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The pleasures of pastel North Vancouver artist Page Samis-Hill has been a w a r d e d membership into the Degas Pastel Society in Louisiana a n d w i l l be in the society's group exhibit in October. She finds it a particularly sweet success because of her love for the artist's w o r k "I've always a d m i r e d Degas because his pastels are so breathtaking w i t h their colour," says Samis-Hill. She s a w s o m e of the artist's w o r k w h i l e she w a s studying the m e d i u m in N e w York. She's still studying, devotedly. "I've tried every m e d i u m there is, but pastel remains my o n e true love," she says. Her studies are starting to pay off. Earlier this year she w a s accepted by the Pastel Society of North Florida for their Seventh Biennial N a t i o n a l Exhibition in Fort W a l t o n Beach, Florida. She w o n t w o prizes for the paintings she s u b m i t t e d . Closer t o h o m e she's been asked t o produce a n d d o n a t e w o r k for C a n u c k Place's 2 0 0 2 " C a r d s from the H e a r t " Christmas card. "They called m e because they'd seen a card I d i d of a t u g b o a t g o i n g under Lions G a t e Bridge. They liked my w o r k because of the colour." Self-portrait with Hollyhocks, by Pape Samis-Hilll The artist behind Griffin and Sabine On a rainy night in A p r i l , forty or so literary enthusiasts gathered in the intimate a t m o s phere o f t h e Silk Purse Gallery t o listen t o writer a n d illustrator Nick Bantock relate the story of his artistic journey. It's a journey that t o o k h i m from art school in E n g l a n d to the post office o n B o w e n Island, w h e r e he w a s first inspired to create his highly successful Griffin & Sabine series, a n d o n t o his current project, another trilogy using letters a n d visual art. He illustrated his talk w i t h a f a s c i n a t i n g slide s h o w d e t a i l ing the e v o l u t i o n of his career. Bantock describes his creative process as a n alternation of order a n d chaos. He w o r k s in just a b o u t every m e d i u m , a n d m u c h of his w o r k is collage into w h i c h h e incorporates just about a n y t h i n g . He's a great collector of f o u n d objects, from o l d toys t o bits of pipe. But he doesn't c l a i m responsibility f o r the f i n i s h e d products. "I w a n t to be surprised by w h a t c o m e s o u t , " he s a i d . A s he begins a n e w piece, he is carried a l o n g by a force the Spanish refer t o as duende-- " t h e spirit of the Earth that rises up through the souls of your feet a n d emerges in creative p a s s i o n . " The soft-spoken Bantock read poems from his b o o k Averse to Beasts as w e l l as one of the letters from G r y p h o n , the first book of the n e w trilogy, w r i t t e n in similar f a s h i o n to the Griffin & Sabine series, which sold 3 million copies. A c c o r d i n g to Bantock, his b o o k s d o n ' t give answers; they ask questions. They are filled w i t h mythology, philosophy a n d nonsense. In his unique way, he says, " W e must w a k e up t o the sense in nonsense t o fully w a k e u p . " - Peggy Stortz From Nick Bantock's G r i f f i n & S a b i n e : The C o m p l e t e P o s t c a r d s If spring is here, Art in the Garden can't be far behind. The banners are going up already in anticipation of this year's weekend-long tour, which is set to take place on May 25-26, come rain or shine.