Island Artist - Sheila Norgate

I visited Sheila Norgate's Heartspeak show on February 13th and while I fell in love with a few of her paintings there I also came across an album featuring pieces she had created on commission, most of them portraying the commissioner's four legged friend.
I decided our beloved Boxer, Optimus Prime, would make a perfect model so I picked out a photo for Sheila to use, told her a bit about his personality and within a couple days I brought home this fabulous piece of artwork!
Visit Sheila's website at sheilanorgate.com

Poetry Gabriola Festival

Plan to come to the 6th Annual Poetry Gabriola Festival, a wild West Coast celebration of literary performance. For four days, November 12-15, the Surf Lodge on Gabriola Island will be filled to the rafters with poets, musicians, storytellers, sound artists, and other special guests. Enjoy an off beat weekend of unconventional performance, remarkable readings, Round Table talks, and four captivating workshops sponsored by The Poetry Gabriola Society. This group has provided a forum for great poetry and extraordinary performance since the year 2000. Tickets should be bought in advance; on line at poetrygabriola.com, in person at Artworks, or by phone 250-247-7604.

Raising Timber

A timber frame raising took place at the Gabriola Commons, the result of a huge volunteer effort. The timber frame structure was donated by the Island School of Building Arts and will house farming equipment at first. The plan is to finish the building using a number of green building techniques such as strawbale, cordwood and rammed earth and alternative power. This will be an interesting project to observe, complemented by a recently built cob wall.

Winging It!

Part of the Gabriola Thanksgiving Festival was this weekend of Art Start Workshops. Sponsored by Gabriola Arts Council and British Columbia Arts Council, this two day extravaganza of Art instruction was free for the under 18 crowd and $10 for adults. The workshops averaged 2 to 3 hours and covered such artistic pursuits as drawing, painting, dance, singing, mosaics, knitting, hooking and spinning, drumming, working with clay, and making suncatchers and wings. Carly attended "Winging it!" and created a beautiful pair of wearable faery wings.

Gabriola Studio Tour

It is day two of the three day Gabriola Studio Tour 2009, this free self guided yearly event is a favorite of islanders and visitors alike. 40 artist studios are open from 10-4 over the Thanksgiving weekend with art from the whimsical to the useful including paintings, glasswork, woodwork, leatherwork, metalwork, stonework, jewelry, quilting, books, pottery, photography, textiles - meet the artists and experience a grand display of their art in quaint little artist gallery settings throughout the island. This is a well planned event with a fabulous tour brochure map available everywhere and on line. We find 1/2 hour per gallery is a good expectation. On our first day we each bought a purse from Indian Summer and some little gifts. With day two and three ahead of us we are sure to find more treasures to make our own.

This little piggy went to market...

Entertainment abounds both on and off Island this weekend. On Gabriola we had the Theater Festival, a three day extravaganza with eight superb plays, Street Art Artists Fair, Lions Pancake Breakfast, an Improv Workshop and dancers and musicians. At the same time in Nanaimo the Vancouver Island Exhibition took place at Beban Park. On Sunday we decided on a trip to the exhibition and enjoyed seeing all the animals and exhibits. There was a horse show, vintage cars and tractors, dog trials, home arts, a food fair and of course a midway - lots of fun!

Dancing Man Festival

The Dancing Man Music Festival is celebrating its 10th year on Gabriola with 5 days of musical performances in various venues including an outdoor stage at Descanso Bay Park. Some of the performers are award winners and include both local and visiting talent. For more information visit dancingman.ca.

Thursday Night Fun

It is always fun to go to the art openings that happen in the village at Artworks and Jeremy Maude's Studio. This week we were lucky to catch two very different shows. Artworks had it's yearly objects show and this year everything was based around a pack of matches. The works ranged from jewelry to mosaics and 3D interpretations. Very interesting pieces, definitely worth catching sometime this week when you are in the village. At Jeremy Maudes Studio in the village it was opening night for the Karen Curry exhibition. Beautiful photography and large paintings of the skeletal ribs of boats on birch panels adore the walls. It was such a treat to get to view these pieces and I wish I could have brought them home with me. We are so lucky to have such talented artists on Gabriola, if you have the time this week I highly recommend you go check them out.

Walk On

We had the pleasure of taking the girls to the CD release show for The Kerplunks. The new CD is named Walk On and is chock full of upbeat tunes and snazzy songs that you will find yourself bopping your head to. The album is complete with voices from Gabriola's own children. The release show was packed with kids of all ages, balloon animals and of course cake. The girls had a blast and are very excited to listen to their new CD over and over and over and...
Visit their website for news, events and where to purchase their 2 CD's

History in Art

This mural, depicting the 18th century Spanish explorer Captain Alexandro Malaspina sketching the Gabriola Island sandstone formation known as Malaspina Galleries, was discovered behind a wall in 1996 during the demolition of the Malaspina Hotel in Nanaimo. The photo shows Cheryle Harrison expertly restoring the mural, which was a crumbling mess, to its former glory. The mural will be unveiled next weekend in its new home at Nanaimo's Vancouver Island Conference Centre. (info from Victoria Times Colonist, photo by Jeremiah Armstrong)

Artworks Erotica Show 2009

Nothing beats going to the village after an hour long core workout with Lesley Standerwicks to see the Gabriola Artworks Erotica Show. Walking in through the front door in our workout best we were greeted by two lovely ladies enjoying a bubble bath in an old fashioned clawfoot tub. To our left was the wine tasting counter done by none other than the Village Liquor Store. After grabbing ourselves a glass of wine we continued up the stairs to view the show. It was everything it promised to be, artwork definitely not for the faint of heart. People in costumes adorned the room while the walls were filled with photography, 3D pieces, paintings, and sculpture. The mood was relaxed and warm with everybody discussing the pieces and trying to guess who the artisit was before looking. A fantastic night was had by all, great job to all the artists. Thanks to the Artworks crew for all their hard work, we are so lucky to have a venue like this to support all the sensational artists we have here on this fab little island!

Over the Moon

Dianna Bonder came to Gabriola with her husband to raise a family and continue a successful career as an illustrator and writer. Her art is beautifully whimsical and her books, written for young children, are a delight. Dianna is a 2008 recipient of the gold Moonbeam Children's Book Award for her Alphabet book 'Dogabet'. My granddaughters love her books!

The Kerplunks

Gabriola's own, The Kerplunks, just won the Best Children's Album at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Also winners of the Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Children's recording, Dinah D and Tina Jones are joined by Phil Wipper and Aaron Cadwaladr to form The Kerplunks. This four piece band has been called Canada's hippest new children's entertainers and play music that is fun and educational. To find out more see the web site thekerplunks.com

Thursday Night at Artworks

Each week Thursday night at Artworks marks the opening of a new display showcasing the varied work of individual local artists. This week was of particular interest to me because when I first met the artist over 25 years ago her art was in its infancy, a whimsical show at the Malaspina College Gallery with wood nymps and trolls adorning a children's book has matured into quiet scenes of west coast nature where light and water are captured in watercolor. Carol Evans left Gabriola 26 years ago and has become a well known artist, it was nice to see her and I was pleased to find that she remembered me from so long ago. She said that Gabriola is very special to her and is the jewel of the Gulf Islands. It is always enjoyable to attend these gala openings with wine and cheese in an informal atmosphere condusive to purchasing that piece of art that happens to catch and hold your eye. We are so lucky, we live here.

The Commons

This wall is being constructed at the Gabriola Commons, a beautiful 26 acre property across from the elementary school that describes itself as a place for the harmonious integration of community services, cultural activities, and environmentally sustainable living on Gabriola Island. It is being built as a workshop on Cob building and has been named the Fig Tree Wall to honour donors to the Commons. Visit their web site at gabriolacommons.ca to learn more.

A Building School

At the end of Coast Road on Gabriola Island is a collection of timber frames, the skeletons of future homes and residential buildings. This is the location of the Island School of Building Arts. Their web site says they are the only trade school in BC specializing in teaching both log and timber frame construction skills for the owner/builder. They have a number of courses and offer an exciting opportunity to learn construction skills.