At the risk of repeating myself, lots of great stuff happening in Flin Flon in the coming weeks!
That is a common opener for this column, and it’s always true. For a city of 5,592 people, we continue to do pretty well in the arts and culture segment of society.
Let’s start with the performances and film presentations in the next 10 days.
Tonight, Wednesday, we celebrate National Canadian Film Day with a showing of Our Man In Tehran. It’s the story of the Canadian Embassy in Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis.
Some readers will be old enough to remember that the Ayatollah staged a religion-driven coup that year and the US Embassy was overrun and sacked. Six staff members managed to escape and ran to the Canadian Embassy, where they were taken in and sheltered by ambassador Ken Taylor until they could be smuggled out and returned home.
Our Man In Tehran is showing at the Hapnot Theatre at 7 pm.
Tomorrow, Thursday, the Films Up North (FUN) series presents Room, which was nominated for four Oscars and won the Best Actress award for Brie Larson.
It’s a Canadian-Irish co-production about a little boy and his mom being held captive in a single room by a terrible man.
It’s a sad, powerful and ultimately hopeful story about a mother’s love and dedication. Admission will be charged, with treats available to help defray the costs.
This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Wood ‘n’ Wire presents “Beatlemania” at Johnny’s Social Club. It’s probably no surprise that Friday and Saturday evenings are sold out, but as of this writing there are still tickets available for Sunday’s matinee. It will start at 2 pm. All the regular Social Club rules apply.
The music of the Beatles does not require any advertisement. Johnny’s Antisocial Band featuring Mark Kolt on keyboards, Brent Lethbridge on lead guitar, Johnny Bettger on bass guitar and Craig Bancroft on drums will be joined by CC Trubiak, Johnny Bettger (doing double duty) and Susan Lethbridge on vocals.
There may also be a bit of a horns section along for the ride (maybe that’s a “Ticket to Ride”?). It’s gonna be great!
Lastly, the Flin Flon-Cranberry Portage Folk Music Society will present singer-songwriter Ben Sures at Johnny’s Social Club on Friday, April 29. He is a truly unique talent who has been playing from coast to coast to coast in Canada as well as touring in the US and UK for over 20 years.
Sures’ songs have won awards like the Lennon Award for Folk in the John Lennon songwriting competition and the AAA award in the International songwriting competition. His songs are sometimes funny, sometimes endearing and always worth the listening.
The show will charge admission and comes complete with Johnny’s Social Club rules for bringing treats. The show is in support of the Flin Flon Cranberry Folk and Arts Festival. Keep watching this space!
This Sunday, April 24, Batik II begins at NorVA Centre, taught by Karen Clark. There is space left in this multi-day class, so call NorVA for details and to register.
There is also a painting class at NorVA on Saturday, April 30. It will be led by NorVA manager Mike Spencer and is suitable for beginners and more advanced painters. The intent is to work at your own skill level while learning new techniques. Call NorVA Centre at 204-687-4237 for details and to register.
As promised there are also some results to report from the 2016 edition of the Northern Juried Art Show, recently held in The Pas. Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach artists were well represented and won six of the eight adult categories (they won three of eight awards in the youth categories, too).
Irvin Head of Cranberry Portage was judged Best in Show for his soapstone sculpture, “Eagle Prayer.” In acrylic painting/mixed media, Monique Rainville took first place with “6 North Avenue” and Lois Petersen was third with “Dawn of a New Day.”
In watercolour, Matthew Enns won with “Carnation” after taking the watercolour classes at NorVA led by Lois Petersen!
We swept the drawing and printmaking category with Tami Martin winning with “Second Spring,” Matthew Enns second for “The Last Portrait” and Jan Modler third with “Dancing Ladies.”
Three-dimensional art, category 2 was won by Doug Dmytriw’s “Migration Finale,” and digital art, photography or paint-enhanced photography saw Marg Britton win with “Call of the North.” Brandy Bloxom was second in that category for “Protect Her.”
Avery Ascher, a NorVA artist from The Pas, won in the fibre art category with a piece called “Re-Becoming II” and Karen Astrid Clark took second for “Parka Party - Three Girls.”
In the youth 9-12 group, Lexsey Hynes was second with “Heading Home,” Sadie Currie was third for “Moxie’s Ride” and Hollie Currie received honourable mention for “Rainy Day.”
There were 24 area artists out of 103 total and six youth in the 2016 show. This means the arts are in good hands in Flin Flon!
