All things war-themed have been on the collective artistic mind of New Westminster lately, it seems, what with the unveiling of the new Wait For Me Daddy sculpture downtown and all the events associated with it.
Now, the Arts Council of New Westminster gallery is looking at A Different Kind of War.
That's the exhibition title of the current gallery exhibition, which opened Oct. 7 and runs until Oct. 25.
The exhibition features work by Yayoi Hirano, Elsa Bressler and Eddy Jalbert - all documenting, in different ways, a fight against cancer.
Hirano is an artistic director and performer, and expressions of her fight with cancer as a performer are captured in photos. She'll also have masks on display, and a video of how she sculpted them will also be available.
Bressler is an artist and couturier, who painted after each of her chemo treatments and created beautiful garments for herself - with a mannequin on hand to display one of them.
Jalbert, meanwhile, is a photographer who was inspired to turn his lens to the matter of cancer after first losing his father to lung cancer and then seeing his sister face breast cancer.
He practises "philanthropy photography" to benefit non-profit groups such as the Canadian Cancer Foundation, Friends for Life, B.C. Children's Hospital and more.
A special meet-the-artists reception is set for Friday, Oct. 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. See www.artscouncilnewwest.org for more details.
The gallery is open 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays - it's closed Mondays, and it's also closed Thanksgiving weekend.
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A reminder to all you closet songwriters and basement performers ... you're being given a chance to bring your work into the spotlight.
Enrico Renz and Lawren Nemeth host a regular Songwriters Open Mike Night for both new and emerging songwriters.
It runs Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. at Renaissance Bookstore, 43 Sixth St. (Note that it's NOT running Thanksgiving weekend, but it will be back Oct. 19.)
They also run weekly word challenges - check out the Facebook group under "RCLAS New Westminster Songwriter Open Mike" to see this week's challenge.
You can find all the details at www.rclas.com or just turn out to listen or take part.
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A New Westminster actor is taking to the stage in an all-new production of the Tony Award-winning Urinetown: The Musical.
The musical is onstage at Vancouver's Firehall Arts Centre from Nov. 1 to 29, with previews Nov. 1 to 4 and opening night Nov. 5.
The cast includes a familiar local face - David Adams, who appeared in the Firehall's original production of the musical back in 2006.
For those unfamiliar with the show, it's Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis' take on the future - a future in which drastic water shortages and a large corporation with a monopoly on all toilets force citizens to have to pay for the privilege to pee. Oh, and did I mention it's all set to music?
Adams is joined by a cast of top-notch Vancouver talent, including Andrew Wheeler, Meghan Gardiner, Michelle Bardach, Anton Lipovetsky and Tracey Power.
If you want to get in on the fun, tickets are $21 to $42, and you can call 604-689-0926 or see www.firehallartscentre.ca for more details.
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Artists and arts groups, are you up to something interesting?
I want to hear from you! If you have an interesting event planned for this season, or you know of a local artist who'd be worth profiling in the paper, then please, touch base.
You can email me, [email protected], find me on Facebook, www.facebook.com/JulieLMacLellan, or tweet me, @juliemaclellan.
I look forward to hearing from you!
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Do you have an item for Lively City? Send arts and entertainment ideas to Julie, [email protected], or find her on Twitter, @juliemaclellan.
