THE INAUGURAL Terrace Summer Arts Festival was out in full dress last week, with an opening gala at the art gallery on Friday, concerts in the park, daily workshops and a day-long event hosted by Skeena Diversity at George Little Park that saw local artists painting huge pieces of art that were later auctioned off to the highest bidder on Wednesday.
The Boardwalk event was in part organized by local artist Matthew Daratha who brought together the same group of 13 artists who were involved in the last group show at Skeena Mall.
Daratha, along with Lynne Christiansen, was also involved in painting bear paws on Terrace sidewalks to help guide the new Bear Paw art walk. The walk had its trial run last Thursday and will happen again during Riverboat Days.
The Art Walk starts at George Little House, travels down Kalum then Lakelse towards city hall and then loops back to George Little House using Lazelle, making stops to view local art displayed along the way.
Maps of the art walk, which combines local history with places that show art in Terrace, will eventually be displayed in businesses, hotels, and tourism centres.
Painting the bear paws took a tin of blue spray paint for every block, said Yvonne Moen, who led the walk. The Terrace District Arts Council and local businesses donated the funding for the paint.
The bear paws are blue because that is Terrace’s city colour.