Cowichan Bay Art Walk

A friend and I went to Cowichan Bay for an art walk.  The weather was lovely - not too hot and not too cold and it only took us an hour to get there.  We parked the car outside the village and took the gratis school bus ride in.  This was the first time that either of us had been in a school bus.  Our first stop was at Arthur Vickers' Shipyard Gallary.  His work is outstanding and we had an opportunity to speak with him and learned about his treatment of light.  http://www.arthurvickers.com/collection/   It was fun for me to meet with Arthur Vickers because I was in the studio of Roy Vickers, his brother, in Tofino a month ago.
Another artist I was pleased to met and see her work was Sue Coleman.  I almost bought home a picture but I resisted!!!

It took us several hours to visit the 29 artists in part because we would spend time chatting with them and learning how they created their art form.  Half way through we stopped for a cool glass of beer overlooking the bay and later had half a crab lunch which we ate at table on the sidewalk.

Cowichan Bay itself is a unique community as it gives a glimpse into west coast maritime lifestyle.  As promised in the write up, we saw the colourful and picturesque shops, restaurants and cottages  buwhich are built on stilts over the water's edge.  I will be back because there was a lot we didn't get to see.  For example: the oldest lawn tennis court in the world after Whimbledon; a 1890 stone "butter" church so named because the builders were paid in butter and the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre.

Cowichan Bay shops, restuarants and cottages on stilts