Here is my purely personal review of the year’s artistic highlights:
When does sheep shearing become an art? And what do artists at Christenson Village have to do with Australia? See A Visual Feast.
Four writers earned honours. See who in Stellar Writing Year.
Two musicians met the Governor General. All the festivals were great this year. What’s my vote for the best one? And which musician is almost 90 and still encouraging young talent? See who in Magnificent Music.
Most talked about event of the year – like it or hate it. See Powerful Performing Arts.
A VISUAL FEAST
West Coast Figurative opened the year at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery (GPAG) with a show by seven artists organized by Paula O’Brien. It was followed by the annual Friends of the Gallery show with 85 artists gathered at the Arts Centre. Over the year Jan Poynter designed two special edition coins for the Royal Canadian Mint – a first for a Coast artist. A display of Coast Salish weaving went up at the SC Museum and Archives in January, while a pottery show filled the GPAG in April with functional and decorative styles.
Fibreshed, a group that uses natural local fibres, and a crew of fibre artists showed what could be done with wool straight from the sheep: they sheared it, carded it, used the Scottish tradition of “waulking” it and demonstrated their knit and woven items at the yurts of FibreWorks Gallery in Madeira Park. Later in the year FibreWorks produced a 14-artist show and announced founder Yvonne Stowell’s retirement.
In video, Gibsons film-maker and scuba diver Sarama took the prize in June for premiering his film This Living Salish Sea to great acclaim. Coast Reporter followed digitally the path of Dianne Whelan, Pender Harbour film-maker, as she met up with Gibsons’ artist Jenica Vaneli in February to plod together the snowy Trans Canada Trail in northern Ontario.
Connecting the Lines, a show of work from LGBTQ2 artists opened in June to celebrate Pride month. In July Erica Snowlake told of the community spirit behind the Roberts Creek annual mandala. Mike Whalen presented his father Len Whalen’s paintings of loggers at play by publishing a book and prints of the work. Local photographers gathered at Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons to mount an exhibition of their work. That powerhouse group, Eleven Equal Artists, put on their Power of Paint Show in Sechelt in August.
Residents of Christenson Village in Gibsons took up painting on large postcards that told of their lives and homes in Canada. The postcards were sent to a similar group in Australia who painted on the reverse and sent them back. It was a good cultural connection for both groups.
Artist and coordinator Connie Johnston bade goodbye to her much loved, hand-painted banner project in Gibsons. The Seaside Centre was the venue for the annual Wood Expo – an original display of what local artisans can do with wood.
Present Tense, a show at the GPAG was one of the best – among other mediums, it hinted at the future horizons of art with a display from Coast Makers. The Sechelt Arts Festival expanded its weeks in October and included story-telling, theatre, song and video, plus an exhibition of the work of artists using the theme of origins. World traveller and photographer Rand Rudland presented his photos at the Clifford Smith Memorial Lecture in October. Fibre fashion stepped out on the runway with a Made on the Sunshine Coast fashion show in October. The Art Crawl had 144 participating artists and drew thousands of visitors to studios and galleries on the Coast.
A show of work from Susanne Biden drew a large crowd to the GPAG in December while young artists and young banner designers held their exhibition at the Arts Centre in Sechelt.
POWERFUL PERFORMING ARTS
Spoken word poet Shane Koyczan visited our Coast twice this year – in January to be part of a film shot at the Heritage Playhouse and again in September as part of Hospice’s anniversary fundraising event. Writer Kara Stanley and musician Simon Paradis joined him on stage at Rockwood for the capacity crowd performance.
Musical theatre under the direction of Sara Douglas involved 30 students in Pirates of Penzance in February. Children took to the stage again in April with Driftwood Theatre School’s production of The Glass Slipper, a musical play based on the Cinderella story. Life Skills was an original, witty and comical play by David King performed in March by a troupe of talented actors. Bruce Devereux at Christenson Village care home used art to stimulate activities. He, the staff, residents and members of Deer Crossing, the art farm, put on an interactive project at the care home called Raising the Curtain.
The Funtastics, an amateur group of mostly seniors, continued the musical comedy theme to a full house in March with their latest production at the Sechelt Activity Centre. Four strong women – Janice Williams, Linda Nardeli, Danika Dinsmore and Caitlin Hicks – stood up to read and act out their words before an intrigued crowd at the Gumboot Café on International Women’s Day. Driftwood Theatre took their latest play Office Hours on the road, giving performances at many venues including a sit-down dinner prepared by Chef Doug in Pender Harbour. The Rogue Arts Festival in late August moved to a new venue, a farmer’s field, for their three days of music and performance.
It was the dazzling performance that everyone loved to hate. Nomadic Tempest sailed into Gibsons Harbour to put on a display of aerial acrobatics, lights and drama on environmental themes. Though most of the audience turned thumbs down, it was more talked about by the public than many other brilliant events.
Violinist Simon Gidora received the Louise Baril Award from the SC Arts Council in November along with other award winners: writer and artist Janice Williams for the Gillian Lowndes Award and fibre artist Yvonne Stowell for the Anne and Philip Klein Award. A Christmas Carol received a new treatment in the form of a radio play from KoC Productions directed by David Short. Actor Richard Austin performed in the play as well as giving a reading of the classic at the Sechelt Library.
Many successes enlivened the dance world: in April DSDanse produced the Majestic Project, portraying in dance and visuals the damage to our oceans and sea life. Artistic director Dominique Hutch-inson called it their most important project to date. The Coast Academy of Dance had some diamond wins in competition while celebrating the 25th anniversary of the school. Several of the CAD’s dancers were selected to join Team Canada in competition in Germany in November. The Waldorf Ballet taught little ones their steps in an original two-act performance, A Bird’s Tale. Auditions for The Nutcracker, the ballet production under the artistic direction of Kathleen Holmes, took place in September in preparation for their final spectacle at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in December with a huge cast of local and guest dancers.
MAGNIFICENT MUSIC
The Sunshine Coast was entertained by CD launches this year. Among them was Eryn Robertson with her first EP and video, George Connell of Earl’s Cove with his Elephant in the Room, a jazzy humorous recording, and the Suncoast Concert Band with an album of original compositions. Some of the Coast’s own composers, among them Ken Dalgleish, were featured in a February concert presented by the Sunshine Coast Music Society. Reg and Lynne Dickson were delighted to find that one of their original songs, Walk in the Wind, had been arranged and published for choirs. When classical guitarist Charles Hobson performed on the Coast, presented by the Coast Guitar Group, he used a Blackwell guitar, made by the local luthier.
The Coast Recital Society continued another stellar series with a highlight in February of the violinist brothers Chooi and Chooi teaming up with pianist Wenwen Du. The voice of Trudi Diening was heard again on the Coast accompanied by pianist Miles Black. Laura Crema made a trip to the Coast to sing with Steve Giltrow and the Jazz Group of Seven with some tunes arranged by John Fredrickson.
After nine years with the Coast Symphony Orchestra, artistic director Edette Gagné moved on to greater projects. The search for a new conductor brought forth José Cerón-Ortega who led his first public performance on the Coast for the Community Orchestra’s Christmas concert. The Festival of the Performing Arts entered its 44th year of providing critique and stage time for participating students. Two musicians were honoured in 2017 and invited to Ottawa’s Rideau Hall to be awarded with medals by the Governor General. Violinist and teacher Michelle Bruce gave years of service in the founding of the Coast String Fiddlers, among other projects. Charlotte Diamond has earned her reputation as a children’s musical entertainer and educator.
Long-time choir conductor Joy McLeod led the Messiah Choir in June then retired, leaving the choir in the good hands of David Poon and Sarah Poon. The Pender Harbour Blues Festival broke out of its former venues and into the larger Legion with its headlining concert and a well-attended dance. The Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival held two successful fundraising dances with Delhi 2 Dublin and Five Alarm Funk to get back on financial track for the June jazz week of music. Creek Daze, the annual parade and festival in Roberts Creek, was good musical and performing fun.
The 13th annual Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival in August was one of the best, in my opinion. Among other performances from artistic director Alexander Tselyakov and visiting musicians, it also featured home-grown diva Rose-Ellen Nichols. In November she starred in one of Vancouver City Opera’s most intense productions, Missing, about Aboriginal missing and murdered women.
The indefatigable Nikki Weber at age 90 organized another Sechelt’s Got Talent competition in July to encourage kids through stage experience and comments from the judges.
All the music societies and choirs were saddened in October with the loss of one of the Coast’s most energetic musical organizers and choristers, Sue Milne. Though the Celtic Music School took a break this year, Fiddleworks, an intensive music camp, was held in August to fill the gap for young and older fiddlers. There was plenty of music in Pender Harbour but the annual Jazz Festival was a no go. Music lovers made up for it with a performance in September from Jen Hodge and her All Stars at the Music School. The Pender Harbour Music Society held one of their best concerts ever on the occasion of their 30th anniversary in November. Many of the organization’s founders were honoured.
Choirs blossomed for the Christmas season: A Cappella Strait and Choralations combined for a concert in Gibsons, the Arbutus Sounds Chorus strolled through the Botanical Garden among other venues, the Pender Harbour Choir and the Suncoast Phoenix Choir sang the sweetest sounds. The year closed with the Coast Messiah Choir inviting audience to sing along.
STELLAR WRITING YEAR
Poet and author Terry Barker was honoured by his peers in January in a full house celebration at the Arts Centre. Author, editor and mentor Betty Keller received the Gray Campbell Distinguished Service Award for those who have made significant contributions to the publishing industry. Author Gwendolyn Southin was singled out by Amica, a national retirement living organization, as an inspiring senior who had discovered a passion for writing later in life. Halfmoon Bay author Lorna Goodison was chosen to be poet laureate of Jamaica.
A trio of writers, Claire Finlayson, Heather Conn and Sheila Cameron, opened up their hearts and their books at a reading in March. Teacher Susan Telfer brought out her second book of poems, Ghost Town, and celebrated National Poetry Month in April while Randy Shore and Darcy Shore produced a new cookbook about their culinary travels.
Roy Dimond published his young adult book I, Bully while Elizabeth Rains launched her non-fiction book Demon in My Blood. Elizabeth Elwood from Pender Harbour published her fifth book of mysteries, while photographer Alan Sirulnikoff had one of his images used as the cover of a best seller published in the U.S.
Renowned author Jane Urquhart visited the Arts Centre in August to read from her book A Number of Things and to visit the art show on the subject of 50 Canadian Things curated by Ian McLeod. Darla’s Last Kick at the Can was a joint effort from S.D. Forster and Sechelt writer Diane Foley.
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts explored big issues such as climate change and life with a brown skin and it included appearances from a local author Robert Moor and a local issue, orca whales, from Mark Leiren-Young.
Students of School District No. 46 put out their own book of poems and stories, Coastal Voices. Gibsons’ woodworker Ian Ridgway surprised his friends with an account of his interesting life in A Carpenter’s Tale while Theresa Kishkan gathered a collection of essays, Euclid’s Orchard, and published it with Mother Tongue Press. Blair McDowell came out with her fifth book of romantic suspense, Fatal Charm. Two children’s novels were popular: Haida Bolton’s Aida’s Adventures in Africa and Michael Wilson’s second book in a series about the Maple Harbour children.
Books can be inspiring. It was a book that powered the Grandmothers and Grand-others presentation in November, and it was another book, Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey, that also spurred on efforts to raise funds for Syrian families. Four authors read at the Sechelt Library in October: Barbara Higgins (Xwu’p’a’lich), Linda King, Bruno Huber and Jane Covernton. Readers everywhere were saddened by the death of Peter Trower, the loggers’ poet.
That’s it! This is as many events as I can squeeze into this article. Best wishes to all readers for this holiday season.
