It may not be a Picasso, but we want it! Picassoâs Cupboard, our 3rd annual silent auction, is a month long event being planned to raise funds in support of exhibitions and programs at Gallery Vertigo. We hope to fill the gallery with all kinds of unique treasures for this fun event. The treasures will be on display at the gallery from November 18th to December 13th with the silent auction closing at 2pm on December 13th.

NOAA Members and friends of the gallery are asked to help round up items for auction. Please ask your families, friends and neighbours to look in their cupboards and closets for hidden treasures to donate. Objects of art, both weird and wonderful are sought. Found objects, pottery, art supplies, glass, china, antiques, furniture, books, wood carvings, small paintings and drawings, frames, etc., etc., etc., are welcome. Your help is appreciated.

Please drop off items at the gallery from now until and Sat. Nov. 15th between 11am and 4pm. Donated items will be on exhibition between Nov. 18th and Dec. 13th with a gala closing of the auction and raffle draw at 2pm on the 13th. All donors and visitors will be entered into a draw for a fabulous Christmas basket.


Photo: Inge Kooyman has a sneak peek at some of the treasures arriving daily at Gallery Vertigo.

Gallery Vertigo
#1-3001-31st Street (upstairs)
Vernon, BC V1T 5H8
(250) 503-2297
info@galleryvertigo.com
www.galleryvertigo.com

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08 Nov 2008

"RANDOM DRAWINGS" is at the Summerland Art Gallery from November 13 to 22, 2008.

On for only ten days, this show features "in progress" and completed works of the members of The Group of 6 or 7.

Opening on Thursday, November 13 with a wine and cheese reception from 7 to 9 p.m., viewers will have the opportunity to see many different sketching styles and techniques on display.

The gallery, at 9533 Main Street, is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.

For further information 494-4494

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07 Nov 2008

Salsa Night Wednesday, November 5th @ 8:30pm Back again by popular demand!  Featuring Trevor Salloum and dance lessons with Nico.   $10 entertainment charge    Little Miss Higgins Thurs, Nov 6 @ 8pm  The Dirty Ol' Tractor Tour 2008 Featuring the dynamic vocals of this 2008 Juno and WCMA nominee   $10 entertainment charge      Sarah Noni Metzner Friday, November 7 @ 8pm   $5 entertainment charge   "The sounds and words of Sarah Noni Metzner create an unlikely musical concoction. Equal parts grit and glamour, soul and silk, tattoos and mandolins, her work is a magical-realist mix of cabaret, folk, rock and pop. A multi-instrumentalist with a dynamic voice, Metzner performs music that contains acoustic, electric, and sometimes subtle electronic elements. An artist in the truest sense of the word, her ever-evolving dimensions exist in multitudes.   The Canadian Folk Music Awards have honoured her with a Best Solo Artist win in 2007 and a Best Songwriter nomination in 2006 for her last release Daybreak Mourning. With several Canadian and American tours under her belt, Metzner made her 2007 European debut in the UK and Germany, with a showcase at Berlin's Popkomm Festival".   Lindsay Ell Tuesday, November 11 @ 8pm    $5 entertainment charge   "Call it the indescribable "wow." It's that quintessential moment for anyone involved in music, when out of the blue a talented new artist stops you dead in your tracks, and there is the need to retrieve your jaw from the floor. So it was when Canadian icon and musical renaissance man Randy Bachman crossed paths with Calgary teenager Lindsay Ell."   "I was on tour and a friend passed along a CD with Lindsay's demos. When we listened for the first time, our reaction was, "we've put in the wrong CD. This is Chet Atkins -- not a 15 year old girl. Then my band and I were assured that it was Lindsay Ell playing a complex Tommy Emmanuel piece."

More Entertainment Betty Johnson and Lori Brue, Saturday, November 8 @ 8pm Lindsay Ell, Tuesday, November 11 @ 8pm Chris Thompson, Thursday, November 13 @ 8pm Jan Randall, Friday, November 14 @ 8pm Trina Nestibo & Charlie Hase, Saturday, November 15 @ 8pm The Dust Poets, Tuesady, November 18 @ 8pm Porkbelly Futures, Thursday, November 20 @ 8pm Dr Zoo Canadian Tour, Friday, November 21 @ 8pm Shooglenifty, Wednesday, November 26 @ 8pm

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05 Nov 2008

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Freelancing in the Media

TRUE STORIES OF TRIUMPH & TRIBULATION
» Thursday 6 November 2008 | 5 pm
» The Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue
An informal afternoon hour showcasing people and ideas featured in Okanagan ARTS. Join us as Leanne Allen, Karin Wilson and Robert MacDonald explore the role of freelancers in the constantly-changing modern broadcasting and publishing landscape.

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» This is a free event. Refreshments will be available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE

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Creative Insiders Compare Survival Strategies

There's a scene at the beginning of the movie The Incredibles where Elastigirl suggests to her future husband that he should be more "flexible". If ever there was a metaphor for surviving in the Okanagan media landscape, flexible would certainly cover it.

This week, the Okanagan Institute's Express series reaches into the media world with a look at how local media players have flexed their creative thinking muscles to keep themselves vibrant players in an industry that sometimes appears to be all locked up.

The Okanagan Institute Express series continues its creative explorations, presenting Freelancing in the Media: True Stories of Triumph and Tribulation. The event takes place Thursday, November 6 at 5 pm at the Bohemian Café. Featured at the event are three high-profile self-employed media people who have watched their work morph and change in reaction to a media world continually hungry for something new.

Leanne Allen is the former publisher and editor of Off-Centre Magazine, the only urban, independent magazine in the Southern Interior targeting the 20-45 demographic. A brazen risk-taker, Allen launched the magazine with a whopping four-pages that quickly grew to become the region's answer to the Georgia Strait tackling local issues with an edge. Along the way, Allen expanded her media vision with a foray into creating live television under the banner Off-Centre Omnimedia. Since the sale of her magazine last fall, has been working on a pilot project Citizen Jane for CBC Radio along with her sister. A creative entrepreneur, Leanne blames her Bachelor's degree in English on Margaret Atwood.

Karin Wilson has worked in the Okanagan media since she arrived in Penticton in 2002. She started out as a news reporter and columnist for the local daily news covering courts, crime and aboriginal affairs. After the birth of her daughter, she migrated into new media and broadcasting, working for Bridges.com in Kelowna and then for CBC Radio. Most recently she added magazine writing to her repertoire working for Okanagan Arts, Okanagan Home, and Okanagan Life, along with freelancing for the Vancouver Sun, all while balancing her role as Associate Director of the Okanagan Institute and organizing and hosting the weekly Thursday Express series.

Robert MacDonald is another media sojourner who has taken the path from graphic design, advertising and marketing into magazine and book publishing. MacDonald was the Director of the Publishing Workshops at the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre for fifteen years, and a founder of the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association and the Graphic Arts in the Public Service Foundation. He has been involved in the launch and repositioning of numerous magazines, and several book publishing companies. He is the publisher, editor and designer of Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home magazines, and consults with media and technology companies, universities and associations in Canada and the US.

Freelancing in the Media: True Stories of Triumph and Tribulation is a free event, and takes place at the Bohemian Café. This marks the 65th event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in July 2007. Since that time, the series has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet and professor John Lent, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, architect Jim Meiklejohn, broadcaster Mari0n Barschel and others from a wide range of creative fields.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE

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Where Enquiring Minds Gather. Okanagan Institute at the Bohemian Café A hearty feast of lectures, presentations, workshops and showcases celebrating our culture and community. Produced by the Okanagan Institute in association with Wheat King Publishing magazines: Okanagan Arts and Okanagan Home. Express is sponsored in part by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Publishing, UBCO-FCCS, and in support of Project Literacy Kelowna.

The Okanagan Institute is a group of creative professionals that has gathered around the goal of providing events, publications and services of interest to enquiring minds in the Okanagan. We partner with individuals, organizations, institutions and businesses to achieve optimal creative and social impact.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.

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03 Nov 2008

Four new exhibitions at the Vernon Public Art Gallery will be celebrated with an opening reception on Thursday, November 6th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.  The special event will recognize several distinct artists, including Barbara Marchand, smallMATTERS by members of the gallery, Mike Nield, and Jorden & David Doody. The first exhibition titled SYILX, created by Barbara Marchand, is a sculptural installation consisting of several shallow bas-relief wall hangings and a free-standing sculpture, complemented by a documentary video on her artistic profile, produced by CHBC in 2007. Marchand’s intent in this body of artwork is, as she points out, “…to portray visually how traditional stories and language connect, overlap, and remind us of our responsibility to take care of the land.”

The annual members’ exhibit, smallMATTERS, is a popular and valuable part of the Gallery’s exhibition programming. To participate in the exhibit, members must follow strict size restrictions – two-dimensional work must be equal to or smaller than a total of 12 inches and three-dimensional must be equal to or smaller than a total of 18 inches. The presentation of small-scale artwork is not only an opportunity for members to showcase their work, but also for the community to view and purchase artwork from a diverse group of artistic talents.

Mike Nield is a recent graduate from the BFA program at the Faculty of Critical and Creative Studies at the UBC Okanagan. The artist’s interest in natural forces and architectural design result in a sculptural installation titled Containment that explores the phenomena of space, energy and motion. True to the main concept of installation art that states that the artwork is only complete when the viewer is a part of it, Nield places the viewer in the centre of the space containing three sculptural elements. The artist’s experiments with architectural design enhance the sculptural forms he creates and the scale of actual pieces often references the size of the human body.

Jorden and David Doody are recent graduates from the BFA program at the UBC-O Fine Arts Department. Their artistic practice exemplifies a collaborative approach to art making, and their artwork is executed in two and three-dimensional collages and video with a similar collage-based approach. Their installation/presentation in the Community Gallery titled Collages brings together small-scale two-dimensional collages and a free-standing collage-inspired sculpture. Their collage/assemblage methodology results in visual propositions that are pluralistic in nature, difficult to interpret, and which place a responsibility on the viewer to decode the possible parallel meanings in the presented artwork.

The new exhibitions in the Vernon Public Art Gallery will run from November 6th until December 23rd.

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30 Oct 2008