Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Deryk Houston


Road to Castle Douglas by Deryk Houston


Deryk is an artist, living in Victoria, who has an amazing gift for capturing vibrant landscapes that give one the sensation of actually moving through space.

I first came across Deryk when I was watching the NFB film "From Baghdad to Peace Country" which followed him to Baghdad in 1999 to witness, first-hand, the conditions in which the Iraqi people existed, due to the international sanctions; and home, where he began the creation of a monumental earthwork dedicated to Peace. The film moved me, and Deryk's willingness to share his talent and ideas with children is inspiring.

He has also illustrated the children's book, "
Echos From The Square", written by Elizabeth Wellburn. The book is a fictional story featuring real-life cellist Vedran Smailovic, principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera Orchestra, who played his cello for 22 consecutive days in the streets of Sarajevo to commemorate 22 people killed by a single shell. Both Vedran, and the book written about him have inspired a number of children and projects.




0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home