With an upcoming initiative, the Sea to Sky version of the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” is set to become “one person’s marine trash is another person’s art.”
As most locals well know, the volunteer-group Divers for Cleaner Lakes and Oceans has been hauling out trash from the bottom of lakes, such as Cat and Brohm Lakes for years.
Amy Liebenberg, executive director of the Squamish Arts Council, is a volunteer with the organization and has known its founder Henry Wang for years.
Wang approached her with the idea of using some of the trash hauled out of lakes for art and the council jumped in with both feet, she said.
Working together
Pre-COVID, the Sea to Sky Arts Council Alliance, made up of councils from Whistler, Pemberton, Lions Bay, Bowen Island and Squamish had been looking at doing a touring show with an environmental theme.
This project fits the bill.
The arts councils from North and West Vancouver were soon added to the list of participants.
Artists in each of the participating communities will be asked to work with school groups in the creation of their art.
The art will ultimately be toured through each community.
“One thing that art can do that nothing else can is evoke emotion, it can highlight an idea, it can bring about conversation in a roundabout way that doesn’t seem confrontational,” Liebenberg said. “It engages you. It draws you in and it allows you to think about it on your own terms and is a much more effective way to highlight and address the issue.”
Trash talk
Each artist will be given 100 pieces of some type of trash retrieved from a waterway to create their unique piece with.
“You might get golf balls or fishing lures — you don’t know,” Liebenberg said.
For the artists, the project allows their work to be shown in communities where they may not normally be showcased.
The art will be hitting the road next April.
Artists in each community are currently being selected.
Diving in
“Can you imagine making a chandelier out of all spoons or sunglasses or something,” Wang said, reflecting on the original conversations around the project.
He said he has been collecting the artists’ items for the last few months. The “ingredients” in the packages may include sunglasses, golf balls, lighters, shotgun shells, fishing lures, fishing lead weights, fish floats and the like.
Pitch in
There will also be side-by-side underwater and shoreline clean-ups scheduled.
“It is kind of a cool way for the community to be involved,” Wang said.
The public can pitch in with the land-based clean-ups.
A cleanup is scheduled for July 7 in Whistler, followed by another in West Vancouver on July 21st.
There will be more in other communities, including Squamish, to follow.
Local companies have jumped onboard as well.
It takes a village
“We’ve just had the most amazing community support for this project. Everybody is really behind it,” Liebenberg said.
Sea to Sky Courier is going to be the touring sponsor and Squamish’s newly launched Gaia & Company is helping out with the beach cleans.
The company will be sorting trash from the shoreline cleanups.
“We are trying to divert as much plastic, specifically, from going into the landfill,” said company owner Grace MacLeod.
Gaia sells compostable garbage bags and gloves that will be used for the shorelines cleanups. Reusable burlap sacks will also used to reduce waste even further.
Raising awareness
The enormity and damage of trash in our environment can’t be hidden any longer, Liebenberg said.
“You can’t throw your garbage in the water anymore and expect people not to find it or for it not to have an impact,” Liebenberg said, noting however that divers are aware that not all the trash in local waters was put there intentionally. Regardless of how it gets there, though, damage is done.
“I have personally, as a diver, seen the destruction underwater and have seen the marine life — it dies. There’s an epicentre of destruction around each piece of garbage.”
On a more hopeful note, Liebenberg said that for some lakes, divers don’t have to clean as frequently as they used to because people do seem to be getting the message.
Wang said he recently got a message from someone who had dropped a Bluetooth speaker into the water and reached out to Wang to apologize for the future work he had inadvertently caused for the divers at Cat Lake.
“People are aware,” Wang said, with a chuckle, noting that he will look out for the speaker.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
