Marcie Gauntlett has been taking photographs since 1945 and the art form continues to spark excitement within her today.
“It gives me a real inner pleasure,” said the 79-year-old from her new home in Nanoose Bay.
Gauntlett hails from Boston, Massachusetts but has lived in places around the world. Various positions with the Hospital Corporation of America and the United States Foreign Service has had her living in Saudi Arabia, Brussels, Russia and Germany, among other locations.
Gauntlett continued to take photographs and she also wrote travel articles while living abroad, and she’s been published in a number of newspapers and magazines in North America and overseas.
She moved to Sooke in 2001 with her husband where she continued to write for publications like the Times-Colonist and also tapped into her other love, cooking. She ran a cooking school there for three years and wrote recipes for Whats-Up magazine.
Gaunlett and her husband recently relocated to Nanoose Bay, where her husband has lived previously, and she keeps busy with her photography, cooking, writing and crafts. She also loves to hike, horseback ride and read, she said.
“I just have this energy that keeps me going all day.”
This Saturday, Sept. 28 she will open the Beachcomber Studio at her home in Nanoose Bay, where people can view her photographs as well as her driftwood signs and all-season wreaths. She also has a collection of post-soviet paintings she acquired while living in Moscow for sale at the studio.
The studio opening will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at 1598 Marina Way where there will be refreshments and snacks. The Beachcomber studio will be open Saturdays from 11 to 4 p.m. For more information visit www.Beachcomberstudio.ca, or email marcichka@telus.net.