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Mountain Galleries welcomes new artist-in-residence

Arts News: Centre gets provincial funding; writers camp to be held; Mayor's poetry challenge
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artist-in-residence An artwork by Mountain galleries' new artist-in-Residence Randy Hayashi. Photo submitted

As a kid, artist Randy Hayashi wasn't around the mountains as much as he would have liked.

"Growing up in Edmonton we had to travel three hours to get to the mountains, unfortunately," Hayashi says.

"I just like the masses and the shapes that they offer, and you don't get the same sort of thing out on the prairies. You can get it with trees or with buildings and structures, but the mountains, they're just majestic."

These days, Hayashi makes a living painting the mountains.

He'll be taking up residency at Mountain Galleries at the Fairmont from April 19 to 24.

Guests and visitors will be able to chat with him as they watch him paint.

"I usually have a few canvasses on the go, and I'll try and have some local scenes that are recognizable," Hayashi says, adding that he's currently working on a bigger piece focusing on Overlord Glacier.

Hayashi works primarily in acrylics and describes his style as "representational-impressionistic."

While much of his work focuses on the mountains, Hayashi says he also paints a lot of streetscapes.

"I'm hoping to go into Pemberton on this trip just to get some pictures," he says.

"If I can find a good Pemberton image I think I'll do something along those lines."

Hayashi says he's happy to answer any questions the public might have about his work.

"I think people are usually kind of tentative like they don't want to interrupt you, but I think we have a sign up there and it says 'feel free to ask questions,'" he says.

"That's kind of the whole idea of it, it's just an opportunity for people to learn more about the gallery and about my work."

-By Braden Dupuis-

Festival gets provincial support

The Point Artist-Run Centre announced it has just received a $3,000 project grant from the BC Arts Council for its 4th annual Flag Stop Theatre & Arts Festival.

"We're extremely pleased to receive this support from the BC Arts Council," says The Point's artistic director Stephen Vogler. "It allows us to step the festival up another notch and to continue to feature top local and visiting artists in performances throughout the weekend."

The funding will help to cover artist performance fees as well as projects in development to be featured at this year's festival on August 7 and 8.

The eclectic arts festival will debut a new play this year on the floating stage on Alta Lake by Vancouver playwright Brian Kaufman. A collaborative performance piece is also in development at The Point that combines dance, music, poetry and film.

The festival includes work by artists of all ages and will once again feature a performance piece developed during the children's summer art workshops running August 3 to 7.

Two selected in Mayor's Poetry Challenge

There were 22 entries from 10 poets, but in the end, two were chosen in the 2015 Mayor's Poetry Challenge.

Poet Vicky Crompton's poem "Palimsest" was chosen in the Listening theme category.

The jury then selected an untitled peon by Lisa Taylor in the Togetherness category.

The poems were read aloud at Tuesday's council meeting, April 14, and can be found on the municipal website whistler.ca.

The successful poets will each receive $200 and their poems will be displayed at the Poet's Pause sculpture in Alta Lake Park for a year.

The Mayor's Poetry Challenge was created to celebrate National Poetry month.

-By Alison Taylor -

Writers camp to be held

The Point Artist-Run Centre will hold a Writers Adventure Camp June 6 and 7.

Writing Instructors and performers will include Scotia Giller prize finalist Zsuzsi Gartner, BC Book Prize winner Charlotte Gill from Prince George, Vancouver novelist and musician Geoff Berner, and Victoria novelist, playwright and humourist Mark Leiren-Young.

Participants will have the option of registering for the whole weekend, or taking select workshops in everything from fiction and non-fiction to songwriting, humour, and how to adapt one's work between platforms such as the novel, stage, film, etc. Registration opens soon at www.thepointartists.com.