Lake Country’s artists to be recognized

The Lake Country Museum and Archives, in partnership with the Lake Country Art Gallery and art community, has been awarded funding through the BC Arts Council to document the history and contribution of local artists.

Lake Country is home to over 100 artists – visual artists, musicians, and performing artists – who have played a large part of our community’s history and contribution to the arts in Canada and worldwide. The project Oral Histories of Lake Country’s Artists intends to preserve that history and build a recorded legacy for future artists, researchers, and the community as a whole. The Museum is partnering with the Lake Country Art Gallery and is in consultation with the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan (ARTSCO) and the Lake Country ArtWalk and Public Art committees.  Dr. Hussein Keshani of the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan is advising and 4^th year Art History major, Shea McMartin, is working with the project as a researcher and primary interviewer.

Dr. Sharon McCoubrey, President, Lake Country Art Gallery, states, “The Oral Histories of Lake Country’s Artists” will be an important project and I commend the Lake Country Museum for taking this on. Not only will it be interesting to hear the artists’ stories, this project will obtain valuable information for our community’s archives.”

This project evolved from the ongoing Community Memories program, in which the Museum interviews long-time residents of Lake Country, local business owners, and public officials who were instrumental in specific aspects of Lake Country’s development. The completed interviews are available to researchers at the Museum archives.  The new interviews will focus on the story of each artist and how their life experiences have translated into their artwork as well as directions they expect to explore in the future. Individual interviews may also explore the events that have influenced the creation of specific pieces of art in each artist’s portfolio and the influence of the community of Lake Country on their work: geographic, social, aesthetic, cultural, and environmental. The first twelve interviews will be completed this spring.

For more information about the project, or if you would like to recommend an artist to be included in the interview list, please contact the Lake Country Museum at 250-766-0111 or email info@lakecountrymuseum.com.