Wende L. Davis

Anniversary, Internment and Photos

2010-08-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

A group of Wende's friends gathered this afternoon to intern her ashes in a niche in the new columbarium at Mountain View Cemetery. It was the first anniversary of her passing and a lovely summer day. I will attach a map to the location so that others can visit her there.

Here are a couple of photos from Karen Lewis...

This is taken at the International Women's Day parade in 1978.

This is at her birthday party, in front of the famous red door.

3 More

2010-06-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

Here are 3 more photos of Wende that Miriam and I found going through her photography stuff.

I think this is in the Yukon. 1970's?

I think this one and the one of her in a row boat in the previous post were at Saturna Island.

Two more

2010-06-24T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of photos of Wende from the sixties or seventies that we found in her own collection of photos. Not sure of the time, place or cast.

from Carol Brophy

2009-09-26T18:32:00.000-07:00

Photos taken while they were studying with Mr. Iyengar in Pune, India.

Distant Images: Chechnya

2009-09-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

In 2001 Wende became concerned about the blasé attitude she observed in connection with wars and atrocities that were being reported in the news media. In particular she felt that the desperate situation in Chechnya didn't really register as a real tragedy in a real place with real consequences for real people. Wende did a series of art works in various media intended to focus on this phenomenon. She took images that she found in newspapers and by breaking them up and aestheticizing them investigated the dissociation between image and reality. These are photos from the opening.

Memorial (1)

2009-09-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

Preparations:

Celebration

Ending

from Gail Cryer

2009-09-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hiking at Lake O'Hara in the Rockies, 1999

Gail, Wende, Geina, Fran, Maureen

Clockwise from yellow jacket: Geina, Wende, Maryke, Kim, Judy, Isabelle, Gail, Maureen, Katherine, Gillian, Jude. Photographer: Fran

more Saturna

2009-09-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

More photos of Wende's just completed cabin on Saturna Island.

from Gigi Jackman

2009-09-09T17:48:00.001-07:00

There aren’t words adequate enough to express the impact that Wende has had on my life. Although I didn’t know Wende as long as most of you, she’s nonetheless affected me in ways that I am still discovering to this day. I’d recently arrived in Canada and had needed a place to rent. Well, I’d needed to have had rented a place prior to my landing in Canada as part of the immigration process. Panicked, (I hadn’t realized that that was the case), I had to find a place pronto and anyone needing to find lodgings in Vancouver in a hurry would know just how difficult that could be, especially since I’d never been here before nor had any friends or relatives that I knew of living in Vancouver.
I found a posting online that sounded ideal and when I saw the picture of the “red door”, I knew in my heart that I’d found ‘my place’. Through a series of emails and two phone calls, Wende had accepted me as her tenant, sight unseen. Amazing really when you think about it. It was a leap faith/trust on both our parts as we’d only formed a connection with just those few interactions.
I think Wende had an ability to cut through to the core of a situation and perceive truth. Think she had a deep sense of adventure and lived in the moment. Well, that’s how she appeared to me.
How fortunate am I to have known her, brief though it was, as ‘landlord’, teacher, advisor, Go-to-person for all things ‘Arts’ in Vancouver, first friend. She has inspired me to live life in the moment and to not have too many “attachments” to outcomes...to just “let things unfold and see what happens”, as she’d like to tell me. It’s been over a year since our first meeting and I am still reaping the benefits of having known her.
An amazing woman; an amazing gift to us all...

From Maureen Malanchuk

2009-09-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

Precious knowledge and special gifts

Wende was one of the first people I met when I moved to Vancouver in the mid 90's and was looking for an Iyengar yoga class to join. Over the next 12 years I studied with her for two hours each week, completed the two-year teacher training program under her guidance, and practiced alongside her at dozens of local weekend workshops.

Of course, her beautiful hair and striking eyebrows were the first things I noticed about Wende but what I remember most were her twinkling eyes, her beautiful laugh, her inner peace and her warm personality.

Wende had a unique teaching style that was softer and gentler than many other Iyengar teachers I worked with. However that softness could be deceiving. She would gently but also quite firmly guide us in deepening our practice, taking us past the point we thought we could go. She taught with a firmness that was wrapped in velvet. In her classes there were always moments of clear instruction and moments of quiet reflection woven together with moments of humour and warmth. It was a joy and privilege to be her student.

The lessons she taught went far beyond the mat and yoga poses or pranyama practice; I also learned about the guiding principles of yoga - non-violence, contentment and austerity - not only through study and discussion but, more importantly, through the way she lived her life. Through the yoga she taught, the life she lived and the person she was, Wende showed me how to live in the present, be still, let go. No small lessons.

Wende also had a great talent for connecting with her students on a personal level. When we discovered our mutual love of travel, we would often greet each other with stories of recent adventures or upcoming travel plans.

I am grateful to Wende for sharing her precious knowledge and special gifts with me and I will treasure them always.

I was at a yoga workshop recently where many of us who had known and loved Wende keenly felt her absence. Though she was not physically with us, I was comforted to feel her presence throughout the workshop; her voice softly reminding me to breathe, her gentle laugh chiding me when I fell out of a pose, her memory nestled warmly in my heart.

Namaste, Wende

Maureen Malanchuk
September 2009

two self portraits

2009-09-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

Wende's grandmother, Gertrude Keen, was also an artist and Wende felt inspired by her example. Here is a self portrait of/by each of them.

From Marianne McLauchlin

2009-09-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

In their '20s Wende and Marianne hiked over the pass from Skagway to Carcross then on to the White Pass railway:

We arrived in Glacier to the smells of fresh baked pies and the cook was more than happy to indulge two young women with massive helpings and tidbits for the "road."

Beautiful high pass between Carcross and Scagway. It was a wonderful adventure.

Happy hiker with reassuring coffee can/rock bear deterrent - note other state-of-the-art equipment. Such good fun.

Lake Bennett:

And Wende in high school:

From Corrine Cory...

2009-09-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

The Wende Davis I Knew

When I moved back to Vancouver at the age of 50, I decided to try a yoga class that happened to be just down the street from where I lived. From the first class I knew that Wende was to be my yoga guide. I stayed with her classes for ten years, until I left Vancouver in 2007, but by then we had become close friends. Although we lived in different cities, we talked on the phone regularly and visited each other often. I was able to visit Wende in Vancouver three or four times a year, enjoying her garden, being with Karsh, having Wende’s wonderful oatmeal, yogurt and maple syrup breakfast, preparing meals together and occasionally going out for dinner or the infrequent drink to celebrate some event. Although I only saw Wende’s Saturna place early in its construction, I have a strong image of what it is like now and hope to be able to visit it again.

Wende and I had some wonderful times traveling together, whether it was a weekend trip to Seattle and Bellingham, or a week’s car journey through California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and Washington. Wende came to California a couple of times while I was there. The first time was marked by the WARC exhibition and a talk by Lucy Lippard. How thrilling it was to revisit this amazing period of women’s empowerment as it took place in art; and how amazing to be with someone who was a part of the naissance of that movement. I was embraced by Wende’s enthusiasm for the events we attended and for the role she had played at Woman House.

Wende also visited me in my home in Refuge Cove, BC. One August, at the height of the Perseid meteor shower, true to form, she got us set-up with all the house lights off , laying on blankets out on my dock so we could watch the sky. We explored the mysteries of the universe that evening. And then, in the middle of the night, she got me up to row out to an even darker spot and we sat in the row boat watching the stars.

I will miss Wende desperately each summer as I watch the stars alone.

Corrine Corry
August 2009

Wende and Corrine's dog Spencer at the Columbia River

Assorted Photos

2009-09-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Yoga #3

2009-09-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

More Portraits

2009-09-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Art

2009-09-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

Nests

2009-09-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

Main Street Paintings

2009-09-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

hair

2009-09-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

Karsch

2009-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Friends

2009-09-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

Jo's house, May '08

with Maureen Carruthers

Wende, Gillian Akin and gail cryer on our annual cross-country around-the-province, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, ski trip, Joyce Chong taking the picture

with Nick Scott

with Marielle Geoffroy

More Yoga

2009-09-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

With B. K. S. Iyengar in India. (Wende is the one he is "encouraging")

In India. Wende is in blue tee shirt

With Maureen Carruthers in Vancouver.

With friends at a yoga conference in Boston.

From her mother

2009-09-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

From neighbor Dolmona An

2009-09-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

When we moved into our house, across from Wende 11 years ago, she was the first one to come and welcome us into her neighborhood, come to think of it, she was the only one, and thus started a good friendship. We used to trade our gardens harvest, enjoy Stan’s culinary delights, drink a few glasses of red wine and even more cups of tea, while discussing politics, books, movies, etc. From our talks I learned how much she loved her friends and some neighbors, most of them being, in her words, simply fabulous, and she wished she could spend more time with them. She was always very loyal and protective of our neighbor Craig. Because of her beautiful and bountiful white hair we could see her coming from afar and I, Dolmona, used to think about her as a light bulb or light, usually on a gray day, she was a great site to behold, always friendly and smiling. Now she's gone to join the other great white lights in a different dimension, and our street is much dimmer without her. I still have moments when I forget she's gone, expecting her to call my name and wave her hand from across the road. She was taken too soon, way too soon.

To all of Wende's fabulous friends, we regret we can't be with you today, but visit us sometime for a good glass of wine, or a cup of tea, because any friend of Wende is a friend of ours.

Dolmona & Stan

Wende and her Father

2009-09-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yoga with Donald Moyer

2009-08-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

From the Iyengar Yoga Association of Canada

2009-08-30T16:19:00.001-07:00

To all of our friends in the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Association
in Vancouver,

We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Wende Davis
and join you in mourning your loss.
She was a well-loved Iyengar Yoga teacher who can be credited
with being one of the first teachers to introduce Iyengar Yoga to
Vancouver. During the years that Wende taught she encouraged
many students to deepen their yoga practice and inspired some
of those students to become teachers themselves. Wende was
a sincere, dedicated teacher who used the fullness of her
creative nature to develop a community of Iyengar Yoga around
her.
When you have your memorial service, we will join you in our
hearts.
Leslie Hogya, IYAC President

Photos from Joan Turner

2009-08-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

With Joan at Brownie Camp, 1957

With Joan, St. John's First Aid , 1961

With Joan on Granville Street, 1962

With Marianne, 1963

With Marianne, 1963

With Marianne and Janet, 1963

(Classic Wende), 1963

1963

With Joan, 1964

With Joan, 1964

July 1970

With Joan, July 1970

With Joan and Marianne, 1970

At Kitimat, 1971

With Tommy, Doris (her father and mother), and friends, 1990

Summer 2006

With Joan, summer 2006

Portraits

2009-08-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Over the past winter Wende painted a series of portraits of friends and neighbours. These will be shown at her studio for the Drift.

Wende's House and Garden

2009-08-27T19:21:00.000-07:00

Wende Memorial Announcement

2009-08-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Claudia's Visit To Saturna

2009-08-27T07:33:00.001-07:00

August 16 2009

Arriving at Wende's Saturna Island cabin , it is almost completely dark. I look up the long sweep of driveway towards the house and my heart is suddenly heavy with grief. There is a pile of firewood ready for splitting, small wood neatly stacked in the shed, ready for the promised winter ahead. A new railing sits, as yet unpainted, above the recently Kim-crafted staircase to the downstairs room.

Wende's shoes are inside the doorway. Runners, hikers, plastic sandals, gum boots, slippers, kayak booties, Blunstones, and a brand new pair of water shoes as yet unused; her grey woolen tam that she has worn for years, is hanging on a peg. Her work gloves stiff with mud and the shape of her hands rest on a shelf.

All the items that Wende chose to bring here are sitting in their places with extraordinary finality: bottles of oil, a row of hanging pots, utensils in a tasteful vase, a row of candles and a clock. A piece of Wende's art dominates one wall; a black circle with delicate lines softening the blackness, does nothing to alleviate the grief.

That first night, I am awake and cannot sleep until after a spectacular sunrise fills the landscape with magical light, the ocean still and glassy. Then I finally sleep while Faith rides her bike to the lighthouse.

Being here is a painful "meditation" on Wende; it is "Wende immersion". Here in her most special place, so much about her is expressed... and her pink razor is sitting by the tub.

Our conversations are framed by her presence: "Wende must have been so nourished by the ocean nearby". "I wonder if she planned to paint the shed". "Did Wende make these mugs?" "Look at how much light Wende gets through those great windows she chose". Has/had, does/did, is/was, tenses interchanging as the reality of loss slowly shifts.

Our conversations are full of Wende, remembering, wondering, regretting, sitting with sadness and loss, moving with sadness and loss ... we care for her house and belongings with a special tenderness; we clean out the dust and insects that inevitably accumulate in the hidden corners whether we live or die.

Feeling the closeness of Wende, aware of the sanctuary of peace and joy this place has been for her, intensifies the loss for her of her life, this life, this lovingly created heart place.

Cremation Ceremony

2009-08-26T21:34:00.000-07:00

A group of friends lovingly built Wende's casket

Nests that Wende had collected were placed inside.

At the ceremony:

Wende Through the Years

2009-08-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

Photo by Dorothy Elias