Local Artist Joe Average teams up with California Closets to revitalize Vancouver Penthouse
California Closets designed two custom pantries, two custom office closets and a custom linen closet including bespoke storage solutions for Average’s art supplies and vast John Fluevog shoe collection.
Joe Average O.B.C. M.C.G. is a beloved Vancover-based artist who has earned recognition across the globe for both his art and his activism. Many Canadians would recall his artwork which appeared on the 2019 Equality coin, a special edition “loonie” marking the 50th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada.
“Everyone has heard of California Closets,” said Average. “I was in need of a new wardrobe for my home office, and in conversation with a good friend, California Closets and the incredible custom work they do got brought up. We spent a bit of time together going through the website and then called them to explain what I was looking for. It quickly snowballed into more than just a single wardrobe! They helped me revamp seven spaces in my home and created bespoke housing solutions to organize a lot of my artwork.”
“It was an honour when Joe reached out to us and a privilege to work with him,” said Matthew Jolly, California Closets Designer. “He is an incredibly talented artist and a very kind person, who has given much to the LQBTQ+ community. It was a special project because Joe had a sense of what he was looking for, and through a visit to our South Granville showroom, the direction became clear. Joe wanted two custom closets in his office, but he also wanted a linen closet, a number of storage solutions, a place to house his artwork and two new pantries. Most people don’t know that we do more than closets - we offer custom solutions for almost every space, and this project really showcased all of our expertise.”
Average gave Designer Matthew Jolly seven words of inspiration to guide the process: opulent, over the top, grand, masculine, dark, elegant and sophisticated. “He delivered on every single one,” said Average. “Working with Matthew and the team at California Closets was a wonderful experience. They asked a lot of questions in the beginning so that they could get a grasp for exactly what I wanted. They were also patient, polite, and most importantly, they were really good listeners. I felt comfortable with them straight off the bat and trusted that they would deliver.”
One of the custom closets designed for Average’s office included a special compartment for his 20pair John Fluevog shoe collection, complete with integrated lighting. “Joe and I bonded over his shoe collection - the shoes themselves are a work of art, and I knew we needed to make them stand out, while at the same time making sure they were easily accessible for him. Form and function,” said Jolly. Another element to Joe’s office was a hidden ironing board. “The ironing board is my favourite part of the whole project, but I could not be happier with the entire project as a whole,” said Average. “My penthouse actually looks like a fancy penthouse now, and that’s all thanks to California Closets.”
The majority of manufacturing and production at California Closets BC happens right in the province, which speeds up production and delivery times for clients. In addition to custom closets, California Closets BC designs entertainment centres, garage storage systems, murphy beds, mudrooms and entryways, libraries, bookshelves, and more.
If you are looking for a custom design to fit your space, personal style and budget, contact California Closets at www.californiaclosets.ca. Delivery, installation and limited lifetime warranty are available for Metro Vancouver (between Whistler to Chilliwack) and throughout the Okanagan (from Vernon to Penticton).
rib-tickler debuts as part of The Cultch’s Femme Festival.
I KNOW YOUR SECRET: MAY 1 TO 4 @ ROUNDHOUSE PERFORMANCE CENTRE
Some Assembly’s theatre creates a new, youth-driven play every year based on what young people are talking about. The company’s 24th season sees playwright Valerie Methot turn to social media. This thriller probes the veneer of digital relationships—and the messiness of real life.
HOMECOMING:
MAY 2 TO 12 @ THE CULTCH HISTORIC THEATRE
Urban Ink, the company behind musical-turned-movie Les Filles Du Roi, presents the world premiere of its latest production. Set in Canada and the Philippines, Homecoming weaves the stories of three generations of Filipina women into an ephemeral epic.
EUNOIA: MAY 8 TO 11 @ FIREHALL ARTS CENTRE
You might know Eunoia as Christian Bok’s conceptual poetry collection. Here, choreographer Denise Fujiwara reimagines it as a multi-level stage show. Fusing dance, music, video, and costume, Eunoia reconfigures the book’s word-based constraints as opportunities for unconventional creativity.
FOR EVER: MAY 9 TO 11 @ QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE
Artistic director Medhi Walerski is staying busy. The end of Ballet BC’s season features a night of premieres choreographed by the organization’s top creative mind, showing why the troupe is beloved worldwide.
COPY MACHINE MANIFESTOS: ARTISTS WHO MAKE ZINES: MAY 12 TO SEPTEMBER 22 @ VANCOUVER ART GALLERY
Anyone can make a zine: draw, type, or collage images; stick it on a photocopier; and voila, home-made magazines and booklets. First mounted at the Brooklyn Museum, this exhibition explores zines’ impact across subcultures, showcasing hundreds of zines and dozens of artists who worked outside the mainstream.
DANCING ON THE EDGE FESTIVAL: JUNE 13 TO 22 @ VARIOUS LOCATIONS
The 36th edition of Dancing on the Edge proves that contemporary dance morphs and flows with the times. Expect dozens of huge works from internationally acclaimed artists and emerging talent alike.
—VW
Events worth opening your ears to
Okay, we admit that “open your ears” doesn’t make a lot of sense. But if you think about it, while “open your eyes” gets a pass, “open your arms/heart/legs” doesn’t make much sense, either.
JOKER XUE: MARCH 7 @ ROGERS ARENA
A Chinese superstar with one of the greatest names in pop culture, Joker Xue gives a clinic in Mandopop as part of his Extraterrestrial world tour. Fun fact: the artist formerly known as Jacky Xue once—at the pushing of his father—originally looked destined for a career in the hospitality industry. Sometimes father doesn’t know best.
LANY: MARCH 14 @ PNE FORUM
Pitchfork once described the music of emoish Los Angeles synthpop darlings Lany as “musically complacent and emotionally lifeless”. And if you don’t see that as a major reason to love everything Paul Jason Klein and Jake Clifford Goss have ever done since 2014, we sincerely don’t know what more you could ask for.
BRANDON LAKE: MARCH 14 @ PACIFIC COLISEUM
As evidenced by the fact that crooner Pat Boone is still on the road and performing for the faithful at age 89, never underestimate the power of a Christian pop star. If the playlist for your next road trip to Utah, or Sunday morning church, includes “Praise You Anywhere”, “Miracle Child”, and “Jesus Be Praised”—all off Lake’s latest album Coat of Many Colours, we’ll see you in the front row. And, a few years down the road hopefully, in heaven.
LUCKI: MARCH 20 @ PNE FORUM
Happiness is often overrated, which explains why the Chicago rapper born Lucki Camel, Jr. is headlining 4,000 seaters with a sound that suggests his best friend, dog, favourite aunt, and most-admired sports superstar just shuffled off to a better place.
MELISSA ETHERIDGE: MARCH 23 @ ORPHEUM THEATRE
The great thing about the blues is
that you can play them forever without embarrassing yourself, which is more than most punk, metal, rap, and trap music artists can say. On this visit, roots-blues vet Melissa Etheridge gets extra-classy by teaming up with the VSO.
HANDEL: HALLELUJAH & TRUMPETS!: MARCH 24 @ CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
With Maestro Matthias Maute conducting, Ensemble ArtChoral and Ensemble Caprice will celebrate works from both ends of George Frideric Handel’s career: Eternal Source of Light Divine and Blessed are they that Considereth the Poor. In between the spotlight is on the opera, orchestral, chamber, and keyboard music of one of history’s most celebrated composers. Arrive early and you’ll get the chance to rehearse a special piece—the famed Hallelujah Chorus—with Matthias, and then participate in an audience sing-along during the show.
BACH’S ST JOHN PASSION: MARCH 30 @ ORPHEUM THEATRE
Two West Coast arts heavyweights—Vancouver Bach Choir and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra—join forces for an Easter weekend performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 300-year-old St John Passion. The epic choral work first debuted on Good Friday back in 1724. That it’s still relevant today speaks to its timeless power.
KYM GOUCHIE: APRIL 7 @ BLUESHORE FINANCIAL CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Traditional hand drum, acoustic guitar, full-bodied voice, and authentic storytelling are all part of Lheidli T’enneh singer-songwriter Kym Gouchie’s performances, the experience meant to send a message of inspiration and hope.
JACOB COLLIER: APRIL 14 @ QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE
Don’t worry, we can’t figure out an easy way to describe Jacob Collier either, so let’s just start with this: singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and educator. Beyond that, if you know, you know—especially if you can’t wait for the next installment of the Djesse series.
BLACK CROWES: APRIL 16 @ QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE
With apologies to everyone who loves “Jesus Christ Pose”, “Digging for Fire”, “Epic”, and “Flagpole Sitta”, there’s a valid argument to be made that “Remedy” is one of the all-time greatest songs to come out of the ’90s. Ugly Kid Joe’s “Everything About You” was pretty great, too.
COAST CITY COUNTRY: APRIL 19-20 @ BC PLACE
Somehow, despite the fact that the word “Country” is right there in the title, Nickelback is headlining a two-day blowout that also features Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Bailey Zimmerman, and Walker Hayes. Evidently you can take the band out of Hanna, Alberta, but you can’t take the Hanna, Alberta out of the band.
DILJIT DOSANJH: APRIL 27 @ BC PLACE
What does Sikh superstar Diljit Dosanjh have in common with Paul McCartney, Guns N’ Roses, the Rolling Stones, and Coldplay? That would be global superstar status, which explains why he’s playing the biggest stage in the city. The show will be a history-making one, with Dosanjh’s BC Place appearance the biggest concert ever by a Punjabi artist outside of India.
AMON AMARTH: APRIL 27 @ PNE FORUM
Horns up—which is to say the stag horns adorning your favourite Viking Helmet—as Sweden’s long-running melodic death metal warriors play the fantastically grimy Forum.
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: APRIL 29 @ ROGERS ARENA
Somehow the former Mouseketeer has survived Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl, hand-holding-gate with Alisha Wainwright, and a problem of his own making with Britney Spears with his semi-wholesome reputation more or less intact.
JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING: APRIL 30 @ ORPHEUM
With a Led Zeppelin reunion unlikely to happen as long as Robert Plant is exploring his shitkicker side with Alison Krauss, this might be as close as you get. Accepting the fact that “Stairway to Heaven” and “Whole Lotta Love” are probably inevitable, feel free to hoist your lighter while yelling for “D’yer Mak’er” and “The Battle of Evermore”.
21 SAVAGE: MAY 1 @ ROGERS ARENA
Few cities do rap more savagely than Atlanta, adopted and spiritual home of UK-born rapper 21 Savage. You want scarily
real, especially if you’re living it? Start with “Sunday, family coming over/ Move the crack behind the toaster” from “Thug Life”.
IDLES: MAY 2-3 @ PNE FORUM
While angular forward-thinking pubpunk might kind of work as a starting point for Idles, that doesn’t begin to encapsulate all that’s great about the Bristol quintet. Therapy has never sounded so joyous, loud, and inspiring.
DAMIEN JURARDO: MAY 3 @ RIO THEATRE
Nothing if not prolific, Seattle-based Damian Jurardo heads up the I-5 in support of his 18th release, Reggae Film Star, a concept album designed as a kind of “backlot documentary filmed on the location of an unnamed TV or film set.” Does the action take place as part of a sitcom taping, low-budget science fiction B-movie, or talk show? That’s for you to decide at this show at Vancouver’s mighty Rio Theatre.
THE POSTAL SERVICE/DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: MAY 14 @ DOUG MITCHELL THUNDERBIRD SPORTS CENTRE
Ben Gibbard pulls double duty—and presumably pulls down two paycheques—as the driving force between both Death Cab for Cutie and synth-pop
enigma the Postal Service. The former’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” is the one song that makes you cry everything time you think of a loved one who’s passed on, the latter released one record and then became a cult-favourite that’s bigger today than Postal Service ever was during its initial brief run. The world is strange sometimes.
XAVIER RUDD: MAY 17-18 @ MALKIN BOWL
A lifetime ago Xavier Rudd spent some time in these rainy parts, a fledgling recording artist armed with a dream and a didjeridus. Today he’s known as a laid-back legend in his native Australia, as famous for his environmental activism and human-rights advocacy as he is for hits like “Follow the Sun”—the message of which we could all stand to pay attention to.
TEDESCHI TRUCK BAND: MAY 25 @ QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE
If the sight of a 12-piece powerhouse band—led by the husband-and-wife team of guitarist Derek Trucks and singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi—doesn’t convince you that there are few things more powerful in this world than live music, you probably didn’t get the Polyphonic Spree back in the day, either.