Art Galleries & Artists
Glass artwork (Danielle Hayes photo)
The late Jack Shadbolt, the renowned BC painter, once called Hornby Island home and to this day the island boasts a sky high per-capita population of creatives.
Artists, musicians, and writers find that the island's peace, isolation, and natural beauty fire up their imaginations and productivity. Not surprisingly, many visitors arrive here with their own sketchbooks, journals, guitars, laptops, and other creative tools.
Island Studios
About 50 home studios are listed in the annual map guide produced by the Hornby Island Arts Council (available at brochure racks around the island). All are open by appointment for most, if not all of the year. Among the artists maintaining regularly scheduled studio hours in the summer are painters Roberta Pyx Sutherland, and Caroline James, toymaker Christiane Brown, and fibre artist Veronica Lynn Graham.
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Other Hornby artists with substantial regional and/or national reputations include Wayne Ngan (rated as one of Canada's top potters), sculptor Alastair Heseltine, Ann Zielinski (one of Shadbolt's best known students) and Elaine Savoie (descended from one of Hornby's pioneering families and known for her magical, icon-like animal paintings).
Art at the Farmer's Market
A handful of artists turn out for the charmingly down-to-earth and family friendly farmer's market (Wednesday and Saturday in the park on Sollans Road near the Hornby Hall). Their ranks are likely to include painter Tina Harrison, potter Masoud Zadeh and jeweller Louise Jarvis, among others.
Galleries
The best one-stop art experience here is the Hornby Island Artist Run Gallery, a cooperative space with a membership of 60 local talents. New shows are mounted monthly in the quaint farmhouse at 1665 Central Road (open daily in the summer, weekends the rest of the year).
Amidst the food stalls and lively atmosphere of the Ringside Market, Island Potters is another multi-artist space filled with plates, cups, teapots, and objets d'art. The Arbutus Art Gallery in Ford's Cove carries art and crafts supplies along with a good collection of work by such island artisans as ceramic specialist Rachelle Chinnery.
The Hornby Festival
A fine collection of local artwork is exhibited annually at the Hornby Hall during this popular festival in late July and early August. The community hall is one of the chief venues for this low-key and imaginative festival, launched in 1982 and renowned for its classical, jazz, world-music, dance and spoken-word performances.
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