There were fibres on display, fibres in motion – even fibres to eat – in a special preview of the second annual Outside The Box held at White Rock Library last week.
A small but attentive crowd gathered upstairs Wednesday for the teaser to the main festival – a celebration of fibre and textile arts – which runs throughout the city and in South Surrey until Oct. 5.
Mayor Wayne Baldwin was on hand to welcome the public to the opening, which featured an art-in-motion dance performance by the Fusionistas tribal fusion group wearing fibre art costumes.
The library is also featuring – on an ongoing basis – fibre art by festival co-ordinator, Pauline McLean Dutkowski, as well as works by the Piece Arch Quilters, the Peace Arch Weavers and Spinners, and art by Christian Geissler.
Co-coordinator Lynn Sinclair said this year's festival is drawing on more venues and merchants – plus an art walk in which businesses display works by local artists, co-presented by Semiahmoo Arts and the White Rock BIA, to help raise the profile of the event.
The festival will have displays at White Rock Museum and Archives, White Rock Community Centre, Laura's Fashion Fabrics, the Golden Cactus Studio and Semiahmoo Shopping Centre.
Baldwin said the event typifies the sort of initiative he wants to encourage in the community, through the city's arts committee.
"We're going to come up with some ideas which, when they're put in place, will make the arts a focal point for the city that will rival tourism," he told Peace Arch News.
For info, visit www.outsidetheboxwhiterock.ca