Gibsons theatre couple Bill Moysey and Varya Rubin, known for their creativity, kindness and generosity, are turning now to their community for help for themselves and their two young children. Musician, producer, and theatre lighting director Moysey is in an intense struggle with lung cancer. Actor and singer Rubin, a fully recovered survivor in recent years of stage-three breast cancer herself, is with Moysey in Vancouver this week as he receives radiation treatment.
Both depend on performance-related work for their livelihood, but substantial work opportunities have vanished due to COVID-19 shutdowns of live theatre. They soldiered on with successful outdoor productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and an inventive Halloween theatrical last year, but the time has come to turn their full attention to this health crisis. “They and their family need support for supplementary treatment, child care, and living expenses,” wrote Vancouver playwright David Bloom on the couple’s GoFundMe page. “We’re starting our support of Bill and Varya with this campaign, but we will probably come back with another campaign in the not-too-distant future.”
If you’d like to help, go to gofundme.com and look for Healing Bill Moysey.
Drawing from life
Artists have studied and practised drawing live models at the Sunshine Coast Arts Council arts centre on most Tuesdays for the past 36 years. Pieces completed between 2018 and this year by 22 of those creators are going on display at the council’s Doris Crowston Gallery in Sechelt. Drawings include works in pencil, pen, conté, charcoal and digital drawings on iPad, all finished in a maximum of 30 minutes. “Drawings untouched back home in the studio have a spontaneity, freshness and immediacy ordinarily not seen in art exhibitions where the usual criteria include polish and composition,” the council noted in a release. The show opens Friday, Feb. 12 and runs to Sunday, March 14.
Three in one
Gibsons Public Art Gallery is currently featuring three artists, as it debuts a third display space at its Marine Drive location. Denise Brown’s watercolours are on display in the newly opened boardroom with an intriguing show in observance of Black History Month (see our feature article this week). In the main gallery, Powell River multi-media artist Yeonmi Kim brings her exhibition, Plasticity. Her work “is informed by a sustainable practice to elevate awareness around manufactured plastic and other materials we waste. Kim uses discarded materials to create art that addresses environmental changes and consumerism, while celebrating nature.” In the adjunct Eve Smart Gallery, catch some new pieces by Coast artist Zac Harding, 17, in his lighthearted show, Insert Title. Harding “employs ink, acrylic, spray paint, to simple shapes and forms to create his lively set of works.” Harding’s and Kim’s shows run through March 7. Brown’s exhibit is on until the end of February.
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