WinterLights tonight; Paralympic mascot to attend for VAB

Chinguacousy Park will be a hub of action tonight, filled with activities in celebration of WinterLights. From 6 to 9 pm, come see Christmas trees decorated by local elementary schools, and jumbo postcards by local high schools. Free activities include cookie decorating, crafts, horse and carriage rides, and live entertainment including a Nativity pageant (6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 pm). There's even going to be a reindeer!

Podi, the Canadian Paralympic Committee mascot, will be attending on behalf of Visual Arts Brampton. VAB will be having a Fridge Front Gallery exhibit this coming March, focusing on the Canada's Paralympic team and their sports. Among the guests at tonight's event, Billy Bridges, part of the gold medal-winning 2006 Torino Paralympic sledge hockey team.

The event will be judged as part of Brampton's bid in the annual, national WinterLights competition. WinterLights is run by the same organization as Communities in Bloom. We encourage you to bring non-perishable food items and/or unwrapped new toys for the Peel Regional Police's Toys for Tots.

Complete details can be found at The Brampton News, and The Brampton Guardian.

Podi Paralympic to be at Battalion game, for VAB

Podi, the mascot of the Petro-Canada Paralympic Schools Program, is visiting Brampton this week, courtesy of Visual Arts Brampton. Why VAB? We'll discuss that later.

Podi is the spokescat of a program around since 2003, aiming to raise awareness of Paralympic sport and athletes with a physical disability. Podi was launched in 2007 by the Canadian Paralympic Committee, in the leadup to the Beijing Paralympics, making appearances around the country.

Podi will be appearing:

• Thursday, December 3: Brampton Battalion takes on the Oshawa Generals at the Powerade Centre, from 7 to 10 pm. During the intermission, there's a demonstration of sledge hockey by some local teams; sledge hockey is a Winter Paralympic sport.
• More dates may be announced.
  

In the new year, VAB's students will be creating artwork featuring Canadian Paralympians, for display at Fridge Front Gallery. Many thanks to the Canadian Paralympic Committee for providing the reference photos they will be working from, and letting Podi visit Brampton.

'Tis the Season, John Knox on exhibit at SWB

In today's issue of The Brampton Guardian (the Weekend edition), check out the article on John Knox Christian School's exhibit of Christmas art, "Fridge Front gallery gets festive".

Both the John Knox show and 'Tis the Season, our adult exhibit, went in today. On display are Stan Adams, William Band, Stephanie Czolij, Marguerite Finlayson, Conrad Mieschke, Dolores Miron, Marian Simpson, Warren Simpson, and Jacqueline Veltri.

Both exhibits run until January 4, 2010.

Sunday was Santa's Arrival

This Sunday, Visual Arts Brampton participated in the Santa's Arrival Parade at Shoppers World Brampton. (See photos here.) In total, the Santa's Arrival Parade had an estimated 341 participants marching along, making music, singing songs, dancing, driving go carts, and all kinds of other spirited things. Hundreds upon hundreds of people lined the hallways of Shoppers World to watch this annual tradition. Groups in the parade included Brampton YMCA, Peel Regional Police, Salsa Con Clave, 114th Brampton Sparks, Melody Makers Theatre, Ontario Early Years Centre, 101st Brampton Girl Guides, the Knights of Columbus, Brampton Music Theatre, Traditional Explorers, the Alda Heniss School of Classical Ballet, 1st Brampton Sparks, 5th Brampton Beavers, Marina Soon Dance Group, a soccer troupe, 39th Brampton Sparks/Brownies, and the Chinguacousy Concert Band. The Peel Shrine Club brought their Go Cart Partol around the mall, and the Peel Children's Safety Village drove bikes and two mini-jeeps. Visiting characters included Toy Story 2's Jessie, Frosty the snowman, Dora the Explorer, a gingerbread man, Cinderella and Belle, Spiderman, and Rudolph. Wild Water Kingdom's hippo mascot Hugo also dropped by. Other entertainers included a band, juggler, stiltwalker, and tin soldier. As for us, six Visual Arts Brampton students dressed up with cardstock tube masks on their head, representing a ballerina, ninja, Ms. Claus, Batman, a nutcracker, and Little Bo Peep. (Thanks to volunteer Nick Moreau, the cost for VAB to participate was just $2.26.) VAB also had Star Fox (courtesy of artist Steph Czolij), Brampton Arts Council's Millie the Art Bug, and Pawsitive. Who's Pawsitive? She's the mascot of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association, an adorable and friendly dog meant to promote positive attitudes among among players. VAB discovered Pawsitive on the Brampton Thunder website, over a year ago. We appreciate the OWHA's generousity in lending their beloved pooch to our organization.

Out and About: Wyn Geleynse at the PHC

Brampton artist Bob Posliff just alerted us to the fact Wyn Geleynse's site-specific video work can now been seen on YouTube.

Part of his exhibit "Day In And Day Out With Minor Tragedies", at the Peel Heritage Complex/Art Gallery of Peel, "his latest installation consists of two moving images of eyes on the building’s upper windows. The looped segments were filmed independently and the eyes reversed from their natural placement on the face, resulting in an unsettling dislocation."

Geleynse is considered one of Canada's leading installation artists; a good bio is available through Quartier éphémère.

Check out the press release for more info on times and dates of the projection.