Crista Dahl

Crista Dahl (born 1934) is a Canadian artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia, volunteer and the person for whom The Crista Dahl Media Library & Archive is named (see, VIVO Media Arts Centre). Crista Dahl is a long-standing SVES member and VIVO volunteer (former board chairperson, board member, and volunteer archivist). Dahl's involvement with the organization began from her involvement Intermedia in the 1970s. Dahl is a practicing artist and serves as a volunteer at The Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. was a member of Intermedia. At the end of Intermedia, she joined Video Inn (now known as VIVO Media Arts Centre), one of the artist-run organization which emerged in Intermedia's wake. In the early days of Video Inn, she participated in the development of the organization's collectively managed screening, production, archiving and domestic space at 261 Powell Street. She was a resident at this location for a time and recounts the collectively shared meals prepared by members of Vancouver's early media art community in an interview with the authors of Anamnesia. and University of British Columbia, among others. were included in Crista Dahl: Life Rhythm a Retrospective. Her artistic abilities were recognized and she was accepted to the San Francisco Art Institute for training, but was unable to attend due to inability to find resources to pay for the training. In early adulthood, she moved to San Francisco where she was involved in Haight-Ashbury culture. Her move with her four children to Canada in 1971 was motivated by a desire for her husband (John Preus), and potentially her children, to avoid the US Army draft. They settled in Lund, British Columbia where Dahl informally taught art to children and developed an independent research interest in archeology, through, for example Will and Ariel Durant's The Story of Civilization which she found in the Powell River Library near Lund. She moved with her family to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1971.