Britannia Mine Museum’s annual Copper & Fire Arts community event is returning Saturday, September 17, featuring talented local BC artists and their unique metal and earthen crafts.
The event celebrates the arts and visitors can experience the unique and creative ways minerals from the Earth can be showcased through art. The family-friendly Copper & Fire Arts event features earth-inspired jewelry, sculpture, copper work, gemstone art, pottery and painting, all inspired by the landscape of the Pacific Northwest.
“Our annual Copper & Fire Arts event is our signature fall community gathering to show the connections between mined materials and the arts, and to illustrate the importance of mining in our everyday lives,” says Elena Whitman, Guest Services Manager at the Britannia Mine Museum. “Our goal is to showcase local BC artists, explore their visions and learn how they create unique pieces of earthen arts using mined materials.”
Canadian indie folk/rock musicians, Coldwater Road, will be performing two 45-minute sets at 11:45 am and 1 pm. The duo is known for their rich storytelling lyrics deeply rooted in Canada’s western frontier, and their foot-stomping ballads and love songs will give visitors a reason to dance.
The band will be releasing a new album this year focusing on Canadian History, including the song “The Mine and the Mill”, which was inspired by a visit to the Britannia Mine Museum.
The Copper & Fire Arts event highlights BC artists including:
Angela Muellers – Brackendale-based painter Angela Muellers is a classically trained portrait and landscape artist, who is best known for painting natural forms and the effects of light like mountain landscapes, nature, animals on copper. www.angelamuellers.com
Ania Kyte – Ania Kyte’s TurtleBead Studios is based in Mission, and uses torch flames to melt and create beautiful jewelry, glass beads and her signature glass turtle. In addition to her own artwork, Ania is also a passionate teacher, providing hands-on instruction to students interested in the art of glass beadmaking. www.turtlebeads.com
Hazel Cruse – Hazel Cruse is a Vancouver jewelry artist who combines textures, shapes, shiny, rough, ancient, organic and sometimes not-so-perfect materials to create pieces that are “perfection in imperfections”. Her custom handmade pieces showcase her passion for South Coast jewelry, North Coast carvings and engraved silver, and ancient Tibertan Turquoise and coral adornment pieces. www.instagram.com/infinitystudiodesigns
Martin Vseticka – Sea-to-Sky-based Martin Vseticka is an award-winning jewelry designer who brings his love of nature into goldsmithing through unique design and environmental ethics. He specializes in the form and forge method for gold and silver work and is best known for his trademark halibut hook design. www.vseticka.ca
Wayne Buhler – North Vancouver’s Wayne Buhler is a local artist who specializes in oil painting on copper, a respected tradition dating back hundreds of years, and his love of nature is visible in his artistic creations which exudes visual depth and richness of transparent oil colours.
