August 25, 2019

Events happening today

1. ALL
   DAY

   

   Irma Soltonovich's…

   
   

   July 28, 2019      August 25, 2019

   HORIZON LINES are elemental to us; humans have always had to orient to the landscape as a fundamental aspect of our survival. I look at Irma Soltonovich’s paintings of abstracted horizons and see things that may or may not be there; it’s a mirage, a mystery, and a map all at once. She applies paint to the canvas in calculations of sparse but effective visual cues—colours, contrasts, and geometry—so the viewer can, in a fraction of a second, place themselves into their own familiar landscape. I see specific and known places in Soltonovich’s paintings the way I sometimes discover a heart in a rock on the beach, or a face in the surface of a rusting metal door.
    
   
   Irma Soltonovich
    
   Scale, style, and subject matter all must convene in harmony in order for someone’s visual expression to land with viewers. Soltonovich’s large, horizontal, abstract landscapes have struck such a solid chord with so many that gallery owner Dawn Casson hosts an annual solo show for the artist, regular as clockwork. “If it’s August, it’s Irma,” Casson says, and that’s all collectors need to hear in order to plan their summer holidays around the Gallery at Mattick’s Farm and these shape-shifting, evocative works.
   In actual fact, Soltonovich’s subject matter is often drawn from the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Casson says. “She grew up in Saskatchewan; that’s usually her inspiration. Warm yellows, ochres, bits of greens and reds in them…they’re not super-defined…people see what they want to see. A lot of times people look at one and say, ‘It’s a water scene,’ and another person says, ‘That looks like the prairies to me.’ It’s in the eye of the beholder, I guess.”
   Soltonovich made the commitment to practicing her art full-time in 2013, after years spent painting part-time while working in the development and delivery of programs in the criminal justice field.
    
   “Of Self, Place, and Belonging,” new works by Irma Soltonovich, runs July 28 to August 25 at the Gallery at Mattick’s Farm, 109-5325 Cordova Bay Rd. Artist's reception August 11, 1-4pm, 250-658-8333, www.thegalleryatmatticksfarm.com.
   —Mollie Kaye
   

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2. 7
   AM

   

   A Little Crazy (Fr…

   
   

   August 25, 2019 07:00 AM      August 29, 2019 07:00 AM

   A Little Crazy
   Bema Productions is thrilled to present their fifth Victoria Fringe Festival production, the comedy “A Little Crazy” by Joseph Reed Hayes, Directed by Zelda Dean, Performed by Toshik Bukowiecki and Michael Rodgers.  All performances take place at Congregation Emanu-El, 1461 Blanshard Street, Victoria V8W 2J3.
   Thursday August 22, 7 pm
   Sunday August 25, 2 pm
   Monday August 26, 7 pm
   Tuesday August 27, 7 pm
   Wednesday August 28, 7 pm
   Thursday August 29, 7 pm
   Sunday September 1, 2 pm
   TICKETS $11 are available online from at victoriafringe.com or ticketrocket.co or in person at Ticket Rocket Lounge: 10 am–5 pm Monday to Friday at 1050 Meares Street; 
   Fringe HQ beginning August 20: noon–7 pm daily at 2–1609 Blanshard (at Fisgard across from Romeo’s), or at the door
   THE STORY “A Little Crazy” is a contemporary play about two men — Avram, an 84-year-old Russian immigrant, and his great-nephew, Harry and their sometimes turbulent relationship. Every family has an Uncle Avram — the holder of the secrets, the storyteller, the heart. We connect with “A Little Crazy” on many levels, whether it’s the memory of a distant relative or the echo of a half-forgotten story. We laugh (a lot), and we cry, renewed in the idea that one generation can connect with another, and that regardless of the accent, words can change lives.
   “Playwright Joseph Reed Hayes captured the essence of the Jewish spirit in “A Little Crazy,” a beautifully written and acted drama that was among the best of the shows I saw.” – Orlando Weekly
   “…The dialogue was both native and universal at the same time and what impressed me most of all about the script was the way its message had an appeal to a wide audience crossing age and cultural boundaries with consummate ease.” — Peter McGarry, Artistic Director, Eyewitness Theatre, Manchester, England
   ABOUT BEMA Born during Congregation Emanu-el’s 2013 Arts Festival, Bema Productions is now in its fifth successful season. Winner of the Best Drama Award at Victoria’s 2016 Fringe Festival, Bema believes in the power of theatre and in helping Victoria’s community by supporting other non-profit organizations. To this purpose, Bema offers productions of its main stage play each year to Victoria non-profit groups in support of their fundraising efforts.
    
   

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