Good morning, Flin Flon (or good evening, if you don’t read The Reminder till you get home from work).
We have lots of very cool stuff coming up in the arts and culture scene in the next two weeks, much of which is Culture Days-related.
This newspaper will carry a full timetable of events next week. Please watch for that and do plan to take in as many events as you possibly can.
It will be worthwhile, entertaining and enjoyable for every member of the family, beginning with Kulture’s Kool for Kids (three-to five-year-olds) on Friday, Sept. 29 and ending with the Central Canada Film Group’s presentation of Maudie (a beautiful Canadian film about primitive artist Maud Lewis) on Sunday evening, Oct. 1.
Beginning on Sunday, Sept. 24, the North Central Canada Centre for Arts and Environment (NCCCAE) and the Flin Flon Arts Council will sponsor a weeklong workshop experience called Building Skills.
It is the first foray into the world of the environmental piece of the proposed North Central Canada Centre of Arts and Environment. Approximately 12 “students” are expected to participate, but the really exciting aspect is the international faculty coming to Flin Flon to lead the programming.
Instructors include Dr. Patricia Glanville, architect from Regina who designed our own Pioneer Square; Jon Allen, an architect and expert in Sacred Geometry from England; Kjelti Anderson, designer in permaculture from North Battleford; Hillary MacDonald, archaeologist originally from Flin Flon with particular interest in birch bark biting; Shabnam Inanloo Dailoo, professor at Athabasca University with expertise in Persian architecture and gardens; along with Fritz Pannekoek, past-president of Athabasca University and Roy Weasel Fat, president of Red Crow College near Lethbridge.
They will be joined by occasional instructors from the Flin Flon region who include renowned sculptor Irvin Head from Cranberry Portage; Margaret Head Steppan, local Elder and Indigenous leader; Lisa Gamblin of Cranberry Portage teaching about indigenous plants; Edgar and Mary Wright of Denare Beach teaching plant identification; Derek Kemp discussing his ideas for Ross Lake reclamation; Ben Wride discussing Flin Flon history; Pat Bruderer on birch bark biting; Dennis Strom on regional history; and Myrna Ewing, guest speaker from SIIT.
Students and faculty have each committed a week to be in Flin Flon and their days will be full of new learning. The citizens of the region are not left out, however, as several faculty with be delivering public lectures in the evenings.
On Monday, Sept. 25 Kjelti Anderson will present a lecture on Permaculture, 7 pm at the Dorothy Ash Theatre in Hapnot Collegiate. Then on Wednesday, Sept. 27, Jon Allen will present Building Wisdom at 7:30 pm at Johnny’s Social Club.
Finally, on Thursday, Sept. 28, Dr. Shabnam Inanloo Dailoo will present Persian Geometry: Gardens and Architecture at 7:30 pm at Bakers Narrows Lodge. This event is a huge coup for a city like Flin Flon to pull off, so please come out to one, two or all three public presentations, to show our support for the brilliant forward-thinking that would bring us such an event.
The NorVA Centre will welcome a guest artist and hang a new show in conjunction with Culture Days.
Michael Boss from Winnipeg will be in Flin Flon on Thursday, Sept. 28 to open his show and will give an Artist Talk on Sunday, Oct. 1, just before the Pictures at an Exhibition event (that’s the musical interpretations of artwork in the gallery).
Boss is a well-respected artist who is fascinated by motorcycles! They figure prominently in much of his recent work.
He is an artist and educator who was head of studio programs at the Winnipeg Art Gallery for many years. He has also taught at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and at Mount Allison University in
Nova Scotia.
Boss’s artwork ranges from drawing and painting to photography, sculpture, installation, performance and poetry. He has had solo and group exhibitions across Canada, in the United States, Australia, Germany and Ukraine.
You really should get into NorVA at some point during the Culture Days weekend, but if you can’t, come see the Michael Boss show until the last week in October.
