This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment

By John Swartz

Sustainable Orillia unveiled the art submitted for inclusion in their 2024 calendar – Biodiversity: It’s All Around Us. There were 171 submissions from students at 7 elementary schools, and 20 submissions from students of all three high schools for the 3rd annual project.

Each of the student’s work chosen for the calendar received a $50 prize; most of those were elementary students.

Three prizes were award for the pieces selected as the best. Katelyn Wilson’s piece showing a scene from the Gordon Lightfoot Trail was chosen for the first place $300 prize. Parker Turgeon’s heron was chosen for the second place $200 prize, and Tristan Sanabria’s mosaic themed piece received the $100 third place award.

The event was held at Creative Nomad Studio Friday evening and there were about 70 people on hand to celebrate.

The calendars should be available for sale at Sustainable Orillia’s August 5 and 6 All-Electric Vehicle Weekend at ODAS Park, and if not certainly at Home Hardware in September.

Brass Transit

Congratulations to Sherry Allen for winning the pair of tickets to Saturday night’s concert at the Orillia Opera House. She’ going to get to enjoy what should be a great performance by Brass Transit of the music of Chicago.

The three questions asked for the contest and answers are:

1. What does the title of the song 25 Or 6 To 4 refer to? THE TIME
2. How many band members are there in Brass Transit? EIGHT
3. What is the name of the first tune on Side One of Chicago’s first album? INTRODUCTION

There are less than 100 of the almost 700 available tickets left for the 7:30 p.m. show, so if you’ve been on the fence, you can still go. Besides, the rain isn’t supposed to stop until mid-afternoon, the day is shot; you might as well make something of the evening.

OMAH and Gord

OMAH is investigating how to create something to honour Gord. Under consideration is a permanent exhibit, a temporary exhibit, or something online.  They are hoping to have input from groups and individuals and will be figuring out what to do after the Mariposa Folk Fest. If you have an idea, email executivedirector@orilliamuseum.org.

While we’re in the art neighbourhood, we might as well deal with other art things.

OMAH is opening submissions for  the 22^nd annual Canadian Landscape Show, the deadline is August 11. The theme is Tradition Transformed and you can find submission details here. Three exhibits are up until September – Steeped In History has artifacts for OMAH’s collection which relate to tea and teatime, Homage  is jewellery made by Donald Stuart inspired by 40 famous Canadian women, and an exhibit of Elizabeth Wynn Wood’s drawings, sketches and sculptures is in the upstairs gallery. The annual International Women’s Day art show is up until July 22.

Hibernation Arts has guest artist Ron Regamey’s work on display for the month of June; July’s guest is Nancy Jones and it opens July 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. … the Coldwater Studio Tour happens June 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; there are 31 artists participating at 7 venues… Peter Street Fine Arts has Sue Emily as the guest artist in June.

Every Friday evening for the rest of the summer the Arts District galleries and artists will be moving out onto the street as part of the summer patio season.

Blair Bailey

Don’t forget Blair’s retirement bash Sunday afternoon at St. Paul’s Centre. It’s too late to get a ticket for the lunch portion of the event, but you can drop in from 1:15 p.m. onward to hear some of the musical tributes and wish him well.

He’ll need it because he’s the music director for Mariposa Arts Theatre’s fall 50^th anniversary production. It’s a revue so he’s got to pick out tunes from a lot of musicals to showcase, and stickhandle the actors voices and tell the band they’re playing to loud to hear the singers at every rehearsal.

The Shorts

• Summer theater opens very soon (July 5) at the Opera House and you can get a deal on tickets for all three plays right now. The plays are Moving In (Norm Foster), Bed and Breakfast (Mark Crawford), and Halfway There (Norm Foster).

• The legacy of Jim Kelly (Speedy) keeps coming. Robert Gronfors and Phillip Lalonde debuted a new concert video last week on Youtube. This time it’s the June 18, 1976 Rush concert from Oshawa. They did a great job syncing up concert audio with Speedy’s 8 mm no sound footage. See it here.

• Creative Nomad Studios is running a contest in which one charity will win the use of the studio for a fundraising event. The Nominate to Elevate  winner will get an all-inclusive package (5-hours for dinner for 80 including bar setup, linens, napkins, full table settings, coffee/tea/water service, bar staff, and event coordinator) valued at $1,800. The charity with the most nominations wins and you can nominate your charity online.

• St. Paul’s Centre has a great concert happening Nov. 24. They are pairing Danny Michel with Steve Poltz. If you haven’t seen either before I guarantee you will have a fantastic time. It’s a fundraiser for the Orillia Youth Centre and you can get tickets now (which is a very good idea) online.

• When you get to the link above for the Michel/Poltz concert, you’ll see there are a few other concerts benefiting the Orillia Youth Centre happening soon. Meredith Moon, Big Bad Jug Band and North River (with Nick Keays) will be at Farm Fest (Sebright) July 1 (all proceeds to the Nelson Bell, Jake Beers, and Vern Herron Dental Fund); The Sadies, the Ronnie Douglas Blues Band and Jerry Leger will be doing the Roots North annual fall concert Sept. 23; and Roger Harvey is returning to Orillia for a gig at St. Paul’s Centre September 29 and in Collingwood Sept. 30. Saving you some scrolling, tickets here.

• The Orillia District Arts Council and the City of Orillia are teaming up again to present events in neighbourhood parks this summer. July 5 Pat Gowan will be at Clayt French Park; July 19 it’s a dance program at Walter Henry Park; Ronnie Douglas, Mike Dobransky and Alex Andrews will be at Hillcrest Park Aug. 2; Deb Brown will lead a drum circle at High Street Park Aug. 16; and Jakob Pearce will play music while the kids make art at Lankinwood Park Aug. 30. It’s all free.

• Derick Lehmann has a fundraising event for the Sharing Place Food Bank happening at the Roller Skating place at ODAS Park. Derick is the person behind the annual Ugly Sweater bowling fundraiser. This one is called Back to the 90s Video Dance Party, modelled after the Much Music events of the same nature and features three 15 foot screens and a concert sound system. It’s a licensed, 19 and up event and it happens July 29. You can get tickets at Alleycats Music or online.

•  Zain Campbell has a new tune and video to go with it to watch.

• Couchiching Craft Brewing has Valerie Burns and Dave Chun in June 24; James Gray plays June 29; Even Steven is in June 30… Quayle’s Brewery has Kevin California playing June 24 And Chris Lemay is in June 25… the Offcuts play the Sunken Shipp June 24… Brassworks has a gig in Wasaga beach you might check out; July 11 they do the Jazz in the Park with Alex Dean guesting; July 23 they have the 4th Street Jazz Project, Alex Dean and the OSS Dixieland Band along at  2:30 p.m. at the Orillia Salvation Army Citadel.

(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Student art destined to be included in Sustainable Orillia’s 2024 calendar – Biodiversity: It’s All Around Us

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