- About
- Centre for Communications and the Arts
- Calendars of Events & Happenings
- Event Poster Collection
- The Communications Centre: Experiment in human experience
- Jade: Flower-child happenings and conceptual art projects in 1969
- Nini Baird: A Day in the Hectic Life of the Arts Centre Director
- Sound Recordings: Faculty Lectures from 1967 Communications Course
- Dance
- Film
- Literary Arts
- Music & Sound
- Music & Sound image gallery
- My "a-ha" moment with Murray Schafer
- World Soundscape Project
- Phillip Werren's electronic music
- Radio CKSF "on the air" fall 1966
- Robert Aitken performs with the Purcell String Quartet & Soundscape on radio
- David Skulski and the early music revival at SFU
- Phyllis Mailing: SFU Singer Who Reached the Top
- Purcell String Quartet: In High Demand
- Theatre
- Theatre image gallery
- How the early days of the arts at SFU changed my parochial little life
- Norm Browning, Jackie Crossland and Cece Granbois in Beverley Simons' new 1-act play "Greenlawn Rest Home"
- The Centralia Incident: "A theatre in search of a town—A town in search of its memory."
- The only escape: The early years of the SFU theatre
- Robin Patterson and the SFU Mime Troupe
- Theatre of Total Limbo
- Visual Arts
Iron Magazine image gallery
Iron was one of the earliest, and most ambitious, independent literary magazines on campus by Simon Fraser University students. Published between 1966 and 1978, Iron provided a creative outlet for several noted Canadian poets early in their literary careers, including Sharon Thesen and Brian Fawcett while they were students at Simon Fraser University. The influence of Robin Blaser, poet of the San Francisco Renaissance, can be seen in the pages of Iron. As a charter faculty member in SFU's English Department, Blaser became a mentor to this passionate and talented literary collective.
Recently, Brian Fawcett said, "What we were up to in the early days was experimental in the best sense: curious, insolent—and willing to be humble and humbled" (personal communication, September 17, 2021). Fawcett spoke of Robin Blaser as "the governing spirit," whereas "the guiding spirit, oddly, was R. Murray Schafer." When he had asked Schafer what he and his "...friends needed to do to get published. His [Schafer's] answer was unexpected: he said, 'Form a gang, make trouble, and publish yourselves. When you’re good enough, the publishers will come looking for you.' And for the most part, he was right" (personal communication).
Browse the below gallery for a selection of covers from Iron’s first series of issues (1966-1972). These unique works of art showcase the interdisciplinary collaboration at work in each issue of Iron, as student artists from SFU and beyond contributed their talents alongside writers.
Started by students in 1966, editors Brian Fawcett and Henk Suijs described Iron-1 as “the pilot edition of what has hopes of being a permanent voice from Simon Fraser University.” Artwork by Dave Bowen. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 1, 1966.]
Illustrated by Renée Van Halm while she was in high school, the issue notes that "Twenty-two copies of Iron 2 have covers hand-stamped from the original woodcut. Not surprisingly, these are numbered 1 - 22 and are very valuable." Artwork by Renée Van Halm. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 2, 1966.]
Iron 4 features intricate, silkscreened artwork by Renee Van Halm on the cover. Artwork by Renée Van Halm. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 4, 1968.]
The back cover of Iron 4. The issue was “dedicated to Amor de Cosos and the Runcible Mountains, that they reappear.” Artwork by Renée Van Halm. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 4, 1968.]
The self-referential cover illustration of Iron 8/9 depicts a room with an ironing board, as well as a curtain partially obscuring a bookshelf and a feminist poster. Artwork by Vicky Margesson. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 8/9, 1970.]
The room photographed on the back cover of Iron 8/9 references the cover illustration. Artist uncredited. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 8/9, 1970.]
Iron 12, or “Serious Iron,” features a photograph of the collective by Ron Verzuh. According to the photo description, “As you can see, all their attention is on the camera. It still is.” Photo by Ron Verzuh. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 12, 1971.]
Iron 13, known as “Punk Iron” or the "Sacred Games Issue," notes that "All the foregoing people played for the East End Punks during the summer of 1971 in the Vancouver Kozmic Softball League." Artwork by Annie Segal. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 13, 1971.]
The cover of Iron 14, or “High Iron,” features cow illustrations by Vicky Margesson. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 14, 1971.]
Vicky Margesson’s playful cow illustrations wrap around to the back cover of “High Iron.” Artwork by Vicky Margesson. [Image courtesy of Simon Fraser University Library Special Collections and Rare Books. MsC-20 Iron fonds. Issue 14, 1971.]