My mission for this year’s Art Crawl was to boldly go where I had not been before, to visit studios and galleries that were new to the Coast or new to me. But with 130 venues on offer, how to decide? I chose the wilds of Halfmoon Bay.
There were some surprising finds: in an old building that once housed the Halfmoon Bay community hall, just off the highway, woodworkers Ryan and Chris Ainslie are producing live edge tables and mosaic artworks from local cedar. Chris is the artist and finishing carpenter for the unique pieces on the walls, while Ryan fashions extraordinary banquet and coffee tables.
Driving round in circles in the Curran Road area was worth it to find Ruth Rodgers at Rivenrock Studio. As the crowds ebbed and flowed in her studio many were signing up for her classes and buying art right off the easel. No surprise after viewing her series of sun-tanned children playing on a beach – delightful pastels on sanded paper – images of summer.
Following the clear and prolific signs provided by Art Crawl organizers, I found Egerman Pottery studio at the Eureka Place waterfront and saw how Susan Egerman’s solid animal figurines fit into any garden décor. Nature put on a magnificent display of clouds and ocean at the back garden of Hiroshi Shimazaki’s Redrooffs studio. This geographer and gifted artist had recently led a group of local art students on a trip to Japan and they were happy to show visitors the results of their painting journey.
Other outstanding visits included Martin Nichols’ photo collection; Shel Neufeld’s Wildart photography; Unwind’s cute yarn-filled space; Jane Covernton’s cozy poetry and yoga studio where she showed her photos; Nell Burns stitching in the lobby of the Heritage Playhouse while Verna Chan spun and Penny Connell beaded jewelry. My last visit was to Junco Jan’s colourful living room crammed with her comical paintings.
I crawled; many people sprinted. Linda Williams, on the organizing committee of this event, visited 63 venues on the weekend with her daughter. Before the 5 p.m. closing on Sunday, she visited 17 more.
“While travelling around and talking to artists and other crawlers,” Williams says, “there seemed to be even more visitors from off-Coast and everyone was having a lot of fun making new connections – and purchases. Many said they look forward to this weekend every year and spread the word to their friends and families.”
Williams notes that the Art Crawl this year proved that visitors certainly love the excitement, adventure and discovery of finding new venues in unexpected places, no matter what the weather. At the time of this writing, the statistics were just coming in, with the first figures from the group of Powell River artists who had 1,660 visitors at the Roberts Creek and Masonic Halls with excellent sales.
