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Comox Valley Art Gallery’s ‘Return to Water’ program concludes with three-day festival

The Comox Valley Art Gallery’s thematic program “Return to Water” will wrap up with a three-day festival, May 12-14.
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Students from the Early Childhood Care Education at North Island College are fully engaged in the “Return to Water” program at CVAG. The program concludes with a three-day festival May 12 to 14. Photo supplied

The Comox Valley Art Gallery’s thematic program “Return to Water” will wrap up with a three-day festival, May 12-14.

Everyone is welcome to attend the opening ceremony on the CVAG plaza Thursday, May 12, at 4:30 p.m. The event will include cultural sharing through story, song and dance with Elders, the Noojim Oowin Dancers, and the Kumugwe Cultural Society.

There will also be live screen-printing on the CVAG plaza that afternoon, offered by the Wachiay Screenprinting Studio. People can bring their own cotton white t-shirts and get a “Return to Water” design added.

The festival includes in-person and live-streamed public events that are open to everyone, and some activities that require advance registration. CVAG’s website provides information about getting involved.

Throughout the three days people can drop in to see water-related videos on three different screens in the gallery and installations of work by students from local schools and fine arts students from North Island College.

Onsite and offsite learning engagements with groups of students from the local school district are also a part of the festival.

Advance registration is required to attend Friday evening’s event, “Source Encounters,” which will take place on Comox Lake. This partnership between CVAG and Connected By Water will include a short journey with canoes and kayaks, and artistic and cultural sharing. Visit the CVAG website for details and registration information.

Advance registration is required for two workshops at CVAG on Saturday. “Water In(ter)ventions” is a make art project led by Sophia Valiant for youth in grades 4-7. “Body of Water” is workshop led by Jane Ellison, a Vancouver-based instructor of movement and body-mind workshops.

Workshop spaces are limited so please register in advance at gallery@comoxvalleyartgallery.com or 250.338.6211.

“Return to Water” will conclude Saturday with a flood of public activities starting at 3 p.m., including live screen-printing on the CVAG plaza.

“Curating Cleaner Water/Improv Shadow Jam” an all-ages drop-in interactive activity with Jamie Black from 3-5 p.m. There will be film screenings at 5 p.m. in the gallery’s lower-level studio. A sound installation and performance with artists Renee Poisson and Francis Semple will take place on the plaza at 6 p.m.

The festival will end with “Body Waves,” a party featuring live DJ Lady K, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on the CVAG plaza.

Saturday also marks the closing day for the exhibition “Salt-Stained Streaks of a Worthwhile Grief,” a group exhibition by the Fathom Sounds Collective.

“Return to Water” is made possible in part thanks to funding from the Government of B.C.’s Festivals, Fairs and Events Recovery Fund.

Find out more about “Return to Water” at www.comoxvalleyartgallery.com