The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives hosted a free wool weaving workshop on Saturday, April 1, led by Tsawaysia Spukwus of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation.
A dozen participants each wove a headband using traditional Coast Salish weaving techniques and learned the importance of weaving to Skwxwú7mesh culture.
“Weaving teaches us patience,” said Tsawaysia Spukwus, “and it also teaches us respect for nature that produces the wool.”
Easter weekend library highlights
The Gibsons and District Public Library is planning an appropriately-colourful long weekend.
On Saturday, April 8, a number of featured presenters are on the lineup.
At 10:30 a.m., local award-winning poet Fran Bourassa will offer a two-hour workshop titled “Creative Writing for the Faint of Heart.”
If your inner editor is stifling you, Fran’s “Word Whip” prompts may loosen your pent-up creativity. Teens and adults are welcome. The in-person event is free but space is limited; register online or call 604-886-2130 to sign up.
At 2 p.m., local mandolin strummer and author Jon van Arsdell will read from his warm-hearted Sunshine Coast memoir No Longhairs: The Odyssey of a Vietnam Draft Dodger.
Members of Jon’s latest band, the Road Apples (with Michael Maser, Graham Walker, Mary White and Stu Young) will accompany Jon on a few folk tunes.
Literary reading in Sechelt
The Sunshine Coast Arts Council, under the guidance of a Literary Reading Committee, sponsors a series of readings each year. Authors make a selection to read from their texts, followed by a discussion with the audience.
The upcoming literary reading on Saturday, April 22 at 7 p.m. will feature Tolu Oloruntoba, via Zoom web conferencing.
Tolu Oloruntoba was born and practiced medicine in Nigeria before migrating to Canada. He has experienced conflict and human fragility first-hand, as well as the experience of displacement and resultant isolation, which are themes in his poetry.
Oloruntoba’s debut collection The Junta of Happenstance won the 2021 Governor General’s Award and the prestigious 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize. His latest book, Each One a Furnace (2022), uses the imagery of migratory finches to express restlessness, immigration, and the othering that are prevalent globally.
To register to attend the online literary reading, browse to the sunshinecoastartscouncil.com website.
From the prairies to Pender Harbour
Coming up on Sunday, April 23, the Pender Harbour Concert Society will present two Saskatchewan-based musicians: pianist Meagan Milatz and violinist Amy Hillis. The meagan & amy duo are prodigiously talented and fearless in their enthusiasm for programs that place European classical masterworks beside contemporary Canadian compositions.
A duo since 2011, Milatz and Hillis now play for appreciative audiences at home and abroad.
Tickets ($30) are available by browsing to penderharbourmusic.ca and for in-person purchase at Harbour Insurance in Madeira Park and Strait Music in Sechelt.
