The Sunshine Coast Arts Council has invited its many members to participate in the upcoming Friends of the Gallery exhibition, an annual celebration of creativity and community.
The showcase is a long-standing community event that has endured more than 25 years. Its aim is to involve the broadest range of local artists, to acknowledge the role of the arts in our community, and to celebrate diversity in materials, forms and approach.
Artists may submit one piece of art they have completed in the previous year to be shown in the group exhibition. Pieces should be dropped off at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre on Jan. 4 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Members of the public are urged to attend the opening reception on Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. “We invite you to spend time with the works, and if you can, purchase one and support a local artist,” said Arts Council manager Eric Miller in an announcement.
A curated component was added to the exhibition to explore a specific theme prompted by a local artist’s work. This year’s theme is “The Weather.”
Artists who have made a work, or who are inspired by this prompt, may submit their work to this specific component of the exhibition. The theme is inspired from Allyson Clay’s piece “Weather Ouch.”
Reading ahead
Organizers of the Off the Page play reading series have released a list of upcoming productions. All shows take place at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoons.
On Jan. 22, Off the Page readers present Malta or A Noisy Noise by Gambier Island playwright Amiel Gladstone. The story concerns Jane, struggling to find her safe place while her worst fear seems to be coming true: everything changes. How will she find safety as her father’s dementia gets worse, her mother is in the throes of a sexual awakening, and her relationship with her boyfriend Ian is falling apart? Where is refuge in a world that feels like it’s getting more dangerous every day?
On Feb. 19, Super Seniors or Alive at 105 by Vancouver’s Kathryn Shaw will ask what it would be like to be alive and kicking at 105. Set at the Fairfield Residence, three women over the age of 105 offer differing responses to their extraordinarily long lives. Based on experience with her own aged family members, the writer brings insight and humour to the conundrum of extreme old age.
Finally, on March 12, a play by Gibsons’ own Peter Hill — Any Luck? — will depict life in the little fishing community of Fishwood. Coastal characters who live there get by on fishing and happy hour... until their lives are disrupted by two women who arrive by sailboat from the big city. It’s a tale of love and beer as rural residents clash with newcomers who have arrived straight from Whole Foods.
The season keeps giving
The extraordinary vocal ensemble MOTET will present its Twelve Days of Christmas concert on Monday, Jan. 2 at 3 p.m. at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church in Sechelt.
(A second performance takes place the next day at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Vancouver.)
The Twelve Days of Christmas is a programme that recognizes the overlooked festivities occurring between Dec. 25 and Jan. 6 each year. Words from Saint John’s gospel commemorate his feast day on the third day of Christmas; the Coventry Carol recalls the Holy Innocents killed by King Herod.
David Willcocks and Herbert Howells are perennial favourite composers and will this year be sung alongside works by Canadians David Millard and Healey Willan.
