Whether the people of Vancouver know it or not, they have a muse: a cultural warrior and a champion of guerilla art. All she asks of us is that we not be afraid to be artists.

Finding her isn’t difficult if one knows where to look. Cara Cottingham’s specialty is putting herself out there, and helping others do the same. You can see her in this year’s edition of the Salmon Creek Journal, the Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV) student art and literature anthology, which she managed and helped design. In it is a picture of Cottingham dressed and posed as Rosie the Riveter, declaring, “We can do it!”

Between her designing and managing her website (www.shamelessproductions.org), designing promotions, making zombie movies and her involvement with KOUG (WUSV’s radio station) she has immersed herself in Vancouver’s culture.

“We’ve got a whole community of poets,” she said, “a whole community of car people, a whole community of painter people, a whole community of guerilla artists, we’ve got...tons and tons of musicians. There are just all sorts of things going on all the time. It’s amazing.”

Among other things, Cottingham’s own ambitions stemmed from late-night hours spent at a now-closed Denny’s.

“I was about 15 going in there to drink coffee and doing crosswords and meeting people,” she said. “And it just sort of formed as far as how much art you can do in a restaurant ... collaborative drawings with friends, napkin poetry, just ridiculous things, really for entertainment. Art for art’s sake.

“I think that people that I met there really grew into a community of just interested people, want to know what’s going on...with different skill sets...and we would figure out how we would do a movie or whatever else.”

Born in a farmhouse in the outskirts of Vancouver (an area, she said, that is now occupied by row housing), Cottingham has lived here all of her 25 years. She is the daughter of Christine Eagon, a prominent photographer and director of the Inner Light Photographic Society.

“I grew up going to those meetings,” said Cottingham. “They’ve just been every month meeting and showing each other their artwork ... just to keep a community and build a community ... so I grew up around that.”

Since then, she has stretched her hands out to put her fingers in as many artistic pools as she can. Just recently, KOUG has been re-launched, with Cottingham, a student at WSUV, as the PR director as well as a DJ. The advertisement – designed by Cottingham– declares “Get involved! Your station, your choice, your voice." KOUG can be heard at www.kougradio.com.

“I’d like to get it expanded out beyond the university,” she said. “I know people outside of the university like artists, entertainers [who] are just trying to play the Vancouver scene.”

She said that 55 percent of KOUG’s programming needs to be campus-related, leaving the other 45 percent free for community-related airplay. “I’ve been trying to bring in people and I’ll be the producer on the show ... but it’s their show.”
“[I’m] trying to help unknown people who are working really hard to promote what they’re doing,” she said. “And the radio station’s going to be great for that.”

Cottingham has collaborated to make a series of zombie films, and she has been involved in the making of the music video for The Subterreanean Jack's "Art In the Dark." She has expressed interest in making more videos, as well as a possible return to the zombie flick.

“Cara Cottingham is one of the up-and-coming young artists in our community,” said Llewellyn Rhoe, founder of the Arts Equity theatre group. Cottingham is helping Arts Equity design their website, and said she is photographing the development of their new location. “I had already checked out Cara’s website and was impressed by the look she had created,” said Rhoe. “It had its own sense of style and further exploration revealed that she has exceptional skills as a photographer.”

Cottingham and Rhoe are also talking about collaborating to bring radio drama to KOUG.

In something of an apex of underground culture, Cottingham collaborates with local artists each year to hold a dada, which her website described as “an artistic movement based on deliberate irrationality and negation of the laws of beauty and organization.” In this case, it’s a gathering of artists and friends with the intention of celebrating and encouraging the creation of art.
“We get submissions from local artists that usually aren’t in galleries,” said Cottingham, “people who make art who don’t know how the gallery system works and we get them to submit and we put on a show.

“We have some other interesting events, beard pageants, other weird, interesting things, just for entertainment and art.”
She said in the past they have posted a three-foot by four-foot canvas and each person paints what they want, overlapping and adding to each others’ work.

“I want more people to consider themselves artists,” she said “Vancouver’s art needs to have more confidence in itself ... to be bigger.”

Cottingham said that much of her motivation comes from wanting to see art community expand, giving people places to express and enjoy art, and to see Vancouver have a nightlife, besides bars.

“I’d just like to see a rapid expansion in our art community,” she said, “in music community and in poetry and theater and the whole thing crammed together in some sort of artistic explosion that causes everyone else to be immersed in the art of Vancouver.”

For all this, Cottingham is keeping her schedule loaded as a producer, DJ, designer, photographer, filmmaker, organizer and student. Though she admits that cutting back a bit might do her sanity some good.

“I’m just trying to do my part,” she said. “There are a lot of people out there that are ... just trying to get people to know each other. Because when people know each other, they can work together. Anything can happen.

“I want to make a new Denny’s, honestly,” she said.

Adam Stewart is a contributor to The Voice. His blog, Free Malignant Narcissism, can be viewed at vanvoice.com.