It’s full-steam ahead for BC Culture Days events in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area.
Organizer for the Parksville hub, Pattiann Withapea, said the Steampunk Miniature Metal Sculpture Workshop, held on Sept. 23, was a big hit.
The workshop gave people of all ages a chance to create metal sculptures out of discarded metal, with guidance from Withapea and a little help from superglue.
“One of the objectives was to teach people that you don’t have to go to the dollar store and buy plastic stuff that’s on its way to the landfill soon,” said Withapea. “You can look around and find literally junk and turn trash into treasures. So mission accomplished. The kids were like ‘I can’t wait to go to Grandpa’s house, he has really good junk in his shop’.”
The workshop included a virtual appearance by one of the world’s top scrap metal sculptors, Dotun Popoola, who greeted the group from his studio in Nigeria, where he creates works such as life-sized sculptures of camels and bulls.
Next, the Art Banner Crawl will introduce people to a selection of new art banners installed in the Downtown Business District to add to the collection of unique banners.
Locals and tourists can follow a treasure hunt style map to locate the banners while enjoying the unique shops and boutiques in the downtown area from Oct. 6 to Oct. 15.
Parksville Downtown Business Association (PDBA), Oceanside Community Arts Council (OCAC), the MAC and the Bayside Resort all sponsored events this year.
This is the third year Withapea has organized BC Culture Days in Parksville. She is a juried member of both the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Society of Canadian Artists.
Withapea has represented Canada twice at the Global Art Festival and recently attended the International Sculpture Symposium in India.