Barb Fraleigh| Lynda Sawyer | Bev Pemberton | JJ Ditmars | Murray Boal | Barb Grossman
 Sage Birchwater | Jon Bartlett | Rika Ruebsaat | Phil Thomas
 Hilda Thomas | Paddy Graber

Jennifer Ditmars
was born in Seattle, Washington. She married a Canadian Citizen and moved to Vancouver in 1965, becoming a citizen of Canada herself in 1976. Jennifer lives now with her husband Eric in a studio house in Cawston, BC, a little village located in the orchard country of British Columbia.

Her passion for creating images began with the receipt of her first set of crayons at age three. To this day she still lightly calls what she does “coloring". Jennifer possesses a true artistic soul, and maintains a childlike sense of amazement at the profound beauty of this world but she also brings to her subjects a philosophical approach. This adds a hyper-realism that often gives her work a surreal overtone.

Phil Thomas on BC Folk History

(Refresh Page to replay)

QuickTime needed to view this video clip

Lynda Sawyer
 works from a home studio, in Williams Lake, British Columbia. She has participated in many group shows and three solo exhibitions. One of her works was chosen as a Juror’s Choice at a regional juried show and she received honorable mention for pieces entered in both Art Fest 2002 and Art Fest 2003. Lynda is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists.  Her paintings are held internationally in private collections. She most often works in watercolours - her favorite medium because of the fluidity  and transparency of watercolours - but also enjoys experimenting with a combination of techniques and mediums. Her goal is to capture and portray the mood of a subject, striving to leave room for the viewer to be a part of the work.

Barb Fraleigh
grew up in many small towns around British Columbia. Barb earned her B.Ed.(F) from UBC in the late '60s. After raising a family of five in Williams Lake, BC, she began exploring painting in the '90s, attending summer art workshops whenever possible. Barb works from her home studio. Her paintings are in private collections in such places as Frankfurt, Germany, Alaska, USA and throughout the the Province. Barb is well known in Williams Lake as a colourful painter whose work is annually on show with the Station House Gallery and the One-of-a-Kind gift show and sale.
Rather than painting visual realism, she is exited about shapemaking and vibrant colours.

Murray Boal
 I am a singer-songwriter from the Cariboo region of central British Columbia, Canada. For the past 25 years I have also co-operated Dragon Mountain Farm an organic vegetable and sheep farm. I divide my time between family, farming, and music. I've always tried to write songs that reflect my rural lifestyle and hopefully capture some of the spirit of this colourful, historic Cariboo region. Since the mid 1990’s I’ve recorded three CD’s. Songs from my albums have been produced as music videos, used in documentary film scores, and received radio airplay across Canada, the US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In between work on the farm I try to perform as much as possible, playing a variety of festivals and concerts throughout western Canada.

Bev Pemberton
I have always enjoyed working with my hands and since my first pottery class, my fascination continues to grow. I have taken many workshops from clay artists from across Canada. I like to experiment with different processes and find working with clay an ongoing learning experience. The marriage of clay and fire is as exciting now as when I first started working with clay in 1978. I have exhibited in eight group shows and have had one solo exhibition at the Station House Gallery in Williams Lake. I have also exhibited in other areas of the region. I work out of my home studio that I share with my cat. I enjoy making my lines  of functional pottery and over the years have really enjoyed the excitement of the raku  firing process. My functional pottery and one-of-a-kind raku pieces are in homes in many countries.

Barb Grossman
 started Heritage Multimedia in 2002 through Community Futures as a video documentary production company. Since then she has been successful and prolific in filming the people, animals, and changing landscapes of the sparsely populated Cariboo Chilcotin and Bella Coola regions. Barbara, 56, is an artist who has found her niche in filming and non-linear editing. She is blessed to have found a richly satisfying outlet for her vast creativity. Always an individualist, she is passionate about all she does. Born in Vancouver, she moved to rural and remote BC settings to live out her enchantment with pioneer life while raising her sons. She became a Registered Massage Therapist in 1989 and practiced for fifteen years in Merritt and Nimpo Lake.

Paddy Graber
is a traditional singer and story-teller from Vancouver, B.C. He was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary in Ireland, and grew up in a rich musical family. His mother was a well-known traditional singer in Counties Limerick and Tipperary. Paddy is an expert on Irish history, folklore, and music. Much of his musical repertoire comes from his family in Ireland and often includes local variants of traditional Irish songs. He has also written songs of his own. Paddy has performed at Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle every year of its existence but one. He is a real treasure, and his songs and stories need to be preserved and passed on to future generations.

Hilda Thomas

Socialist, activist, feminist, musician, teacher, scholar, and member of the New Democratic Party since its inception and its predecessor the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Hilda Thomas was a well-known and respected figure for her moral and social leadership, who never hesitated to initiate and participate in social and political debate.
Play videoRealPlayer needed to view this video clip

If you have trouble viewing this,

Link to original video file at

http://www.workingtv.com/socdemfuture.html

Jon Bartlett
My singing history begins with being a choirboy in a high Anglican church, followed shortly thereafter by hearing singers on the Aldermaston to London anti-bomb marches of the early sixties. The songs I learned there, mostly Scottish parodies of American folk tunes, drew me to British folk clubs, my local being the Stanford in Brighton. The first song I ever led there was “Solidarity Forever!”. I found the Vancouver Folk Song Society within weeks of emigrating to Canada in 1968, and I’ve been a member ever since. It was through the Folk that I met and began to work with Phil Thomas, on his collection of BC songs, and then on his book, Songs of the Pacific Northwest.

Sage Birchwater
has been a freelance writer in the Cariboo Chilcotin for the past 25 years. He has written and edited several books on the region. Currently he is employed as a reporter with the Williams Lake Tribune and continues to write and publish books as time permits.
Sage, 55, came to Williams Lake in 1973 before moving to a trapline near Tatla Lake in the West Chilcotin in 1977. During the next two decades he raised two sons and began a career in journalism writing about the people and events in the broad Chilcotin and Bella Coola region. In 2001 he moved to Williams Lake with Barbara Grossman, and together they share a blended family of four adult sons and a growing number of grandchildren.

Phil Thomas
Phil is one of BC's cultural treasures: almost single-handedly he has collected enormous numbers of songs from around British Columbia and has been responsible for taking them into the Province's schools. Born in Victoria, Phil was influenced by the injustices of the Great Depression and by folk music he heard in Ireland during and after the Second World War. He became interested in the power and images in folk music and, as a school teacher, started looking for songs about local history and experiences to share with children in his Pender Harbour classroom.

He has added over 500 items to the Sound Archives of B.C. and published a book, Songs of the Pacific Northwest, which is widely regarded as the best available on the subject.