Friday’s Art and Garden Tour was so good we need to do it again!
Friday’s Art and Garden Tour organized by the North Columbia Environmental Society and the Revelstoke Art Gallery was so good we should do it again next year. Hundreds of people walked, cycled and drove to gardens across town to see the hidden gems people cultivate in their backyards as well as the works of art created by local painters, sculptors and jewellers.
By David F. Rooney and Laura Stovel
Friday’s Art and Garden Tour organized by the North Columbia Environmental Society and the Revelstoke Art Gallery was so good we should do it again next year. Hundreds of people walked, cycled and drove to gardens across town to see the hidden gems people cultivate in their backyards as well as the works of art created by local painters, sculptors and jewellers.
There were garden tours at least 10 years ago but, unless I’m mistaken, they focused mainly on flowers. This Friday’s tour was an enthusiastic celebration of the art of growing and could be equally successful next year.
But why blather on when The Current has dozens of images gathered by contributor Laura Stovel and I. Take look and please let us know what you think:
Martha and David Fehr have created a well-mannered garden in the back yard of their bed & breakfast, 7 Acres B & B, on Big Eddy Road. David F. Rooney photoVisitor and artist Kat Mather stares with amazement at Martha and David Fehr’s giant tomato and cucumber plants. Laura Stovel photoKrista Stovel’s photo transfer onto rough wood is striking on the old wood wall at the Fehr garden. Laura Stovel photo
Martha Fehr always cleans her tools before hanging them up. She sprays them with Pam cooking spray so they don’t rust. Laura Stovel photoAfter more than 25 years of gardening, Terry and Lisa Feuz have cultivated a verdant and lovely garden, which was the right location for paintings and sculpture by Barbara Maye. David F. Rooney photoGeoff Battersby welcomes a group of people enjoying the Garden & Art Tour. Geoff and his wife Gwen have a lively vegetable garden and magnificent rock gardens. David F. Rooney photoGeoff and Gwen pose in their garden with one of Jackie Pendergast’s lovely silk paintings. David F. Rooney photoSandra Flood set examples of her ceramic work, including this gorgeous tea set throughout her lovely flower garden. David F. Rooney photoSharon Kelley has not only a fantastic garden, to which she and her partner Jim Cook, devote lots of time but a fine sense of colour as exemplified by this work of hers. David F. Rooney photoFrancis and Clara Maltby have a carefully nurtured wild garden that aims for biodiversity. Laura Stovel photoNCES urban junior farmer Sara Jeffries welcomes visitors at the Community Garden alongside paintings by Rachel Kelly and Kimberly Olsen. Laura Stovel photoGardeners Sam and Betty Olynik show the perfect harmony between art, food and flowers. Their garden featured the paintings and ceramics of Patti and Satish Shonek. Laura Stovel photoPatti Shonek’s flower painting is right at home in the Olynik garden. Laura Stovel photo“I had a dream,” said Satish Shonek, “that Mount Begbie was an island.” This painting is called Begbie Island. Satish Shonek has only recently taken up painting. Laura Stovel photoNatalie Stefl (pictured here) and her partner Jeff Ferguson have a very well-organized small garden. Here, Natalie demonstrates the fact that the garden fences are actually gates that can be opened for easy access. The garden was beautifully decorated with the paintings of Stephanie Lynn. Laura Stovel photoJean Takkinen’s garden features a bridge that was built by a friend of her son. Unfortunately, Jean could not be here for the tour but she posted a note: “So of course I had to create a creek bed to put the bridge over.” Laura Stovel photoCeramic artist Kat Mather (right) tucks a beautiful mask into the arbor of gardeners extraordinaire Bob and Cheryl Willford. Laura Stovel photoGeordie Knoess poses with a new stained glass work into which he has integrated translucent agates. He and his partner, painter and sculptress Barbara Maye combine their sense of art with their garden on Oscar Street. David F. Rooney photoBarbara Maye waxes poetic about her scarlet runners to visitors at her garden and back-yard sculpture studio on Oscar Street. David F. Rooney photoBarbara Maye has slabs of slate and some beautiful chunks of soapstone she is working on. David F. Rooney photoGuiseppe and Laarni. Iaccino welcome David Rooney’s fitting painting, The Green Man, to their beautiful garden. Guiseppe spends three to four hours a day in his garden. He grows nectarines, peaches, pears, apples, figs (Yes, he has two full-grown fig trees (with delicious fruit), tomatoes, leeks, peas, beans, peppers, cabbage, egg plants, soy beans and other fantastic crops. Laura Stovel photoGuiseppe Iaccino grows some incredible tomatoes. Laura Stovel photoGuiseppe and Laarni pose in front of their garden. The image above them is a photo of an environmental work by David Rooney called Spirits of the Forest that was installed at Blanket Creek Provincial Park back in 2011. Laura Stovel photoNancy Geismar’s beautiful ceramics are a perfect match for Ken Sakamoto’s artistic garden which features a fish pond, trimmed trees, a walnut tree and an abundant vegetable garden. Laura Stovel photoGardener and wood artist Ken Sakamoto enjoys a laugh with NCES garden tour organizer Hailey Ross. Laura Stovel photoKen Sakamoto, a noted local wood-carver, has a lovely back garden that includes this large year-round pond, which is home to at least a dozen koi. David F. Rooney photoArtist Bruce Thomas (left) and gardener Stu Smith both know that art and gardening go naturally together. Laura Stovel photo“How big?” Sara Jefferies tries to lift a pumpkin at the home of Stu Smith and Sarah Harper while her partner Gordon looks on. Laura Stovel photoArtichokes anyone? Stu Smith and his partner Sarah Harper have a garden that must be seen to be believed. Laura Stovel photoGardener Sarah Harper is also a talented actor. Here she does performance art with Peter Oosterhof, who plays the flute. Laura Stovel photo
