I’ve been waiting a whole year for this: I’ve just navigated my first Art Crawl in Vancouver! Compared to Seattle’s monthly art walks, where venues are fairly close together, this annual event, with over 100 spots to choose from, takes a lot more planning. But as with Seattle, it had plenty of lovely work, inspiring chats, and connection.

I’ve been following some of the participating artists all year, after just missing out on visiting then, and others I added just recently to round out my lists. Thankfully, I was well-trained, from years of watching my mother plan garage sale hunts: I made lists and maps, double-checked routes, and changed it up on the fly.

Starting at Outsiders & Others, ahead of the main event, I got great context from its director, Yuri Arajs, who spent plenty of time in Minneapolis, close to large & long-running art crawls. He set my expectations: I wasn’t going to be able to see everything — of course! — but I even missed spots and artists I’d intended to catch. Sigh. And others I was hoping to find weren’t open the day I visited, life being what it is.

Here’s a sampling of the inspiration and conversation I found:

• Strong work from Lisa Farrell, with great contrast and color
• Inspiring nature-based minimalism from Niina Chebry and Galen Felde
• Beautiful grids from Dorothy Doherty
• Digital collage explorations from Olga Campbell and Mary Lang

As I chatted with artists, I commiserated on the process it takes to get ready to welcome the public. At my last stop at Parker St Studios, the largest venue by far, Elizabeth Barnes could relate to the perils of studio cleanup: it always means losing something you tucked away in a special place. But she was glad not to go to all that trouble every month, as Seattle folks do. Setting up for retail, then getting back to creative mode is a lot of work.

To get people out to see art, a special event, highly anticipated, certainly helps, and the Eastside Arts Society really pulls it off, with a great website and lots of publicity. But it’s so much to take in — there are so many one- or two-artist spots I never even considered. Seattle’s monthly art walk, on First Thursday, is easier to comprehend — but also, since it’s every month, easier to skip. Still, over a series of months, I can visit any gallery or open studio I might have missed last time.

For this four-day weekend, I was dragging my heels a bit by Sunday, tempted by several works I’d seen and kept thinking about. In the end, I circled back round to THIS Gallery, where I’ve visited several times already, and fell in love with a piece by Shannon Pawliw. This painting, Washing Up, has the minimal look I am drawn to, soft colors combined with contrast, and a great backstory.

I really appreciate what Shannon is creating, both with her art and within her community, and look forward to following her work and efforts, along with all the other artists I met at this year’s Crawl. As I head off to get ready for my own event, I’m sending out best wishes to everyone recovering: you’ve got just under a year to get ready for the next one!