Starting in March, the Coastal Art Gallery in Gibsons will launch a new monthly feature. When space permits, one or two artists will each mount a display highlighting achievements and biographical details.
The featured artist for March is photographer and writer (plus consummate gardener) Sheila Weaver. Weaver’s new book The Taste of a Raindrop and other Haiku of the West Coast inspired a testimonial from another Sunshine Coast literary institution, author PJ Reece.
“Reading Weaver’s minimalist poems (each consumed in one eyeful), I found myself recalling the truth of things, which makes me happy,” said Reece. “It’s like flash fiction! Tiny scenarios (of a crow, coyote, or rushing stream) that jolt us awake to a larger story that the author leaves to our own memory and imagination. Weaver’s haikus contain the power to break the trance that dulls us to the small miracles of life. Which is reason enough to reread this haiku collection again and again.”
The Coastal Art Gallery is situated in Sunnycrest Mall, central to Gibsons’s uptown cultural hub.
Documentary fans get their kicks
The Sunshine Coast Film Society will present the documentary Copa 71 next week.
The inspiring documentary, directed by James Erskine and Rachel Ramsay, tells the story of the unofficial 1971 Women’s World Cup that was witnessed by record crowds but virtually erased from the history of soccer. Hosted by Mexico City with teams from Argentina, Denmark, England, France, Italy and Mexico, the tournament was witnessed by more than 100,000 enthusiastic fans in Azteca Stadium.
Screenings are scheduled at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse on Monday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. and at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt on Thursday, March 6 at 2 p.m.
Venus and Serena Williams served as executive producers for the film, which chronicles the fight for women’s right to play soccer and the revolutionary grassroots tournament that followed.
The story unspools through interviews with the players, using archival footage and photographs to recount the tournament’s origins and individual women’s relationships with the sport.
Copa 71 is an uplifting and exciting sports documentary that deserves to be seen by everyone, according to film society critics: “The 1971 Women’s World Cup story will delight, as well as invoke rage and sadness over the fact that this is just now being told.” Through Erskine and Ramsay’s riveting and moving film, a story buried for more than a half-century is finally moving from the sidelines to centre field.
The feature will be accompanied by a special screening of the award-winning short film Brad and Chad’s Musical Adventure. The four-minute comedy (and science-fiction homage) was produced by a team of Elphinstone Secondary filmmakers for Vancouver’s Run and Gun festival last year, and earned top honours for youth submissions. The Elphinstone filmmakers will be in attendance.
Membership is required to attend film society events. Memberships and tickets are available by paying cash at the door or purchasing online at scfs.ca. 18+ membership is required to attend SCFS screenings.
Belt vocalist headlines coffee house
An ongoing series of the Coast Cultural Alliance and the Sunshine Coast Arts Council resumes on March 14 at 7:30 p.m.: the Artesia Coffee House, convened at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre in Sechelt.
The March 14 installment will feature Brielle Taylor, a 16-year-old singer — known for her role as the lead vocalist in local progressive-grunge rock band Belt — with a solo performance, plus the Elphin Tones Trio featuring Victoria Frodsham, Louis Domingue, and Susann Richter.
The evening’s spoken-word artist will be Maggi Guzzi. The Holly Hawk will present on vocals and guitar to close the evening, comprised of Megan Mansbridge, Joel Fafard (harmonica) and Kaia Nielsen (bass).
Admission is by donation and includes a selection of refreshments; doors open at 6:45 p.m.
