spring/summer 2014 free

Happy Anniversary: Fernie, , Kaslo, New Denver & Valemount celebrate Over There: First World War Centennial

Nature Girls: Sharon Bamber & Christine Simpson new books Telling Our Stories: Tom’s Gray Creek & Amy Bohigian Arts and heritage news Dynamic Duo: Touchstones Nelson & Kimberley Art Gallery Cool School: Kootenay Studio Arts donors first word & contents

BRENT BUKOWSKI ALF CROSSLEY DON’T STOP THE PARTY Arts & Heritage News 4 INKEN HEMSEN 4TH ANNUAL NATASHA SMITH Quite apart from the Pitbull Art School: KSA 6 ANGELIKA WERTH tune (I know these things; I have Anniversaries: Celebrate! 8 DEBORAH teenagers), among the many reasons The West Kootenay Regional Arts Council gratefully wishes LLOXAM--KOHL ARTiculate events calendar 12 OXYGEN MAX LIBOIRON to celebrate our region’s heritage to acknowledge the support of ARTiculate by the following PAUL WALDE On Screen: Amy Bohigian 16 donors: JIM LAWRENCE consider this: there are no fewer Cover Story: Touchstones 18 CAROL REYNOLDS than five historic cultural venues Local Community: Tom’s Gray Creek 20 Anonymous ARIN FAY across the Columbia Basin that are Jacquie & Dwayne Hamilton SUSAN New Books 21 Anne Helps ANDREANDREWS GRACE celebrating anniversaries this season. ART COURTNEY Artistic Pairing: Pentimento 22 Carol Palladino If that isn’t a reason to party like Laura White ANDERSEN Pitbull, I don’t know what is. Local Heroes: Creston Museum 24 Krista Patterson MARKET KEIRA ZASLOVE STUDIO SALE of ORIGINAL WORK RACHEL YODER Nature Girls: Margaret Pacaud Topping the list at the ripe old SALLY JOHNSTON Sharon Bamber & Christine Simpson 26 Marjorie Nelson BOUKJE ELZINGA age of 100 are Pynelogs Cultural Centre in Invermere and ARTISTS IN SUPPORT OF KAREN BULLABULLARO the Valemount Museum & Archives. Pynelogs was originally Last Word: editorial 31 If you enjoy ARTiculate, and feel it provides a valuable ARTIST RUN CULTURE ERICA KONRAD, contribution to local culture, please consider offering your AMBER SANTOS the home of the Bruce family, who donated the building to JOHN COOPER support by purchasing an ad in the next issue or by making the town in 1937. It was a hospital and a group home before on the cover: a donation. All donors will be acknowledged in the next two KATHLEEN PEMBERTON being transformed into the destination for all things cultural Courtney Andersen issues and donors of $20.00 and over will receive a charitable SERGIO SANTOS in the . In the village of Valemount, the 1914 The House tax receipt and the next two issues in the mail. FRI MAY 23, 7-10 MARIMARILYN MCCOMBE train station that houses the museum was moved to its present Polychromed metal sculpture MIRIAM NEEDOBA 2014 Cheques may be made out to: West Kootenay Regional Arts SAT MAY 24 10-6 SUE PARR location and purchased from the CNR for one dollar, then Council, Box 103, Nelson, B.C. V1L 5P7. Please provide the SUN MAY 25 10-5 BETH CALLIS renovated inside and out. name you wish to be acknowledged by (or if anonymous) KAREN GUILBAULT LAINEY BENSON The imagination and hard work of a dedicated group of and your mailing address. Indicate on cheque “Articulate BRAD BRADLEY donation.” OXYGEN ART CENTRE volunteer Kaslonians led to the revitalization of the old 320 VERNON ST PPAMM CIUPA NICOLE HOBBS Langham Hotel in Kaslo. The building had fallen into disrepair The West Kootenay Regional Arts Council is a registered ALLEY ENTRANCE BRIAN KALBFLEISCH www.oxygenartcentre.org but was saved from demolition in the 1970s and returned to its charity: #119294114RR0001 DEIRDRE MCLAUGHLIN A FUNDRAISER FOR OXYGEN ART CENTRE MIRJA VAHALA former glory. The Langham Cultural Centre continues to be a www.wkartscouncil.com 5O% to artists all sales final JANE MERKS 5O to oxygen vibrant part of the village’s cultural fabric after 40 years. % ERLANERLANDSSON In August the city of Fernie will host the 50th anniversary of VIVI HARDER the Curse Lifting Ceremony. In 1964 at the request of Fernie’s mayor a ceremony was conducted to lift a curse purportedly SPRING/SUMMER 2014 The West Kootenay Regional Arts placed on the town as an act of revenge. The curse has been ISSUE #25 Council acknowledges the generous blamed for the floods, fires and mining disasters that plagued support of the following funders and the early history of Fernie. Editor: Margaret Tessman corporate sponsors:

Finally, the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre in New Contributors: The Province of British Columbia Columbia Basin Denver is marking 20 years of preserving and commemorating Anne DeGrace the history of the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Sandra Hartline Culture Tour Second World War with a public celebration in August. Bill Metcalfe Gerry Nellestijn The common thread that weaves all of these amazing places Greg Nesteroff Aug 9 - 10, 2014 together is simply this: volunteers. Whether it’s by wielding Mike Redfern 10:00am - 5:00pm hammers, organizing fundraising or mustering support, people Margaret Tessman who are willing to contribute their time and skills to help make Design: Emily Beamer Explore artists’ studios, museums, art galleries and heritage visions reality are community builders. And that is something Proofreader: Anne Champagne worth celebrating. sitesAug through this free, self-guided tour within the Columbia Project Management: Krista Patterson Margaret Tessman, editor Basin. Sales: Natasha Smith ARTiculate back issues online: Meet15, the artists, shop for fine art and craft, view www.wkartscouncil.com demonstrations, special exhibitions, interpretive displays or chat with local historians during this two day long cultural celebration! ARTiculate is produced in Printing generously supported by: A project of Funded by Nelson as a project of the For further information West Kootenay Regional Arts Council:

visit our website or call. ph: 250-352-2421 or 1-800-850-2787 fax: 250-352-2420 Katherine Russell email: [email protected] Reasonable care is taken to ensure that ARTiculate content is current and as accurate as possible at the time of publication, but no responsibility can be taken by ARTiculate or the West Kootenay www.cbculturetour.com Regional Arts Council for any errors or omissions contained herein, nor from any losses, damages or distress resulting from adherence to any information provided. The opinions expressed are those of 250-505-5505 • 1-877-505-7355 250-353-2661 www.thelangham.ca the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARTiculate, the West Kootenay Regional Arts Council or funders and supporters.

2 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 3 news kudos

former Parliamentary poet laureate and Governor General’s May and Lisa Marie Presley in June. The venue is also home to and “environmental butchery” in its relationship to the web of Kimberley Kaleidoscope Award winner Fred Wah; composer Jin Zhang; architect and the newly rejuvenated Symphony of the Kootenays as well as benefits that salmon gave us. artist Thomas Loh; musician and theatre artist Bessie Wapp; by Mike Redfern numerous school productions, dance recitals, film festivals and The Grand Coulee completion led to the writer and curator Nicola Harwood; visual artist Tomoyo Ihaya; presentations by local organizations. Kimberley has long prided itself as a City of Festivals that put and programmer Phillip Djwa of Agentic Digital Media of Treaty that formalized water management between Canada and the downtown Platzl in party mode each summer. The demise . The project is sponsored by Oxygen Art Centre Managing Director Gerard Gibbs is committed to putting the U.S. The treaty review now taking place representssingle in 2013 of the weeklong Kimberley International Old Time and has been funded through the Canada Council for the Arts, Key City Theatre on the map as the Kootenay’s premier most important opportunity to make real environmental change Accordion Festival after 39 years and the loss of Kimberley Creative BC, the BC Arts Council, the Vancouver Foundation entertainment venue and is ever on the search for a wide variety in our lifetime. Summer Theatre’s Platzl Vaudeville Show significantly reduced and the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance. of world-class performers. Bill Green, director of the Ktunaxa Nation Council, Canadian the city’s attraction for summer tourists. Area businesses With the emphasis on broadening the audience, Key City Columbia River Inter-tribal Fisheries Commission asks, “What suffered, so Kimberley Arts Council stalwart Carol Fergus The gallery installation will mimic the interactive experience of patrons are now able to purchase tickets online from anywhere if we could bring the salmon back within a century of their decided to do something about it. the website, with the entry point being a traditional Chinese lottery game, Pa Ku Pu. Harwood writes in her curator’s in the world. Marketing Coordinator Sioban Staplin says that loss?” Gathering together representatives from the City of Kimberley, statement, “Immigration is a gamble, some players win big and with print-at-home convenience patrons are able to save a Was salmon loss necessary? Was it forever? The Salmo Kimberley Tourism and the Chamber of Commerce, she others feel that they have gambled everything and won only a trip and the pre-show lineup at the box office. For those who Watershed Streamkeepers Society and its “The River Speaks” introduced the concept of arts, culture and heritage celebrations life of irreparable loss.” When exploring the website, users will prefer the friendly personalized service of charge-by-phone awareness campaign has reached out to the local art community on the first Saturday of each month from May to October, enter through interaction with the lottery game and be taken to or dropping in to purchase seats, box office associate Janine to help reimagine salmon here. something she had seen done in the Maritimes. A committee a series of hand-drawn maps that illustrate specific geographies, Grieve is ready to help. The combination of the new secure was formed and the First Saturday concept was made manifest. online ticketing system with a strong social media presence Invited artists will come together on May 8 and 9 for “Let including several cities within B.C. and the CPR across Them Run, The Salmon Century,” an experiential learning Community organizations got on board and presented themed Canada. From the maps, users will be presented with interactive on Facebook and Twitter means Key City is enjoying greater activities in the downtown Platzl and around the city. exposure in the region. adventure focusing on water, the Columbia River Treaty and experiences including rollovers that reveal animations, poetic the challenges, benefits and successes of salmon reintroduction. The theme for the First Saturday in August was arts and text, video, oral history and voice recordings. Now entering its 22nd year, the Key City Theatre would not From the insights gained through the workshop, artists will culture, and a link with the Arts on the Edge 2013 festival the “The project is not comprehensive in a historical sense,” be where it is today without its professional volunteer corps. be asked to use their skills to create artwork that reflects their following Saturday was explored. A prose and poetry reading said Harwood. “It’s an artistic response to the tensions that Society chairperson Sandra Cave, herself a long-time volunteer, interpretation of the importance of salmon reintroduction. and plein air workshops were organized during the week and a immigration can create. We take the perspective of the beams with pride as she brags about volunteers who have been tenuous link was established. In 2014 that link will be securely with the theatre for 12 to 15 years. Each volunteer commits to The public is invited to share in this reimagining when the immigrant and use that to tell stories, to reflect, to undermine artists present their creative imagery/movement/sound at the forged with a week of daily performances and workshops stereotypes and to illustrate both excitement and loss, working a minimum of 10 shows a year and most surpass that creating an eight-day festival dubbed Kimberley Kaleidoscope. easily. Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science in Castlegar. “Let celebration and pain. I think it’s important to capture a bit of Them Run, The Salmon Century” opens on September 28, Jesse Ferguson of Tourism Kimberley is enthusiastic. “As that history while we still can.” The Key City Gallery is working actively with the Cranbrook B.C. Rivers Day. Executive Director of Tourism Kimberley and a proud member Arts Council and regional artists. A Spring Art Fair is slated for Oxygen Art Centre, #3-320 Vernon Street, Nelson (alley Websites: streamkeepers.bc.ca, kootenaygallery.com of our community, I think the benefits of the proposed entrance), 250-352-6322. Saturday, May 3 with an exhibition running through to June. event are limitless and are sure to increase financial revenues Key City Theatre, 20-14th Avenue N., Cranbrook, 250-426- for the businesses that depend on tourism. Restaurants, Website: oxygenartcentre.org 7006. Website: keycitytheatre.com Kudos accommodators and local retailers are certain to benefit from A rtist’s DVD Featured by Popular PBS Instructor the addition of Kimberley Kaleidoscope.” Reimagining Salmon in the Castlegar artist Mirja Vahala specializes in teaching painting to The August 2 to 9 program of events will include music, true beginners. After a flood of requests from her students, the artisan demonstrations, kids’ arts and crafts and workshops. Canadian Columbia River Basin: Robson, B.C.-based artist and instructor decided to create an Festival organizers are now just hoping for a week of fine an artist event instructional DVD. The end result, Acrylics for True Beginners, weather to encourage a great turnout. by Gerry Nellestijn was directed and edited by Miriam Needoba of Small Town Info: kimberleyarts.com, 250-427-4919. Films. Invitations have gone out to local It was Needoba who suggested sending a copy of the finished High Muck-a-Muck: artists to participate DVD to Jerry Yarnell, a 30-year veteran of a painting show on Playing Chinese in “Let Them PBS. The Yarnell family was so impressed with the product that Run, The Salmon they agreed to list it on their popular website, www.yarnellart. by Margaret Tessman Century: Artists com. Many communities in B.C. benefited from the influx of Engaging in Salmon “I am incredibly excited to have my DVD listed on the Yarnell Chinese immigrants who came to work on the railroad and in Reintroduction,” Art website, alongside other artists seen on PBS, such as Buck mines and mills in the early 20th century, and stayed to make an artist learning Paulson and Bob Ross,” says Vahala. “It’s an amazing feeling to lives for themselves in often-hostile environments. Today’s adventure. be associated with an instructor of his calibre.” new wave of Chinese immigrants to B.C. who are looking for Map of B.C. torso, Tomoyo Ihaya Salmon in the opportunity and community make “What does our history Mirja Vahala’s DVD offers over 2.5 hours of content focusing Columbia River on basic instruction for new artists. show us?” a question ripe for re-examination. basin have A collective of artists is developing an interactive digital media Key City Theatre dominated cultural, “I was compelled to create this DVD for those who are unable project that will explore the themes of immigration, identity, It’s springtime at Key City Theatre in Cranbrook and spiritual and to attend my workshops. It’s taken years to hone these methods self and place, using historical and contemporary Chinese everything is coming up roses. economic influences for the true beginner. It is my passion to remove barriers to since the Ice Age. creativity,” she said. immigration as a stepping-off point. “High Muck-a-Muck: After a successful fall/winter season that featured performances Return of the Salmon , Chad Thompson The largest run of Playing Chinese” will include a website and related installation, by Matt Dusk, Ron Sexsmith, Connie Kaldor, the Bergmann Website: MirjaVahalaArtStudio.com salmon in the world was abruptly sacrificed when the Grand which will open on July 4 at Oxygen Art Centre in Nelson. Piano Duo, Judy Collins, Oscar Lopez, Ballet Jorgen, Zucchero Coulee Dam was completed in 1942. The recent PBS American The project is a collaboration between six Canadian artists and Destroyer, Key City Theatre is excited to present Ashley Experience documentary described the Grand Coulee as and a digital media developer. The project participants are: MacIssac in April, the SoWeCa Chamber Music Festival in creating “cultural savagery” in its relationship to First Nations

4 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 5 art school AA NOT-TO-BENOT-TO-BE-MISSED MISSED SHOPPING SHOPPING EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE IN IN GOLDEN, GOLDEN, BC BC kootenay studio arts

Studying art, discovering self them.” by Bill Metcalfe Down the hall, a group of seven jewellery students—one man and six women all in their twenties—have just finished doing a technical exercise, their first lost-wax casting, each student StudioGiftShop casting in turn with another as helper. As their instructor guides them through the step-by-step process A true reflection that has been around since the time of ancient Egypt, there is a profound sense of wonder and group solidarity in the room, as of our western they each face their fear of the heat and the torch and see each true reflection mountain other’s ecstatic discovery as they take their silver ring out of the of our western mould. culture... direct Their instructor, Laura White, is impressed with their mountain cohesiveness as a group and by their dedication, not just to from the artist the work but also to each other. “They are what you want in a culture… group of students,” she says. to you. Come in direct from the artist to you. She explains that her main concern in the casting process is and browse our safety. Come in and browse our “Torch safety. Respect for tools like the torch. We don’t want selection of fine them to be afraid of it. We are trying to teach independence selection of fine art and and confidence. art and home- “One thing about teaching somebody something for the first grownhome-grown gifts that give gifts everyday that give pleasure time is they don’t know what they can’t do,” she says. “I can give them possibilities, I can say things are likely to happen and supporteveryday the pleasure community. and this way or that, but ultimately students every year show me support the community. Bronze pour. Photo: Bob Hall something that I did not think would work, but it does. I love Brizah Frank is making a costume for Frida Kahlo. “It is my that. They don’t have those limits, so lots of great creative stuff offering to her,” she says. “We had to make something for a happens.” historical figure who influences us emotionally.” Merlyn Richelhoff, age Claudia Ring is making a velvet cloak for Hildegard von 31, is also casting molten Bingen, the 12th century German writer, mystic and composer. metal, but on a much “The printing inside is silk and I printed healing plants and larger scale, in the metal stars, because she did a lot of paintings with stars on them, program. He’s creating a and I am making a medieval dress with patterns from the year life-size bronze statue that 1200.” has already been accepted for entry into this year’s Brizah is 18 years old. She moved to Nelson from Salt Spring Castlegar Sculpturewalk. Island to attend Kootenay Studio Arts (KSA) right after graduating from high school last year. “Growing up I took As a child on his parents’ courses in oil painting, did apprenticeships in silversmithing farm in Saskatchewan, and ceramics,” she says. She has always known she wants to be Merlyn watched an artist, and KSA is her next step. blacksmiths at work. “To me it was this Merlyn Richelhoff. Photo: Bill Metcalfe Claudia is 70, the oldest student the Kootenay Studio Arts magical process where the has ever had. She’s a retired psychologist, now from 100 Mile blacksmith was revered as this magician or sorcerer.” House, originally from Germany. At KSA he has learned blacksmithing, but now bronze casting Rack Card - AGOG - 2.indd 1 12/14/08 4:00 PM “The teachers at KSA appreciate my age and honour it,” she has captured his imagination. He talks about the atmosphere at says. a bronze pour—the process where molten bronze is poured into Visit us online for info “Claudia has already had a deep and full life,” says textiles moulds, everyone in the program there watching because it’s on cultural events in Golden instructor Coby VanderGaast. “Here, she is taking such always an event. pleasure from the learning, and does not have any reservations “People are completely silent when we start to pour, the metal www.KickingHorseCulture.ca about the fact that she is a beginner.” is 2000 degrees F, the whole room is just like, all eyes, all Owned an operated by Kicking Horse Culture Brizah, young enough to be Claudia’s grandchild, talks about energy and attention. It could all go wrong, it could crack Coby and the other textiles instructors with the same respectful open, especially with big pieces, you could be pouring a gallon - a non-profit community arts council - fervour. “I am so happy to be here and exposed to these of molten bronze on the floor, and it is quite dangerous, really in beautiful downtown Golden at 516 9th Ave. North. amazing professors,” she says. “I cannot give enough praise to …Continued on page 29 (250) 344-6186.

6 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 7 anniversaries anniversaries a Gala Celebration is planned for October 10–12. Gratitude and individuals who have supported the NIMC in the past It’s Time to Celebrate! and celebration will be the theme of the weekend, honouring and present, to strengthen ties within the community and to the founders and community volunteers who have kept the increase the profile of this nationally and historically significant MacGregor is a Toronto-based artist working in installation, Langham vibrant. institution. In addition to presentations from Japanese The Fernie curse lifting video and photography. She is also the granddaughter of former An annual dance will take place the long weekend in May, Canadian and community representatives, guided museum Fire, flood and famine—were they all part of the curse set on Fernie mayor James White. followed by the Asian Canadian Heritage Celebration on tours will be offered to facilitate a greater understanding of Fernie in the early 1900s? The city has suffered through two the purpose of the NIMC and the importance of ensuring its The ceremony was recorded on Super-8 film by MacGregor’s May 30 and 31. Gallery programs will include artist talks devastating fires, one in 1904 that burned the business district accessibility for future generations. grandmother and forms the focal point of the installation. and workshops for both adults and children in painting, with losses pegged at $500,000, and the Great Fire of 1908 The catalogue from MacGregor’s original installation of “Fold printmaking, drawing and textiles. The Langham will The event will be held at the NIMC, 306 Josephine Street, and that virtually destroyed the community in 90 minutes. The it up and put it away” at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in inaugurate its first artist-in-residence theatre program in July the Kohan Reflection Garden in New Denver. brick and stone heritage buildings in present-day downtown Lethbridge is being updated and reprinted by Fernie publisher with Cranbrook playwright Denine Milner. Milner’s play, Front Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NDNIMC Fernie were built as a result of that fire, which saw citizens Randal Macnair of Oolichan Books. Door Woman, was written at Writing Retreats Kaslo, hosted by evacuated by train in both directions. Mine disasters, including author/editor Holley Rubinsky and actress Lynn van Deursen. Planning for the NIMC 20th anniversary has now begun, but the 1902 Coal Creek cave-in that killed 130 men and boys, and Website: ferniemuseum.com there are many opportunities to get involved through donations, Considerable outreach and education will be attached to the the 1911 Elk Valley mine strike that locked 8,000 workers out sponsorships and by volunteering your many skills and talents. For ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations. As well as informing for eight weeks, further devastated the community. more information about the event or if you would like to lend your the local community of Kaslo, North Kootenay Lake and support, please contact NIMC Manager Momoko Ito at In August 1964 Fernie Mayor James White and Joe Dennis, the surrounding region of the importance and history of the [email protected] or 250-358-7288. a Ktunaxa elder, shared a pipe to lift the spectre of the curse. Langham, the society is embracing the opportunity to preserve Now, 50 years later, the Fernie Museum is examining the trials that history for both first-time and perennial visitors. In 2013 and tribulations the town faced and commemorating the curse- over 5,000 people participated in activities organized by the lifting ceremony. The anniversary will be marked by a number society. of projects and events, including an interpretive sign program The anniversary events and projects provide the opportunity to for Fernie’s trail system, a speakers’ series, the opening of a take stock of the arts and cultural legacy that the community is major new exhibit and a community celebration. privileged to have, to document the evolution and acknowledge Many modern versions of the curse exist, most more or less those involved in its creation, and to reflect on the future. They along the lines of the following, which is taken from the are also an opportunity to thank all those who have contributed introduction by Alex Gravelle to the 2014 Fernie historical over the past 40 years and who continue to invest and to calendar: contribute to the Langham, from the “burn-it-down” days in It is said that William Fernie on one of his prospecting trips the 1970s to the beautiful, award-winning restored heritage noticed an Indian Chief’s daughter wearing a necklace of building that we see today. shining black stones. Knowing that these stones were coal, he Website: thelangham.ca Entryway, Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre. Photo: Momoko Ito asked about their source. The Chief agreed to show Fernie the location of the coal on the condition that he married the Nikkei Memorial Centre daughter. After learning the location of the coal deposits, Fernie Pynelogs: 1914–2014 The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre (NIMC) is a National backed out of the deal. Angered by this the Chief cast a curse on Historic Site dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Pynelogs Cultural Centre is the destination for all things the valley—it would suffer from fire, flood and famine. the internment of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the cultural in the Columbia Valley. Pynelogs has seen many According to Fernie Museum program coordinator Lori 1964 Curse Raising Ceremony: Fernie mayor James White and Ktunaxa former chief Second World War. milestones over its 100 years. The building was originally Bradish, the Fernie curse has become part of the community’s Big Crane Joe Dennis smoking a pipe as part of the curse raising ceremony. constructed as a private residence for Robert Randolph Bruce, Photo: Fernie Museum. The purpose of the NIMC is to collect, preserve, conserve, identity and now is an integral element in the tourism a Scottish land developer, and his English bride, Lady Elizabeth research, exhibit and interpret objects that represent the life and promotion of the area. “It’s fascinating how that history has Bruce. Langham Cultural Society condition of the Nikkei living in the New Denver and West morphed from a curse into a tourist hook,” she said. “One Randolph Bruce donated Pynelogs to the town of Invermere Forty years ago a small group of energetic folks with a broad Kootenay camps between 1942 and 1957. of the images we are using on our interpretive signage is the in 1937 to be used as the local hospital. Pynelogs was then vision came together and purchased the old derelict Langham The Nikkei Centre opened its doors in 1994 as an initiative outline of a shadow on Hosmer Mountain called the Ghost renovated in 1960 and operated as a group home. In 1990 Hotel in Kaslo, transforming it into a cultural oasis for the from the New Denver Kyowakai Society to commemorate and Rider. It is said to be the shadow of the Native chief on Columbia Valley Arts Council took over Pynelogs as the performing, visual and literary arts. In 1993 Canadians of honour the stories of the Japanese Canadians who were stripped horseback leading his daughter away.” regional cultural venue for visual, performing and interactive Japanese descent who were interned in Kaslo during the Second of their civil rights, labelled “enemy aliens” and uprooted from A Curse-Lifting Community Celebration is planned for the arts. World War were honoured with the opening of the Japanese their coastal homes during the Second World War. Located on weekend of August 15–17. Activities include a heritage-themed Canadian Museum on the second and third floors of the the site of a former internment camp, the original buildings, In 2004–05 CV Arts and the District of Invermere spent over street dance, walking tours of the interpretive signage that historic building. The Langham Cultural Society is excited to period artifacts, interpretive displays and Heiwa Teien garden $530,000 on a major restoration and renovation to ensure the highlights the curse-lifting stories and a downtown Sunday celebrate the vision of the past four decades with events and designed by the renowned Roy (Tomomichi) Sumi chronicle longevity of Pynelogs. Social to celebrate Fernie’s good fortune over the past 50 years. celebrations throughout the year. this extraordinary episode in Canadian history. “What a wonderful, memorable and exciting time for this Fold it up and put it away The board is also pleased to welcome a new executive director, A public celebration is planned for August 9 to commemorate historical building and the important role that Pynelogs has Maggie Tchir, and a new curator, Arin Fay, to the Langham. played in this valley for so many residents and visitors,” says Gwen MacGregor’s installation based on the Fernie curse the Nikkei Centre’s 20 years of dedication to preserving and Executive Director and Gallery Manager Jami Scheffer. lifting, “Fold it up and put it away,” will be exhibited at A historic exhibition entitled “Langham Memories” will open sharing the history of the Japanese Canadian internment. The the Fernie Museum with a launch planned for late June. on August 22 and will run through Thanksgiving weekend, and celebration is designed to thank the communities, organizations Want to party like it’s 1914? Pynelogs’ Party of the Century

8 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 9 anniversaries happens on July 19, with 100 works of art, years and candles. It’s an outdoor garden party with dancing to live music under the stars, beside the shores of Lake Windermere. One hundred pieces of original art will be raffled off as part of the event and ghost tours of the haunted basement of Pynelogs will be offered. It will definitely be the party of the century. Info: Pynelogs Art Gallery and Cultural Centre, 250-342-4423 Website: columbiavalleyarts.com Valemount Museum Celebrates its 100th Birthday Valemount Museum & Archives The building that is the Valemount Museum & Archives is turning 100 years old. The historic building was originally built that needed total restoration and an annex building that both contain artifacts from Valemount’s history. as the train station for the little town of Swift Creek, about two STUDENT WORK PHOTOGRAPHY: J. ADDINGTON kilometres north of Valemount along the train tracks. In 1927 “I love this fantastic little building that I get to call my summer when the town of Swift Creek ceased to exist, the CNR moved office,” says museum administrator Sue Marko. the station and renamed it Valemount, meaning “Valley in To honour the centennial celebration of the train station the Mountains.” The station was used by CN for the growing museum the Historic Society is planning an exterior restoration Municipality of Valemount until 1981, when it was finally before the seasonal opening in mid-May to give the building a closed permanently. shiny new look for its landmark year. Canada Day events will The building sat abandoned and unkempt until 1987 when include a special “Happy Birthday” to the building, showcasing the Valemount Historic Society purchased it from CN for one the unveiling of a congratulatory certificate and message from dollar. The society organized an incredible volunteer workforce Premier Christy Clark. As a birthday fundraiser for the society a to move the building to the municipal property on which it centennial lapel pin will be available for sale. Finally, the society now sits. A five-year restoration process followed to bring it has commissioned playwright Sharon Stearns of Wishbone back to its original charm and it opened as the Valemount Theatre Productions to write a play based on the early days of Museum in 1992. Since then the museum has expanded, the railroad and how it would forever change the lives of the adding a real caboose (also purchased from CN for one dollar) people in the area. Website: valemountmuseum.ca

Clockwise from above: Detail of teaspoon by Faye Agnew; detail of hand printed fabric by Melissa Connect at your library: Barber-Starkey; detail of There is a mindset at KSA to make art as a living and metal spider by Chantal Parenty; earrings by Naomi that’s the foundation of the program. The instructors the hub of every community. Bourque; detail of ceramic bowls by Erin Murphy; KSA teach you how to approach your craft as a profession. graduate Kalika Bowlby in her Nelson studio. KSA gave me the idea that being a full-time potter was possible and set me on the path to do it. KALIKA BOWLBY, KOOTENAY STUDIO ARTS (KSA) GRADUATE, CERAMICS, KALIKA.CA

BLACKSMITHING/CERAMICS JEWELRY/METAL CASTING/TEXTILES KOOTENAY STUDIO ARTS selkirk.ca/ksa

KASLO JAZZ ETC SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL • August 1, 2, 3, 2014 • kaslojazzfest.com • 250-353-7577

10 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 11 festivals & events festivals & events

Artwalk Art Show Event Art Tour Event Ongoing Castlegar’s 18th Art Walk Natasha Smith – New Work June Christina Lake Homecoming Summer Columbia Valley Tour of the Arts Fernie Museum Curse Raising Communi- Live Performing Arts, Music & Events Ongoing June 23–Sept. 14 Through May Exhibition Festival Aug. 3: 10 am–4 pm ty Celebration Capitol Theatre Nelson Events See map brochure for details. Cowan’s, 517 St., Nelson Art of David Nixon & Denyse Marshall July 12, 8 am–1 pm, Christina Lake [email protected] August 15–17 Check out www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca [email protected] [email protected] May 16–June 7 & June 10–28 Tues.-Sat. Community Hall www.columbiavalleyarts.com Friday Aug. 15, 7 pm CHOCOLATES .com events calendar. Artwalk Art Show Studio Connexion Gallery Cindy: 250-447-9771 christinalakehome- 250-342-4423 [email protected] [email protected] Event 421 Victoria Street, Nelson Creston Valley Art Walk & Galleries Art First! Spring Show 203-5th Ave. NW, Nakusp Music Festival www.christinalake.com Box office 250-352-6363 June 28–Sept. 1 May 2, 7 pm 250-265-8888 Shambhala Music Festival Revelstoke Timber Days www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca 1-866-528-4342 Art First! 113-1st St., Revelstoke Music Festival August 6–11 Aug.16 Event [email protected] Gourmet Artisan Chocolates www.crestonvalleybc.com 250-837-2212 Starbelly Jam Join us deep in the Kootenay mountains for Live Music Sparwood Coal Miner Days www.revelstoketimberdays.ca Summer Kicks Concerts in Spirit Square Concert, Market, and Beverage Garden Art Show and Sale June 13–15 July 18–20, Crawford Bay 300+ artists delivering non-stop dance floor The Kootenay’s #1 all-ages music festival! euphoria on six uniquely themed stages. Gallery Opening June–Aug., Golden Summer Social Concert Series Mirja Vahala and Participants Art Show www.facebook.com/CoalMinerDays www.starbellyjam.org www.shambhalamusicfestival.com 40th Anniversary Langham Memories See our ad for more details. Every Wednesday, Fernie May 10 & 11,10 am–4 pm Exhibition www.KickingHorseCulture.ca Exhibition July 2–Aug. 27, 6–8 pm Windborne B&B Momento Mori – Rachel Yoder and Event Event [email protected] 3900 Broadwater Road, Castlegar Pynelogs’ Party of the Century – Cele- Fiestaval Aug. 22 Concerts Contemporary Reliquaries – Sherlin The Langham Cultural Centre, Kaslo 250-365-7679 brating 100 years! Aug. 7, 6 pm, Christina Lake Hidden Garden Gallery concerts Event Hedrick, Pauline Dupas & Dianne Burt 250-353-2661 www.thelangham.ca www.MirjaVahalaArtStudio.com Gala evening of fine food, music and art June 23–Aug. 30, New Denver Cranbrook and District Arts Council – June 20–Aug. 2 July 19, 7–midnight, Invermere auction featuring international glass artists Exhibition & Opening Weekly concerts in the garden at art show Urban Artsy Teddy Bear Quest Event Tues.–Sat. 10 am–5 pm 250-342-4423 [email protected] and select local artists. Tickets $40 advance receptions. July 1–Aug. 23, Cranbrook New Denver May Days Kootenay Gallery of Art, Castlegar Angelika Werth: Attachments – Detach- www.columbiavalleyarts.com 250-447-6161 or at Christina Living Arts ments Gallery hours: Mon.–Sat. 10 am–3 pm Artistic/Creative May 15–19 250-365-3337 www.kootenaygallery.com Centre. www.hiddengardengallery.ca Community Engagement Event Erica: [email protected] Youth Theatre Aug. 22–Oct. 5 Opening: Aug. 22, 7–9 pm Art Walk Opening www.artson3.com Langham Gallery, Kaslo Summer Sunday Market Closing event in Rotary Park www.newdenvermaydays.com Opening Celebration – Castlegar Art Capitol Theatre Summer Youth Program 11:30 am–2 pm Arts Festival www.thelangham.ca Lardeau Valley Sunday Market Art Exhibition & Opening Walk July 24, 25 & 26 at 7:30 pm, July 26 at 2 pm 250-426-4223 THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances H. Burnett June 15–Sept. 21 (not inc. Aug. 3) Sundays Csetkwe Fortier: lut aks ilux’wt: “Don’t June 25, 7–8:30 pm Arts on the Edge 2014 www.cranbrookanddistrictartscouncil.com Capitol Theatre, Nelson 10 am–2 pm Go Hungry” Castlegar Recreation Complex August 8 & 9 September 250-352-6363 www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca Centre 64, Kimberley Platzl Highway 31, Meadow Creek, beside Drifters Live Music May 16–June 29 2101 6th Avenue Season Series 2014–2015 Launch 250-427-4919 Restaurant. Music In the Park Opening: May 16, 7–9 pm [email protected] Cultural Celebration Capitol Theatre Season [email protected] [email protected] July & August, Nakusp Langham Gallery, Kaslo Concert Performance Kootenay Festival – Let’s Celebrate September 2014 www.lardeauvalley.wordpress.com www.kimberleyarts.com Wednesday evenings, across from the beach www.thelangham.ca Lisa Marie Presley July 26, 10:30 am, Castlegar Box office: 250-352-6363 Exhibition Check out our website Opening Reception 250-265-3322 Family Dance June 28, 7:30 pm, Cranbrook Audrey Maxwell Polovnikoff [email protected] www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca Art Gallery Opening Reception Live Music The Langham May Long Weekend Dance 250-426-7006 by-product, Brent Bukowski www.kootenayfestival.com Last Thursday of the month. 7–9 pm Grizzly Plaza Summer Street Festival May 17 www.keycitytheatre.com Aug. 8–Sept. 20 Event Tues.–Sat., 10 am–5 pm The Arts Station, 601-1st Ave., Fernie July–August Nightly, Revelstoke 250-353-2661 www.thelangham.ca Arts Camp Golden City Days Kootenay Gallery of Art, Castlegar [email protected] Grizzly Plaza Medley Arts Camp Sept. 5–7, Rossland Festival July 250-365-3337 www.kootenaygallery.com www.theartsstation.com www.SeeRevelstoke.com 250-362-9562 [email protected] 5th Annual Castlegar Garden and Nature Family Festival July 28–Aug 1, Crawford Bay Arts, Culture & Heritage Tour Festival Camps for Kids Fest Mountain Mosaic Festival of the Arts 250-225-3333 www.medleyartscamp.ca Festival WITH YOUR LOCAL Kimberley First Saturday Black Star Summer Art Camps May 17, 10 am–3 pm July 1, 12:30–3:30 pm Exhibition Columbia Basin Culture Tour Hills Garlic Festival Aug 9 & 10, 10 am–5 pm 1st Saturday of the month May–October July 1–Aug. 31, Invermere Castlegar Community Complex, 2101 6th [email protected] Art of Claire Paradis & Carlyle Group Sept. 7, 10 am–5 pm, New Denver Venues all over the Columbia Basin. ARTS COUNCIL! Kimberley’s Platzl and surrounding area 250-342-6663 www.blackstarstudios.ca Avenue www.columbiavalleyarts.com July 2–19 & July 22–Aug.10 Tues.–Sat. Centennial Park 250-505-5505 1-877-505-7355 250-427-4919 250-399-4439 250-342-4423 Studio Connexion Gallery www.hillsgarlicfest.ca Art Workshops www.cbculturetour.com [email protected] 203-5th Ave., Nakusp Daily Art Workshops at Black Star [email protected] Art Exhibition & Opening Festival www.kimberleyarts.com 250-265-8888 Event Studios www.castlegargardenfest.weebly.com Rick Cepella: Bring ‘em Back Alive Kootenay Spirit Festival Pirate Day Gallery Season Daily July 1–Aug. 31, Invermere Concert July 4–Aug. 17 Sept. 12–14, Nelson Aug. 10, 10 am–3 pm, Kaslo Alfoldy Gallery Now Open 250-342-6663 www.blackstarstudios.ca Tommy Emmanuel Opening July 4th, 7–9 pm www.kootenayspiritfestival.ca August On the SS . 324 Front St. 10:30 am–5:30 pm, Spring/Fall Wed., Fri., May 17, 8 pm Langham Gallery, Kaslo Interested in arts and Art Mentoring Music Festival Pirate fun and prizes for the whole family. Event Sat., Sun. Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre, 1007 www.thelangham.ca Every day July/August Open Art Mentoring Sessions 23rd Kaslo Jazz Etc. Summer Music Festival 250-353-2525 Kootenay Book Weekend culture? Seeking Wed. mornings, 9:15 am–12:30 pm Vernon Ave. Summer Social Aug 1–3, Kaslo 3917 Hwy. 3 (five minutes east of Creston) Exhibition Sept. 19–21, Nelson information or Mirja Vahala Art Studio, Castlegar www.revelstokeartscouncil.com Out of the Box: A Dumpster Art Project 250-353-7577 kaslojazzfest.com 250-428-7473 [email protected] Art of Sharon Bamber & Betty Fahlman www.kootenaybookweekend.ca 250-365-7679 [email protected] Chamber Music Festival July 6th opportunities to get Multi-Arts Festival Aug.13–30 & Sept. 2–20, Tues.–Sat. Sculpturewalk SoWeCa Chamber Music Festival [email protected] Event Art Shows Kimberley Kaleidoscope Studio Connexion Gallery involved? Castlegar Sculpturewalk May 23–26 www.theartsstation.com Kootenay Storytelling Festival Hidden Garden Gallery August 2–9 203 Fifth Ave. NW, Nakusp May 10–Sept. 30 250-426-7006 www.soweca.com Sept. 19–21, Nelson and area www.sculpturewalkcastlegar.com June 23–Aug.30, Mon.–Sat. 10 am–3 pm Event Kimberley Platzl [email protected] New Denver Fundraiser Christina Lake Homecoming Summer Centre 64, Rotary Park www.kootenaystory.org Concerts & Workshop Public Demonstration: Weaving/Spinning www.hiddengardengallery.ca Oxygen Art Market Festival Social 250-427-4919 [email protected] Guitarists Sean Ashby & Stephen Palmer Festival Selkirk Weavers Guild Open Studio May 23–25 July 11, 7–9 pm, Christina Lake www.kimberleyarts.com concerts & guitar workshop Harrop Harvest Festival June 1–29, and July 1–Sept. 14 Friday 7–10 pm, Sat. & Sun. 10 am–5 pm Cindy: 250-447-9771 christinalakehome- May Music Festival July 25th, Aug.16 &17 Sept. 21,10 am–4 pm Sat. & Sun.10–4 pm [email protected] [email protected] Invermere MusicFest The Silverton Gallery Harrop Hall grounds Studio within Doukhobor Discovery Centre, Student Exhibition www.oxygenartcentre.org www.christinalake.com across from Castlegar Airport, Castlegar. Young Visions 2014 Sunday August 3, 2014 [email protected] Helen Price: 250-229-4740 Get connected here: 2–11 pm April 24–May 31 Performance Celebrations www.silvertongallery.ca Exhibition & Sale [email protected] Tues.–Sat. 10–5 pm Asian Canadian Heritage Celebrations Core Matters: Farm and Food – Creston www.columbiavalleyarts.com Kootenay Gallery of Art, Castlegar May 30–31 June 10–July 5 The Langham Cultural Centre, Kaslo 250-342-4423 www.wkartscouncil. Opening June 14, 2 pm–4 pm 250-365-3337 www.kootenaygallery.com 250-353-2661 www.thelangham.ca com/councils.html Centre 64 Kimberley [email protected]

12 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 13 festivals artists at work The Capitol Theatre in Nelson presents: th The 26 Annual Summer July 26, 2014 Youth Program 10:30 am to 7:00 pm 'Artists, Musicians, Writers... At Work' show- Cost cases the talent of artists of all disciplines $2 The throughout the West Kootenays. Do you Be a part of this exciting cultural event! have a new piece of art to share, a book to launch or a CD release? Contact the West Adjacent to the Doukhobor Discovery Centre & Kootenay Gallery of Art ecret S Kootenay Regional Arts Council at Featuring Kootenay artisans/vendors, live music, performances and cuisine from the diverse cultures represented in the Kootenay region. GARDEN 250-352-2421, 1-800-850-2787 or email JIm Lawrence Laura Leeder [email protected] for more information on The Avid Owl Pink Perfection, Peony Blossoms Bring a lawn chair & Blanket and spend the day on heritage way how to be featured on this page! 250-366-4649 www.kootenayreflections.com 250-402-6599, www.lauraleeder.com think green take the f ree Mti shuttle Shuttles sponsored by Mountain Transport Institute From the Station Museum & the Castlegar Recreation Complex starting at 10:15am downtown and continuing throughout the day to the festival site. July 24, 25 & 26 at 7:30pm Go to www.kootenayfestival.com for a full list of entertainment, artisans and food vendors July 26 at 2:00pm Partners Key sPonsor A Tony Award winning Musical based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

sPonsors Book and Lyrics by Marsha Norman. Music by Lucy Simon. Directed by Geoff Burns. New website for artist Erica Konrad Fabric Art by Kate Bridger Musical director Allison Girvan. Closing the Gap - Encaustic on Wood Guess He Didn’t Get The Memo www.katebridger.ca www.redfernhouse.ca Choreographed by Lynette Lightfoot. www.ericakonrad.com www.wkartscouncil.com Tickets $15 adult, $10 student YOUR ONLINE RESOURCE: Contact Audrey at 250.365.3386 ext.4105 for more information or to volunteer at the event $45 family of four - back issues of ARTiculate Magazine - Kootenay Festivals & Events 2014-2015 Season Series launch - cultural funding and resource information September 2, 2014 - connect with your local arts council - Business 101 - A publication for artists, writers, Buy your season subscription & SAVE on all performers and presenters Capitol Theatre Performances! The Capitol Theatre presents local, national and www.wkartscouncil.com international artists in live theatre, dance, music and comedy, and more... SNEAK PEEK: OCTOBER 24, 2014 at 8:00pm

courtney villads andersen may 17 this is relatively urgent to aug 10

Sons of Freedom Doukhobors: Pynelogs’ Party Photographs from the Stevens of the Century Studio Collection THE BILLS Canadian acoustic music super group May 24 - Sept 7 Musically splendid! Saturday July 19th - 7 pm to midnight For all upcoming shows check out our Outdoor Garden Party at Sunday August 3rd Pynelogs Cultural Centre Gates open at 12:30 website calendar. Buy tickets online: Fun for the whole family Music from 1 to 11 pm Check out our website & Facebook for more Events: • Live Music • Dancing under the stars Beachfront Stage, Festival www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca Tuesday July 1 , 2014 • Art Raffle • MC 502 Vernon Street, Nelson, BC Workshops, Film, Live Music, Art Gallery & Special Events Grounds & Beer Garden (250) 352-6363, 421 Victoria Street, Nelson BC columbiavalleyarts.com Pynelogs Cultural Centre • Hors d’oeuvres • Cash bar serving www.invermeremusicfest.com OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK ALL SUMMER! Facebook Pynelogs/250.342.4423 & Kinsmen Beach Tinhorn Creek Wine & Arrowhead Beer Box Office Tuesday to Friday Noon – 4:30pm • Special guests… Like us on Facebook at Invermere Music Thanks to our Fest for up to date announcements sponsors: SEE YOU AT THE THEATRE! 12:30 to 3 pm · FREE Celebrating One Hundred years! Online tickets sales or call 250.342.4423

14 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 15 on film

“With film, you have the opportunity to take people into Amy Bohigian: someone else’s life and connect them on intellectual and We All Have Something emotional levels,” she said. Amy founded and operates her Extraordinary to Say own company, Watershed Productions, and has brought other professionals on board to assist in the creative process. by Margaret Tessman Nicole Tremblay is a local archivist and researcher who came up with the documentary concept for If These Mountains Could Talk. She collaborated on scripting and worked closely with Touchstones Museum of Art and History to troll their archival photo collection. Executive producer Gregory Mackenzie brings a rich background in big-budget filmmaking with him. Ben Euerby, a composer and independent musician Amy describes as “just brilliant,” has written the background music. Deryl Jolly was Amy’s instructor in the film and digital arts program at Selkirk College and contributed his skills in effects and lighting. John Tucker did the sound design and mixing and the voice acting for the characters included “my choice of the best actors in Nelson,” said Amy. Commissioning editors from Knowledge Amy on location in Nelson. Photo: Amy Bohigian Network are also partners in the project. “They are kind of holding the light and making sure that the project is creatively Nelson documentary filmmaker Amy Bohigian had just got her on track,” she said. six-year-old twins Franny and Theo to bed when we sat down to talk about her work. She and her partner, poet Jane Byers, Amy’s 2013 film project, Basin Stories, is a series of 11 short both have found the time in between running the kids to swim documentaries created from interviews conducted throughout lessons and play dates to have a super-productive year. Jane is the Columbia Basin with displaced residents, biologists, First publishing a book this spring, and Amy has several film projects Nations people, elected officials, historians and former BC either in the can or in progress. Hydro employees. Basin Stories became a springboard for the Knowledge Network films, which in turn have inspired the “We’ve managed to have young kids and stay creative,” she themes of a video installation project, Wide Shot/Close Up, said, with some amazement in her voice. “We’re both having in collaboration with the Mir Centre at Selkirk College in these years of creativity, but it takes a strong network to make it Castlegar. happen.” The installation will introduce a group of people talking Amy’s latest project is a 30-minute documentary on the about who they are. Each person will be paired with someone history of Nelson and the Kootenays. Knowledge Network different in a side-by-side video display, and their words will commissioned the film, If These Mountains Could Talk, after ISLAND MOUNTAIN ARTS be edited into a conversation. “My goal is to build community Amy successfully pitched the idea in competition with 27 other one conversation at a time,” said Amy. “The message is that B.C. filmmakers. The format of the documentary is a series 38th Annual School of the Arts • Wells/Barkerville, BC you have to look both closely and far away at people in order of shorts—all one to three minutes in length—that tell the to get their whole story.” The wide shot of the title is the larger stories of different aspects of Kootenay history. Fifteen stories landscape where we make our home, while the close-up is the were developed into shorts, and the series will be screened on The Toni Onley Artists’ Project intimate conversations that can bring disparate people together. Knowledge Network starting this fall. for Professional and Emerging Artists “My approach is to examine how people come to live in a place The shorts were built using stock footage and archival photos and create an identity here,” said Amy. July 12 - 20, 2014 highlighted with first-person and narrated commentary. “My This year will be Amy’s eighth season teaching the Summer intention was not to tell these stories in an event-focused way, Artist Mentors: Joseph Sanchez, Leigh Bridges & Mark Neufeld Film Camp for Youth that she founded in 2007. The camp the way history is traditionally recorded,” said Amy. “I wanted participants learn all aspects of production and actually screen to find connections and threads in the stories and illustrate the The Artists’ Project is an intensive juried artist retreat guided by a movie on the last day of camp. “I’ve been a mentor to a lot of changes that have happened through time. How do our early young people, and have been able to pass on work to some of three senior artist mentors. It is a forum for artists to explore, devel- stories reflect today and where we’re going?” them who are now young professionals,” she said. opUNIVERSE and OF forward their ideas in relation to visual arts practice. Artists

Joseph Sanchez is a self-taught artist. Although a Some of the topics that Amy has chosen to cover in her shorts quarter Taos Pueblo Indian, a quarter German, and half Spanish, Sanchez lives his life as a Native American, having been Another focus for 2014 is Amy’s appointment as Cultural raised at the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in White of the Kootenay/Boundary are eligible for the “Articulate Magazine River, Arizona, home of the White Mountain Apache tribe. include: “Precedence,” an examination of the Doukhobor/ From 2002 to 2010, he was the curator at the IAIA Museum (now the Museum of Contemporary Native Ambassador for Nelson. “My work will be out there more than Arts) in Santa Fe. Sanchez believes in beauty—and it is beauty that drives his creative motor. Quaker/Vietnam peace movements; “Displacement,” which Scholarship”. For application process and more details about the me personally, but I will wave the Nelson flag at conferences looks at the Japanese internment during World War II and project please visit www.imarts.com. and film festivals,” she said. “I see my role being to help others the flooding of the Arrow Lakes in the 1960s; and the arts in see what we already know about ourselves. Nelson is so on fire Nelson told through the story of Mrs. Orbelianni, a Russian Real/Reel Indians Future Projects The Artist as a Witness That in every decade people (our romantic spiritual The Hood Museum exhibition at Dartmouth Problems on the Rez selves) are en vogue is a contemporary myth, but when it comes to culture. I’d like to have a series of videos of I like this time—so visual, so auditory, so High-Def, College of contemporary“This and traditional material intense period of exploration will guide so 3-D. Cameras on every street corner, every Life on the Rez is troubling. Our young people are that people wait patiently for this romanticism is will open in 2011. This exhibition is a curatorial moment everywhere being recorded, so much dying by their own hands, desperate and alone. not a myth. This myth pays bills and builds our self- collaboration with Joe Horsecapture and his father, technology recording every breath, every sunset, How have we failed them? Diabetes is sweeping esteem, but leaves us with the false promise that George Horsecapture, and combines traditional princess who arrived in Nelson in the 1950s and became an art my age group—the baby boomers and younger— we are citizens of equality in America. We continue and Facebooking and Twittering it across the and contemporary work in an exhibition about planet. What a great time to be an artist, as we with a vengeance, devastating our culture and to look into the face of the Reel Indian, while in the continuity of an artistic aesthetic. Canada’s are witness to incredible changes in our short life, lives. Our carnivorous, urban consumer fantasy plain view we see poverty, alcoholism, drugs, and recognition of the work of Norval Morrisseau, hidden cultural gems here.” and we get to watch it live and in real time every life as Americans doesn’t quite translate to the suicide wreaking havoc on our lives. Creating Daphne Odjig, and now Alex Janvier, along with day. We have great power as human beings today, reality of life on the reservation. There are still no heroes and stars is not working to save our people. the Group of Seven, hasand generated retrospective strengthen my work for years to come.” and what we need is greater responsibility. Artists opportunities or support for our youth, which is People need more than ever to support each other, exhibits in Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, have the opportunity and the technology to share our largest age group. Rez life is a microcosm of not be divided by selfish pride, vanity, and genetic Manitoba, and I am currently working on a teacher and mentor to many. The personal stories told in the the world situation for all indigenous peoples; it is pedigree. We need to impart to our youth the gift truths that art can express—like love and respect, performance piece for the citywide celebration or blood and death —with large numbers of human easy to obtain natural resources, but not so easy to of wisdom and, above all, respect for all things, and in Winnipeg—where I started as an artist and beings and to bring our planetary consciousness deal with the realities of life in places where these not dedicate this life to the pursuit of consumer created a sculpture for the Winnipeg Centennial into balance. Human beings need to evolve and resources are mined and harvested. The trauma excess. Our youth feel abandoned. Why is that? in 1974. I am also working with Bob Haozous on appreciate living, and get beyond the dominant- of genocide is not easily erased from our psyche, Our tribal charters always put our children in the creating a new dialogue to inspire indigenous artists species fantasy. Someone said that if we could fly and in this country is still not acknowledged as a forefront of everything that we do and say, and to do work that speaks to their own communal Laura Widmer, Artists’ Project Participant foundation of our Republic. Furthermore, there has now it is time to dust off our priority list and turn ~ Amy sums up her work by returning to her central focus, above the earth and see her blue beauty, we would environment and exposes the thread of our shorts illustrate in a human way how our regional geography still not been an apology for the boarding school inward to our people. If our young are saved, the not be digging, clear-cutting, and killing our planet common cultural trauma. We need a picture of a and ourselves for the sole purpose of fueling our assimilation plan that failed to “kill the Indian to save world will finally see the strength and wisdom of different future more than the promise of a seat on selfish lifestyles. As one of the first Apollo astronauts the man.” Our work as artists needs to find ways our people. The Reel Indian is not our reality. Real the runaway consumer train. said, gazing at our planet from space, to reach our people, to talk to them, and to inspire Indians are going to have to step up and lead their “I felt like a child seeing the beauty of my mother, them to transcend the downward spiral of suicide people to a new life that is not plagued by death the earth, for the first time.” and diabetic death. Put simply, the question is, Do and despair. connecting people. “I bring a curiosity about people and we, as Native artists, have a moral responsibility is intertwined with people’s lives, and what we gain and lose in to confront our people with our present situation, and forgo the accolades of success in a consumer PhotograPh by Dana WalDon economy that only values our romantic ideal? order to live where we live. a documentary eye to my work,” she said. “We all have | june 2010 THE MAGAZINE | 19 something extraordinary to say. I haven’t interviewed one person For more information on this and other programs: Amy began to learn and practise her craft when she was looking who hasn’t been worthwhile to speak to.” for a creative way to apply the skills she had developed through 1-800-442-2787 • www.imarts.com • [email protected] her background in education and community development. Website: watershedproductions.ca

16 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 17 cover story c over story

Bread, salt and water, Krestova, 1950s. Doukhobor couple. Photos: Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art and History medium based on an old Egyptian recipe he says was used to were especially beautiful, often used as decorative wall hangings. good effect by a 7th-century Italian monk. He mixes beeswax, Music was integral to their way of life, socially and spiritually. water and ammonia as an emulsifier in one container, and in The Doukhobors possessed an oral culture, and all of the a second container mixes cottage cheese, water and ammonia. psalms, hymns, sayings and statements of beliefs were The containers are heated, cooled and mixed together in a embedded in an oral tradition known as the Living Book. blender with liquid acrylic pigment. “The resulting medium is Currently, community choirs in the a cappella style of singing very versatile, and great to use,” he reports. help preserve the Russian language and the ideals of “Toil and About his show at Touchstones he says, “I’d like people to Peaceful Life.” experience the variety of my images, materials and techniques In past decades, members of the radical Doukhobor sect Sons of spanning the many years of my artistic work—a cross-section of Freedom burned property and staged nude protests as signs of my different styles.” The exhibit will include cerra cola enamel their abhorrence of material goods. However, the burnings and polychrome, metal and wood, and a 12-foot-long welded steel marches have generally ceased. Orthodox Doukhobors belong sculpture variously called “Reclining Figure” and “Mystery of to the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC) and Zippidy Zaggedy,” a collaboration with metal artist Andrew the Sons of Freedom are now known as Reformed Doukhobors. Raney of Salmo. Most Doukhobors today continue to be active pacifists and A Creature I Once Saw, polychromed metal and wood sculpture, ca. 1996. From the Stevens Studio aspire to preserve their traditional values. Spellbinding, historic photographs of Doukhobor everyday life “The Doukhobor story is one that needs to be told again, even Spirit Wrestlers and the Mystery of Zippidy Zaggedy will also be exhibited at Touchstones this spring and summer. if it’s been told before,” says Touchstones curator Rod Taylor. The images are distilled from over 1,000 photos taken by the “It’s an important part of our history. And the Stevens Studio late Art Stevens and Alice Stevenson, former owners of the photos themselves are a huge asset for our community.” Stevens Studio in Nelson. Courtney Villads Andersen, “This is Relatively Urgent” I ntriguing images at Touchstones The titles of Courtney’s works are as fun as the final results: Born in England, Stevens migrated to Canada at the age of May 17 to August 10, Gallery A by Sandra Hartline “Don’t Be Late for Work,” “Don’t Turn into Your Job,” and a three and grew up in Saskatchewan. In 1950 he moved to “From the Stevens Studio Collection” series of “self-hugging” human figures wrapped in wire, “If You Nelson and met Alice, who had her own photography business, May 24 to September 7, Gallery B The perceptive eye of the camera and the awareness of the artist Can’t Hug the One You Love, Hug the One You’re With,” after and married her in 1951. Together, they established the Stevens Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History, 502 Vernon come together in two separate, captivating exhibits this spring a song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. “Interlocking Kiss” Studio. Street, Nelson, 250-352-9813 at Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History. can be hung in two different ways. “Advice Plaques” warn, “Don’t Be Any More Pathetic than You Have to Be.” A series of “Doukhobor” means “spirit wrestler.” In 1895 Russian Website: touchstonesnelson.ca This is Relatively Urgent discarded drawings done by his children is set into collaborative Doukhobors took a stand against militarism, war and all forms Courtney Villads Andersen, a West Kootenay resident for many collages against roofing tiles. of violence. As a result of this and other differences with the Russian Orthodox Church, Doukhobors eventually came to years, likes to work with weathered boards and old rusty roofing “I’ve enjoyed doing art all my life,” Courtney says. Born in metal. “The thinness of the metal allows me to create beautiful Canada, where many settled in southeast British Columbia— Calgary, he has lived and worked in the Nelson area since 1994, the areas of present-day Grand Forks, Castlegar and the Slocan works of art with just my hands and a pair of tin snips, a saw, a when he began teaching art history, drawing, printmaking, hammer and often the addition of colour,” he says. Valley. Endeavours included raising sheep and flax, growing mixed media and basic visual language at the Kootenay School fruit, beekeeping, brickmaking, road and bridge building and a He also likes to use other found objects such as shovel parts, old of the Arts. Previously, he studied at the Alberta College of Art large jam factory in Brilliant, at the confluence of the Kootenay wheels, saw blades, blocks of wood “or just about anything.” (Printmaking Diploma, 1980), the University of Calgary (BFA, and Columbia rivers. For some artwork, he uses D-grade construction plywood 1983) and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (MFA, (“I like the knots, and the rough wood picks up the paint”) 1986). From 1987 to 1989 he was an artist in residence at the In making clothing and other textile items, Doukhobors and rusted corrugated roofing steel is used to create his relief Banff School of Fine Arts. preferred to use natural fibres and traditionally spun wool from Love Catcher, polychromed metal and wood sculpture, 2014. their own sheep and linen from the flax in their fields. Rugs sculptures. Courtney has a particular interest in cerra cola, a painting

18 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 19 lo cal community new books

Anecdotes are the colour in any community’s history: Charlie The Fabric of Nelson History on the Page, Treasure Oliver trucking apple juice that might just happen to ferment Kate Bridger in the Details en route to thirsty miners in Kimberley, for example; or when Redfern House Publishing, 2013 by Anne DeGrace Arthur Lymbery interrupted a burglar when checking an absent ISBN 978-0-9869228-1-7 neighbour’s house (although reported to the provincial police Paperback When you round the this time, the exercise was often frustrating: Creston would tell bend the sign says: The Fabric of Nelson is a collection of over the caller to phone Nelson who would pass the caller on to “Welcome to Gray 80 of fibre artist Kate Bridger’s Nelson Kaslo, and around again). Creek, Home of the pieces. Bridger’s medium is fabric and her Gold Boulder.” Have But the treasure is also in the fine details. Tom’s Gray Creek technique is a combination of collage, you really stumbled includes images of packaging and signage from store shelves applique and freestyle machine embroidery. upon treasure? Tom throughout the decades; ephemera such as bus tickets, ferry Colour photographs of Bridger’s work are interspersed with Lymbery thinks so, schedules and shipping manifests; and drawings and diagrams. descriptions of some of the highlights of Nelson: the Victorian- and sets out to tell There are posed class portraits and happy picnic snaps, and era homes, the heritage downtown, the Kootenay Lake you why in part one boats and buildings from the tiny original Redding cabin to waterfront and, of course, the Big Orange Bridge. of Tom’s Gray Creek: the magnificent SS . A number of the images are of Websites: katebridger.ca; redfernhouse.ca A Kootenay Lake postcards created by Arthur Lymbery—one more thing to sell at Linocut print created by Kathleen Lymbery to Steeling Effects: poems promote Gray Creek Auto Camp, ca.1934. Collection Memoir. the store at the time, priceless now. of Tom and Sharon Lymbery Jane Byers Anne Béliveau Published in fall of Tom says in his acknowledgments, “These are my memories Caitlin Press, 2014 Gallerist 2013, Tom’s Gray Creek is unapologetically just that: the world and since everybody’s memories differ, you may have heard ISBN 978-1-927575-44-4 Tues. - Sat. 11am-4pm according to Tom, or at least his corner of it. An octogenarian or believe a different version—that is life.” But readers don’t mid May - mid Oct. Paperback, $16.95 or by appointment with a steel-trap memory and vast enthusiasm, Tom tells the have to take only Tom’s word for things. Excerpts from the Nelson writer Jane Byers’ debut collection story of the place he loves most with passion, humour and letters and diaries of Arthur and Kathleen Lymbery, Ernest of poetry is described by author Arleen Paré 203 Fifth Ave Warren and Colin Haddon and from memoirs by John Oliver Nakusp, BC V0C 1R0 not a few diversions. Embracing this, the memoir is rife with as “brave, blunt, breathtakingly rogue.” Tel: (250) 265-3586 sidebars, photographs, maps and sketches. The result is like and Betty Drew are among the voices that lend texture to the Steeling Effects explores Byers’ experience with resilience—how [email protected] sitting with a consummate storyteller in a parlour full of narrative. individuals are able to build a pliant self through a gradual

memorabilia with a good cup of tea and all the time in the The fully indexed book includes a glossary, entertaining reading process of self-examination and growth. Byers is a three-time ALFA Artwalk Venue world. for its own sake as it expands on definition with details. Here, winner of the Nelson and District Poetry Competition. The memoir covers the years 1911 to 1945, from the arrival you can learn about the Galloping Goose, the nuances of of Tom’s father Arthur Lymbery from England—a lawyer with egg carton construction and what a lych gate is. There is an Laying the Children’s Ghosts to Rest a dream of becoming a fruit farmer—until the end of World extensive list of published and unpublished reference materials. Sean Arthur Joyce Hagios Press, 2014 War II. With his wife Kathleen he expanded that dream into Tom credits Frances Roback of the Gray Creek Historical a store with post office, gas pump, auto camp and insurance ISBN 978-1-926710-27-3 Society for compilation, editing and caption writing. “She is the Paperback, $18.95 business, and instilled in his children Tom and Alice (Bruce) his one who made the book what it is,” he says. Expanded Selection adventurous nature and down-to-earth pragmatism. New Denver writer Sean Arthur (Art) He also credits historians whose books are an important Joyce’s book, Laying the Children’s Ghosts to The Gray Creek Store, known for stocking woodstoves, !"#$!%&'"#()!&*+,-. foundation to our understanding of B.C.’s history. Rest: Canada’s Home Children in the West, chainsaws and thousands of other items (“if we don’t have it, chronicles the poignant, often tragic stories of you don’t need it,” says the store brochure), is a cornerstone “Ted Affleck’s books on Kootenay history encouraged me to look for more books on earlier days in B.C. and the Yukon,” British Home Children who were plucked from the streets and for this memoir, and indeed the community. It’s been a local slums of the United Kingdom and Ireland and sent to Canada landmark for a century. he says, finding inspiration in the tales penned by others. A dedicated lover of history, he’s been the president of the Gray to work as indentured servants. Tom’s Gray Creek describes the families—notably the Oliver, Creek Historical Society since it began, and has served as vice- Websites: hagiospress.com/books/detail/laying-the- Burge and Gooch families, among others—that underpin the president of the BC Historical Federation. childrens-ghosts-to-rest-canadas-home-children-in-the-west; fabric of the community. It describes events, such as the loss of chameleonfire.ca; chameleonfire1.wordpress.com Tom Oliver and Frank Martin to an avalanche in 1922. And it Tom’s Gray Creek is about a specific place, but it’s also about describes the practicality, imagination and humour that make any community we love, acknowledging that we are the sum Open Secret life in a small community rich. of what has gone before, the colours and textures of the past Deryn Collier fusing into the present we know. It’s a little like the mysterious, Simon & Schuster Canada, 2014 There’s the local women’s service organization, “a force to be complicated earthly alchemy that creates gold, waiting to be ISBN 97781476716800 reckoned with during the Depression, the war and the early found by the prospector—or the historian. Paperback, $18.99 O ering the postwar years,” dubbed “The Gray Creek Porcupine Club” As for the mystery of that gold boulder, readers will have to Coroner Bern Fortin is back in a riveting new Lowest Prices in BC! because of the prevalence of knitting needles at meetings. mystery by Nelson writer Deryn Collier. Set in There’s Betty Drew’s lesson on “how to feed your family on wait until part two. Pull up a chair; the tea’s already steeping. Tom’s promised to tell the whole story. the imaginary town of Kootenay Landing, Fortin and police ten cents a meal, and other lessons from the Depression.” constable Maddie Schilling work on two seemingly related The “tilting event” at the 1923 Gray Creek regatta was all Thanks to Greg Nesteroff, who wrote the foreword to Tom’s Gray incidents. Everyone has something to hide, and no one in 517 Victoria Street, Nelson B.C. about capsizing your opponent; the Hop-a-long trio, three Creek, for earlier articles about Tom Lymbery used as reference for Kootenay Landing seems willing to talk. But Bern Fortin is well young women and a player piano, was all about swinging your Tel. 250-352-5507 www.cowans.org this piece. aware that no secret can remain buried forever—not even his Fax 250-352-9936 partner. own. Website: deryncollier.com Toll Free 1-800-332-4474 visit us on facebook!

20 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 21 artisti c pairing artisti c pairing

Kootenay Calypso Orchid, mid-range fired clay, slipwork, silkscreen, decals, glaze. Girl Power, mid-range fired clay, slipwork, silkscreen, decals, glaze.

of where I am, hence some Helen will include both ceramics and paintings in the contentment.” exhibition. Her ceramics will include large functional and Michael explains, “My decorative plates, and an exploration of surfaces on tiles and art has no particular style mosaic-like murals. Helen’s work incorporates seedpods as a or manifesto of aims as metaphor for growth, and three-dimensional abstract forms. is common with many She plans to explore ideas in three different forms, creating artists. When creating a connections between her ceramic pieces with paintings and painting I abandon any photographs. decision-making about the The textures and colours that Helen incorporates into her composition. Instead, I ceramic pieces grew from her fascination with the surfaces of work spontaneously with exposed rocks, patterned with iron oxide, copper carbonate and a combination of varied other colourful elements, that surrounded her while growing A Small Thin Heart. Photo: Michael Graham materials, creating roughly up in Kimberley. She carried this fascination to UBC where layered, visceral images. she trained as an art teacher, gaining an MA in Art Education. Pentimento: Discovering the Layers Beneath The result symbolizes my For the next 25 years Helen taught art at UBC and served as View of a New Depression. mood rather than the world Fine Arts coordinator for the Delta School District. Retiring by Mike Redfern “For the exhibit pentimento is a metaphor for our work, which Photo: Michael Graham around me. At times I add from teaching in 2011 she pursued her love of ceramics at images of everyday life on areas of unbroken colour or hidden Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, returning to Kimberley after Wikipedia defines “pentimento” as an alteration in a painting, is an exploration of surface: the surfaces upon which we create in the layered rubble, leaving the viewer to discover, decide and completing her course to build a ceramics studio. She was soon evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the our work and also looking beneath the surfaces of our lives to imagine.” contributing to the culture of her community, joining the board artist has changed the composition during the process of discover deeper meaning about who we are,” said Helen. of the Kimberley Arts Council, revitalizing the defunct ceramic painting. Pentimento is generally used to describe the hidden “I’ve been thinking about the concept as I engage in an Michael has always painted. Self-taught, his interest in painting studio in the arts centre and conducting ceramics classes. underpainting or underdrawing sometimes found in Old exploration of my surfaces, whether in clay or in painting. My stems in part from his previous work as a stage manager on set Masters’ work, often only discovered by X-rays or infrared processes in each medium are different but both involve an designs in Vancouver during the 1980s. Michael has lived and Having met originally while working in the Arts Club Theatre reflectography, or as the top layer of paint becomes transparent exploration of the surface, revealing layers underneath. worked in Europe and Australia and now makes his home in in Vancouver in the ’80s, Helen and Michael reunited when Nelson where, over the past 23 years, he has owned the Living Helen attended Kootenay School of Art. When Helen suggested or worn away with age. From the Italian verb pentirsi, meaning “In my clay work I am interested in building up the layers to Room Theatre Company and the Grid Gallery. the joint show Michael could not but agree. “Helen and I to repent or to correct, pentimento in the metaphorical sense make my surface complex and interesting by working with slip, are going to collaborate on a few pieces. Our work is totally implies replacing an old concept with a new choice, alterations image transfers, collage, glaze and decals. My paintings are more In preparation for this show, he has started painting regularly, different. Opposite ends of the spectrum. So it is going to be that may leave traces of what came before and layers of change about scraping through the layers to reveal underlying shapes, incorporating as many media as possible into his work. “For exciting melding the work together. that have been introduced over time. textures and colours, until finally an image makes itself known. ‘Pentimento’ I am layering different media such as fabric, paper and paint to make textural, abstract landscapes. The landscapes “We are both at a new beginning in our lives,” he said. The Kimberley painter and ceramicist Helen Robertson and Nelson “How this relates to my life and deeper thinking is in turning take shape as I spontaneously add and subtract materials to the “Pentimento” exhibition will explore the layers of their pasts. theatre professional and painter Michael Graham have chosen inward, peeling back the layers, the years, so to speak. I’m surface. They take on a life of their own, continually shifting “Pentimento” as the title of their joint exhibition, which will finding myself here in Kimberley, very present and focused The Centre 64 Gallery is located at 64 Deer Park Avenue in and shaping as dictated by the various media. open at Kimberley’s Gallery at Centre 64 this July. Michael on my creativity. The natural beauty of the landscape and my Kimberley, 250-427-4919. previously used the word as the title of a theatrical piece he own backyard inspire me continuously. This reflection brings a “My work is a combination of many things. It is definitely not Website: kimberleyarts.com created and he and Helen have each interpreted the word deep appreciation of my life in each of its major stages and the realism, although amongst the collage of materials you may find slightly differently in their work. whole process of this work has brought me a certain acceptance realistic images.”

22 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 23 lo cal heroes lo cal heroes

Those Who Served T he Creston Valley in the First World War

by Greg Nesteroff • Carl Wilson of Boswell left his family’s fruit ranch and lied for his efforts at Vimy Ridge,” while John Campbell Dow won When the First World War began in 1914, Frank Turner and about his age to enlist at 16. In 1917 he was among the crew the Military Medal for stringing telephone wires during heavy of the HMS Shearwater that escorted B.C.’s little-known fighting. R.C. Royston were the first Creston Valley men to enlist and government-sponsored irrigation schemes—much to the head overseas. In the next four years, more than 230 others submarine fleet through the Panama Canal when the two vessels Although it’s been long believed that 110 Creston Valley men were transferred to the east coast. chagrin of veterans who saw “the enemy” receiving benefits followed, but at least 30 did not return. enlisted in the First World War, that number more than doubles denied to them. That didn’t bode well for harmony in the A century later, the Creston Museum is planning to Upon reaching Halifax, Wilson joined the HMS Niobe and was if you expand the geographic area to include the East Shore of valley. “It must have been very difficult for people coming in at commemorate that bloody battle and the lives it took and part of a crew sent to investigate a fire in the harbour aboard Kootenay Lake and from Canyon to Yahk. that time to make any headway,” Hardwick says. the SS Mont-Blanc. They weren’t aware of its dangerous cargo, changed. Each will receive an online tribute, probably through the While it’s unusual for the museum to dedicate so much which ignited with catastrophic results. Wilson was one of museum’s Facebook page, to be posted one per week starting “It’s not so much an exhibit as a collection of things to 2,000 people killed in the Halifax Explosion and one of seven time and energy to a single subject over an extended period, highlight Creston’s role in the war,” says manager Tammy in August. It will continue at least through the armistice’s Hardwick feels it’s worth it given that no First World War vets men from the Niobe whose bodies were never found. He wasn’t centennial in November 2018. Hardwick, who with volunteer John Dinn has been unearthing yet 18. remain and not many of their children are left either. “We can the stories of the men who served and those they left behind. In addition to these profiles, the museum’s annual tea, also reintroduce the whole impact and feeling of the war to new To list just a few: • Charles Pendry went overseas with the 103rd Battalion in in August, will recreate word of the war’s outbreak reaching generations, and that’s worth doing more than once.” 1916 and served as a drilling instructor for eight months, but Creston, and they’ll highlight at least one event every year • Billy Callander Burn Murdoch was Creston’s first fatality. A wanted to be closer to the action, so transferred to the 54th The Creston Museum is located at 219 Devon Street, 250-428- private with the 30th infantry of the Princess Pats, he enlisted afterward (although replicating the war’s end will be a challenge 9262. Kootenay Battalion. Two weeks later, he was killed near Vimy because it was completely overshadowed by the town’s flu November 9, 1914 and was killed in action May 8, 1915 at the Ridge. Website: creston.museum.bc.ca Battle of Bellewaerd. outbreak). • William Fraser of Kootenay Bay was a stretcher bearer at Photos courtesy Creston Museum. Photos from left to right: • Percy Foote, once a Boer War sniper, found himself in the The war effort didn’t only take place on the battlefield. Vimy Ridge. Although he didn’t say much about it in his An ad for the pro-conscription Union government for the federal election of Battle of St. Julien in April 1915, when Canadian troops first Hardwick says a patriotic fund was established to provide for autobiography, Hardwick heard Fraser was reluctant to enlist. local women and children whose breadwinners had enlisted. At November 1917. Note the language referring to French Canadians, who were faced chlorine gas. Taken prisoner, Foote made seven escape generally opposed to conscription. “By 1916, they knew what was happening over there. But he one point it raised the cash equivalent of a new car each month. attempts. On the last try, an inaccurate compass led him astray William Fraser of Kootenay Bay, just before he went overseas with a Canadian and he walked into troops looking for him. didn’t want to be branded a coward either, so he joined an The immediate post-war era saw the creation of Camp Lister, ambulance corps and wound up as a stretcher bearer at Vimy Ridge. ambulance corps and wound up at the worst bloodbath of them a soldiers’ resettlement community southeast of Creston that Trainload of soldiers of the 107th Kootenay, leaving Creston. He did, however, survive the war and return to the Creston all.” was not a great success as many residents had no farming The fourth draft of the 223 Forestry Corps, raised in the Kootenays and trained in Valley, where he had an orchard on Goat Mountain. There he Creston, about to board the train in Creston, May 1917. rewarded farmhands by teaching them to shoot, letting them Fraser died in 1999 at age 101. experience, and little support was offered them. bottle-feed his pet deer, and presenting them with his highly • Frank Burn Callander of the Royal Field Artillery received the Central and Eastern European immigrants, however, moved An ad urging people to purchase Victory Bonds, 1917. coveted, custom-built bobsleds. (The museum has one.) Military Cross for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty into the area in the following decades, taking advantage of

24 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 25 nature girls nature girls

may want to represent me. My collectors are important to me for the past three years her work has been among the top 100 and I want them to have confidence that I am dedicated and in the Pastel 100 International Competition sponsored by Pastel committed to my work.” Journal magazine. Sharon has been juried into the Society of Animal Artists Sharon Bamber’s exhibit of pastel paintings will open August and the Federation of Canadian Artists, and she has entered 13 at Studio Connexion Gallery, 203 Fifth Avenue in Nakusp, international juried competitions. Eight of Sharon’s pieces were 250-265-8888. finalists for the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year in 2013, and Website: sharonbamber.com

Christine Simpson: Conspiring with nature

possibilities. Christine’s work was accepted into the Effusion Studio Gallery in Invermere, although she confesses that she didn’t have much initial success in relating to the East Kootenay landscape. “It inspired me, Iconic, Mt. Nelson, 60 x 60 inches, acrylic but I couldn’t capture it,” she said. “I love the big trees on Vancouver Island.” Christine began to create assemblages from bits of bark and “debris” that she found during her walks. “I asked myself, how do I recreate a Daylight Robbery, 18 x 24, soft pastel tree from its decay?” By adding metal, discarded materials and tree resin she created conceptual three-dimensional paintings Sharon Bamber: An artistic journey with bark that were incredibly popular. Butterflies, 18 x 18 inches, mixed media by Margaret Tessman pastels keep their vibrancy and the immediacy of working with Christine also began working as what she calls “a mobile art Just before Sharon came to Canada about eight years ago, she them. “Mixing paints isn’t what I want,” she said. “I like the The day before Christine Simpson’s new gallery was scheduled teacher” at Panorama and Fairmount ski resorts. “I’m like a found a pastel painting box in a shop in the U.K. that caught spontaneity. They are very tactile and I can both draw and paint to open, she was still dealing with the Shaw installation cruise ship artist,” she said. “I love it because I’m able to teach her eye. She bought the box and brought it with her to Canada, with them.” Her approach to her subject matter is strongly crew. Her Painted Aspen Studio Gallery is on 7th Avenue beginners and dabblers. I see so many insecurities and worries never thinking that it would play a major role in her new life. influenced by her degree in zoology, and in particular the field in Invermere, in the hub of main street activity. The small and inspirations that we all have in common in our work. I’m It was while she was taking a course with master pastellist Gaye of cognitive ethology. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour (56 square metres), pie-shaped space has a big front window able to get a glimpse of people in an intimate way by observing Adams that Sharon found her path. “I just got on with painting under natural conditions, how animals relate to their physical that overlooks the Rockies and a mature mountain ash tree. their artistic process and I love to bring people to a peaceful and Gaye came around and said, ‘Who represents you?’ I was environment and to other creatures in that environment. Christine took possession of the space, a former scrapbooking place for a couple of hours. Halfway through class it’s so quiet speechless. She told me to keep working. She said, ‘You have to “My work explores our emotional bond and kinship with shop, in mid-February and opened for business on March 1. and everyone’s breathing has slowed down.” do it.’ I owe everything to Gaye.” the other creatures of this planet,” she said. “In my art I am Originally from Vancouver Island, Christine spent 14 years in Christine’s goal was to make Painted Aspen into an Sharon worked as a landscape architect in the U.K. and exploring that link, looking to represent that behavioural, Whistler working in publicity for Whistler–Blackcomb. She environment that she could use to juggle teaching, selling and completed a master’s degree in International Business intentional and emotional intersection between nature and began to create canvases “just for fun” that combined painting working. She feels strongly that art should be accessible to Management. When she was looking for a change from the ourselves, with the aim to strike an emotional chord with with collage. “If I didn’t know how to paint something, I cut it all, not just to collectors with sufficient disposable income. “I corporate world, she happened to see a photograph on the the viewer of my art, the ‘Yes, I understand, I’ve felt that too’ out,” she said. In 2006 she decided to take her painting to the wanted to create a space that would feel welcoming, and that Internet of a lake near Vernon, B.C. “It was so beautiful that I moment. next level. She created eight pieces for a portfolio and applied would reflect my beliefs about art and sharing,” she said. printed off immigration forms immediately,” she said. Sharon “I have no interest in highly rendered detail of fur and feathers. for Whistler Art Walk. That year she was chosen from among It seems as though Christine has found the right combination. and her husband Simon came to Canada for a three-week trip. I am more interested in capturing gesture, and in the play of 40 artists as one of the top 10 Art Walk participants, enough She not only sold two paintings on opening day, but she Simon received a job offer, the couple found their off-grid light and colour to convey a sense of mood and feeling,” she encouragement for her to decide to stay focussed on her art. also taught a class on day two. “A flock of cedar waxwings property in Arrow Park south of Nakusp and designed and said. “It wasn’t about success; I just spent a year painting Wednesday descended to eat the mountain ash berries off the tree outside built a straw bale house. They have never looked back. “It was The business of art nights and Sundays. That was a metamorphosis for me,” she the window,” she said. all a learning experience,” she said. “I get the feeling that you said. “Doing art full-time seemed exciting and impossible. I just “Nature conspired to give me and my student a perfect subject.” can do anything here.” Sharon has taken a planned approach to both the development kept painting.” of her art and the business side of being an artist. “My primary facebook.com/ChristineSimpsonArt/info The medium, the message Eastward ho! goal over the past five years has been to develop a valuable christinestufanoart.silhouetteapp.com/ Sharon works in soft pastels, which are pure pigment bound resumé and to build my reputation as a fine artist,” she said. “I When Christine and her husband made their move to together with a minute quantity of binder. She likes the way mean valuable to collectors of my work and also to galleries that the Kootenays, they gave themselves a year to explore the

26 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 27 art school

…Continued from page 6 what sort of creature the antlers would have come from.” intense.” “The sculptural pieces were a total surprise for me,” she says. “I knew I loved making teapots because I am enthralled with the Merlyn describes his time at KSA as “life-changing. I don’t Japanese tea ceremony and the history around tea.” have a background in art, so I didn’t think art was something that was really practical. It is good to see that art has a practical About the teapot she’s working on at the moment, Carmen says, purpose. I had this notion of art being in an ivory tower, “I like the round angles and sharp corners at the same time. I hidden away in academic institutions.” like the combination of the circles and the triangles; it is a new thing for me because most of the forms that I do are round and While Merlyn is discovering the practical side of art, you organic. This one is very defined and sharp-cornered.” could say that 19-year-old Carmen Clark, in the clay studio, is encountering the abstract side by producing what she calls In other words, like so many of the students here, she’s “organic explorations of movement.” These are semi-abstract discovering, every day, new things about her materials, about sculptural pieces that “are like roots or antlers, but they each herself and about her relationship with those materials. have their own character, about what sort of plant they are, or Website: selkirk.ca/school/arts

Debra Rushfeldt Studio/Gallery drawings - paintings - mixed media assemblage 206 Broadway St. Nakusp B.C. open Friday and Saturday from 11:00am - 4:00pm July and Aug Other times by appointment 250 265-3288 www.debrarushfeldt.comwww.debrarushfeldt.com

PRESENTS Friendly. Healthy. Community owned. MUSIC IN THE PARK: Every Thursday organic produce, hundreds of bulk items, prepared foods, fresh meat & seafood, grocery, vitamins & supplements, healthy bodycare products. June 12 to August 28 For more information check out our website: www.trail-arts.com Shop early. Shop late! NEW HOURS: Open every day 7:30am - 9pm & check out our NEW Website: www.kootenay.coop

295 Baker St, Nelson [email protected] t: 250 354 4077 Celebrating 18 years of bringing art to the community!

June 23 - Sept 14 Brochure and walking maps available at the Castlegar Chamber of Commerce and all gallery venues.

More info: check our ALFA art walk brochure 2014 or contact [email protected]

28 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 29 last word book; we now have the wherewithal to create works that are Telling the story well designed as well as well written. by Anne DeGrace Self-publishing is exploding as avenues for production become The volume in the more accessible and affordable. Once snidely called vanity Nelson Library archives publishing, this kind of book production is gaining legitimacy. was so slim I almost But local histories have always stood outside the vanity didn’t see it. Spiral- publishing tag because they are by their nature selfless, and bound, with a cardboard vital. It stands to reason: if we don’t tell our stories, who will? cover, it could have Published by individuals or historical societies, local histories Proud to support easily been dismissed as link memory, event and artifact to broaden understanding unimportant. of our collective past and celebrate those layers of human arts, culture and But historians, librarians experience that make us who we are today. and writers know that New books such as Tom’s Gray Creek (see page 20) follow in heritage the most unassuming the footsteps of histories by Milt and Rosemarie Parent, Susan scribblings can yield Hulland, Terry Turner and Art Joyce, among others, and these Columbia Basin Trust is proud to the greatest treasure. in turn follow the work of important historical chroniclers such support the efforts of the individuals That book was The as Ted Affleck and Bill Barlee. In every community there are and organizations that help make the Story of Renata, and as writers who champion our collective history through articles, Basin a vibrant place to live. it described the end of columns and books. Celebrate the artists and visit something, it sparked a Diarists such as Colin Haddon (Fishes and Wishes and Fruit: heritage sites, museums and galleries new beginning. 1915 Diary of H. Colin Haddon) and Dorothy Brown (Dorothy’s during the free, self-guided Columbia I was doing data entry Stormy Lake: From the Journal of Dorothy Brown) simply wrote Basin Culture Tour, taking place Photo: Tam Forde in my job at the library their day-to-day experiences, never dreaming that their words August 9 and 10, 2014. when I found it. Written in 1965 by Mary Warkentin and Rose would become essential research for historians or books in FLOW, MirjA VAhALA cbculturetour.com Rohn, The Story of Renata described a tiny, vibrant community themselves. Memoirs such as Chris Luke’s Drags Grizzly foster north of Castlegar. I was astonished; I had never heard of understanding today as they form another vital link to the past Renata. I took the book home to read over the weekend. for historians in the future. cbt.org Connect with us From the earliest days of this Mennonite-settled fruit-growing Whether we are writing history or fiction or just recounting 1.800.505.8998 community to the lists of postmasters and teachers, I read what we did today, we can’t always know where these things will stories of trials by fire, water and misadventure, alongside take us. Rose Rohn and Mary Warkentin wrote about Renata descriptions of apple-schnitzing bees and baseball games. Every in 1965; almost forty years later a fiction writer picked up the anecdote felt like a teaser: I wanted the whole story, every detail. story. Recently filmmaker Amy Bohigian told me that Treading And then, the final page: Water was key in her understanding of the Renata story, the “As we write, the village of Renata is being abandoned and we subject of one of 14 Kootenay history shorts she is producing are arranging a commemorative plaque to be placed by BC that will air beginning this year on Knowledge Network. And Hydro in the Robson Cemetery. The words on that plaque will so the story carries on. make a fitting end to that history. ‘This plaque commemorates Although some of the upper bench has been repopulated, the the community of Renata and its fifty-eight former residents original site of Renata is under water most of the year, its graves who now lie beneath the water of the Arrow Lake Reservoir.’” held in place by a concrete slab. A low-water walker might gaze The Story of Renata is just 34 pages long, but for me it was at the rows of depressions in the sand where fruit trees once huge. Here was a community that triumphed over spring flourished, and wonder. And the story will be there to find. floods and government wharf tolls but was ultimately powerless Anne DeGrace is a librarian, writer and illustrator who lives near in the face of inter-governmental treaties and hydroelectric Nelson. Her latest novel, Flying With Amelia, was published in dam development. The authors penned the history of their 2011. community as Hydro workers were painting Xs on the sides of the houses to be torched. Over the next year I spoke to Rose Rohn and her son Bruce, and talked with Wally Penner, who shared childhood memories and helped me meet other former residents, now scattered. Treading Water, published in 2005, is a collection of stories Kootenay Gallery based on what I learned. The final story in the book was of art & Gift Shop inspired by Bruce’s own teenage tale: that final summer when he worked with the crew demolishing the houses of the families Fine Art. Unique Gifts. he’d grown up with. Beautiful Things. The Story of Renata is typical of local histories in that it was Open March - Nov. written with a passion for history and community. Local Tues. - Sat. 10am-5pm histories are often self-published because their small print runs December 1st - 24th 120 Heritage Way. Castlegar, BC make them unappealing to most publishers. Nowadays they 7days/week 10am-5pm 250.365.3337 | kootenaygallery.com can be almost indistinguishable from a professionally published

30 SPRING/SUMMER 2014 ARTICULATE 31 Castlegar’s Sculpturewalk is now entering its fifth year, and is gaining national attention. This exhibit of original outdoor sculptures is located on a pleasant walking tour in downtown Castlegar. Featuring local and international artists, viewers are encouraged to vote for their favourite sculpture via ballot. The winner of the People’s Choice Award is purchased for permanent display in the City. Sculpturewalk’s 2014 program, kicking off in May, brings 32 original works of art to the city from sculptors throughout North America. Each sculpture is available for sale or lease, and businesses in the region offer their support by sponsoring a sculpture. Maps are available at the Chamber of Commerce, Castlegar City Hall, the Kootenay Gallery and along the Sculpturewalk route. Come take the Sculpturewalk!

Honkfest, Douglas Walker. People’s Choice Winner 2013 All photos by David R. Gluns Photography, except Patient Hunter by Colin Payne Photography www.sculpturewalkcastlegar.com

Linotype Wapiti, Carl Sean McMahon Peace Sign, Denis Kleine Patient Hunter, Kevin Kratz & James Karthein People’s Choice Winner 2011 People’s Choice Winner 2010 People’s Choice Winner 2012