CURTAINS UP! ... LIGHT THE LIGHTS!

Kelowna Actors StudioKids Programs - with new performance opportunities in acting, comedy, musical theatre, TV and film - are now available!

Following the popular Sleeping Beauty workshop offered for younger actors this fall, a 12-week musical theatre experience of Pinnochio is being presented each Saturday.
 
We offer kids an opportunity to strut their stuff in a full theatrical production. Our students journey through acting, technical & dress rehearsals until the big show! Actors Studio supplies the costumes, a light and sound technician, stage manager, music and a fully functional 190-seat theatre.

Classes range from ten-week after-school camps to workshops for a variety of age groups, from 7 ñ 17 years old. In addition to the Pinnochio Musical troupe, StudioKids is offering the new KidZone, with opportunities in TV & Film, theatre, improv and more. The company is also pleased to present half and full-day spring break workshops for all ages and experience levels.

StudioKids goal is to give students a learning experience that will have a positive, long-lasting impact and encourage not only future performances but also the opportunity to develop social skills and learn valuable life lessons. 
 
Our workshops end with an on-stage performance for parents and special guests. Assessment is virtually instantaneous in the applause and standing ovations participants receive at the end of the show, meaning they donít have to wait months for a grade, praise or feedback.
 
Classes are taught by qualified instructors and are appropriate for all experience levels. For more information about classes, call 250 862 2867, or visit www.KelownaActorsStudio.com.

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16 Jan 2008

The Kelowna Cakewalk- art and live music event! Friday February First.

The City has given a forum for Musicians, Artists, Vendors, Bamboozlers and Bojanglers of all kinds! Art and music lovers of all shapes and sizes are encouraged to come down to the Cultural District on Friday, Feb 1 and check it out. If you've ever bellyached or balyhooed about the limp lameness of the night time scene, it is your civic duty to come down and show support so the City will make the Cakewalk a regular event! Tickets are $5 at the door. For more information join the group CAKEWALK on Facebook or email ourcakewalk@gmail.com.

Art show starts at 4PM and live music starts at 6PM and goes until 2AM.

If anyone is interested in twanging their plucker, posting their paints, peddling their wares or have any questions at all, we can be contacted at the email below.

Call for submissions:
Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, Photography, Mixed Media, Films, (surprise us!).
Submission date: Jan 16, 2008
Location: 2241 Woodlawn Street
Time: 10am - Midnight
Email: ourcakewalk@gmail.com

Artists already lined up:
Scott August, John Revill, Kyle Zsomber, Dave and Jordon Doody, Gabe Cipes, Cora-Lee Geni, Tarynn Parker, and Anna Wehking.

Live music by:
Zen Media, Ellsie Kay & the Love Affair, Gorgeous Priceless, Mutton and the Whale, Kelsey and Elise, Brandon and Adam from Alphababy, The Stolen Organ Family Band, JonJo Nallyís Psycdelic Childrenís Readings.

Vendors:
SingChickadee, CuRio Designs, ShaunaO, Spacegirl Design co., Paige Russell, Seealso, and Anna Peters.

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15 Jan 2008

» Thursday 17 January 2008 | 4:30 pm
» Mosaic Books, 411 Bernard Avenue

An informal afternoon hour showcasing the people and ideas featured in Okanagan Arts. Join us as innovative and prolific multimedia artist Jim Cliffe shares his illustration, animation and film explorations.
» This is a free event. Refreshments will be available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO-FCCS, and in support of Project Literacy Kelowna

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Okanagan Multimedia Star Takes Flight

Jim Cliffe, the innovative and prolific Okanagan illustrator, animator, and filmmaker, shares some of his challenges and perspectives at Mosaic Books on Thursday January 17 at 4:30 pm with the presentation of Cliffehanger: The Animated Imagination of Jim Cliffe.

"I've been fortunate to have been able to stay employed as an artist for 15 years which can be a hard thing to do," says Cliffe, whose work stretches from commercial art for companies such as Bridges Transitions to shades of film noir. "In that time, I've worked in animation, newspaper and editorial cartoons, book illustrations, digital art, and filmmaking."

And not simply filmmaking, but award-winning filmmaking. His live-action short-film, Tomorrow's Memoir, garnered "best comic-oriented film" at the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con, and received rave reviews from Film Threat, DC Comics, and Movie Hole. Currently he's working on finding producers for his feature-length screenplay Donovan's Echo which won the Bronze award in the 2007 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards in Hollywood.

"The truth is, if you really want to do something you find the way to take that chance," says Cliffe, even though he knows living as a full-time artist isn't always easy.

"Some of my best friends are artists and we agree that it's extremely tough in the Okanagan, and some of them have moved to go to larger cities," he says.

Cliffe launched his artistic career as an 11-year-old drawing a newspaper comic strip for the Shuswap Sun. He followed that up with post-secondary studies in both animation and film, resulting in an impressive combination of talents that has attracted attention from the likes of Disney.

Anyone curious about his work can visit his website at www.jimcliffe.com or you can watch his short film Tomorrow's Memoir online at www.tomorrowsmemoir.com.

Cliffehanger: The Animated Imagination of Jim Cliffe is a free event, and takes place at Mosaic Books, Kelowna's independent bookstore. It's presented by the Okanagan Institute in association with the magazines of Wheat King Publishing - Okanagan Arts, Okanagan Home, and Okanagan Q.
Expressions is sponsored by the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan, Wood Lake Books, UBCO Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, and supports the work of Project Literacy Kelowna.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE

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Okanagan Insitute at Mosaic Books A hearty feast of lectures, presentations, workshops and showcases celebrating our culture, community and the wild blue yonder. Produced by the Okanagan institute in association with the magazines of Wheat King Publishing: Okanagan Arts, Okanagan Home, and Okanagan Q.
Expresssions is a cultural tonic that refreshes the mind. Join us at Mosaic Books after work on Thursdays for a free hour of stimulation that will get your synapses tingling with new ideas and fresh images. Designed for inquiring minds looking for, among other things, the wild blue yonder.

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13 Jan 2008

Ballet Kelowna Spring Season to Celebrate BC's 150 Anniversary

Ballet Kelowna is thrilled to announce our upcoming 2008 Spring Season, which opens with two performances on February 9 at the Kelowna Community Theatre. The Company kicks off Spirit of BC Week and celebrates British Columbiaâs 150th Anniversary with the presentation of works by three B.C. choreographers in 22 communities across the province.

Ballet Kelowna will premier three new works,  including our newly commissioned ballet, The Red Nocturnal, with dynamic choreography by up and coming Vancouver choreographer Josh Beamish. Beamish, a former Kelowna resident, is the artistic director of Move! the company, and is known for his intense musicality and vitality.

Also on the program will be Etude, a ballet choreographed by Vancouver's Kay Armstrong. Originally created in 1949, Etude was the critical hit of the 1950 Ballet Festival in Montreal and was described in dance magazines as "a small masterpiece." It was the only ballet by a Canadian choreographer in the National Ballet of Canadaâs debut season.  Ballet Kelowna is immensely proud to restage and  present this Canadian ballet masterpiece.

The program will also include the delightful and fiendishly difficult Flower Festival at Genzano Pas de Deux, choreographed in 1858 by August Bournonville, as well as two new works by Artistic Director David LaHay.

The Spring 2008 Season marks the end of Ballet Kelowna's Fifth Anniversary Season. Kelowna shows will be at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, February 9 and tickets are available at Ticketmaster. For a complete listing of our tour, please visit our website at www.BalletKelowna.com

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13 Jan 2008

The Art Gallery of the South Okanagan presents New World Order, the latest body of work by the renowned BC painter William Featherston

This important art exhibitions open at the Art Gallery of the South Okanagan on Friday January 18th, 2008 the artist will be in attendance and will give a free artist talk on Saturday January 19th at 1 pm.

At 80 years of age, William (Bill) Featherston remains something of a mythical figure in the Vancouver art scene. Moving to the west coast in 1971 he turned his back on abstraction in favor of creating large scale figurative paintings which document the social concerns of the working-class heroes and characters that populate his community. As an educator Bill taught for ten years at the Vancouver School of Art where he inspired a whole generation of artists. Never one to hold back, his straightforward criticism pushed his students to stretch themselves beyond their comfort level to make a statement with their work and challenge social conventions. During a time when conceptual and abstract art ruled the day Bill provided an oasis, attracting and inspiring a generation of painters including Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Laurie Papou, Attila Richard Lukacs, Derek Root, Angela Grossmann and Graham Gillmore to name a few. As a testament to his influence as a teacher he remains friends with many of the students he inspired and encouraged.

The first part of this exhibition introduces the viewer to the artist through an introspective examination of the self, illustrated through a series of self-portraits, which document the passage of time in a direct and honest fashion. These works represent the nature of the artistâs creative process, illustrating the concern he has for process, art history, composition, colour, material and accessibility. These works are frank depictions of the self which are neither beautiful nor ugly but honestly display the a sense of vulnerability both physically and politically to the world in which we live. Living in a society where the level of anxiety, fear and paranoia belies a general state of resigned indifference, these works could represent anyone of us. Fear, it seems, is the new opiate of the masses.

The second part of the exhibit combines all of the social and political concerns which have deeply affected the artist over the past 20 years. At the conclusion of World War II, Bill was an uneducated war veteran having dropped out of school at 16 to join the navy. Veterans Affairs paid for Bill to return to school where he eventually received a teaching certificate. A short stint teaching at a reform school gave Bill a social conscience which was further fueled after a job at the Ontario Collage of Art. In England and Wales Bill became very active in the peace movement and further engaged himself in political activism. This innate social concern began to work itself into his work and upon his return to Canada he gave up abstraction in favor of social realism creating heroic paintings documenting the everyday working class hero.

Drawing the basis of their composition from art historical references Bill pays homage to artists whose work and vision he admires. These works are also about process, materials, composition, mark making and theater which combined create a richly complex and layered surface and set where the messages both direct and indirect play out before you. Using political satire Bill questions the ongoing conflicts propagated by imperialist and corporate forces, addressing the issues of torture and social / political injustice. The paintings serve a cautionary warning, illustrating the artistâs own fears and suspicions caused by the rise of neo-conservatism and the political interference propagated by the military-industrial complex.

The earliest work pays tribute to Harvey Milk, an American politician and gay rights activist who was assassinated in 1978 by Dan White, a troubled anti-gay conservative. In another painting entitled Adultery is a Sin, Bill pays homage to Jean-Auguste Ingres, La Grand Odalisque replacing the main figure with a nude depiction of Condoleezza Rice reclining on a chaise lounge with her two administrative cohorts looking on from the balcony. Like Edouard Manetâs quasi erotic painting Le D⁄jeuner sur l'Herbe, the men are fully clothed begging the question of what is the real relationship between these people. These works are meant to push and challenge the viewer and evoke a strong emotional response. While they deal with harsh and brutal subjects, they also utilize satire and humor to ease the discomfort and provide some welcome relief.

This exhibition is intended to provide food for thought and asks us all to question the state of the world in which we live. Bill Featherston doesnât pull punches and this body of work while not pretty and beautiful, offers one perspective to consider and begs the viewer to question their thoughts on what we are led to believe and understand from the political spin provided by the government and the media.

For more information or to arrange an interview with the artist, please contact Paul Crawford Director/Curator at (250) 493-2928 or by e-mail @ agso_curator@shawbiz.ca

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12 Jan 2008