We all recognize that the recent pandemic brought a lot of changes. One of the changes for me involves the Port Kells Art Club. I joined the club in 2018. In 2020, the PKAC had to cease providing teaching artists and holding monthly meetings. While their regular meeting hall was forced to close, the hall owners decided to proceed with tearing down the building. The changes would take three years to happen. So a search was on for a new meeting place for the Art Club once gatherings were allowed.
In the meantime, we all missed getting together just to paint. One idea that I had was to open the hall at St. Oswald’s Church in Port Kells to a “painting drop-in” on Thursdays. St. Oswald’s is my church so I know the hall was available. I suggested a $5 fee per person for a three-hour drop in each week. The invitation to use the hall wasn’t limited to club members but open to anyone with a desire to “just paint”.
The results have been terrific. It truly is a “drop-in” with as many a 14 painters and a few a 6 on any given week. The comraderys there. People help each other, encourage each other and truly enjoy each other’s company.
In the meantime, the Port Kells Art Club has been up and running for the last year. The search for a new club meeting room has been challenging. A “permanent” home for lessons and meetings has been found at the Eric Bysouth Rotary House in Langley. But the drop-in group continues to paint on Thursdays at St. Os. – a success story despite, or because of, the pandemic.
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