Lumby Days is back! Join MAC as we celebrate Hometown Pride with Exhibitors, Photography Contest, Art show and a Raku display.

June 11th -12th

‘Artist Trading Cards and Miniature Works’

The Lumby Village Gallery will be featuring Artist Trading Cards and Miniature Works from July 2nd – 30th.

Artist Trading Cards (commonly referred to as ATCs) are miniature pieces of art that are traded around the world. Artists create, trade and collect art at organized “swap” events, either in person or online. The only official rule for ATCs is the size: 2-1/2 inches by 3-1/2 inches. Other Miniature Works for our July show include all mediums and have a size limit of 6×6 inches.

The ATC movement was started in 1997 by Swiss artist M. Vanci Stirnemann. He created 1200 cards by hand as part of an exhibit. On the last day, he invited others to create their own cards and trade with him during the closing reception. This idea of “Art for the People” has been growing in popularity ever since.

Everyone can make Artist Trading Cards! It’s a great way to work on developing your art skills. Because they are so small in size, it is also a fun way to work on different art techniques and styles. Making one takes less time than full size works of art, and can be as easy as doodling while you enjoy a coffee. ATCs are generally made of card-stock, but could be made of wood, canvas, metal, clay, or any other durable material.

There will an ATC trading event at the end of the show. This will be a fun way to swap trading cards with other artists!

The Gallery can provide pre-cut cards or you can use your own materials. There are also plastic sleeves and pre-printed labels for the back of the card for your name, contact info, date, and title or theme.

Also Join us June 18^th and 25^th at the Lumby Public Market for various workshops and make your own Artist Trading Cards!

 Hometown Pride Art show and Lumby Days Photo contest

Lumby Days is back! With it MAC will be hosting an both an Art show at the Village Gallery & Lumby days as well as their photography contest at Lumby Days, this year’s theme is Hometown Pride.

There are likely as many variations on this theme as there are people in our community. ? For some, it might mean the particular values or attitudes about life they feel their community stands for. For others, it could be the laughs, smiles, and shared memories of family fun at a local attraction.

What makes you proud to be part of the area you live in? What are the unique, memorable, natural or historic features that make it stand out? Maybe it’s a favorite restaurant, shop, or park. It could be a local attraction or event.

For example:

The salmon trail and dog park, homegrown food, local attractions, Cooper the dog, Lumby Days, Lumby Public Market, history, wildlife, people the bike park, the skateboard park, school activities…

The possibilities are endless. Whatever your vision is, we invite you to share it with us.

Hometown Art show Run May 30th – July 2nd  –  Entry Deadline May 28th

Photo Contest Entry Deadline June 6th  to show at Lumby Days June 10-12th

Applications are available at the Village Gallery and online at Call For Artists (monasheeartscouncil.com)

“Being a farmer means shaking hands with nature”- Unknown

With April coming up quickly and many farmers and ranchers in our area already tending to new calves and lambs, the Monashee Arts Council couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate those who help put food on our tables as they work tirelessly tending the land.

Theirs is a job that does not end when they clock out of the office, from repairing the broken fence, checking on expectant mothers in the middle of frigid January nights and drying a new born calf, to sowing seeds in the fields after a long sleepy winter, cutting and baling the hay in the heat of our Okanagan summers. It is a life that begins before the sun rises and well until after it has set.

It is a respect for life in all its forms from the first tender blooms on the fruit trees that will become some of our favorite treats, the first gasping breaths of a new born lamb to the final harvest and all the moments in between and beyond that keeps the wheel turning.

Join us as we celebrate all aspects of the life on the farm and in the fields of our community in our favorite artistic mediums.

Let’s face it!

We’re all tired of hiding. We miss seeing each other and being seen so The Monashee Arts Council is excited to present “The Selfie- Through the looking glass” the perfect show for the season!

In the past, artists have used their self-portraits as a kind of business card: “here I am and this is the quality you can expect”. This was important to artists who relied on the patronage of the rich and titled.  The

modern selfie often shows the things we are interested in, our passions or our fears; what we had for dinner. This approach can illustrate our world view as well as our emotional being.

Come into the Village Gallery and reacquaint yourself with the wonderful faces of our Community in this collection of Realism, semi-realistic and abstract works of all media and artists of all ages.

It’s that time again! MAC is excited to be putting out the call for applications for the 2022 MAC Local Arts and Culture grants. Application forms and guidelines will be available at the office and via email. Deadline: April 12th /2022

MAC. Local Arts and culture grant Outline 2022 Application

The selfie has a noble pedigree. Self-portraiture is a respected aspect of both modern and traditional art.  Self-portraits in art history bring to mind such famous artists as: Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gaugin, Frida Kahlo, and David Hockney. Most artists have tried their hand at a self-portrait sometime in their career. And there are as many different approaches to the subject as there are artists.  David Hockney, a modern painter, gave us an honest, objective self-portrait as a 17-year-old.  Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits explored her complex psychological states resulting from an early accident and a problematic marriage to Diego Rivera.  Rembrandt painted his life story through many portraits: as a successful young man and later as a wiser, braver senior.  Picasso, in a stripped-down style, confronted his fear of old age and death. The American photographer Cindy Sherman has used her self-portraits as a means of exploring what it meant to be a contemporary woman in all its restrictions and opportunities.

And now we have the selfie. Technology has given the self-portrait explosive potential for social contact. The art of the self-portrait is as close as your phone.

In the past, artists have used their self-portraits as a kind of business card: “here I am and this is the quality you can expect”. This was important to artists who relied on the patronage of the rich and titled.  The modern selfie often shows the things we are interested in, our passions or our fears; what we had for dinner. This approach can illustrate our world view as well as our emotional being.

Like Magne in the Netflix show Ragnarok who envisioned himself as a reincarnation of the Norse god Thor, an artist can envision themself as a better self or someone they are striving to be or could emulate.  Are we remembering an Alice in Wonderland who was caught between childhood and adulthood or a cyborg of the late 21^st century?

This is the season of introspection: Take some time to look at yourself, try your hand at a self-portrait or a selfie. Let your imagination soar!  The Monashee Arts Council is calling for entries into our March show “Through the Looking Glass or the Selfie”. All media will be accepted.

Applications are available at the Village Gallery and online at the monasheeartscouncil.com. Deadline for entries is February 25^th. Call 778-473-3029 for more information.

Stories have always been an integral part of what it is to be human, whether in our own personal lives or through our history and culture. It is perhaps one of the things which make us human; we have been conveying stories since before the written word came into being. Originally stories and the lessons they taught the future generations were passed down orally or through other forms of communication such as the arts.

In fact, the first writing system was thought to have been developed in 3400 BCE, however 30,000 year old cave murals at Lascaux depicted a history of rituals and hunting. For a long time stories were never written down, instead tales were told or re-enacted dramatically as a way to pass the history down from generation to generation. Due to this their development was often obscured and blurred changing the stories we now know from their origins.

Stories come in all forms;

From Myths: a way to explain natural phenomena or aspects of human nature and revolve around deities and the supernatural. Examples of this can be seen in the Cherokee story of why all the trees except for the pine lost their leaves, after the other trees refused to give hospitality to an injured sparrow, or in Pandora’s Box: a story of the gods revenge upon mankind by gifting the ever curious Pandora to care for a jar containing all the sickness, death and many other unspecified evils; which were then released into the world when she opened it.

To Legends: which are often seen as lying somewhere between myth and history. They often center around a well known figure and they can be based on facts – but they are not completely true. Some of the best known legends are the stories of King Arthur, and his knights of the round table; Robin Hood, who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor; and Beowulf, the legendary warrior who conquers beasts and helps people in need.

Some of the best known stories are perhaps fairytales and folklore. We all grew up with many of these stories, which were passed down orally, until they began to be written down in the 17^th century. The ones we are most used to though were not written down until the early 19^th century by the Brother Grimm. Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin and many more were collected and finally written down for future generations. Fairytales often included elements of fantasy, royalty, magic and happy endings. Folktales were traditionally more about common people, and usually involved a person or animal learning a valuable lesson by obeying- or in most cases not obeying- cultural rules. Yet all these stories and those like them from around the world have become more for entertainment. They have been rewritten to the lighter fairy tales our parents read to us before bedtime; or that are watched now in their Disneyized versions. They tend to skip over the more gruesome aspects of the old fairytales, so they are more pleasing to our sensibilities.

All through history storytelling has been conveyed through or accompanied by some form of art, from the illustrations in a children’s book, to fairytale dramatizations or dance, even to the Bayeux Tapestry, an embroidered cloth nearly 70 meters in length which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England. Art and Storytelling have always gone hand in hand.

Narrative art refers to the content of the artwork, in other words, what is being painted not how it is being painted. Narrative art is art that tells a story. This can be to show a moment in time or infer a sequence of events that happen over a period of time. A narrative artwork will usually evoke an emotion in the viewer.

These days we are able to take our Storytelling one step further with the technology of photography and motion film. To this day stories are still a part of our lives, from the myths and fairytales of our ancestors to newly created murder mysteries, science fiction taking us to places beyond our own solar system. And of course the true stories from our own histories. The art of storytelling and the visual art that accompanies it is part of our history and always will be.

The Monashee Arts Council and Village Gallery have invited artists of all kinds to bring their stories into the gallery to be shared, from stories of adorable farm animals, poetry to depictions of biblical heroes.

Everyone has a story to tell.

Art has often been used to tell those stories be they truth or the fantasies of our imaginations. Artists since pre-history have presented their narratives in many ways – by using either a series of images to represent moments in a story, or by selecting a central moment to stand for the story as a whole.

Narrative Art has the power to preserve history beyond the written word as well as create the legends and myths which have survived through generations and cultures.

The Monashee Arts Council invites local story tellers to tell their stories be they True or Fiction through their art

This show is open to all forms of Narrative art. Perhaps you have a family story to tell that connects you to the past, or you want to illustrate a moment from your favorite fairytale or myth, even the storyboard for a movie or a comic you are working on.

We invite you to share your story!