Arts in Burnaby she is rewarded by motivating and inspiring others.
Derek von Essen
Derek von Essen is a Vancouver-based artist working with photography, painting, assemblage and graphics. He's been profiled on CBC television, presented with various Arts awards, facilitated artist workshops and published in numerous books and magazines, exhibition catalogues and design annuals. He specializes in fine arts, dance, theatre, music, film and publishing projects while recycling everything from objects to conversations in his work.
Michelle Loughery
An artist, organizer, and educator, Michelle Loughery has worked in the field of community public art for 18 years and has created over 100 large-scale murals, working with intergenerational groups, teens, elders, and children. Loughery draws on her rich experiences in rural Canada to portray a wide variety of historic scenes in her murals. She carries the name of the small coal mining town of Michel, B.C., in which she was born and raised. Her rare talent in creating large-scale art is an enduring public reminder of Canada's diverse peoples, heroes and rich cultural heritage. In addition to accepting commissions for public, corporate and private murals, Michelle offers a unique community art program in conjunction with public art mural assignments. This totally original program enlists young artist and art students in the community as apprentices, and trains them in the techniques of large format art.
Allyson McGrane
Allyson McGrane is a Vancouver-based business consultant who specializes in the arts, non-profit and small business start-ups. As a partner in Left Right Minds Initiatives, she works to connect arts - business - web. She has over ten years of experience with consulting in the Vancouver arts community. More recently, she co-founded Plank Magazine and co-founded a new summer theatre festival called the Neanderthal Arts Festival (now entering its third year). She also teaches part-time at Capilano University in the Arts and Entertainment Management Program for both diploma and certificate students.
Julie McIntyre
Julie McIntyre, President & BC Representative for CARFAC BC, Treasurer for CARFAC National & CARCC, studied at the Banff Centre, Alberta in 1986 and received her BFA from Queen’s University with a major in printmaking. She has had solo shows in 18 public galleries in Canada and participated in well over 40 juried exhibitions, including 21 international credits to date. This past winter, Julie facilitated two community quilts with the Ismaili Muslim Association and Tricity Transitions for "The F Word: Exploring Feminism in the 21st Century " exhibition at Leigh Square Arts Village, Port Coquitlam. She is just finishing up her fifth artist in residency for this year with the Vancouver School Board and a stone lithography workshop at Malaspina Printmakers Society, Granville Island where she is past president. An active volunteer member for Craft Council of BC, Main Street Drift, Vancouver Fringe Festival and Public Dreams Society, this is Julie's fourth year as President of CARFAC BC.
Judi Piggott, B.A.
Judi Piggott is best known in the creative sector for fifteen years of work with artists and cultural workers from all disciplines, and the inventive entrepreneurial and employment programs she developed at the Alliance for Arts and Culture. This ‘participatory research’ has helped her built a reputation as a resource who knows the issues that affect the daily working lives of artists, who can also make links between this micro view to the larger landscape of business and the economy. Her work is rooted in a lifetime of community and organizational development experience that crosses the boundaries of not-for-profit, public and private sectors. Over the years, she has contributed to the development of many new organizations and programs, and to the change and renewal process of older institutions, and this has fuelled her interest in systems thinking and group effectiveness. She holds a number of certificates in adult education and facilitation, and a B.A. in Psychology, is an active Board Member of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver, a member of the Steering Committee of the Voluntary Organizations Consortium of BC and of the international team organizing the second Design Thinking unConference in 2012.