Everything is blue for the Mission Arts Council to start the new year.
The annual Peggy Staber Memorial Art Show Contest and Exhibition returned on Jan. 2 with “Blue” as the 2025 theme.
The gallery features a record-setting 60 submissions from all ages, including oil and acrylic paintings, pencil and ink drawings, sculptures, and photography.
The Rock Family Gallery hosted the opening reception and awards presentation on Saturday (Jan. 4) with certificates and cash awards given to winners.
In the adult category, Nancy Arcand’s "Whispers of the Abyss" clay sculpture won best in show while Robyn Plummer’s "Record Snowfall" acrylic and modeling paste and Jacquie Pierce’s "Crow in a Parking Lot" acrylic received honourable mentions.
Renee Bi had the top youth submission with the "Freedom of Dance" oil painting while Kaede Fujita and Jake Giesbrecht earned honourable mentions for the "Feeling Blue" coloured pencil and "The Climber" ink pieces respectively.
Meanwhile, Jackson Copeland’s "Cool Wave" clay sculpture was awarded best in show for the child category. Jade Singbeil’s "Blue City" watercolour and pastel and Alessandra Robinson’s "In the Deep" mixed media piece received honourable mentions.
The exhibit is named in memory of Peggy Staber, a founding director and past president of the Mission Arts Council.
She was a promoter of the visual and performing arts and organized the first juried art show in the Fraser Valley, which led to the annual provincial Festival of the Arts. Staber also taught painting and drawing for Fraser Valley College and Mission Parks and Recreation for more than 20 years.
Staber took her first formal training from Ethel Hewson and Kazoni of Abbotsford. Wishing to develop her skills further, she attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and then workshops on Saltspring Island. In 1980, she was among the first to graduate from the Fraser Valley College, receiving a diploma in Fine Arts in Painting and Graphics, She attended many workshops and conferences dealing with managing the arts, fundraising, and promotion.
Staber passed away in 1999 and the Mission Arts Council has honoured her with the annual art show since.
It is the first show of the council’s yearly gallery schedule. The show runs in the gallery until Jan.18.
