Catching Up With ARTCi: Our Summer Adventures Part One

ARTCi's summer was as vibrant as an August sunset with many of our artists undertaking colourful projects both here at home and internationally.

Shelley MacDonald has been on tour across BC with actor and Coast Salish playwright and artist John Aitken with stops on Mayne Island, in Wells, Victoria and North Vancouver. John's play, the Gift, tells his story of survival, personal resilience and reconciliation as he lived his childhood, nonverbally. Utilizing dance/movement, physical acting, vocalization, drumming and singing Shelley and John take the audience through the emotions of love and tenderness, through fear, terror and loss, then finally to hope, joy and celebration culminating in John receiving “the Gift” of his voice.Truth and healing in Canada’s First Nations are artfully explored through a highly personal lens. All performances conclude with a talking circle, where audience members are invited to stay and participate in a safe, structured environment to share their observations and discuss the emotions raised during the performance.

There are still tickets available for this powerful and artfully presented show at Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver for Friday, September 20th and Saturday, September 21st at 7:30 pm. Call the box office for details and to reserve tickets at (604) 990-3474. The Gift was written by John Aitken and Gail Noonan and is performed by John Aitken and Shelley MacDonald.

Lori Sherritt-Fleming designed and delivered summer camps in partnership with the Vancouver Symphony School of Music for a period in July and then took time to focus on completing picture book manuscripts for Fitzhenry and Whiteside.

Hungry for Arts: Poems to Brunch On is a delightful book full of whimsical yet educational poems that inspire children (and adults) to bring their own inner artists out to play! One of her favourites involves describing the many 'dramatic' faces one uses when riding a roller coaster...so of course she had to spend some time at amusements parks doing research. Co-authored with Kari-Lynn Winters the book should be available in the next year.

Lori also completed another picture book set at the Vancouver Polar Bear Swim, one of her favourite annual events and a play for young audiences entitled "Remembrance" which captures Canada's dramatic transformation through the points of view of soldiers, nurses and folks at home during the period of WW1.

After an inspiring whirl wind tour of the United Kingdom, Lori is ready to siphon the inspiration that she found there into upcoming projects that involve mysteries at museums and heroic animals.

The next post will feature the adventures of artists Tracie Stewart and Roy Mulder and some information about the project associated with the ArtStarts grant that was recently awarded to ARTCi.