The Sunshine Coast Film Society's latest season is off to a great start - high atop Mount Everest. The year's film series opens on Monday, Jan. 9, with 40 Days at Base Camp, a documentary by Coast film maker Dianne Whelan who spent six weeks at the base camp of the world's highest mountain talking to the visitors who challenge themselves but who have sadly been turning a sacred space into a commercial climbing theme park. Whelan, an award-winning director, will be on hand to talk with the audience about her experiences. The doors open early at 6:30 p.m. for this special opening night, and there will be refreshments served. That's at the Heritage Playhouse, Gibsons, on Monday, Jan. 9. See www.scfs.ca for more.
The film society's season continues on Jan. 23 with The Good, the Bad, the Weird, a Korean film, and another collaboration with green film activists in February when they will present The Economics of Happiness on Feb. 6.
Flamenco
Starting Saturday, Jan. 7, at 3 p.m. the Dance Works Academy will offer workshops in flamenco with Vancouver instructor, Stephanie Pedraza. Classes take place every Saturday in January until Jan. 28. The course is suitable for pre-teen to adult, from novice to experienced. Dance Works is at 923 Gibsons Way. Call 604-740-6986 for more details.
Fun in the Dark
In these dark, cold days of winter, enjoy the warmth and light of laughter with the humour stylings of Johanna Renee and David Roche at a special show, Fun in the Dark with Johanna and David, on Thursday, Jan. 12, at 8 p.m. at the Gumboot Restaurant, Roberts Creek. Admission is by donation. Dinner reservations can be made until 8 p.m. or come knocking at the door before the 8 p.m. show time.
Bird art
A Birder's Journey, an exhibit by Bodhi Drope, opens at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery (GPAG) on Jan. 12 with a reception on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 2 p.m. This exhibition is a process that began 60 years ago when Drope was a teenager in Winnipeg and joined the Natural History Society. They held weekly bird watching excursions along one of the rivers and those outingshave expanded over the years to include travelling internationally to observe birds from other countries. This is not the same show of work by Drope that viewers might have seen at the Arts Centre in November. He explains that the previous show was in part his Sunshine Coast birds. The new exhibition will be of his international birding explorations. Also this exhibition will illustrate more drawing and painting manipulation of the original photo images.
In the Eve Smart room at the GPAG during the same time period, Vivian Chamberlin will be showing her work. All are invited to the gallery in Gibsons for the artists' reception on Jan. 14 and also to A Sharing of Birding Stories a week later on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 2 p.m. Call the gallery at 604-886-0531 for details.
101 Art
For the month of January, 1-0-1 on Cowrie Street in Sechelt is displaying pieces by local artist Trish Thompson. Before settling on the Coast 42 years ago, Thompson attended the Vancouver School of Art. While raising three sons and a daughter here, she attended night school in Vancouver studying silk painting and airbrush. During a period living in Hawaii, she was able to study silk painting in the traditional Japanese style as well. Over the span, she has also pursued photography, focusing on the Coast's natural wonders. For this show, the artist has provided a varied sampling of her work.
Soulstream
The annual Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival fundraiser usually enlivens January. This year they're bringing back a past favourite, Soulstream, a 10-piece powerhouse funk/soul/jazz band on Saturday, Jan. 21, with doors opening at 9 p.m.at the Roberts Creek Hall. This band will sell out the Hall. Their first-class funk and soul keeps the crowd pumped to dance all night. The dance is presented by the Sunshine Coast Jazz and Entertainment Society and is the annual fundraiser for the Jazz Festival, now in its 17th year, held the second weekend in June. Tickets are $20 (sorry, no minors), so get them early at Coast Books in Gibsons, MELOmania in the Creek and Strait Music in Sechelt. For more information, see www.coastjazz.com.
Tuesday deadline
Send notice of your arts events to [email protected] or phone 604-886-4692 by Tuesday at 5 p.m. for Friday's newspaper. Let me know who, what, where, when, why and ticket info briefly. Because of the volume of submissions, Art Beat covers events one day to one week ahead only.
