Growing & Making | Crisp Festival

The Crisp Celebrates Pender Island Growers & Makers

On October 5 and 6, there will be a number of agriculture-related and arts activities, as well as some apple-themed food and locally-made products for sale. There will be a chance to visit an orchard, hear about cider-making and explore the natural wonders of Pender Island with members of the Pender Island Conservancy. Click below for a downloadable schedule. More details below.

Download Schedule

SATURDAY

Visual Artists will be featured between the main floor and upstairs.

Vendors and Non-Profit displays till 3pm. Scheduled Sip 'n Paint or Draw or Print (10 per session)

Visual Artists

Margaret Alpen, Kathleen Theriault, Claudia Lorenz, Joanne Green, Gillian Turner, Wendy Gardner, Stefani Williams, Monica Bennett

Main Floor Workshops

10:00 – 11:15 TAL ENGEL "What does it Take to Grow an Old Growth Forest?"

11:25 – 12:05 CONNIE SEARS "Fruit Nutrition"

12:15 – 1:45 BOB & VERNA DUNCAN. "Growing Citrus Trees"

1:50 – 2:30 CHRIS & GABRIELLE "When is a Weed not a Weed?

3:00. VISIT JULIE WILMOTT'S APPLE ORCHARD. Meet outside the Hall

Cider Sermon & Tasting w/ Matthew

Matthew Vasilev, owner, cider maker and self accredited pomologist at Twin Island Cidery, Saturday, October 5th, 4:45. 30 spaces available - $15 person. Please rsvp to info@twinislandcider.com

Sunday

Sunday Forest Walk and Talk with Tal & Erin – Vulture Ridge Nature Reserve

Wendy Gardner

Wendy is passionate about the arts. She believes that it benefits both society and the individual to be exposed to and participate in artistic endeavours which tap into the brain’s creative currents. Art is used in ‘therapy’ for good reason and can bring joy to the soul. Wendy’s personal art practice includes: drawing, water colours, acrylics and sculpture. She has taken many courses and workshops over the years and is happy to share her knowledge with others.

Stefani Williams

A smiling, short-haired women looks towards the camera. She is carrying a handful of paintbrushes.

Kathleen Theriault

Kathleen Theriault was born and raised in Calgary Alberta Canada and did her formal post secondary education in Fine Art at the Alberta College of Art (The Alberta University of Arts). Kathleen majored in visual art and is an award winning Artist, Certified Graphic Designer and Art Instructor.
Kathleen lived as an expatriate Canadian for twenty three years in Australia, Indonesia and India. She served as an International school Art Teacher, Private School Development Officer, International Community Program Coordinator and Graphic Designer. Now that Kathleen and her husband Rob are full time residents of Pender Island BC Kathleen is grateful to have a full time art studio practice as well as serving the community as an art instructor.
Kathleen enjoys a challenge and entering art competitions and juried art shows both locally and internationally. She has received multiple honours and distinguished awards including First Place Abstract Award from FASO Bold Brush International Painting Competition.

Her work is collected in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and India

B & W photo of a white-haired woman with classes, wearing knot cowl-neck sweater

Margaret Alpen

A third generation Vancouverite, Margaret moved to Victoria in 1969 and then migrated to Pender Island. Over the years she has studied Acrylic and Oil painting, Batik, Silkscreen, Pottery and Printmaking. In 1997 she graduated from the Victoria College of Art. She is a member of the Pender Island Art Society. Her work has been shown at the Sooke Fine Arts show, the Sidney Fine Arts show, the Victoria Arts Council Gallery, a number of Alumni shows for the Victoria College of Art, the Red Tree Gallery on Pender Island, “Art in the Orchard”, and shows at the Sea Star Winery, the Pender Island Art Society, Southern Gulf Islands Art show and at “the Gallery” at Hope Bay.
"I enjoy colour, line, shapes, I love exploring inside of whatever
I am portraying on the canvas or paper. We are all made up of layers!”

A woman with curly blond hair looks towards the camera. She is wearing a navy blue puffer jacket.

Joanne Green

Joanne was born and raised on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. Growing up next to the ocean and being surrounded by wilderness, Joanne developed a deep connection to the land. Joanne is now blessed to be cultivating her art practice while raising a family on a small island in the Salish Sea.

Joanne didn't take a direct path to the world of art. Her love of history and culture led her towards Archaeology. She studied at the University of British Columbia and went on to work as an archaeologist for many years. She still does archaeological research, focussing on laboratory midden analysis.

It was during an solo trek through the Himalyan mountains of Nepal when Joanne's creative awakening began. Since then, her creative life has blossomed. Joanne is now known for her bold and colourful paintings. Her work reflects her love of nature, animals and the ocean. Joanne's art pays homage to the beauty and inherent wisdom of the environment as well as its fragility. Joanne's geometric folk-art inspired paintings speak to the symmetry seen in nature and her more abstract works are explorations of the unseen beauty and wonder of the microscopic world. Joanne is currently exploring mixed-media and resin. The common themes running through her various styles are: Love and Innocence and her deep reverence for Mother Nature.

Monica Bennett

After receiving a Bachelor of Applied Arts business degree from Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and working in the Hospitality industry for several years, Bennett discovered her passion for fibre arts. Starting in 1991, she studied quilting, fabric dyeing, hand and machine stitchery, and surface design with a variety of international teachers, including Julia Caprara (Britain) and Jan Beaney of the renown 62 Group, London. Bennett taught textile arts in Vancouver and on the North Shore from 1995 to 2003. She has worked with handmade felt since 2001, developing a strong set of skills in her exploration of felt as a medium for sculptural pieces, functional and wearable art. In her ongoing felt education, she has taken workshops with internationally renowned instructors Fiona Duthie (Canada), Andrea Graham (United States), and Pam deGroot (Australia).

Her work focusses on the beauty of the land and ocean that surrounds her. Working with a variety of fibres, including locally raised rare breed Cotswold, Icelandic and Romney sheep and alpaca, she explores the 'small' things of the natural world to remind the viewer of those delicate and vulnerable flora and fauna that are often overlooked in a busy world.

Bennett is a member of the International Felters Association, the international Surface Design Association, Craft Council of British Columbia, and the Southern Gulf Islands Arts Council (past Director, North Pender Island). She has participated in both juried and invitational shows on Pender, Salt Spring and Vancouver Islands, including the Sidney Fine Arts Show, the Sooke Fine Arts show and Canadian Felt Week. As a founding member of the Pender Islands Artisan Cooperative (inc. 2001), she was pivotal in establishing the Red Tree Gallery in 2005 at Hope Bay on Pender Island. She worked and showed at the gallery until 2013. Currently, she is curating the large summer and winter shows for The Gallery at Ptarmigan Arts at Hope Bay, Pender Island, while creating a new body of work. Bennett has lived on Pender with her husband since 1999.

A woman wearing a hat looks towards the camera. She holds a piece of pottery in her hands. Behind her there is shelf filled with pottery.

Gillian Turner

"In an often tumultuous world, the medium of clay is my constant.
In a banal world, it is fresh, responsive and exciting." - Gillian
Gillian was first introduced to ceramics in the winter of 2009, through a weekly ceramics class at North Island College, Courtenay BC. Making pots for the last decade has taught her as much about herself as the material. She believes for those fortunate enough to be in the loop, this is what clay does. Immediacy and responsiveness, much like human relationships, only this partner never gives up. It waits for you, until you’re ready, ready to do amazing things together. She has participated in several workshops at Metchosin Summer School for the Arts, the Archie Bray Clay Centre in Montana, combined with the patience and wisdom of the ceramics instructors at NIC, she is learning. She has been mentored by some authentic and highly gifted people.

A Woman with long wavy silver hair looks towards the camera.

Claudia Lorenz

An amazing and intuitive fiber artist, weaver, leather worker, wizard with mechanical, sewing machine repairer, aspiring bass player!