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Earthly Belongings
CELEBRATING EARTH DAY
» Thursday 22 April 2010 | 5 pm
» The Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue
An informal afternoon hour showcasing ideas
and people in the Okanagan creative economy. Join us on this special day as writer Heather Allen, artist Joanne Beaulieu and gardener Curtis Stone share their own unique connections to Mother Nature. Convened by ecologist Don Gayton.
» $2 at the door. Refreshments are available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Nature Takes Centre Stage at Special Earth Day Celebration
The stark reality is that nature has a very low priority in our Okanagan society. A huge plethora of social items come first before nature - economics, technology, transportation, real estate, lifestyle, recreation, consumption, convenience. Until we find ways to elevate the social status of nature, the gradual ecological erosion will continue.
On Thursday, April 22nd at 5 pm the ongoing weekly Okanagan Institute Express series at the Bohemian Café presents Earthly Belongings: Celebrating Earth Day. Join us on this special day as writer Heather Allen, artist Joanne Beaulieu and gardener Curtis Stone share their own unique connections to Mother Nature. Convened by ecologist Don Gayton.
These three very talented individuals will each present a unique approach to that elevation - through the mediums of story, art, and gardening.
 Heather Allen is a Penticton journalist, book reviewer, KidLit author and working mom. After completing journalism school in Halifax, she became a writer and editor for Atlantic Books Today. Moving to San Francisco, she then worked as the managing editor for XRAY magazine. Heather writes two columns for the Penticton Western News. The first, The Armchair Book Club, reviews the latest books on store shelves, and the second, The 100-Mile Book Club, focuses on local authors. As a Regional District Parks Board member, Heather is currently pushing for the creation of a native grasslands park in her West Bench neighbourhood. As PAC president at West Bench School, she helped construct a First Nations planting circle in the school playground, which has more than 100 indigenous plants being cared for by the students. Heather also writes with an eye to opening up the world of ecology and conservation through story, a medium which children find irresistible.
 Joanne Beaulieu is a Kelowna artist and naturalist. She has combined those twin interests as a successful painter of natural subjects, particularly birds and plants. She was commissioned by the Kelowna Museums Society to produce ten detailed watercolors of fruit trees developed in Canada. The resulting exhibition, Science As Art, went on tour to several other Museums in BC. In her work at the Environmental Education Centre for the Okanagan (EECO Centre) she has produced artistic display materials as well as teaching outdoor art workshops. Some of her bird drawings grace the BC Coastal Waterbird Survey website. When not painting, Joanne indulges her passion for birdwatching, and regularly participates in Christmas Bird Counts.
 Curtis Stone operates Green City Acres, a Kelowna-based small urban farming/edible landscaping company dedicated to sustainable food production. Green City utilizes back yards and urban spaces to grow organic produce for local distribution. Our mission is to foster social and environmental change through the production of local organic food and to help, teach, and empower people to start growing their own. Green City Acres uses a method of farming called SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) to grow a variety of different crops to be sold to restaurants, farmers markets, and eventually directly to consumers through a CSA (community supported agriculture) box program. Curtis says, "we have the equipment and the expertise to tear up your lawn and reclaim it for food."
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE
Earthly Belongings: Celebrating Earth Day takes place at the Bohemian Café. This marks the 135th event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in July 2007.
Express has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet laureate and professor John Lent, creative entrepreneur Nikos Theodosakis, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, community activist Don Elzer, dancer David LaHay, architect Jim Meiklejohn, culinary artist and writer Heidi Noble, broadcaster Marion Barschel and many others from a wide range of creative fields.
The Okanagan Institute is a group of creative professionals that has gathered around the goal of providing events, publications and services of interest to enquiring minds in the Okanagan. We partner with individuals, organizations, institutions and businesses to achieve optimal creative and social impact.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.
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