  The Magazine of Culture and Community Spring 2008
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 Arts Council of the Central Okanagan 8-1304 Ellis Street Kelowna BC Canada V1Y 1Z8 Email: Click Here. Elke Lange, Executive Director Wendy McCracken, Coordinator Copublished by Wheat King Publishing Jeff Pexa, President Telephone: 250.491.0169 Produced in association with Okanagan Bookworks
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EDITORIAL:
The Challenge of Change
Our winter hiatus offered us an opportunity to review what we had achieved in our first three issues, and plan for the coming year. Our first year proved that there was a need for a quality arts publication in the Okanagan, as our 45,000 copies were eagerly taken up, and widely discussed. Our continuing dialogue with the community of artists and arts enthusiasts has enabled us to continue to reach ever deeper into the diverse arts community to inspire and inform our editorial ambitions. The ideas, images and stories we have pre
sented in the magazine, and at our Express series of public presentations, help us further our mission: to promote a central role for creativity in the community and to showcase the core values of the arts.
We've also made some editorial changes, starting with this issue.
In an era in which people have ever more media choices, magazines
do something the others can't: present long thoughtful essays. To that
end, we've commissioning a series of investigations that seek to challenge
and celebrate the creative community.
The first, by Don Elzer, appears in this issue, in which he draws on
his considerable experience as an artist, arts policy analyst, and arts
champion. He investigates the state of the arts in our community,
proposes pointed changes to the way the arts and artists are supported, and
encourages all stakeholders to take a proactive role in the
creative economy. We encourage you to respond to his challenges, and join
us at our public presentations to further explore the ideas.
As always, our work of discovery does not end on these pages. We provide a number of other ways for you to interact with the arts community:
Directory: We encourage you to use the complete, searchable and up-to-date version on our website, and to contribute to making it as complete as possible.
Agenda: We provide a brief listing indicating the plethora of arts events that are taking place through the autumn months. Again, we encourage you to keep up-to-date by refering to the www.okanaganarts.com website.
Events: We have partnered with the Okanagan Institute and Mosaic Books to present a continuing series of public presentations by the writers and artists we feature in these pages. They take place on Thursday afternoons and are free, informal and informative. We encourage you to come out and help us celebrate the growing influence creativity has on our community. More information is at www.okanaganinstitute.com
We continue to be amazed at the generosity that the arts and business communities have shown to our efforts, and appreciate the support of our writers, readers and advertisers.
We especially appreciate the encouragement we've received from readers. You've helped us reach further, with each issue, into the community in search of stories, artworks and inspiration.
Robert MacDonald
Publisher, Editor, Designer
"One ought, every day at least,
to hear a little song,
read a good poem, see a fine picture,
and if it were possible,
to speak a few reasonable words."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The cover image by Sandra DeVries: The Quilt
The Quilt consists of 36 pieces of metal of 20 x 20 cm each, forming a square of 6 x 6 squares. The title Quilt is an association with a traditional quilt made out of different pieces of material sewn together. This material represents memories of favorite clothing, curtains or sheets, which reflects a certain time and memory. With the creation of the metal quilt, I also wanted the squares to work on the viewer's memory and the associations with the materials, which are used out of context and converted into something different. It is a recreation of new life from old treasures and time-worn materials. All squares have individual titles and tell a story on their own. The Quilt was part of a solo exhibition called Scrap at the Vernon Art Gallery.
Sandra DeVries grew up in the Netherlands and started her education in a teachers college in the subject languages, literature and textile art. She moved to Israel and apprenticed in a ceramic studio for 2 years. She traveled through Asia, mostly on a mountain bike and eventually ended up in Vernon, BC. She started teaching ceramic classes at the Arts centre and started to develop an interest in metal and mixed media. She now has her studio at the Caetani House in Vernon, where she continues to collect all kinds of discarded materials and recreate new works.