Okotoks resident Renee Carrier painted this watercolour portrait last year as part of her fundraising efforts to participate in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. Carrier is offering to paint a portrait for anyone who donates $200 or more again this year.

For the second year in a row Renee Carrier is trying to drum up enough money to participate in the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer long-distance cycling fundraiser.

The entry fee is $2,500, but she managed to raise $3,500 last year. This year she is raising the bar to $4,000. However, raising money has been more difficult this year than last.

“I didn’t anticipate (the earthquakes in) Haiti and Chile and the other needs,” said Carrier.

Widespread fundraising efforts are affecting the flow of cash she has been able to land.

“Big time,” Carrier said. “Most of my big donors, that donated $200 or more last year, said they can donate $50 this year. It’s mostly because of the economy and the other needs.”

As a result, Carrier has been changing her approach.

“I’m doing more to get smaller donations in,” said Carrier. “My big one last year was if people donated over $200 then I’d paint them a portrait. This year if people donate $50 their names go into a draw for a portrait.”

Carrier is also planning on holding a party in her home on April 17 for various vendors to sell their goods, manufactured and homemade. Goods will include hand-made jewelry, quilts and Tupperware.

“There will be a bunch of different vendors and a portion of the money they spend will go towards the Ride,” said Carrier.

Carrier’s passion to raise money for the Ride to Conquer Cancer comes from the vast number of people who are affected by cancer through a diagnosis or the diagnosis of a loved one.

“I’ve lost aunts, uncles and close friends and I’ve had lots of friends who’ve been touched by it and recovered,” said Carrier. “If we (Carrier and her nuclear family) were to count the people that we’ve lost, it’s on one hand, but if it’s the people that it has touched, it’d take all our fingers and toes and that’s just our one little family.”

This year she is not only motivated to do something to help. This year she is also driven by the experience she had last year overcoming obstacles, connecting with others in the same challenge and the feeling the sense of accomplishment at the end of the fundraising and a weekend of riding 100km per day.

“It’s amazing,” said Carrier. “Feeling the intensity and the emotion in the air – the whole weekend was like that. Everyone worked hard and felt really good about what we’re doing.”

This year the Ride to Conquer Cancer takes place on June 26 and 27 and will involve a 100km ride each day.

“Last year I joined with a partner and then we hooked up with other riders and everyone was from different walks of life and we had a common cause that brought us together,” said Carrier. “And nobody had any personal gain, it was all for the greater good.”

Carrier is glad she had a partner and an extended team to meet the challenges of fundraising and the physical challenges of the ride.

“When you ride long distance you hit these emotional lows and it’s nice to have someone with you,” said Carrier. “If anyone is interested in joining the ride or to talk about what it’s about and what is involved, contact me. It was such an amazing experience.”

Funds raised through the Ride to Conquer Cancer are divided between administrative costs of the event and cancer research. Last year 45 per cent of the funds raised paid for the costs of the event, which include food, portable toilets along the bike route and working with local police to ensure safety for cyclists along highways. A total of $3.9 million, which was 55 per cent of the funds raised, supported cancer research including looking at the mind-body connection in relation to cancer and how lifestyle affects the likelihood of getting cancer.

To make a donation to Carrier for the Ride to Conquer Cancer go to her webpage at www.conquercancer.ca/goto/reneecarrier

For more information about the mission, joining her team or the sale at her home on April 17, call Carrier at 403-938-2405.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Dipping into paints as thick as molasses has enabled a Bragg Creek artist to free up his creativity. Bragg Creek resident David Zimmerman creates paintings with physical and emotional depth by balancing realism with the abstract.

David Zimmerman has been juggling a lot of interest in his work over the past year, a level of success that has come after seven years painting.

In the past four years Zimmerman has been refining his style, which is a variety of subjects recreated with a technique of thick layers of paint, and last summer his work was chosen to adorn the dream home at the Calgary Stampede.

“What a huge honour to have 100,000 people see what you have put together,” said Zimmerman. “It was great, it was crazy. I was really excited about the opportunity and a little overwhelmed.”

In February Zimmerman was chosen among all the artists entering the Calgary’s Next Top Artist competition for the spot in the Homes by Avi dream home. Learning he had the opportunity to show approximately 30 paintings throughout the house, Zimmerman set to work to create them.

Zimmerman uses a knife to spread thick gels on canvas to create a three-dimensional image, then applies thick oil paints to help the image emerge, adds gold or silver leaf to bounce extra light and then seals the painting in a thick gloss.

His subjects range from wildlife, natural landscapes to urban landscapes.

“When you start selling your work it’s a new venture and it makes you feel a little vulnerable,” said Zimmerman. “Then having a crowd view your art, and either love it or not, it’s a whole other nervousness that takes place with that, but it’s fun. It really is.”

Zimmerman is accustomed to presenting his ideas before large crowds of people. For nine years he has been the minister of the Bragg Creek Community Church, a non-denominational Christian congregation. Seven years ago he began putting his ideas onto canvas and struggled with his impulse for realism, wanting more depth from the imagery.

“My very first painting was looking at a picture and reproducing it on canvas and I represented exactly what I saw, which was fun, but I wasn’t excited about it,” said Zimmerman. “It was a journey from there. I thought, how can I loosen up a bit and go less realism and more abstract?”

His natural tendency was to zone in tightly on details in an image. Getting into gel medium and thick oils led to an automatic change in his style.

“Gel mediums force you to be more loose and work with mood and tone,” said Zimmerman. “When you start to use all these mediums (gels, oils, gold leaf, resin) it’s what people would use for abstract painting, so I try to pull it from abstract toward realism. I’m really in-between, because the mediums force you to be somewhat loose.”

Zimmerman spreads the gel on the canvas with a knife, dribbles the oil paint on and finishes the painting with a thick layer of clear resin. The clear resin finishing coat almost looks like a piece of glass over the painting – almost.

“I don’t finish it to the point that it looks like glass, I allow some of the texture to rise up out of the gloss,” said Zimmerman. “So you have a wave and stuff popping out of the painting. So that adds a contemporary type of a feel.”

The heavy gloss finish affects how light bounces off the painting. From different angles, and at different times of the day, the painting looks different because of the gloss, Zimmerman said, which takes the effect of the painting out of his hands at this point and puts it into the viewer’s mind.

“My whole thing is you own the painting, but you never own the image,” said Zimmerman. “Because of the way the mediums are layered, the three-dimensional aspect of the texture and the gloss, these things will make the image change throughout the day, depending on the lighting of the house during the day.  The image always changes. It’s never set in stone.”

Zimmerman’s paintings are hanging in the Gibson Gallery in Calgary, the Alley Cat Gallery in Bragg Creek and the Terra Cotta Gallery in Black Diamond.

Terra Cotta Gallery owner Evonne Smulders said she knew instantly that she wanted to carry his work in the gallery.

“As soon as he walked in I said, ‘Oh, yeah,’ because it’s so different than anything we carry,” said Zimmerman. “It’s stunning. Absolutely stunning.”

Zimmerman’s paintings range in price from $250 to $1,000.

His body of work can also be seen online at www.emergingtracks.com

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Calgary photographer Jeremy Fokkens' show at the Okotoks Art Gallery at the Station features photos of abandoned mines in Crowsnest pass, as well as photos from the now-closed Cecil Hotel in Calgary and life in southeast asia. The opening reception takes place on March 12 at 7 p.m.

Jeremy Fokkens is showing 26 digital photographs at the Okotoks Art Gallery at the Station, starting with an opening reception on Friday and running to April 18.

The show, called Viewpoint Times Three, tells the story of abandoned mines in Crowsnest Pass, eerie spaces in the Cecil Hotel before it closed last year and life in three Asian countries.

The show features the surprisingly beautiful red hues of rusting mining equipment, the appealing mess of lines where train tracks converge and the ghostly void inside the Cecil Hotel. The photographs are aesthetically appealing and tell a story of an aspect of life many haven’t experienced.

For Fokkens, storytelling is part of what makes his work stand out from all the photos taken by everybody who has a digital camera or camera phone.

“Anybody can take a picture, but telling a story is the hardest part,” said Fokkens, who is self-taught. “You have to really look at this world to become a photographer.”

He has been refining his skill since 2005 and researching and connecting with his subject is as much a part of the process as gauging the light and snapping the shutter.

“I love the process of capturing an image, the adventure behind it and the challenge of finding an image,” said Fokkens.

Taking photos in the Cecil Hotel was as much an adventure for Fokkens as his trip

to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

When Fokkens learned the Cecil Hotel was slated for demolition he wanted to get inside and document the space and the people who lived there while he still had the chance. On the last night before it was closed to the public, the only way Fokkens and fellow photographer Bobby Scott could get inside to take photos was to rent a room. Through the evening they photographed the room, the halls and the exterior. They also connected with residents of the hotel and photographed them as well.

“It was to show people what it actually looked like on the inside, because no one would actually go in to look at it because of its bad reputation,” said Fokkens. “It was eerie. It’s quite cramped. The hallway is quite narrow, the rooms themselves are quite small. It’s old and rundown. But the people themselves were awesome.”

Fokkens and Scott were able to talk to the residents and in turn they answered questions about what life was like in the historic downtown hotel.

“We met people who had lived there for 30 years,” said Fokkens. “A lot of them had full-time jobs. The whole reputation for gang activity and prostitution, we didn’t see any of that. We just saw locals living their everyday lives.”

Fokkens will be speaking about his photography at the Seniors Sunday event on March 14 and the Art After Dark event for adults at the OAG on March 25.

Aaron Sidorenko exhibit in the small gallery

A longtime member of the OAG, Aaron Sidorenko, is having a solo show of new work in the small gallery until

mid-April.

Sidorenko will be showing portraits he has created through a collage technique of cut up linen and canvas kept in place with gesso, a medium that normally acts as a base for paint. The portraits are then brought to life through the application of shades of grey and black.

The opening reception for Jeremy Fokkens’ photography show and Aaron Sidorenko’s painting exhibit takes place on Friday, March 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Okotoks Art Gallery at the Station. Both shows run until April 18.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Kendra Hutchinson is refining her ability to create an authentic performance, as authentic as possible given she steps into the life of a different person.

Bragg Creek actor Kendra Hutchinson, right, co-stars with Heather Pattengale and three other actors in the ensemble comedy "We Wont' Pay! We Won't Pay!" opening on March 12 at the Rosebud Theatre in Rosebud, AB.

And there is lies the excitement.

“Doing a play is when I’m the happiest, for sure,” said Hutchinson. “To be able to enter into new worlds and lives of these characters and experience it and recreate it – it’s exhilarating.”

Hutchinson, 21, is in her fourth year of the Mentorship Acting Program at the Rosebud School of the Arts and it’s all-acting all-the time right now.

She is juggling classes, rehearsals for a show that opens on Friday at the Rosebud Theatre, rehearsals for a second show that she is also producing and other smaller projects.

Hutchinson is finding that the acting doesn’t end when rehearsals end.

“With this town, it’s so full of theatre artists… and because it’s a small town, there’s not much else to do, so we have to be entertained, so we’re still acting,” said Hutchinson.

To stay real, Hutchinson said the actors use the truth meter offstage as well as onstage.

“Our truth meter is fairly high, so if we don’t feel we’re being truthful, then it’s noticeable and it feels false and that is discouraged,” said Hutchinson. “People want to see the real you,  onstage and offstage. So if you’re not, it’s frowned upon.”

Hutchinson said she and her classmates have been learning that when audiences buying into the characters, they are unconsciously using a truth meter.

Despite a play being a fake-out, audiences will engage with the story if the actors portray the reality of the situation on stage.

“It’s something I’m still exploring and trying to figure out. That authentic-ness,” said Hutchinson. “The characters are real people you’re portraying, so what happens when you think like that person? You don’t have to experience everything the character is going through, but what do you know about what they’re feeling? Everyone has been angry, or hurt, or in love. So you get a sense of that from what you have experienced in your own life.”

Her role in the new play opening on Friday at the Rosebud Theatre is helping her to flex her ability to find the truth in the moment. The comedy, called “We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!” is the story of two Italian women who start stealing groceries to rebel against the rising cost of food.

Comedies give instant feedback to the actors about how they are doing, Hutchinson said. If the audience is laughing, they’ve got the audience to buy in. If they’re not laughing, the actors get the message.

Hutchinson said she portrays her character truthfully in order for the comedic situations to arise.

“The things they (she and co-star Heather Pattengale) do is so crazy – it’s really funny for the audience, but it’s not funny for the characters,” said Hutchinson. “So I think about them as real people and that’s where the comedy comes out, because everybody gets to see how they deal with the situations.”

The second role she is rehearsing for is also a comedy. Hutchinson is producing the show, called “Ten Times Two,” in addition to being one of only three actors portraying the story.

In the short time span of the show, Hutchinson plays a woman who lives, dies, and is reborn over and over again between the year 1399 and 2075. While she goes through the life cycle – and many costume changes – a man who lives forever continually tries to woo her.

“I just love that this play is so fun and there’s a lot of ‘I love you’s,’” said Hutchinson. “And just the way this woman responds, it’s really funny and it takes him a long time to convince her of his love.”

The play “We Won’t Pay! We Won’t Pay!” opens at the Rosebud Theatre on Friday, March 12 and runs until May 15. Tickets for dinner and the evening shows are $62.50 for adults and seniors and $31.25 for children four to 12.

Tickets for the play Kendra Hutchinson is both producing and performing in, “Ten Times Two.” are $10. The play runs May 1, 2 and 3.

For more information go to www.rosebudtheatre.com

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

That’s why Frank Kennedy, owner of the Wine Station in Okotoks, decided to come up with a fundraiser a little different than the usual faire. On Mar. 13, the Wine Station will be holding a dinner and wine tasting with all funds going to the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.

Frank Kennedy and the staff at the Wine Station are holding a series of charitable events to raise money for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta. photo by Rick Northrop

“For this event we are giving you a great product and you are also donating your money to charity,” said Kennedy.

As a local business owner, Kennedy is often asked and often donates to local charities. He decided instead of just asking people to donate money, he would try to hold a good community event then donate the proceeds.

“As a store it’s great to do events where people can come out, enjoy fine wine, enjoy some good food and also have the money going to a good cause,” said Kennedy.

Candice Martin, manager of community initiatives for KCCFA, said the fundraiser is a very creative idea.

“I like to say to people, ‘It’s one thing to reach into your pocket and write a cheque but there are other ways that you can get involved,” said Martin.

The KCCFA is a charitable organization that donates to children’s cancer research and holds children’s camps each summer. All the money raised will be donated to the KCCFA through Kennedy’s bicycling team taking part in the Tour for Kids, a bike tour fundraiser through the Rocky Mountains.

“I think now that they see how successful these smaller events are going to be they might continue to do them,” said Martin.

Kennedy has a personal connection to the foundation. His father and sister are cancer survivors.

“I have kids of my own and I couldn’t imagine having to go through that with a young child,” said Kennedy.

Karen Paterson, owner and sommelier of the Wine Station, said, “You end up receiving more than what you give,” at fundraisers like the dinner event.

Lloyd Winters, who along with Team Alberta won a gold medal at the International Exhibition of Culinary Art in 2008, will prepare the dinner, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Okotoks Art Gallery.

“The presentation will be amazing along with the great quality of food,” said Kennedy.

Tickets for the event are $90; call the Wine Stations at 403-995-0371 for reservations.

The store will also be holding other events to raise money for KCCFA. On Mar. 6, the will be holding a beer tasting event and an indoor cycling adventure in conjunction with Natural High Cross fit in Okotoks.

rnorthrop@okotoks.greatwest.ca

http://www.thewinestation.ca/

Okotoks resident Kelsey Knibbs sings at the Ducky's Idol contest in Calgary that began in December and culminated in her win on Feb. 11.

In the spotlight on Feb. 11, on the stage at Ducky’s Pub in Calgary, Kelsey Knibbs was again vibrating, but this time it was with adrenaline. Knibbs finished her song triumphant following two costume changes, knocking over equipment and losing her mic in the melee. Judges chose her as the best performer of the whole three-month Ducky’s Idol competition.

The experience was exhilarating, nerve-wracking and fun, Knibbs said. And when the judges announced she won top prize, it was a little bewildering.

“I didn’t know what to do,” said Knibbs. “I felt awkward.”

Her impulse was to hug somebody like the fellow who won second place, but he didn’t seem like that was what he wanted to do.

“I didn’t know what to do with myself, I just kept saying thank you,” said Knibbs.

Her performance that evening was unlike any she had done before. Each finalist had to sing two songs and the judges had been encouraging them to really get into their songs. So on the last night of the competition Knibbs dipped deep into her creativity and sang a song performed by Marilyn Monroe, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”, and got dolled up in Monroe-style.

She also sang a Bonnie Tyler song, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, and jimmied up an outfit that could be partly ripped off in sync with the lyrics about emotionally falling apart.

“There were over $5,000 in prizes, so the judges didn’t want to just give them to someone who wasn’t really putting effort into it,” said Knibbs.

So with the help of her boyfriend, Knibbs created a 1980s style rocker outfit with a billowy, white off-the-shoulder T-shirt, black pants and a blazer that was MacGyver-ed to rip apart with one tug. Knibbs also put a wind machine on stage for the part in the song that sounds like a storm has rolled into her heart, and the shirt would billow in the special effects.

“It was a gong show,” said Knibbs.

When she went to rip off her blazer, she knocked over the microphone stand and the mic rolled under equipment behind her on the stage.

“I’m a soccer goalie, I’ve been a goalie all my life and I did a wild jump to find the mic,” said Knibbs. By the time she got it back to her lips she had only missed a few words of the song.

“I was on such an adrenaline rush that I kicked over my wind machine, but I had such adrenaline that I just kept going,” said Knibbs. “The judges said they thought it was rock star. They said the stage was falling apart and stuff was breaking and it worked.”

Ducky’s Pub was packed on the final night, just like on every night of the three-month long competition to showcase 100 contestants. Knibbs sang one song at the audition, another song at the semi-final, and six more songs on the three nights of finals.

For each performance she fought nausea and wondered what was wrong with her.

“I was freaking out,” said Knibbs. “I was sick every time I went to the pub. I thought I had food poisoning. But it was every night before I performed, so I realized it was nerves.”

The three judges, who are all professional singers of different genres such as opera, contemporary and jazz, awarded points based on the contestants their vocals, performance flair, managing to get all the words right and the reaction from the audience.

Audience reaction was key, Knibbs said. So the pub was packed each night with the contestants’ supporters who were programmed to hoot for their friend.

“Every contestant had to bring as many people as they could because the people cheering for Amanda, for example, don’t want to cheer for me,” said Knibbs. “So the challenge is to suck in the people that you didn’t bring. You want them cheering for you.”

After performing eight different songs over the course of the competition, several costume changes and a transformation into a diva onstage-personality, Knibbs was awarded first prize: WestJet tickets for two to anywhere WestJet flies, accommodation in Mexico for a week, a karaoke machine and time in a recording studio.

Knibbs has transformed from an introverted, shaking karaoke singer three years ago, to hosting open mic nights at The Willy and Broken Stone Café and Wine Bistro in Okotoks in the past year, to strutting onstage in front of judges and a packed house, to winning the singing competition — all without singing lessons.

The past three years’ experience has left Knibbs so enamoured with singing before an audience she plans to study contemporary music at a college in British Columbia. That will be after a trip to the most exotic place WestJet will take her and her boyfriend.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

The Beneath the Arch concert series presents Nanaimo bluesman David Gogo at the Flare 'n' Derrick Community Hall in Turner Valley, Saturday.

The guitar face is a signal of reaching another plane, a pocket of emotion triggered by the blues, according to Nanaimo rocker David Gogo.

The blues is all about emotion, Gogo said. Judging by the recognition he has earned, Gogo knows his way around a guitar.

Gogo was named Musician of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2000, was twice named Guitarist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards and he has three Juno nominations.

Listeners of Holger Peterson’s CBC radio show “Saturday Night Blues” chose Gogo to receive the Great Canadian Blues Award for a lifetime contribution to the blues in Canada. That was five years ago, when Gogo was only 35 years old.

However, by 35, Gogo had already opened for blues greats B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Koko Taylor and Albert Collins.

In 2007 he opened for George Thorogood on a Canadian tour and opened for Johnny Winter the following year. That tour included a show in Pittsburg where the audience gave Gogo and his band three standing ovations.

Gogo has been picking up techniques and ideas from the masters he opens for and plays with.

“Anyone I open for I watch them and try to figure out how come they’re the ones with international acclaim,” said Gogo. “Albert Collins (who died in 1993 at age 61) is one of my favourites because he was a monster guitar player and a super cool guy off stage. He was the band leader, the bus driver and the PR guy.”

Gogo’s respect for the blues dates back to his teens. He always had a guitar, he said, from a toy guitar as a toddler to a real guitar and lessons at age five. By age 16 he was playing on stage in bars in British Columbia and by age 19 he was front man for the house band at Harpo’s bar in Victoria. It was there that he opened for Albert Collins.

His career continued to gain momentum and in addition to opening for various blues legends, he was also invited to join them on stage. Playing with B.B. King is burned into his memory.

“Watching B.B.King a few years ago, during guitar solos, he had his eyes closed and his guitar face on,” said Gogo. “I asked him about it later and he said, ‘It’s the only time I truly feel that I’m me.’ So he’s still living for that feeling, that kind of buzz you get.”

Emotion drives the blues, Gogo said, and on stage he has to tap into it to do the right job of delivering a song.

“Every night you have to draw emotion out of yourself,” said Gogo. “It’s not a paint by numbers music. You have to be thinking all the time and try to come up with the goods.

“You have to be lucid enough to start and sing. Then during the guitar solos or improvising, you try to reach another plane. Quite often your eyes are closed, because you’re tapping into another play. If you’re lucky.”

Gogo has been touring Canada and Europe heavily, playing 70 gigs last year. He has also released 10 solo albums. His most recent, “Different Views,” was released in the summer.

Beneath the Arch concert series presents David Gogo at the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall on Saturday, March 6. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for children six to 12 and free for children under six years old.

For more information go to www.beneaththearch.org or call 403-933-7040.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

This mural of an orca whale and her calf is comprised of 231 individual paintings by Canadian artists including Red Deer Lake resident Wendy Palmer. The mural was located where medals were awarded at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Red Deer Lake artist Wendy Palmer said her 12-inch by 12-inch painting of a beach in Tofino will be seen by millions of people, but the first thing viewers will notice is the 20-foot long killer whale with her calf swimming beside her.

Red Deer Lake artist Wendy Palmer contributed this acrylic painting, entitled "Tofino Morning Fog," to a mural by hundreds of Canadian artists featured at the Olympics. It forms part of the white area at the mother whale's chin.

Palmer’s painting is like one piece in a puzzle. The beach in Tofino is an artwork on its own and stands alongside 230 other paintings which make up one large mural.

The mural, called “Kunamonkst”, was unveiled at the 2010 Winter Olympics on Feb. 13. Palmer said the mural was in a prime spot and will be seen by the many tourists visiting Vancouver during the Games.

“Oh – millions. It’s in a prime location where they handed out medals,” said Palmer. “They’re selling posters (of the mural) worldwide and they’ve done a documentary on it, which will be aired on television. Once the Olympics are over the mural is going to be shown at the Galliano Inn on Galliano Island (B.C.)”

Palmer is among some accomplished painters who also contributed to the project including Robert Bateman, Fred Peters and Roy Henry Vickers.

Albertans Lewis and Paul Lavoie and Phil Alain orchestrated the project, keeping the image of the final mural secret from each artist invited to paint a panel. Participating artists were given a 12-inch by 12-inch panel with some abstract shapes and base colour requirements on it. The artists then had to create a painting incorporating those shapes and colours.

“You don’t have a clue what it’s going to be,” said Palmer. “It’s like doing a puzzle and not knowing what it’s going to end up like. They say murals are about unity through diversity. Each panel is made with different types of paint and styles and it all comes together into one.”

Palmer said she gets a kick out of doing murals. She designed one mural with Red Deer Lake School students and she participated in another mural of a horse that was exhibited at the Calgary Stampede last summer.

The invitation to participate on the mural for the Olympics brought a new thrill.

“I felt totally honoured to be asked to work with these artists,” said Palmer. “If (the organizers) were looking at the calibre of these other artists’ work and then asking me to join them, then they think my calibre of work will go along with theirs. That’s pretty humbling.”

Palmer’s work reached a new level this summer when Duck’s Unlimited chose her as the 2010 Alberta Artist of the Year.

They selected her painting called “Winter Fox Trot” for their fundraising efforts, made 100 prints for her and 1,000 prints to sell throughout the year to support the non-profit organization.

“I think that has really elevated my career to another level,” said Palmer. “Now I’m seeing people on my website from across Canada.”

Showing “Winter Fox Trot” in New York in the summer at an Artists For Conservation exhibition also had a lasting effect on her career. At the exhibition the participating artists met with scientists working at the Museum of Natural History who surprised Palmer with their gratitude for nature artists.

“They told us realism artists have documented, from way back in time, how we lived,” said Palmer. “It’s the art that they have learned from. They learned from hieroglyphics and from the renaissance. Even now, for example, my red fox (the subject of “Winter Fox Trot”) in 500 years will there be any more red foxes? We don’t know. The paintings capture people’s hearts more than photographs and they’re archival, meaning they’ll last longer than photographs.”

Since that meeting in New York, Palmer has decided to dedicate her new paintings to capturing the beauty of the foothills including the wildlife, the flora and the landscape.

“I really want to document and paint southern Alberta,” said Palmer. “We really do live in a beautiful country.”

The mural unveiled at the Olympics can be viewed online at www.muralmosaic.com/Kunamokst/artists.html

To see more of Wendy Palmer’s artwork go to www.wendypalmer-artist.com

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Toronto couple Brian Pengelly and Anna Fassell, both having abandoned their same-sex attractions, married in 2007. they are subjects of Calgary filmmaker Christina Willings' documentary "Cure For Love" showing at the Okotoks Public Library on March 1.

The American Psychological Association says therapy to “convert” gay people into straight people doesn’t work. An evangelical group dedicated to turning gay people away from a homosexual lifestyle says it can be done.

On March 1, the Okotoks Public Library is presenting a documentary that explores the lives of “ex-gay” men and women through their own words.

Calgary filmmaker Christina Willings’ 2008 documentary “Cure For Love” tells the story of five Canadians who worked with the evangelical Christian ministry Exodus’ conversion therapy in an effort to rid themselves of their homosexual lifestyle.

For example, the film features newlyweds Brian Pengelly and Anna Fassell who were once homosexuals but are now involved in a “traditional” relationship.

Willings, a lesbian, produced, wrote and co-directed “Cure For Love” with the goal of providing an objective forum for the people in the film to tell their stories. That was difficult to do, she said, because of the heartbreak the subjects shared with her, but she stayed committed to keeping her judgment of their decisions out of the film.

“It was hard because people’s stories are incredibly painful,” said Willings. “They really opened themselves to me and it was very, very moving. And because I felt very angry, especially with Brian and Anna, I had to bring myself back to seeing them as humans and making the best choice they could make. They have chosen obedience over happiness and they say that themselves.”

Pengelly and Fassell both work for New Direction Ministries, which promotes connecting with a Christian faith in order to stop acting on homosexual desires. Pengelly spreads that message to youth audiences throughout the year.

Willings said she disagrees with the ideas at the core of ministries devoted to converting gay men and women into heterosexuals through Christianity. She believes gay youth and adults deserve to be respected for who they are, as they are, and deserve the respect of friends, family and faith congregations.

Ex-gay ministries’ proclamations, that homosexual desires can be diminished through conversion therapy, conflict with studies conducted by independent researchers.

“The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association published a study released in 2009 that looked at the efficacy of conversion or reparative therapy and decided it is not effective, that it can be destructive,” said Willings.

In July the American Psychological Association issued a press release stating they examined conversion therapy’s efforts to change sexual orientation. They concluded there is no evidence changing sexual orientation can be done.

Willings said gay men and women can feel like God doesn’t love them if they fail to stop being homosexual.

“When people go through it (conversion therapy) and find they can’t change, basically, ‘If I can’t even change with God’s help, then I must be evil.’ That’s when the real trouble starts,” said Willings. “People feel forced to choose between themselves and their spiritual life and it causes incredible pain.”

Although it was difficult, Willings said she did not want her own opinions to taint the subjects’ honest portrayal of their own lives.

“It’s easy when I feel that damage is being done to come from a place of anger,” said Willings. “I wanted to come from a place of love and shed a light on this. That this is what people experience when they feel that they can’t be themselves without losing their connection with God, their faith community or their families. To that end, I interviewed people and they let me into their lives. I spent three years developing relationships with the people in the film.”

She was there when Pengelly and Fassell exchanged their vows in May of 2007.

Three years later, they are still together.

Pengelly, a youth minister with New Direction Ministries, is frank about his struggle to come to terms with his faith, which was at odds with his drive to be in a love relationship with a man rather than a woman.

On the New Direction websites, Pengelly states he met his wife through an ex-gay website and was surprised when he developed a sexual attraction for her.

“After we were married I was happy to discover that I was indeed capable to express myself sexually with her,” said Pengelly. “For a little while that caused me a bit of confusion about my identity. Was I still gay? I certainly didn’t feel like it made sense to call myself straight. I loved my wife, but was still totally attracted to guys. ‘Bi-sexual’ didn’t sound like it really described me either. Now people ask me to describe myself and I tell them that I am a gay, evangelical Christian youth pastor, who is married to a lesbian.”

The Okotoks Public Library is screening the hour-long National Film Board documentary “Cure For Love” on Monday, March 1 at 7 p.m. A discussion with producer Christina Willings will follow.

A copy of the DVD can be purchased for $20 by emailing Willings at Christina@earthtoskypictures.com

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca

Accomplished musicians Raylene Rankin, Cindy Church and Susan Crowe join together for a concert at the Bragg Creek Centre on Saturday.

Raylene Rankin, Cindy Church and Susan Crowe will bring more than 25 years of experience to the stage at the Bragg Creek Centre as they share their musical experiences through folk, country and jazz.

Crowe, who has released five solo albums and was named English Songwriter of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards for her album Greytown, said her ability to translate an emotion into song, and have the audience share in that emotion, has come from a long career writing music.

“As an artist, I don’t try to do that,” said Crowe. “The minute you try, you undermine yourself as an artist. But I hope that people will be drawn into my songs.

“It’s not a conscious thing. It’s a subconscious thing. From the time I was very young, writing was a way of being in the world. It was my way of expressing what I felt. We all get better as we get older, as long as we keep our eye on the work and never lose the appetite for connecting with the human experience and reflecting it.”

The trio’s website, www.rankinchurchcrowe.com, has samples of two songs including “Where the Redwood Grows” and “Fell Back Up”, which were written by Crowe and featured on Rankin, Church and Crowe’s debut album. Crowe and Church write most of the songs for the trio with Rankin enriching the vocal harmony.

The songs display such mastery of melody and lyrics that within seconds of the song’s beginning, the music reaches inside the body to where the emotions hide.

“Everyone has a different relationship with a song and it becomes yours, in a way,” said Crowe. “If you have an emotional experience, you are creating it and I am only facilitating it.”

The song “Where the Redwood Grows” is about missing the west coast, while being back in the east coast. Crowe’s lyrics invoke a visual picture of the trees, birds, flowers that are ubiquitous on the west coast and absent in the east.

“The redwood trees, the white roses, the bluebirds, they all represent something,” said Crowe. “They are underscored with meaning. When I play that song, still, I feel a bittersweet, melancholy. Yet, it has this under layer of beauty.”

The harmony achieved by three women’s voices is also a thing of beauty.

Rankin and Church both have a long history of refining their talent before audiences and in the studio.

Rankin has been singing since she was four years old. Now almost 50, Rankin has decades of experience connecting with audiences alongside her siblings performing around the world as The Rankin Family.

The Rankin Family is world renowned for their east coast sound and has been honoured with 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards and three Canadian Country Music Awards.

Since 2003, Rankin has embarked on her own solo career, then teaming up with Crowe and Cindy Church in 2007.

“The show (at Bragg Creek Centre) is a collection of songs we all bring to the table,” said Rankin. “Some with our past careers, as solo performers and some is stuff we’ve written together.

“You won’t see a Rankin Family experience. It’s a different texture, harmony, a totally different vibe.”

In 2007, with a live concert at Alderney Landing in Nova Scotia, the trio found they had some musical chemistry. Their musical backgrounds are a big part of who each woman is, but together they have a fresh dynamic.

Church brings a country and folk edge to the group. Years ago she toured and recorded with Ian Tyson and later in the group Quartette with Sylvia Tyson.

She has also released three solo albums and is currently a member of the popular Lunch at Allen’s, which is a collaborative venture with Murray McLaughlin, Ian Thomas and Marc Jordan.

Rankin, Church and Crowe perform at the Bragg Creek Centre on Saturday, Feb. 27. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the performance begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $33 for adults, $25 for seniors and $15 for youth. For tickets or more information call 403-949-4114.

The Bragg Creek Centre is located at 23 White Avenue.

tneely@okotoks.greatwest.ca