The Oliver Sagebrushers are celebrating the third anniversary of their Quail’s Roost Art Gallery at Rustico Farm and Cellars Winery in Oliver. The weekend will begin with a reception Friday May 24 from 5 – 8 pm, featuring well-known artist and musician Agnes Sutherland. Agnes has been with the art club for almost 50 years and at age 96 is an inspiration to all with her tireless energy devoted to her painting and music.
On the morning of Saturday May 25, the Sagebrushers will be assisting the winery with the Half-Corked Marathon. What a delight to view the costumes, the runners, and the happy faces.
On Sunday May 26, the Sagebrushers will be part of the cancer fundraiser for Chloe Kroeger. Everyone is invited to the Stampede Pancake Breakfast from 9 am to 12 noon.
The Quail’s Roost Gallery will be open during all of these events.
Directions: Drive 6 kms south of Oliver (or 12 kms north of Osoyoos) on Highway 97. Turn west onto Road 16. Turn south onto Golden Mile Dr. (formerly 123rd Street). Distance from the highway: 0.4 km
Here we are, with the passing of April and the completion of BC Arts and Culture week. Well, the Oliver Art Gallery is proud to push on with the theme by announcing its new Feature Artist for the month of May.
Rod Gould, Horse Logger/Painter will be displaying his many works on our feature walls, from April 30, to May 28th.
Rod, an avid outdoors man, has spent most of his life hunting, fishing, farming and logging with his horses on his 1500 acre wilderness ranch. While he had painted and followed his love of art all along, lately he is finding himself out in the weather slapping paint on canvas more and more.
His paintings are his attempt in expressing his appreciation, of the life he has had the privilege of living and to pay tribute to some of the good and honest horses he has worked with. His paintings speak, of the sparkle of first light on a mountain river, or times past when horses broke the ground and skidded the logs.
Rod occasionally works in watercolour, but mainly he paints in oil. It is the chosen medium of his artistic heroes, like Tom Thomson, Carl Rungius and N.C. Wyeth. He spends a lot of his time painting outdoors, or creating plein air sketches that later become a large studio painting.
The Oliver Art Gallery is privileged to have Rod Gould as one of its 20 artists, displaying a variety of mediums and styles from realism to abstract, for the pleasure of all comers. Ceramics and jewelry have also been added as extra variety for a diversity of choice to shoppers.
There is also ongoing art classes offered at the gallery:
Pencil Drawing
Sunday Mornings, – 9:00 – 11:00AM.
Six weeks, starting Sunday May 5, through to June 9th.
Cost; $ 60.00
Artist teacher, – Steve Staresina
Every artist needs to be able to draw before they can paint. Learn the basic drawing techniques, for landscapes, animals and the human body.
Painting – Acrylics for Beginners
Monday Evenings – 6:30 – 9:00PM
Six weeks, Starting Monday, May 6 through June 10.
Cost; $ 60.00
Artist teacher – Steve Staresina
This will be a teaching Class for beginners. You will learn about the supplies, products and techniques. If you wondered if you had it in you to become a painter, this is where you will find out. A list of supplies will be available upon registration.
Portrait Drawing with Pastels
Monday Mornings – 9:00 – 11:30
Two weeks, starting May 13 and 20th.
Cost; $45.00
Artist teacher – Sharon Leonard
This will be a two session lesson, where you will be able to draw a portrait of your choice. Bring your own photograph to work from. (Picture should be clear and show all features, like the eyes).
Drop in to view, Rod Gould’s Art, and the many other beautiful pieces on display.
New issues of Creative Minds can be found on our Events page listed above, just under the top banner. The newsletter is issued late in the third week of each month.
BC Arts and Culture Week is a province wide, annual celebration of art during the third week of April. Needing little excuse for a party, Oliver artists in all media delight in showcasing their skills. This spring, several arts groups are in the spotlight.
The week opens with the Oliver Sagebrushers art club presenting Art at the Owl at the Burrowing Owl Estate Winery Guest House. The Sagebrushers are joined by artists from Osoyoos. The opening reception is from 1 -3 pm on Saturday April 20, with a continuing exhibit and sale during the following week. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Drop by the guest house in the afternoons from 12 – 4 pm daily.
The Sage Valley Voices Community Choir is “puttin’ on the Ritz” with a choral concert of Vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood hits. Not content to be “just” a choir, the ensemble adds colourful costumes and comedic repartee to enliven the performance. Audiences have a choice of Saturday April 20 at 7 pm or a matinee on Sunday April 21 at 2:30 at Oliver United Church. Tickets are $10 at the door, and include refreshments after the concert. Food Bank donations are always welcome.
The arts council takes their monthly “Arts Jam” on tour to the Oliver Regional Library on Tuesday April 22 at 9:30 am. The Friends of the Oliver Library will host the event. Arts Jam is a social gathering of many of the council’s 17 groups and 15 businesses. The primary purpose is to exchange current events news from the local art scene. The public is always invited to catch up on all things arty in Oliver. The council also takes the opportunity to inform the public of its programmes and projects and address the needs of council members.
Oliver’s fabulous fibre artists invite the public to two open houses during BC Arts and Culture Week. The Double O Quilters Guild host theirs on WednesdayApril 24 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Oliver Community Centre Hall. Tour displays and demonstrations throughout the hall.
The Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers Guild fling open their doors the following day at the same venue: Thursday April 25 from 10 am to 1 pm. Watch their flurry of activity at a felting bee. They are currently working on a felting project entitled “Crossing Borders” for the Association of Northwest Weavers Guilds (ANWG). The local guild is felting two large three-dimensional cottages, one Canadian, one American. The cottages will be linked by a “cross-border” clothesline representing the goodwill between the guilds on both sides of the 49th parallel. The Desert Sage Spinners and Weavers plan to enter the finished product at the ANWG conference in late June.
Visit Paw Prints Studio and Gallery at 212 Carr Crescent in Willowbrook Valley and the Oliver Art Gallery on Main Street, both of whom are also celebrating BC Arts and Culture Week.
The Oliver Community Arts Council is grateful to Arts BC, who funds BC Arts and Culture Week every year with a small grant to cover joint publicity. We are also grateful to the Province of BC and the BC Arts Council who support the work of Arts BC.
Tune in for a lovely spring concert with the Oliver Handbell Ringers. Whether it’s the youth bell choir or the adults, you’ll love their sweet sound. Remember your freewill donation so they can purchase more music and instruments so they can continue to entertain you in the furture!
If the image of a quilt in your mind is something handmade, warm and on a bed, then it’s time for an image upgrade.
Today’s quilts are just as likely to be on the wall as on the bed, and contain paper, synthetics, paint, ink, metal or other substances not noted for their warmth. Quilting the layers together is often done by a computerized sewing machine, sometimes with no human at the wheel.
The world of modern quilt making is light years away from its original form, and filled with new techniques, tools and technology. You will have a chance to see the top quilts in Canada, and get a close look at the secrets to their construction when the Canadian Quilters Association (CQA/ACC), Canada’s only national quilting organization, brings the 32nd National Juried Show (NJS) to Penticton May 16 – 18.
Quilt BC 2013 at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre will bring together thousands of quilters from across the nation for the National Juried Show that celebrates the best in contemporary quilt making. After the awards ceremony on Wednesday evening, the NJS will be open to the public from Thursday, May 16 to Saturday, May 18 for 3 jam-packed days.
There are 5 accompanying shows featuring more Canadian quilters: The Fibre Art Network’s “Fibrescapes” exhibit with 30 pieces from across Western Canada; SAQA (Studio Art Quilters Associates) with 40 pieces from among their 3000 members titled “Best of the West”; The Fabricators based in the South Okanagan showing 15 “Elements” pieces; the “Invitational” featuring CQA executive, teachers and the Quilt BC 2013 organizing committee; and a special exhibit celebrating the past 24 winners in the Trend-Tex Challenge.
For 25 years, Trend-Tex Fabrics Sales has donated kits of 5 fabrics from which CQA members create quilt art to be auctioned off during the conference to raise funds for CQA. This year, the theme is “Sunshine and Vines” in honor of Quilt BC 2013 in Penticton. The public is invited to vote for a favorite from among the approximately 100 entries, and to participate in the silent auction of the quilts.
To add to the frenzy, there will be over 50 merchant booths featuring everything a stitcher could desire. There will be the latest in sewing machines, irons, threads, books, rulers and fabrics. Add to that the custom-created fabrics, the burning tools, the beads, ribbons and embellishments, the discharge supplies, dyes, paints and inks, stencils, stamps, foils, kits and other fabric art necessities, and you have a quilters’ paradise.
Access to some exhibit areas will be by admission ticket. The merchant mall and Trend-Tex Challenge areas have free entry, allowing unlimited shopping and voting. Open hours to all areas are Thursday, May 16, 10 – 5:30; Friday, May 17, 10 – 6; Saturday, May 18, 10 – 5.
Get an update on our Museum Renovations project, volunteer opportunities, and other news.
Our guest speaker is Ian Pooley, an historian and retired teacher. He recently published “Moving Fresh Fruit by Steam Tugboat” in the Okanagan Historical Society 76th Report and “When the Titans Met: Railway Rivalry and Kelowna’s Rise as a Fruit Shipping Centre” in BC Studies Winter 2012/1013. He is currently researching the history of early theatre productions in the Okanagan. Mr. Pooley will be presenting “Doodlebugs and Diesel Tugs: The CNR’s Great Okanagan Railway Invasion”
Only members in good standing may vote at the AGM so please drop by the Archives Monday through Wednesday, 9 am to 4 pm and renew your membership for 2013.
For more info: 250-498-4027 or info@oliverheritage.ca
Almost 50 members of the Sage Valley Voices choir are choosing costumes, fine tuning music at numerous rehearsals and even doing some baking for the delicious goodies planned for intermission. The Spring concert, “That’s Entertainment”, will be
performed Saturday, April 20th at 7 pm and again Sunday, April 21st at 2:30 pm at the Oliver United Church. Tickets are $10 at the door and proceeds go to outreach programs here in our community like the soup kitchen.
The entertainment starts with Songs of the 1890s and runs the gamut of favourite show tunes into the 1990s. Think everything from “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” from
Showboat right through tunes like “Puttin’ On the Ritz”, “The Impossible Dream”, “Moon River”, “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables, “Memory” from Cats, and many more.
Photo 1: Morley Carter, Bass, chooses a costume
Photo 2: Marlene Docherty, Soprano, checking her music with Linda Nunweiler, 2nd Soprano, in background.
Alice DeRoche, conductor, approaches the concert with the finesse of a fine lion tamer. Much loved, she is able to use humour and occasionally a big stick to coax latent talent from the masses.
Photo 3: Alice DeRoche, conductor, setting up sound equipment
Sandy Andres, a superb pianist, provides the accompaniment. Nothing seems to faze our Sandy although she is holding her breath more than usual. She is poised to become a first time grandmother perilously close to the performances dates. We are all offering prayers the sweet little babe does not decide to come early!
Every one of you is urged to come out and enjoy “That’s Entertainment” as we usher in another Okanagan Spring.
Photo 4: Doreen Visser and Kaye-Marie Yuckin, Altos, taking time for a joke
Contributed by David Badger, Medici’s Gelateria and Coffee House
The Masters of Trivia returns to Oliver on the Friday April 19th. It’s Trivial Pursuit a la pub quiz style. Teams consist of 3 to 5 players each. Register as a team, a family, a single player or a couple and we’ll put you with other players to form a team. The questions are general knowledge and roam around the categories of the mind at will. It’s a great way to spend a night of interactive fun and et the recognition of being the Brainiac you’ve always known yourself to be. There are prizes to be won, lots of delicious goodies to consume and of course there are egos to inflate and to crush. This is fun. This is the place to flaunt all that useless knowledge you’ve been packing around for years. The Mighty Pixels barely clung to a piece of the Cup’s indescribable glory when last the upstart smarties from John Won’t Care nearly snatched it away entirely. Be the next battle-scarred victor to hoist the now enormous, gaudy and ‘hotly contended for’ Einstein Cup
Ten teams maximum so register and get your ticket early — $5 per person.
See you at Medici’s Gelateria & Coffee House on 522 Fairview Rd. in Oliver. 250-498-2228. Doors open at 6:30….we’ll open your minds about 7:15.
The arts council’s Spring Arts Faire may have been held on a day that wasn’t “fair” and sunny, but perhaps the wet weather paid off. There was a steady flow of traffic through the Oliver Community Centre hall on Sunday April 7 as visitors came to view, chat and buy, all in celebration of local artistic talent. Pottery, jewelry, fibre arts, paintings, glass art, and photography made for an enticing variety of talent on display.
Enid Baker shares her love of painting with visitors to her booth.
Brian Wilson’s display from the Okanagan Archive Trust Society (OATS) attracts the attention of local artists Leza MacDonald and Evie New. Besides maintaining a collection of historical photographs and publishing a magazine, OATS also provides a framing service. Click on their link at right.
Michael Jorden (right) of the Oliver Art Gallery talks horses and wild western art with a visitor. Click on their link at right.
Stephanie Salsnek of Paw Prints Studio and Gallery (The Art of John Salsnek) not only promotes her husband’s collection of limited edition prints and originals, but also models her own clothing line. This suit features applique work based on John’s paintings. She’s the one to call for one-of-a-kind wedding gowns and beautiful suits. Click on their link at right.
Jack Bennest points out one of his most popular giclee photographic prints to a customer. This snowy scene sold shortly after this photo was taken. Jack’s news site, Oliver Daily News can be reached by clicking on the link at right.
Marion Trimble welcomes fellow artist Michael Jorden and Susan Jorden to her mini gallery of paintings at the Faire.
Local media Eastlink TV arrived to conduct a series of interviews with artists. Here Marji Basso interviews Jane Scheffler of the Oliver Art Gallery. Check your local cable channel for more stories and details of upcoming events.
The Sage Valley Voices Community Choir is going Hollywood with their latest concert, with a side trip to Broadway. Some of the best-loved hits of stage and screen will be performed in “That’s Entertainment” on April 20 and 21. Audiences are sure to enjoy tunes from the musicals Les Miserables, Oklahoma, Cats, and Disney’s Pocahontas. Added to the mix are a medley of early vaudeville numbers and songs by the prolific George M Cohan, known in the biz as “Mr Broadway”. The concert slides up the scale through all the decades of the 1900’s. Of course, choir members will be ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’ in costumes relating to the various musical numbers.
The concerts will take place at the Oliver United Church on Saturday April 20 at 7 pm and a matinee on Sunday April 21 at 2:30 pm. Ticket price is $10 at the door. Bring along a Food Bank donation. Coffee, tea and cake will be served in the church hall after both concerts. The Sage Valley Voices hope you will join them for some great entertainment, food and fun!
The South Okanagan Concert Society announces that Early Bird Flex passes are on sale this month at Beyond Bliss in Oliver and Imperial Office Pro, Osoyoos. A true bargain at $50 for 4 outstanding concerts! Don’t miss this opportunity to hear world class music right here in Oliver.
The fourth concert remains a surprise but Janet Marcotte, SOCS President is in Vancouver to attend Pacific Contact April 6th, hear the best talent available on tour and come back with ideas for the final selection.
Remember, your four-ticket flex pass can be used in any combination for any number of concerts. You can choose which concert you go to and how many go with you, right up to the last minute. Go solo to each concert, including the surprise one next spring, or pick two and go with a friend. You can’t go wrong!
If you want a voice in it all, please come to the Concert Society Annual General Meeting at 7 pm Thursday, April ll, 2013 at Heather’s Threadz, 6246 Main Street and get involved. Newcomers are very welcome!
The Oliver Community Garden Society (OCGS) is supporting the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen by hosting one of their Free Compost Workshop on Monday April 8 at 6 PM at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre (Community Garden), 5840 Airport Street. The OCGS is pleased to welcome back Cameron Baughen from the RDOS for this FREE composting workshop.
If you are thinking of buying a compost bin or already own one, this free workshop is for you to help you use the systems to their full potential.
More information about the Green Cone (breaking down meat products, cooked foods, and pet waste into organic material) , compost bins, worm composting, and the full range of dates for workshops throughout the regional district may be found by: