Vanessa Bate and Bubzee Canvases on the Walls of Local Cafes
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SPRING SUMMER 2018 ALL IN THE FAMILY: VANESSA BATE & BUBZEE GET COZY GETTING FRESH: CREATIVE COUPLES TAKE OUT THE GARbaGE KTUNAXA NATION: WAYNE LOUIE TOURS THE HOMELANDS SENSE OF PLACE: NATASHA SMITH GETS PLAYFUL Book & CD releases INSPIRED WRITING: PaUL SASO & LUANNE ARMSTRONG WORK IT OUT In Passing: MOUNTAIN HIGH: REFUGE IN THE ROCKIES MAKES wavES Ann Swanson Gross Arts & Heritage News 4 IT’S ALL RelatiVE Art & Nature: Natasha Smith 6 It’s a Family Affair: Creative Couples 8 CELEBRATING ARTS & Families come in all shapes, sizes and colours, kind of like bathing suits (I Community History: Creston Museum & Archives 11 was at the pool this morning, so I have On Screen: Refuge in the Rockies 12 CULTURE IN THE BASIN swimming on my mind). And they can be just as complicated when it comes ARTiculate events calendar 14 Vibrant arts and culture is woven to finding a comfortable fit. We’ve all Mind & Heart: Vanessa Bate & Bubzee 18 heard tales of family members falling Art on Two Wheels: Mountain Biking in Nelson 20 out over who gets Aunt Emily’s ugly into the fabric of the Basin. That’s lamp, and refusing to acknowledge one another’s existence, ever Cover Story: Wayne Louie 22 again; siblings who only communicate through their lawyers; or Surviving & Thriving: Letter from the Interior 24 why we are supporting artists, parental units who bolt when the going gets tough. Off the Press: Kootenay Inspired 26 upgrading galleries and performance Apocryphal stories notwithstanding, finding (or being unable to find) support, acceptance and genuine affection from our families New & Noteworthy: Book & CD releases 28 spaces, and helping to increase the are some of the bigger issues we face in life. Luckily, some of Last Word: Editorial 31 us have managed to navigate around the pitfalls to maintain a impact of arts in communities. semblance of familial harmony, or taken the initiative to build our own version of family from within our extended community. Ktunaxa elder Wayne Louie plies his handmade sturgeon-nose canoe in the In this issue of ARTiculate the notion of family has emerged as reeds of Hidden Lake, near Enderby, a thread in two of our stories. The theme of this year’s Elephant B.C. Photo courtesy Wayne Louie Mountain Literary Festival is “Literary Couples,” and organizers have invited two outstanding representatives, Esi Edugyan and Steven Price, and Stephen Reid and Susan Musgrave, to headline the July event. Riffing off that theme, Anne DeGrace brings us her profile of Kootenay creative couples, artistic types who work, play and parent together, while maintaining their writing, acting, directing and metalwork practices. SPRING/SUMMER 2018 Design: Guy Hobbs Painter Vanessa Bate and her daughter Bubzee, also an artist, ISSUE #33 Proofreader: Anne Champagne are best friends. They live together and find nourishment in Editor: Margaret Tessman Project Management: Krista Patterson each other’s company, while creating some mighty beautiful art. Moe Lyons is an admirer: she spoke with the pair about their Contributors: Sales: Natasha Smith relationship, their feminism and how they inspire one another. Luanne Armstrong, Samonte Cruz, ISSN #1709-2116 Anne DeGrace, Susan Andrews Grace, ARTiculate is produced in In Passing: Slocan Valley artist Ann Swanson Gross died on Moe Lyons, Rita Moir, Mike Redfern, Nelson as a project of the December 8, 2017. Ann was born and raised in Winlaw. She Melodie Rae Storey, Margaret Tessman, West Kootenay Regional Arts Council: studied fine arts at the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, where ph: 250-352-2421 or 1-800-850-2787 Galadriel Watson fax: 250-352-2420 she met her future husband, Harald Gross. The couple spent email: [email protected] several years in Victoria, where Ann worked at the Royal BC Museum and did freelance illustration. In 1979 Ann and Harald The West Kootenay Regional Arts Council acknowledges the generous support of the following returned to the Slocan Valley and in 1984 Ann opened her gallery, funders and corporate sponsors: Place in the Forest, in Winlaw. Ann sculpted in clay (her garden goddesses grace many Slocan Valley flower beds) and painted her portraits and landscapes primarily with felt-tipped pens, in the earth tones she loved. The often-disproportionate size of her subjects’ hands and feet added a mythical quality to her portraits, while grounding them strongly in their natural surroundings. Jack Shadbolt described her paintings as “genuinely intriguing . with a haunting tawniness.” Ann continued to sculpt, paint and draw until her health started to decline. She was a strong supporter of the arts, the women’s Reasonable care is taken to ensure that ARTiculate content is current and as accurate as possible community and local community groups. at the time of publication, but no responsibility can be taken by ARTiculate or the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council for any errors or omissions contained herein, nor for any losses, damages or A memorial gathering will be held in the spring to celebrate distress resulting from adherence to any information provided. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARTiculate, the West Kootenay Regional Arts Ann’s life. Council or funders and supporters. ourtrust.org/arts Copyright: Contributors retain the copyright of their own original work. By submitting work to Margaret Tessman, editor ARTiculate for publication, contributors are granting permission to ARTiculate for one-time use in the print and digital/online versions. 2 SPRING/SUMMER 2018 ARTICULATE 3 NEWS NEWS Gibson will be targeting the communities of Fernie, Cranbrook EAST KOOTENAY and Kimberley with her public presentations, starting in April. For more information contact east.kootenay.mining.heritage@ MINING PROJect gmail.com or Facebook East Kootenay Mining Heritage. by Margaret Tessman GALLERY HOPPING by Margaret Tessman violence in society. The west gallery will feature famed Nakusp- based mail art creator Don Mabie, aka Chuck Stake, and his KOOTENAY Langham Art Galleries partner Wendy Toogood, who builds intricate fabric collage wall hangings. Seathra Bell has taken over as gallery curator at the Langham QUEER & Trans Cultural Centre in Kaslo, following the retirement of Maggie The “summer blockbuster” exhibition, as van Wijk calls it, Tchir. “Maggie was my teacher years ago at Kootenay School of is a collection of sculptural forms by Slocan Valley artist Lou Art,” says Bell, “and she has been teaching me the ropes of gallery Lynn. Taken from her “Buttons & Fasteners” and “Tools as ART SHOW administration.” Bell officially started her new position on January Artifacts” series, the exhibition will include a video component. Complementing Lynn’s sculptures are installed assemblages by 1 and brings heaps of energy and enthusiasm to the job. “My A juried group exhibition featuring local Alison MacTaggart, which van Wijk describes as “objects that could favourite part is plotting shows. There are so many artists to meet or could not be working, such as ‘The Egg Throwing Apparatus.’” LGBTQ+ artists in this area,” she says. “It’s more than you could ask for in a small-town art gallery,” he says. Submitted Originally from South Slocan, Bell has a textile design degree from A group of local artists is coming together to organize an art KSA and an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. She Web: gallery2grandforks.ca exhibition that will coincide with Nelson’s Kootenay Pride began her teaching career at the Alberta College of Art and Design festivities, August 27 to September 3, 2018. We are seeking in Calgary and worked in Vancouver as a costume designer and Oxygen Art Centre St. Eugene mine discoverer Pielle, aka Pierre Cronin, and his wife ride through Kimberley, submissions from LGBTQ+ artists of all art and craft disciplines stylist before returning to the West Kootenay. Oxygen Art Centre has named 1924. Photo: Kimberley Heritage Museum, accession #0196.0049 for a selected group exhibition. We see this first show as a starting Bell is able to do most administrative tasks from her home office, Genevieve Robertson as the point and as an opportunity to highlight the work of queer and travelling to Kaslo to hang and strike exhibitions. The Langham trans/gender non-conforming artists living in the Kootenays. It is new executive director, effective As a mineral exploration geologist and a relative newcomer to the has a long history in the community. In March it celebrated our hope that it can grow into an annual arts festival showcasing January 15. East Kootenay, Rohanna Gibson was interested in finding out more its 125th anniversary with an exhibition guest curated by local local LGBTQ+ artists, and featuring community arts workshops, Robertson, who moved from about the mining history of the region. Her specific interest lies in historian Elizabeth Scarlett. Upcoming exhibitions include: how society and resource extraction overlap. Extraction industries, artist talks, live performances and an arts and crafts market. Vancouver to the Kootenays in her view, are inherently neither good nor bad. If we can increase The purpose for this art show is to highlight the work of queer • North Kootenay Lake photographer Jim Lawrence in the last year, was instrumental to the dialogue around the divide that exists among proponents and and trans/gender non-conforming artists in the Kootenay region community gallery and jacquard loom tapestry weaver Kaija Touchstones Nelson’s exhibit opponents, we can better understand how history and industry while creating educational opportunities, fostering community Rautiainen in the main gallery. Lawrence is well known for his “River Relations: A Beholder’s are linked. connection and promoting resilience through the arts. candid wildlife photos and affinity for bears, while Rautiainen Share of the Columbia River brings bear images into her digital weaving patterns.