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2010 Art Workshops at the Lake fill up

Whistler Arts Council's annual Art Workshops at the Lake are proving to be a popular event again this year.

Whistler Arts Council's annual Art Workshops at the Lake are proving to be a popular event again this year. As of late last week, before the series had even begun, three of the workshops were already sold out: Suzanne Northcott's four-day Life Drawing and Painting and Acrylics courses are booked solid, and David Langevin's session on Intermediate Acrylics was full.

While the classes certainly seem to be filling up fast, there's still time to register for the many other courses on offer: Effective Acrylics and Colour Theory with Chili Thom, Beginner Acrylics with Lori Goldberg, Advanced Watercolour with David McEown, Creative Texture with Watercolour with Alan Wylie, Intermediate Acrylics with Janice Robertson, Beginner Watercolour with Grant Fuller, The Art of Drawing with Isobel MacLaurin, and Experimental Painting Techniques with Rick McDiarmid.

The courses take place at Alta Lake Station House throughout June, July and August and range in price from $170 to $425.

For more detailed descriptions of each program, visit www.whistlerartscouncil.com.

 

The 2010 Summer of Funny

Think you've got what it takes to make people hoot and howl with laughter? Pick up a pen and paper and show Whistler what you've got by entering the second annual Summer of Funny humour-writing contest, sponsored by Pique Newsmagazine.

The inaugural competition in '09 yielded so many quality submissions that Pique staffers couldn't seem to agree on a clear winner. So it was decided to divide the $400 prize purse among the eight entries that stood out from the more than two-dozen pieces received. And since none of the writers complained, Pique has decided to give the contest another whirl this year. The rules are the same - all written submissions will be accepted, from anywhere in Canada, and can be in the form of stories (up to 2,000 words), poems, plays/scripts, or long-format jokes. We'd even accept cartoons.

The prize money will be the same, as will the review by Pique writers and staff. If there is a clear winner this year they may receive a larger share of the purse at our discretion, otherwise we may decide to simply run a wide selection of pieces this year and divvy up the prize money equally. Humour is subjective after all and we'd like to give our readers a chance to decide.

Send all entries to andrew@piquenewsmagazine.com before Aug. 23 (date changed) for inclusion in our Labour Day long weekend issue (published Sept. 2). Please include a brief bio and mailing address with your submission.

 

Whistler Reads' "summer sizzler"

Our beloved local book club, Whistler Reads, wants people to spend the upcoming summer weeks delving into the fictional world of author Matthew Hooton, the talented new writer who penned "Deloume Road."

Published by Knopf Canada, "Deloume Road" weaves together themes of life, love and tragedy, all set within the confines of Vancouver Island during the first Gulf War, in "a small rural community where the children's lives play out unchangingly in the woods and secret places - until they discover an object from the past that will come to haunt them all."

Intrigued? Pick up your copy online or at Armchair Books (Whistler Reads members get a 10 per cent discount), and come join the discussion, which is hosted by Hooton on Saturday, July 10 at the Whistler Public Library starting at 7:30 p.m. For more information or tickets to the event, visit www.bookbuffet.com.

 

Get your nose in a book

To keep young readers from getting rusty over the summer months, parents and kids may want to consider signing up for one of Whistler Public Library's popular Summer Reading Club groups.

Each year almost 80,000 children province-wide, including almost 100 local children, participate in this free summer program, which is organized by the B.C. Library Association's Summer Reading Club Committee.

Libby McKeever, youth services director for WPL, explained that the local program is broken up into three sections: children aged three years to Grade 1, Grade 2 and 3, and Grades 4 to 7.

Starting on July 16 and running each subsequent Friday until August 6, kids between the ages of three to Grade 1, and Grades 2 to 3, will meet at 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., respectively.

"'Reading Rocks' is the theme this year, so we're going to do everything from music with literacy: music for fun, music in books," McKeever explained. "And we're going to geology as well, and mountains, so just a little marrying of themes there."

The intermediate children (Grades 4 to 7) meet more frequently on July 14, 17, 21, 24, 28 and 30, and August 4, 7, 11, 14 and 18 - but for shorter, half-hour sessions.

"I have chosen 26 books right now - most of them are just hot-off-the-press in 2010 - and I buy two copies of each and we basically read our way through it and we come together each time and we do a quick go-round the room - 'who's read what, what did you think? Would you recommend it?'" McKeever said.

Based on the readings, the kids do improv, play literacy games, and even review some of the materials for prizes.

"They can come on their own and then they check out books after they're done and away they go! And obviously they're busy during the summer, so I say even if you can only come a few times, just come. We'll be here."

For more information on the program, visit www.whistlerlibrary.ca and click on the "Kids" link.

 

Notes from the Pemberton AGM

The Pemberton Arts Council (PAC) was started in 2006 to "create an environment for the advancement of the arts in our community." Over the past four years, the non-profit organization has grown to represent 46 local artists and artisans working in various mediums, including photography, woodwork, carving, painting, sculpture, glass, music, spinning fabric, jewelry, video and writing.

At their recent Annual General Meeting, which was held on Thursday, May 20 at Pemberton's Art Barn, a new chair, Daved Moldofsky and secretary/treasurer, Max Silverson, were appointed to the PAC board.

"(Moldofsky) prepared for this position by attending the Assembly of B.C. Art Councils conference recently in Richmond," Lynn Pocklington, vice-chair of the PAC, said in a recent email, "He found that Pemberton was in an interesting position with many artists on council and few administrators, where many other councils are the reverse. We are a talented group that is slowly creating a vibrant community."

Susan Medville of Commonwealth Historic Resource Management Limited was also in attendance at the AGM, introducing the scope of a cultural scan and mapping project being undertaken by the Village of Pemberton and generating discussion to define "culture."

Now, the PAC is working towards this summer's Slow Food Cycle Sunday, where they will be showcasing local artistic talent along the route of participating farms. They also hope to continue hosting their successful annual events, February's Mountains of Art show and the MADE show in November, and are interested in opening the Art Barn in downtown Pemberton up for solo and group shows throughout the summer.

"We would like to continue to inspire and assist local artists and ensure that arts and culture stay a strong part of our community! In our fourth year we still have enormous amounts of enthusiasm," Pocklington added, "You don't have to be an artist to join the PAC, we are always looking for art enthusiasts and volunteers to help with our events."

 

Lager label becomes canvas for Chili Thom

This summer, beer drinkers are going to have some beautiful local artwork to gaze at as they sip their suds: local artist Chili Thom has designed the label for a new "locals' lager," dubbed Powder Mountain Lager, produced by Whistler Brewing Company.

The mysterious new brew was picked by Whistler locals who stopped into the company's taproom in Function Junction to taste-test a few samples created by Brew Master Joe Goetz and cast a ballot for their favourite. The votes were recently tallied and the mysterious new locals' lager should be out on shelves by mid-June.

"Its kind of a local lager that we put out to the locals to choose, so we thought, if its going to be a local lager, lets go with a local artist!" explained Derek Pasenow, taproom supervisor for Whistler Brewing. "And not only is (Chili) across the street and it's handy, but he's quite well-known and made a good name for himself, and just does really nice work."

Pasenow wouldn't reveal any details about the lager itself, and would only say that the label features a "local mountain" that isn't Whistler or Blackcomb. All will be revealed at the official launch at the brewery on Friday, June 25.