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Nature paintings and poems paired in new book

Passing Through: Mountain Paintings and Poems
marmorek
The painting Cascade Mountain and Bow River, by Dennis Brown, is on the cover of the new book of art and poetry he has published with David Marmorek.

A Gibsons scientist and poet has joined with a Vancouver painter to publish a book about their shared love of hiking and mountain-climbing, and they’re launching the project at an upcoming reading at Gibsons Public Library.

Environmental scientist and writer David Marmorek and professional artist Dennis Brown will read and display excerpts from the book, Passing Through: Mountain Paintings and Poems, at the library starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31.

Marmorek said he and Brown met about six years ago at a mountain hut in B.C.’s Tantalus Range, “and found shared passions for mountains, art, poetry, photography, philosophy, salmon and The Grateful Dead.”

After a misadventure on a later climb – which he promises to recount in detail at the launch – Marmorek said he “scribbled out some doggerel” about the experience, which impressed Brown.  In turn, Marmorek said, he was increasingly inspired by Brown’s paintings of remote places they’d been.

“I would look at some of them and that provided a kernel of thinking about which I could then riff in a poem,” said Marmorek.

The pair eventually agreed to combine talents for the book, which includes 17 paintings and 14 poems. Net proceeds from sales are being donated to the Ecuador mission of CAMTA – Canadian Association of Medical Teams Abroad

Marmorek said he and Brown are looking forward to the July 31 launch event, and if his stories aren’t enough to bring people out, he offers a further enticement – his wife’s baking. “The most critical thing is my good wife Betty is bringing some ginger cake,” he said, “and her ginger cake is incredibly scrumptious.”