by Tiffany Beckedorf

V-Day Oliver Osoyoos is looking for volunteers! We are a community based group who are going into our third year of campaigning, raising funding and creating awareness to stop violence against women and girls.

On March 8^th of 2015 we will be hosting an art show to celebrate One Billion Rising; in an effort to ‘show the power of art and the astonishing and political alchemy that occurs when art and activism happen simultaneously’.  One Billion Rising is the biggest mass action in human history.

The campaign, launched on Valentine’s Day 2012, began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.  We will be sending out a call to artists with this year’s theme for the art show very soon, so keep your eyes open for that.

Then in April, we will be staging The Vagina Monologues.  ‘Hailed by The New York Times as “funny” and “poignant” and by the Daily News as “intelligent” and “courageous,” The Vagina Monologues, which was first performed off-Broadway by Ms. Ensler, dives into the mystery, humor, pain, power, wisdom, outrage and excitement buried in women’s experiences.  Ms. Ensler has performed the play to great acclaim throughout the world – from Zagreb to Santa Barbara, from London to Seattle, from Jerusalem to Oklahoma City.’  V-Day Oliver-Osoyoos is thrilled to be making a return to this piece, after the great success we experienced in 2013.  We are looking for readers to participate onstage, as well as behind the scenes crew members.

The best way to find out if this is a campaign you might want to be a part of is to come out to our next meeting on Thursday, October 23 at 7 pm at the OIB Resource Center (located to the right of Sen Pok Chin as you drive in).  Please join us as we strive to empower women to find their collective voices and demand an end to the violence that affects one in three women around the world.

submitted by Marion Boyd

Oliver’s Grandmothers for Africa are inviting everyone to come and get a jump on their Christmas list.   They will be holding a

Fall Frenzy

Saturday, November 1

10 am to 2 pm

Medici’s Gelateria

It’s the perfect time to get some friends together, drop in, treat yourself to a latte or a wicked little dish of gelato and have some fun selecting gifts from a variety of handmade items from Africa and Oliver.   All the proceeds from sales are donated to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to support African grandmothers raising children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.   Your purchases are carried forward and do some good in a troubled world.

Sometimes there is a sense of overload as the news reports quickly move from one disaster to another.   What’s happening in Haiti?   Did Afghanistan drop from world view?   What happened to those 200 kidnapped girls?  Will they shoot the students in Hong Kong?  Who killed the protesters in Mexico?   And on it goes.

Those of us who have chosen to support the Stephen Lewis Foundation know one thing for sure.   No matter whether the news focuses on them or not, African grandmothers don’t quit.   They can’t quit.   They have to swallow the grief of losing their kids and dig in for the day to day work of raising their grandkids.   And they do.

At this end we cannot imagine the pain of watching our children die but we also know that should that happen every one of us would use every possible means to keep the next generation alive, to see that grandkids have some security, know love, have basic food and education.   We know all this deep in our hearts and for this reason groups like the Oliver Grandmothers have sprung up all across Canada and are making a significant difference in Africa.

The job of nurturing and mothering the young is often a thankless job but it is the most important job there is.   It isn’t a quick fix.   It takes years to raise a child.  No.  African Grandmothers can’t quit and we lucky Oliver grandmothers can’t quit either.   We need to stand together.  We see in these amazingly resilient      African grandmothers hope for healing and hope for a new generation able to care and relate to others despite the terrible trauma of their early years.

Come to Fall Frenzy and be part of the solution.   Those interested in also joining the local group will be warmly welcomed.

The Oliver Community Arts Council’s Fall Art Show and Sale gets better every year.  “An impressive display of artwork” and “Best art show ever” were two of many comments from visitors to the annual 2-day show held over the weekend at the Oliver Community Hall.

Saturday’s opening saw a hundred pieces of artwork in 9 categories displayed.  Guests to the show were treated with art provided by the novice and professional; and the young and old. Many talented artists entered their best art into the show viewed by a crowd of visitors.

As the art lovers mingled, enjoying the artwork, and meeting the artists,  Brock Jackson, morning host of EZ Rock lent his smooth charm as M.C.  in directing the evening opening reception’s festivities. Musical entertainment was provided by the ever popular group, “Jazz Out West” featuring the vocals of Iris Larratt.  Joining her throughout the evening playing crowd favorites, was band members; Jim Wyse, Bob Park and Bob Larratt. The talents of all these wonderful entertainers soothed the crowd well into the evening as everyone anxiously awaited the results of the days voting.

It was a hard choice for the viewers to mark their ballot for the best of each category as noted by 4 tie votes.  In the end, Michael Jordan of Osoyoos, won Best in Show, for his Oil painting, “Thin Ice – Blue Lake”. Se below for all the category winners.

Sunday’s show was a feature of Oliver’s fabulous Festival of the Grape. Legions of wine lovers took the opportunity to break from the heat and come into the cool to view the many talents of our local and area artists. Some impressed enough to take home a purchased piece of original art.

The fundraiser draw replacing the previous silent auction was a big hit.  Everyone wanted to be a winner but there was only one ticket drawn. Shirley Munro, a newcomer to Oliver, won the draw for the wine fridge filled with generously donated bottles of wine from local wineries.

The Oliver Community Arts Council congratulates all the winners and thanks the many volunteers responsible for making this show a huge success.

by Marion Boyd, South Okanagan Concert Society

Known as the ‘Cirque du Soleil’ of classical music, Quartetto Gelato, is variously described as supremely talented, deliciously smart, endlessly creative, refreshingly funny and totally surprising.   Joyful and polished, this high impact quartet proves once again there’s no such thing as highbrow and lowbrow music.   Their performances of classical masterworks, operatic arias, tangos, gypsy and folk songs are presented with pyrotechnics, acrobatics and whatever else inspires them to create music in new and entertaining ways.  Classical in training – eclectic by design!

They will be on stage at the new Frank Venables Theatre in Oliver on  Monday, October 20^th at 7:30 pm. It will be the first concert of the season for the South Okanagan Concert Society.

Four admission flex pass tickets for only $70 are on sale for the series at Beyond Bliss Esthetics in Oliver,  Imperial Office Pro in Osoyoos or at the door.  The flex ticket can be used in any combination.  Four can go to one concert, snowbirds can share a ticket or one person can come to all 4 concerts.  A single entrance is $20.

Students 17 and under gain admission free and those needing a ride from Osoyoos can call Maureen at 495 7978 and arrange to come by bus.

Peter DeSotto who started the Quartetto some 20 years ago is a remarkable talent who’s chameleon like abilities allow him to perform on the violin not only as a seasoned classical violinist but also as a dazzling gypsy virtuoso.   On top of that he has a fabulous tenor voice that draws rave reviews.

Peter’s ‘best friend’ is Belarus born, Alexander Sevastian, who launched his professional career in Russia, moved to Canada in 2001 and is a four-time world accordion champion.

For this concert, cellist Lydia Munchinsky will replace Elizabeth McLellan who is expecting a baby any day.   Lydia was performing around the world before she reached her teens and had completed her ARCT in performance for both piano and cello before starting her post secondary studies.   Now living in Toronto, Lydia has premiered solo cello and chamber music works and plays also for music theatre companies.  While not making music or looking after her baby born the same day as Prince George, Lydia enjoys tennis and soccer, painting and making ice cream.

The newest member, Calgary-born Colin Maier, plays oboe, clarinet, English horn, violin, banjo, bass, piano, saxophone, flute, guitar, and mandolin.   He is a professional actor and he is an acrobat, dancer and martial arts expert.  His passion for music and theatre leads to ground breaking performances.

In 1997 Canadian astronaut, Robert Thirsk, took 2 Gelato CDS on the space shuttle Columbia.   This music is really ‘out of this world’!

And speaking of gelato. there will be an open reception for the musicians after the concert at Medici’s Gelateria just a short walk from the theatre.  Come and enjoy!

Watercolour:

1^st   Nancy GRAY         `27 Olds

2^nd  Anthea McLEAN      Liberty Liberty

3^rd  Janice GOODMAN   Wishin` I Was Here

Oil:

1^st   Michael JORDAN                 Thin Ice– Blue Lake (Best in Show)

2^nd  Colleen POLYCHRONIOU      Higher

3^rd    E.Arlyene FARNWORTH        Ocean Front Property In Arizona

3^rd   Olena LENNOX                      The Kiss – Raven and the Dove

Acrylic:

1^st  Dianne BERSEA        Sky Dance  (pictured with Sally Franks & Marion Trimble)

2^nd  Sheryl FOSSETT         Untitled

3^rd   GARCILAZO                Cave of Lost Dreams

3^rd   L. Leann PARRENT     Romancing the Desert

Fibre Arts:

1^st   Janice GOODMAN       Trio

2^nd  Shirley NILSSON             Tea With A View

3^rd   Marianne PARSONS       Stone Stories

3-Dimensional:

1^st   David KOENIG          Moon Thief

2^nd   Yvonne MOORE         Come Sail Away

3^rd   Dianne BERSEA         Channel Inn Whimsy

Photography:

1^st    Paul EBY                       Keeping Watch

2^nd   Paul EBY                         Three’s Company

3^rd   Merle SOMMERVILLE     Autumn Fantasy – Silver Poplars

3^rd   Darrell URUSKI               Golden Sunset on Vaseau Lake

Other Media:

1^st     Sue McCARRELL Cabinet of Dreams

2^nd    Sandy BOBLIN         Rustic 3

2^nd    Anthea McLEAN      Dream of the Navajo

3^rd    Diane GANE             The Evolution of Magda

Emerging Artist:  Category not judged. Not enough entries

Participating Certificate        Kallie MARSEL            Turtle Mania

Participating Certificate        Paige RILEY                  Madelyn in Mountains

Budding Artist:

1^st    Benjamin KOENIG        Dragon Rider

2^nd   Emma LENNOX                Dreams

3^rd   Emaya VEGA BARIC        Night and Day

Photo Credit: Jack Bennest, Oliver Daily News

Visitors to the Fall Art Show and Sale as well as the Festival of the Grape this weekend will enjoy dipping into a cool exhibit of the RipOff Artists’ latest challenge: “Queen of the Fish” by Mimi Parent.

The collective chooses one work of art by one famous (dead) artist per year to “rip off” as creative inspiration. Each artist then reinterprets the work in their own medium: wood, digital photography, quilting, weaving, felting, 3-dimensional, or a combination of media.The RipOff Artists met for a busy week in August to create and display their works in homage to Parent. The Fall Art Show and Sale (October 4 – 5) will be only the second public showing of the completed pieces.

The original “Queen of the Fish” (at top) was an embroidery with applique, created in 1962. Mimi Parent (1924 –  2005) was a surrealist artist born in Montreal. Between 1942 and 1947 she studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal where she met the artist Jean Benoît (whom she later married). In 1948 she received the Cézanne medal and exhibited at the “Surrealist intrusion into the Enchanter’s Domain” in New York in 1960. She also exhibited in Chicago, London, Lausanne and Frankfurt.

Enid Baker (silk embroidery) created details of two fish that accompany the mermaid, mounted in matching shadow boxes. In the photo, Enid is relaxing by zen doodling the fish detail. 

Kurt Hutterli: 3-D sculpture using found objects and paint on panel. His fish hang on hooks  and can be “caught” using a fishing rod. Get interactive with art this weekend by casting a line to catch some artistic fish.      

Tara Hovanes (Acrylic paint in 2 layers): She painted an undercoat of a somewhat realistic mermaid with fibres for her hair, then painted over that to express her own feelings and ideas about the subject matter.

Terry Irvine (3-D construction of wet felt and needle felting on an upcycled lamp). Layers of dyed wool were needle felted to form the mermaid’s body, around the lamp base. The fish were also constructed of layers of wool needle felted to the wet felted base. She created a beaded wire network and suspended dragonflies from that, made a beaded wire crown for the mermaid, and sewed gemstone beads and shells onto the mermaid. She also created a necklace made of beads gifted to her at a recent art retreat, that had also formed the basis for her pre-piece for this show.

Barb Levant: Woven fabric in bamboo and chenille, based on the colours of an abalone shell. The fabric was then made into a vest lined with silk.

Leo Pedersen: Wood panel with cutout shapes of the fish, mermaid and dragonfly painted with acrylic paint and mounted.

Marion Trimble: Assemblage: like a collage but the pieces are both flat and 3-dimensional, a favourite of the Surrealist artists. She created fish scales by painting Tyvek house-wrap with a paint containing titanium flakes, which become iridescent. Then she used a hair dryer which made the Tyvek bubble into organic shapes that had a fishy gleam. She incorporated other 3-D textures as well as papers throughout her piece.

JoAnn Turner: Shadowbox (Mimi Parent’s favoured format) made of wood painted with acrylic. The mermaid, fishes and dragonfly were painted on heavy watercolour paper using inks and watercolour paint, then mounted on foam core. Some details were made using paper folded into 3-D shapes. Real beads were incorporated as well.

Russell Work: digital manipulation. His first project was tessellation, dividing the image into geometric shapes that were rotated into a repeating pattern. From there, he moved onto creating autostereograms, single images that create the illusion of depth through careful spacing on the page. The Magic Eye images that used to appear in magazines and newspapers are examples of this.

JoAnn Turner describes what she believes was a common “thread” among the varied pieces created from the 2014 RipOff Challenge. “If there was a single unifying theme in all of our pieces this year, I’d say it was 3-D. All of us got off the flat picture plan in some way. Otherwise, I think this was the widest variation we’ve ever displayed in our approaches to the same piece. Although doing Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” in the style of another artist was very varied as well, but that variation was intentional. In this case, it just seemed to be how each artist approached the piece.”

The Fall Art Show and Sale is held Saturday October 4 (3 – 9 p.m.) and Sunday October 5 (12 noon – 4 p.m.) at the Oliver Community Centre. Admission by donation on Saturday; admission through Festival of the Grape ticket on Sunday. Besides the RipOff Artists, visitors can view another non-competitive exhibit by The Fabricators: “Calendar of the Okanagan”. This group specializes in advance quilting and applique techniques. Also featured at the Fall Art Show and Sale: a competitive art show of 100 entries, public voting, art sales, evening reception and entertainment by Jazz Out West, and an awards show with Brock Jackson as M/C.

Thanks to JoAnn Turner for artist notes.

Photos by Penelope Johnson