Gabriola is celebrating creativity during The Isle of the Arts Festival starting today (April 25).
The festival runs until May 5 and features a host of artistic opportunities to learn various disciplines through workshops.
The event kicks off with Pints, Prose and Poetry at 6 p.m. at the Surf Pub. It features presentations by poets and writers, which includes Dede Crane, Roger Farr, Bill Gaston, George Szanto and Susan Yates. Admission to the kickoff is $40, which includes beer or wine.
Numerous workshops are being held every day throughout the festival. People must register for workshops in advance as many have limited space.
On Friday (April 26) Crane leads The Art of Writing for Young adults and children at The Commons 10 am. to 1 p.m. Registration is $15.
Szanto leads a two day workshop, How to Write a Mystery Novel, at The Commons Saturday (April 27) from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2-4 p.m. and Sunday (April 28) 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Registration for the workshop is $35.
Saturday also features four other workshops: Embellishments Modern Embroidery and Applique with Kat Domsky, Sculpting a Cob Oven with Pollen Heath, Build a Whirly Bird with Deborah Dallyn and Activist Art with Hayden Harvey.
Sunday features five workshops including: Herbal Medicine Making with Heather Macleod, The Roller Coaster Ride of Memoir Writing with Naomi Beth Wakan, Felt Jewelry Basics with Siki McIvor, Build a Garden Gate with Sylvia Kiviloo and Rock Mosaics with Karen Aaker.
Monday (April 29) features two workshops: Simple Book Binding with Deborah Dallyn and Art Talk Professional Development for Artists led by Melinda Mollineaux.
People can learn about creating designs on fabric Tuesday (April 30) during Screen Printing on Fabric led by Kat Domsky.
The event features more than 30 workshops. For a full list of the workshops, locations and registration fees please go to http://artsgabriola.ca.
The Isle of the Arts is presented by the Gabriola Arts Council and is held in conjunction with B.C. Arts and Culture Week, which runs until April 27.