Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

ArtWalk meanders down to Function

ArtWalk meanders down to Function

Creative souls who use Function Junction as a home for their artistic endeavours are opening the doors to their studios and galleries and welcoming the public in for an evening of live art, music and entertainment.

The first Function Junction Block pARTy takes place on Friday, July 17, starting at 6 p.m. and wrapping up at 9 p.m.

This year, thanks in large part to new funding from the Cultural Capitals of Canada program, the Whistler Arts Council was able to include the southern neighbourhood in their annual ArtWalk event, which is a free walking tour featuring the work of 71 artists from Lions Bay to Lillooet. The event showcases an impressive range of artwork, including painting, photography, multimedia, pottery and jewelry, at 39 host galleries during the summer months, effectively uniting the realm of the arts and business.

Dave "Pepe" Petko, Arne Gutmann, Vicki English, Suzy-Annick Raymond, Chili Thom and David Buzzard are just a few of the 17 artists who will exhibit their work at 11 venues, which include the likes of Creation Station, Mountain Blooms and Cracked Pepper Catering.

Venues in Function Junction have varying hours of operation, which means that not all venues will be able to provide showings on a regular basis. To ensure that you get to check out all of the artwork on offer in Function, don't miss out of this Block pARTy, which promises to be a real community event, offering up food and drinks alongside live art, music and activities, free of charge! Jon Burr and Ivan the Terrible, alongside local DJs, provide the musical backdrop for the evening, so art lovers can venture through the artisan market, galleries and participating businesses to the beat.

You can even hop on the free ArtWalk shuttle bus, sponsored by Canadian All-Terrain, which will leave from the village taxi loop at 6 p.m. and make a stop in Creekside at the Greyhound bus location before heading to Function. It will circle back and forth approximately every half hour.

Funky beats and more at Frequency Fridays

Black's Pub recently unleashed a brand new weekly evening of entertainment, dubbed Frequency Fridays, on the unsuspecting masses of music lovers of Whistler.

Featuring a range of live DJs and performances from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., these free shows are designed to attract a diverse range of music lovers who appreciate quality entertainment in any shape or form.

This week, the human beat boxing machine, perhaps better known as Adam Bowen, steps into the limelight with live acoustic instrument looping matched with beat-box sing-along (think Sublime meets Dave Matthews, mixed with a bit of Jack Johnson). Bowen layers a wide variety of music and sounds over his own voice, using acoustic guitar and other electronic toys to loop and layer over his potent political messages or pure lyrical silliness and dry wit, depending on his mood.

"Adam's looping techniques make his one man show sound like a big band; a bit like Papa Josh, but with his own funky style," event organizer, Marie Fortin, said in a release. "It's very cool to see someone like Adam perform and I think he will blow people's mind with his set."

Bowen will follow up his first solo show in Whistler with another performance at Black's on Friday, July 25. So, no excuses for missing out!

Film Festival ushers in new board members

The Whistler Film Festival Society is welcoming a few new members into its ranks this week, as Arthur Evrensel, Slawko Klymkiw and Warren Franklin have been appointed to the board of directors to serve one-year terms. They will join returning directors Carl Bessai, Harry Sutherland, John Rae, Kasi Lubin, Lynne Stopkewich, Neal Clarance, Shauna Hardy Mishaw and Shawn Williamson.

Outgoing directors are Rob Egan and Michael Ghent, who served two years, and Sacha McLean, who served on the board for four years.

Summer of Funny

Pique Newsmagazine is hosting the Summer of Funny, a humour-writing competition, with $400 in cash up for grabs for the top entries.

Send your stories, poems, scripts, long-format jokes or other humorous pieces to Pique Newsmagazine at andrew@piquenewsmagazine.com by Thursday, July 23. People can enter as many times as they like, with a maximum length of 2,000 words per entry. Editorial staff will judge the entries and award prizes, with a maximum of $250 going to a single outstanding submission. The winning stories will be printed in the July 30 issue of Pique.