week-long road-trip and summer commitments

I am driving to Invermere, British Columbia today; it’s a long 8 hour haul. I have an orientation meeting this Saturday about an upcoming art tour that I am doing mid-summer. The CV Arts Tour of the Arts is a fabulous day-long event that features 50 artists in 5 unique settings around the picturesque Columbia Valley in the Kootenay Mountains of BC, Canada. To experience the tour, you buy a passport which provides you addresses, directions and entrance to the different sites, and also provides you with artist bios/photographs, and gives you a chance to win a grand prize if you visit all 5 sites. This is the Tour’s fourth year, and I am proud to have been a demonstrating artist two years ago; I saw a lot of exposure, spread the knowledge of printmaking and even sold a good amount of artwork. Last year, I was exhibiting a 2-week long show at a gallery during the same weekend as the Tour and thus felt too overwhelmed to take on both at once. This year, however I vowed that I would make it happen, no matter when other responsibilities lined up with it. I will actually be returning to Invermere in early July for a month-long stay: I have a 2 week solo show at a local gallery, am doing the Art Tour I just spoke of, I’ll be making artwork in studio for a few dates at Blackstar Gallery, possibly some farmer’s market Saturdays, and am teaching three super fun workshops at Pynelogs gallery for kids (click the image below for more information).While in Invermere over the weekend, apart from attending the tour meeting, I will also be visiting my family, spending time with some really close friends and will stop by some of my favorite places next to the lake and in town. On Wednesday, I’m travelling to Alberta for a stay at my parents house in Calgary while I do some etching at a local printmaking co-op (more updates about that to come). After just a few short, hectic days in the print studio, I will be headed back to 100 Mile House. I will spend not even all of 2 weeks there before I am back in the car (this time with John), driving east-bound again.