Submitted
Pat Bavin will be one of the artists featured in the Columbia Valley Arts Council show at Pynelogs Centre where an opening reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 6 from 5 to 8 p.m.
People can drop in for viewing between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Thursday to Saturday until September 28.
Bavin will be exhibiting a series of paintings about the historic buildings of Wilmer. An exhibition catalog will be available for purchasing patrons, with the paintings, sketches, historic photographs and history of the buildings featured within the publication.
For many years Bavin has had an itch to record the remaining old historic buildings of the town and the legends of characters that have helped make Wilmer the place it is today.
With the permission of property owners, Bavin started doing site sketches in August 2023 and completed them in late October. He also started interviewing a group of original Wilmer old-timers about the history and folklore of the buildings he painted. Of course, there were many other colourful stories shared.
Over the winter, using his sketches and photographs as reference material, he completed a group of eight acrylic paintings which, as a labor of love, took some time, but he’s happy with the results.
As Bavin was feeding his passion of historic curiosity by chatting with pioneers, he also did a lot of research at the Windermere Valley Museum, the BC Royal Museum, and by reading the book, Lost Kootenays. Soon, he started to see the potential for his own book on art and history.
Bavin’s book will come out later in the fall after a lot of appreciated help in publishing and editing from his son Ryan and Grant Hofer of Four Points Books.
Speaking of characters, he also chose to compile and write about five Wilmer legends being Randolph Bruce, Delphine Starke, Conrad Kain, and Pat and Baiba Morrow, all of whom are also included in the exhibition catalog.
Bavin will be in attendance for the opening reception on September 6, so drop in and bring any Wilmer stories that you may have. There will be wine and cheese with live music by Greg Constable and his wife Carolyn Rogers.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
