Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Exploring Whistler’s artistic underworld

The traditional art galleries in the village may be the obvious places for inspiration, but Whistler's industrial park, Function Junction, offers up an unexpected wealth of hidden artistic treasures: it's home to the Blind Mute crew, Chili Thom's art

The traditional art galleries in the village may be the obvious places for inspiration, but Whistler's industrial park, Function Junction, offers up an unexpected wealth of hidden artistic treasures: it's home to the Blind Mute crew, Chili Thom's art studios, Orkidz arts and crafts workshops, the newly-reopened Art Junction Gallery, Justin Ormiston's tattoo studio and many more who are the heart of the town's creative core.

Next Friday (Aug. 6), the community is invited to come out and discover some of these often-overlooked artists and venues, as the Whistler Arts Council hosts its second annual ArtWalk Function Block Party.

This year's event includes 25 artists and three group shows featured in 14 venues, including Whistler Brewing Co., Patina Home Interiors, Millar Creek Café and Pique's own offices. Aside from the artwork that will be on display, the party also features street hockey, a community mural, a family fun zone, food vendors and live music from Tommy Honest & The Liars, Gnar Boots and DJ Phroh. Best of all, the event is free and everyone is invited. So dig out your bikes or rollerblades and get ready to be inspired. Art Junction, Pique and Whistler Brewing will be featured HotSpots, offering refreshments to thirsty ArtWalkers.

A free shuttle courtesy of Canadian Snowmobile Adventures will pick people up from the taxi loop starting at 6 p.m., and drop them off in Function.

 

Going Deep in the coming weeks

While the downhill bikers are tightening bolts and lowering their seats in anticipation of some serious on-mountain action at the 2010 Kokanee Crankworx festivities, photographers are also prepping their gear, getting ready for the second Deep Summer Photo Challenge.

The event debuted at the 2009 festival, and this year's shoot-off is shaping up to be even better than the last with a list of confirmed photographers that includes defending champion Mattias Fredriksson, Nicolas Teichrob, Paul Morrison, Sterling Lorence, Jordan Manley and Sven Martin. Last but not least, a wildcard entry selected through a competition on www.pinkbike.com, who will join the pros to battle it out for top honours (and a $3,000 cash prize) on Wednesday, Aug. 11.

"After Team Scanada's great success in the Saint Deep Summer Photo Challenge last year we are psyched to come back," winner Mattias Fredriksson said in a release. "We have kept parts of the team from last year and have signed up a few new, amazing riders as well. It's gonna be super maximum fun. I'm warming up for Deep Summer with my Scandinavian Photo Challenge taking place in my hometown of Åre, Sweden next week. This event will be a great way to try out some new stuff before coming to Whistler."

Photographers will work against the clock to create a slideshow from images shot over just three days in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park and surrounding cross-country trails. Then, each show will be presented to a live audience at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. The winner will receive $3,000, second place wins $2,000, third place walks away with $1,000 and the best photo of the evening will win the shooter an additional $1,000.

Tickets to the slideshow are $17 at Whistler Blackcomb Guest Relations. (Hint: the inaugural event sold out last year, so you should probably get yours in advance.)

 

The Summer of Funny, Part II

The countdown is on for anyone out there who thinks they can tickle people's funny bones with the written word: they've got just a few short weeks to craft a comedic piece for 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 simply couldn't agree on a clear winner. So the powers that be decided to divide the $400 prize purse among the eight entries that stood out from the pack.

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 Monday, Aug. 23.

 

Weaving workshop

Visitors to the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre marvel at the vibrant, traditional wool weavings that line the walls of the facility. Now, anyone interested in learning the craft has the chance to sign up for a workshop with Chief Janice George, who will teach the basics of Salish wool weaving during an afternoon session on Monday, Aug. 9, starting at 1 p.m.

Participants will design and make a small wall hanging to take home and, perhaps more importantly, learn the fundamentals of the craft so they can tackle larger projects in the future. The $120 enrollment fee includes all supplies and instructional materials. Anyone interesting in signing up should contact gwen.baudisch@slcc.ca.

 

Unearthing arts at Copper & Fire

The B.C. Museum of Mining will play host to their eighth annual summer festival, dubbed Copper & Fire, this coming weekend.

The event features a range of performing and visual arts over the course of the two-day event.

On Saturday, Aug 7, starting at 7 p.m. the museum will host a concert featuring the musical talent of Joseph "Pepe" Danza and fire spinner Laura Scarlett. On Sunday, Aug. 8 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., visual artists will demonstrate, display and sell pieces that relate to the overarching themes of copper and fire. The goal of the daylong event is to engage the community and demonstrate the ways that mining impacts our lives. Specifically, they hope to show how artists use various materials to achieve their creative vision. In addition, local musicians Karen Fowlie, Carolyn Grass, Pawnshop Diamond and The Roomates will perform.

For more information on the festivities, check out the "What's New" link at www.bcmuseumofmining.org.