Livelier News from the Vernon Arts Scene

In the last few weeks I have got to know Misia, a young Polish artist chosen as one of the artists in residence who will visit Vernon throughout the year and stay in the Caetani House, the family home of Sveva Caetani a local artist.  She is working on a project that incorporates aspects of our local environment and life into her art. 

She is a contagiously enthusiastic person who joined the Vernon Outdoors Club in her quest to get to know the area.  I have been on a few hikes and rambles with her and also walked with her a couple of times up to the Black Rock, my favourite neighbourhood site.  I knew she would appreciate not only the view of the three lakes that you get from there but also the ever-changing graffiti on the walls of the abandoned water reservoir. It was while walking around the top of the wall with her that I saw for the first time the words, "July 20th, 1909" written into the concrete at one point.  I had never walked all the way around before.  Many old locals think that the graffiti is just the scrawl made by druggies who go up there to get high, and it sometimes is crude and vulgar.  But often it is well done.  I can't always read it but you can see that it is thoughtfully executed.  I had seen on Misia's website that when she was on a similar residency in Italy she was fascinated by things other than the beauty of nature, so I thought she would enjoy seeing the graffiti.  She did.  She will work it into her project somehow and in the process make a brief reference to me because she associates me with words.  Unfortunately, I will be in China when she makes her presentation, but we will keep in touch and she will send me the link to her work.

As we were walking one day it occurred to me that she would like to see the Ballets Jazz de Montreal. I had just bought a ticket to their performance here.  She said that she had thought of going but tickets were too expensive, so I gave her $20.00 dollars that I had in my pocket to lower the price for her.  Last night I picked her up at the Caetani and we went together.  I have seen them before and liked their work, but last night's show was exceptional.  It was brilliant and energetic and went from indigenous, Rodrigo Pederneiras' "Rouge", to intimate,Benjamin Millepied's "Closer" to the frenetic pace of daily life today, Andonis Foniadakis' "Kosmos".  We stayed for the discussion with the artistic director, Louis Robitaille after the show.  I don't normally do this because I feel so ill at ease in such sessions where people ask their questions that sometimes make me feel embarrassed for some reason.  But I stayed for her sake and learned what I often do, that it's usually a good idea to put myself in situations that I too easily avoid. We both left the Art Centre energized. We didn't talk much but she said something that cracked me up. She mentioned how good Louis's English was, which is true but went on to add that he hardly had any accent, which is not.  His accent was extremely and attractively French.  In fact I think that that is half the reason why I listened so attentively to him and ignored the questions he was asked.

The last flowers in Polson Park.  I took this picture while on a bike ride with Mo and John yesterday.  The next time I'm on a bike I will be in Vietnam.