The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

W kend Retreat with felW artists. oiCampArtaban,where " 0 , Dear" may mean y o u weren't watching where you stepped. by Marius I. Sosl<a Working on the North Shore Arts N e w s means llial I get to read every article that goes into our beloved newsletter. This is how I ran across an announcement by West Vancouver Sketch Club's Ursula Vondette that an artists" retreat w i l l be conducted by W i n Seaton at C a m p Artaban. Since I have heard about the camp at one time, 1 persuaded m y wife that we need a weekend away from the civilization. I packed up m y watercolours and she took her camera equipment. T o give the weekend a romantic start we dined at the Boathouse at Horseshoe B a y where we could watch our fellow artists gather and board the water-taxi in the September rain while we were enjoying a simply delicious feast. Despite the rain we were in very good spirits and I didn't even get upset when the strap on m y brand new travel bag broke, making it a rather difficuU task to carry it. W e were the last ones to get on board making it very easy for W i n to guess our names. The trip took only about half an hour and we arrived at C a m p Artaban just before dusk. The camp is located on a most beautiful spot surrounded by forest on three sides and the sea on fourth. Wherever one looks there is a perfect seuing for a painting. The peacefulness o f the place is for us city-dwellers almost disturbing at times, it is so quiet. A l l this we didn't experience though until next morning. Right now we were busy finding the cottage we were assigned to in the gathering darkness with our pathetically small flashlights. ( 1 never realized before how dark places can be without streetlights and carheadlights.) I was almost ready to panic when my wife called to me that she had found our The old Crafl Shed at Camp Anaban; pholo by Agnas Soska cabin. W e hauled our belongings in and started to look for a light switch. T o our horror we found a small square hole in the wall where a lightswitch w o u l d fit had there been a purpose for one. The place had no electricity!. 1 unpacked our portable camping lamp to investigate what other fiendish surprises lurked in the dark to leap at us when we are not looking. W e l l , there was no hot water, no shower, no bathroom, not even a sink, for heaven's sake. O h , oh, we have to find the toilet, and soon! W e did. It was only a few steps behind our cabin, and there was a sink too, although the hot water was only available at the main washroom. N o showers though. The next morning we realized what a marvelous place it is. The weather was cooperating and I got to sketch the most beautiful scenes. W i n Seaton turned out to be a very friendly fellow, his best feature being that he encouraged everybody in their work, and put everyone at ease, so that we felt at ease with each other and with our efforts. One o f the features o f the camp is the orchard situated just a few yards from the campground. The place is favorite with a family o f deer that come there to eat the apples that fall to the ground. They are very tame and we had the good fortune to gather a few of the fruit and feed the animals. They would not eat them from our hands, but we needed only to toss the apples a few feet and the deer would come and eat them. The animals would wander throughout the campground on a frequent basis as we found out in the middle of the night, when we had to go to use the facilities, and also by their calling cards, as already suggested in the title of this article. The two days went by quicker than we would have liked. D i d we enjoy ourselves? Y e s , we did. Was it worth the effort and the cost? (Only $65 for everything, including food.) Most certainly. W i l l we go next year, i f we have the chance? Y o u betcha! BARBARA PERRAULT Candidate for Alderman in The City of North Vancouver Stands for: FAIR FAXES SUPPORT FOR THE ARTS AND RECREATION PRESERVATION OF EXISTING GREEN SPACE CREATION OF OUALITY JOBS ARTS ACCESS on Shaw Cable Channel 4 November airdates: Thursday Nov. 22nd 1:30 pm Thursday Nov. 22nd 8:30 pm Friday Nov. 23rd 7:00 pm Sunday Nov. 25th 9:00 pm Wednesday Nov. 28th 4:30 pm Tune in to find out what is happening on the art scene on the North Shore!