Governor General's award-winning local poet John Pass will read at 7 p.m. this Saturday, April 20, at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery (GPAG).
Published widely in Canada, the poet's work has also appeared internationally. His most notable books, comprising the quartet At Large,areTheHour's Acropolis(Harbour),Radical Innocence (Harbour),Water Stair(Oolichan) - short-listed for the Governor General's Award - andStumbling in the Bloom(Oolichan) - winner of the Governor General's Award in 2006.
Pass's newest book, crawlspace (Harbour), won the Dorothy Livesay Award (B.C. Book Prize for poetry) last year. He will also read from a sequence of poems in progress with the working title Creation of the Animals. This reading is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts and is free to the public.
Highway music
Head out on the Highway to a fundraiser for the Highway 101 Music Festival this Saturday, April 20, at the Sechelt Legion that includes two shows and five bands: Ferrule, Brothers in Farms, Rockface, Muffdusters and Sinmobile. The all ages show starts at 2 p.m.for $7 (family rate available), and an evening show for ages 19-plus. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 available at the door and at Strait Music in Sechelt.
Show opens
Visionaries, an exhibition of photographic art by Dean Van't Schip and Mario Traina, opens at the GPAG this Saturday, April 20, with an artists' reception from 2 to 4 p.m. All are welcome.
Elements of Nature
Elements of Nature, new artwork by Sheryl McDougald, opens this Sunday, April 21, at Yoga by the Sea in Roberts Creek, just in time for Earth Day. The reception is from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Quilt on display
Sew Easy in Trail Bay Mall in Sechelt has agreed to display the quilt created by artist James Miller (featured in Coast Reporter, March 29). The quilt honours the 26 children and adults slain in Connecticut last December and will be on display until the Sunshine Coast Quilters Guild Festival of Quilts and Quilting Arts in mid-May.
Searching for Sugarman
This year's Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, Searching for Sugarman, screens on Monday, April 22, at the Gibsons' Heritage Playhouse at 7:30 p.m. (Doors open at 7.) This special event from the SC Film Society will open with a performance by local musician Gary Gilbert (aka Dr. Fun), who will take you on a folk singing journey down memory lane to get you in the mood for the "greatest artist that never was." Two celebrated producers who believed he would be great discovered Sixto Rodriguez in a Detroit bar in the late '60s. When his album bombed, Sixto disappeared into obscurity amid rumours of a gruesome on-stage suicide. Decades later, two South African fans set out to find what really happened to their hero. Admission is $8 for members, $11 single event.
Glass show
Circle Craft Cooperative Association, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, presents a group glass exhibition, Blowing Forty: The Art of Glass, at Circle Craft's gallery in the Net Loft on Granville Island, in Vancouver, on now until May 28. The exhibit features several Sunshine Coast glass artisans: Jan Benda, Wayne Harjula and Miyuki Shinkai, among others.
New studio
The new STUDIO 201 Spring Canvas Unbound exhibition, new paintings by Nancy Hache and Ann Willsie, will host their opening reception next Friday, April 26, from 6 to 9 p.m. The show continues Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wine and appetizers will be served. The studio is at #201 - 287 Gower Point Rd. in Gibsons (former location of GPAG).
Coffeehouse
The monthly Artesia Coffeehouse is next Friday, April 26, at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt. This month's line up includes singer/songwriter Kaeli McArter and her dad Fraser, whohave not beenon Artesia's stagesince 2006; jazz vocalist Jacquie Allan with Barry Taylor on electronic sound design; and Ken Dalgleish, grand piano, accompanying vocalist Glen Roscovich from Powell Riverwith a tribute toLeonard Cohen. Closing this varied evening will be a new singer to the Coast, Kelly Lupini,accompanied by Wayne Slingerland and friends. Doors open at 7 p.m., show time is at 8.
Concert band
The Suncoast Concert Band, part of the SC Community Orchestra, performs Modern Masterpieces for Wind Ensemble on Saturday, April 27, at 7 p.m. at the Sechelt Indian Band Hall. The spring concert will highlight music by some of the great composers of today, including Frank Ticheli and Eric Whitacre.
Artists Donna Swain and Paula O'Brien will translate some of the pieces, including the large work Angels in the Architecture, into visual art live during the performance.Soprano Sara Douglas will sing the haunting vocal lines. Feel free to bring your own sketch book and be inspired.
Call 604-741-9807 for more details. Tickets for adults $15, children $5, available at Laedeli (Sunnycrest Mall) and Gaia's Fair Trade, Sechelt'sStrait Music and Madeira Park's Bluewaters Books.
Books as art
Bodhi Drope presents Home Made Books: Art & Technology at the GPAG next Saturday, April 27, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. This presentation will be accompanied by TV images looking back to the early production of books and their influence on the human population.
Tuesday deadline
Let me know about your arts event by 5 p.m. Tuesday for Friday's paper. Email [email protected] or phone 604-886-4692.
