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My Take on Snow Lake - Jan. 6, 2017

Arts events highlighted Snow Lake social calendar in lead-up to Christmas

Under the auspices of the 70th Anniversary Committee, Brittany Hilderman put on a series of "paint nights" during the period of Dec. 9-11. A succession of five events were held in three separate venues over the weekend with a total of 44 painters taking part over the two days. They were led by Brontë Hendren, a businessperson out of Thompson, Manitoba.

Participants in each episode had the choice of painting one of two different canvasses. A mittened hand holding a decoration, or a winter night scene with Santa and his sleigh silhouetted against a massive moon. There was also the choice to paint the latter sans the sleigh.

In addition to a host of other such opportunities, Hilderman brought the idea of a "paint nights" fundraiser to the September 2016 70th Committee meeting. After agreement that it was an excellent idea, she was urged by the membership to forge ahead with it. Putting wheels in motion, Hilderman searched for someone interested in making the trek to Snow Lake and taking on the event. “I found Brontë on the Thompson Buy and Sell (Facebook page),” she said.

The beauty of a paint night is that no one needs any special skill, everyone leaves with a canvas suitable for framing. After all, art is a tangible expression of a thought or a feeling … and it helps when someone who has done it many times leads you through each step of what is actually a simple process. Everyone goes home with a masterpiece!

Actually, in this case, even the teacher had no real background in painting – only an interest, an idea, and the foresight and fortitude to carry it out. “I don’t have any training in art,” Brontë Hendren confided during a break in proceedings at the early evening Snow Lake Motor Inn event. “I learned what I teach from YouTube.” She noted that after studying a number of videos, she formed a business plan and went about putting it into action. Hendren has held a number of paint nights in her hometown of Thompson, where she says, several customers of late have taken to holding them in smaller venues, such as their homes.

Through the idea and fundraising efforts of Hilderman, the 70th Committee gained “around $500 of start-up money,” said the organizer. Asked if there were any plans to repeat the event in the offing, she said she would definitely be doing more of them. “For anyone really… might even do one more for the 70th,” she replied.  “I have not set a date yet, but in the New Year we will have 'paint night’ again. It was so nice to have something different to do in town!”

Hilderman added that she was very appreciative of venues such as the Snow Lake Motor Inn, Legion Branch #241, and the Snow Lake Seniors’ Centre that offered up space to carry out the event, as well as Tawow Lodge for accommodating the artist. However, she says the most pleasing aspect of putting it on was to see the cross-section of people who came out to take part. “It was great to see all the paintings and participation,” said the organizer. 

In another event last month, 60 or so locals attended the Snow Lake Motor Inn on the evening of Dec. 17 for a performance by Snow Lake singing sensation Zach Roberts.

For a number of years now Roberts has been a staple around the local campfire circuit and a much sought-after performer at events highlighting area talent. However, this was the first show where the young singer/guitar player headlined. Those in attendance were in agreement on the prospect that there will be many more such shows.

Roberts began his first half-hour set at 7 p.m. and evenly spaced a couple more over the ensuing two-hour period. He played and sang songs made famous by a wide range of artists and added his own personal stamp to many. This was noted in particular with his arrangement/vocals on Johnny Cash’s "Folsom Prison Blues."

The young man is renowned for his gravel-edged voice that lends itself well to the folk, rock and country tunes in his repertoire; however, on this night there were two songs that brought out the goose bumps on many in the audience. They were George Ezra’s "Budapest" and Leadbelly’s "My Girl (In the Pines)," which was made famous by Long John Baldry and later, Nirvana. 

Roberts showed a relaxed and easy presence on stage, even though he stated he was nervous. He introduced many of his songs with background and personal notes and kept himself grounded with a slight smile or chuckle during the odd occasion when he missed a note.

During the final set of his show, he brought a couple more bawdy tunes into the mix … much to the delight of those in attendance. Some folks even sang along.

At the close of the performance, he thanked his audience and the owners of the venue and people responded with thanks of their own … a prolonged period of clapping, whistles, and hoots! Well done Zach!  

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