The big weekend is coming!

Artists are submitting their best work into Oliver’s 34th annual multimedia competition, the Fall Art Show and Sale, including photography, fibre art, three-dimensional art, watercolours, oils, acrylics, mixed media, and two categories for teens and children. One hundred works will be on display. In addition, two special exhibits are featured, each celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday. The event shares the same weekend at the same venue as the popular Cask and Keg and Festival of the Grape.

The Fall Art Show and Sale spans two days, Saturday September 30 (3 – 9 p.m.) and Sunday October 1 (12 – 5 p.m.), at the Oliver Community Centre, 6359 Park Drive. Admission is by donation, with a chance to win a wine fridge stocked with 18 different local wines.  See the participating wineries listed at right.

On Saturday, the public is invited to vote for their favourite in each media category, and for overall “Best in Show”. Lending sophistication to the evening will be a dessert reception accompanied by smooth ballads from Jazz Out West with Iris Larratt, beginning at 7 p.m.

The nail-biting ends at 8:30 p.m. when winners in all categories are presented with their awards. Local woodworker, Russell Moore, has designed the quail trophy bases, made from salvaged wood from the historic Venables Auditorium before it was destroyed by fire in 2011. Honorable mentions will recognize additional meritorious work.

On Sunday, patrons of the arts must also be patrons of the vine: Sunday’s admission is through a Festival of the Grape ticket only. The popular wine draw continues with every donation to the Fall Art Show and Sale offering a chance to win a stocked wine fridge. Stroll the competitive exhibit and find the many winners, marked with rosettes.

Many works of art are for sale.Meet the artists, and learn a little about their skill.

In addition to the one hundred works in competition, both days also feature special displays by talented local arts groups: the Exploration group and the RipOff Artists. The Exploration group, members of the Double O Quilters Guild, has mounted a display of quilts to “Celebrate Canada”. Look for colours, images, and themes that reflect Canada’s diversity. The RipOffs are ten talented artists, each working in their own medium, dedicated to “ripping off” a dead artist’s work in their own style. This year, the RipOffs cash in on Canada’s 150 celebration by reproducing the ten-dollar bill (complete with Sir John A. MacDonald) Each artist has reworked the currency in their chosen medium and in the style of a different Canadian artist, such as Maud Lewis, Tom Thomson, Ken Danby, and Emily Carr. As an added challenge to the artist and the viewer, the number “150”  appears somewhere in each piece.

Months in the planning, with well over a hundred artists, organizers, and volunteers, the Fall Art Show and Sale is the largest arts event presented by the Oliver Community Arts Council each year.

File Photo: Luba Chpak, by Val Friesen