70 years of getting dirty!

BY VANESSA BJERRESKOV

I was skimming an early history of the Powell River Fine Arts Council when I came across this gem: “In 1956, the Church Hall was sold at the end of November, again forcing us into storage. Having the use of the Lawn Bowling Club for two or three months, we stuck to sketching. We daren’t paint, as it was so clean and no one could feel free to paint in such an atmosphere.”

How lucky we are now, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Powell River Fine Arts Council and our 55th year as the Powell River Fine Arts Association, that we have our own building to create and be messy in!

I’ve heard stories of people using pottery wheels to spray clay all over the walls (completely accidentally of course!), and it’s a game every time a weaver finishes a piece to sweep up all the colourful dust-bunnies under their loom before they escape and hide under other looms.

We have a dye deck where we can splash colour and water everywhere with wild abandon, and if the quilters hide a huge bin of tiny fabric scraps in the cupboard, well, that’s part of the process!

Creating is messy work, and learning to create even messier. We’re glad to still be creating after all these years! The Powell River Fine Arts Association Sale returns November 25 to 27.