Twelve members of ArtSaturna will be showing new pieces at the Saturna Café from December 8th to January 4th. This creative dozen works in several media, so the show promises to be varied and interesting.
An informal opening is planned for Saturday, December 10, from 3:30 pm to 5 pm.
The Café is at 101 Narvaez Bay Road, a few minutes from the ferry terminal.
Come and meet the artists!
Inspired by the emerald world that surrounds us on this island, Ellen Bourassa and I chose a green theme for this group of quilts, currently on display at the Saturna Café.
Ellen’s pieces are distinctive because she chose black and white as a backdrop to highlight her green elements. Her strict palette showcases high contrast and strong lines, both in her design choices and texturing style.
As for me, I’ve returned to sewing and rediscovered the joy of texture after a long hiatus during which I focused on photography and gardening. These new quilts offer a fantasy view of greenery both topside and underwater. They are an excuse to stitch away and play with flow, interpreting the wind on foliage and water currents on seaweeds and kelps.
There are more quilts in process on my design table. #inspired
The web queen. She worked that web between trees and is adding finishing touches. I am happy I saw her before I walked through it.
Some of her colleagues adopt a different approach. They lie in wait on a flower, for example. No nets for them.
I was fascinated by this one. It even has a pink marking on its abdomen, to better camouflage itself. Impressive. For five days, I returned to this lily and check on the spider’s hunt.
And bingo! On day two, it got a bee. The spider spent a lot of effort dragging this victim around the edge of the petal and under it, in order to package it in silk… for later consumption, I guess. This took several hours and I returned every two or three hours, to check on her progress…
So it goes. As my grandchildren would say, “that’s the circle of life”.
This is a quick visual report on a sunny summer day’s activity for kids of all ages, an annual July ritual on Saturna Island in coastal BC.
Around 1 p.m. last Saturday, people started showing up at East Point, on Saturna Island, to come play and discover critters at the edge of the Salish Sea.
The point was a busy place, with divers headed into the water, to gather all kinds of creatures and bring them back to shore, so everyone could have a look…
Tanks were set up on the beach, with recirculating water, so their temporary residents would be comfortable.
And everyone gathered to hear about the animals and plants that make the intertidal zone their home… Student biologists from the University of Victoria were on hand to share their knowledge about life below the surface.
There were sea stars, in their variety…
California sea cucumbers…
Sea urchins, including this big one (and look at the little baby one in the tupperware container on the side)…
And crabs, including these kelp crabs…
And we learned that male crabs have a “lighthouse-like” marking on their abdomen…
… while female crabs have a wider plate on their abdomen… So now, we can tell them apart. Also, notice that this female has been busy adding some camouflage greenery to her legs and back…
Finally, this brown kelp is known as Sargassum, an invasive algae now present in the Salish Sea… We can pick it and plow it into our gardens as fertilizer without any guilty feelings…
And finally, no Beach Safari is complete without a little kite flying! There was a nice breeze, and people gave it a shot.
Summer weekends, the right time to go play outside.
Above: the Chrome Island lighthouse, near Denman Island, BC.
On a sunny day, the British Columbia coast is unequaled. You can watch all kinds of boats at work and at play … and I’ve decided to share a few examples of the action.
First, a seine fishing boat, with its net all rolled up, travelling the channel between Vancouver Island and Denman Island, on the BC coast.
This is a crab fishing boat. The fishermen are busy hauling in the traps, surrounded by a cortège of noisy gulls. The fishermen have to immediately sort their catch, throwing back any females, and males smaller than 165mm across the shell. The gulls hope that some crabs don’t sink fast enough…
This little volunteer armada moved a 200 foot concrete dock from Swarz Bay on Vancouver Island to Saturna Island, some 28+ km over smooth and rough waters… all in the preparations for the annual Saturna Lamb Barbecue. Save the date, the party is on July 1st.
This was taken earlier this spring on Hornby Island, BC, when a departing Coast Guard vessel passed in front of our boat. The cormorants did not seem at all disturbed by the action. Blasé birds…
And under wind power, a few Sunday sailors head for Browning Harbour, Pender Island, BC.
