Gatherings in and around nature and the outdoors
A newly resurrected arts organization with a focus on imagination and nature announced their new season of events.
The Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture published a Toronto magazine in the 1980s on the theme of environmental issues from an artistic perspective. It was called The Journal of Wild Culture and featured work by local writers and artists: Marni Jackson, Barbara Gowdy, Fiona Smith, John Scott, Christopher Dewdney, Brian Fawcett and a few writers outside the country, like William Irwin Thompson.
Its founder, Whitney Smith, came up with the idea of ‘wild culture’ while foraging for wild foods in Ontario forests. His customers were chefs in hotels and restaurants, including Michael Stadtlander, Jamie Kennedy, and Mark McEwan. Smith has now resurrected the magazine online, at www.wildculture.com.
But also, through his organization the Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture, Smith is producing a number of outdoor events “in and around nature and the outdoors.”
The events vary from watercolour outings to stand up paddleboarding lessons to hikes and walks in High Park and the Caledon Hills. There’s even a Wild Culture Hoedown, a barn dance at Dovercourt House in October. Below is an outline of what’s coming in the fall of 2016.
WILD CULTURE’S 2016 AUGUST-AUTUMN SEASON of PROGRAMS
Gatherings in and around nature and the outdoors …
- Walk on Water Class: Stand Up Paddleboarding
Tuesday August 16, 3:15 pm – 5:30 pm. (Rain date: Thursday August 18.) Ward’s Island Beach. Workshop: $55. Limited space.
Learn stand up stand up paddleboarding (SUP) from experienced professional instructors. SUP board, paddle, PFD, and bag for your valuables provided. Optional beach volleyball after the class. Register or get more details. - Wild Culture Plein Air Watercolour Outings
August 18-October 27: Every second Thursday, 2-5 pm. $10 each (or $40 for all 6). August 18, Sept. 1, 15, 29, Oct. 13, 27.
For beginning or advanced painters, be together and get some painting done in the outdoors. Record the changing seasons and afterwards, retire to a beverage establishment. It’s not instruction, but we’ll share our knowledge and curiosity about art and technique as part of the communal experience. Non-watercolourists welcome, of course! Register or get more details. - The Wild Culture Watering Hole
September 15, October 20, November 17: 3rd Thursday of the month, 5:30 pm, Victory Café, 581 Markham St. Cash Bar.
Come and join in on conversations about subjects worth considering for The Journal of Wild Culture online (http://wildculture.com). Maybe you have a piece you want to write and publish on JWC, or you’d like to volunteer as an editor, IT helper or some other position, or get involved in helping with our August-Autumn events season. Or just to join the conversation. With JWC editor Whitney Smith and various contributors and inspirators. - The Oak Savannah in High Park: A Landscape Reading with Christopher Dewdney
Sunday September 18, 2-5 pm, High Park, $15.
Also known as the Forest Formerly Known as Carolinian, and now referred to as the Northern Riverine Forest, this botanical zone exists in Southern Ontario in two places only: in a patch on southern Lake Huron and in Toronto’s High Park. Landscape readers will be delighted with the breadth of the esteemed Canadian poet and non-fiction author Christopher Dewdney’s protean imagination and danceable play upon geological fact and apocrypha alike. Register or get more details. - Wild Culture Hoedown – A Good Ol’ Fabulous Barn Dance – with caller Bill Russell & his band
Saturday October 1, 8:30 pm, Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd. Cash bar.
A Good Ol’ Fabulous Barn Dance is what will launch us into October, where programmed dancing of the most invigorating and fun kind will be the staple. Bill Russell has been calling square dances for a few decades now, so he knows what to do to make it a fabulous evening. Of course, what’s equally fine is that we’re holding it at one of Toronto’s all-round best dancehalls, Dovercourt House. Absolute beginners absolutely welcome! Register or get more details. - Day Hike in the Caledon Hills – led by Nicola Ross
Sunday October 23, 1-5 pm, $15. Meet in Belfountain, Ontario.
An avid hiker, award-winning writer and author of Caledon Hikes: Loops & Lattes, Nicola Ross will take us on a tour of Caledon we won’t forget. This is near-urban hiking at its best. Born in Belfountain, near the Forks of the Credit, Ms. Ross knows the hills and valleys, plants, trees and a sordid tale or two. She will keep your brain engaged with her stories and your feet moving with the rise and fall of Caledon’s gorgeous terrain. Register or get more details.
Register for a Society for the Preservation of Wild Culture membership card for $25 and get 20% off all events. Go to www.wildculture.com/user/register to register.
Join the mailing list at www.wildculture.com/content/register to sign up.
And check out The Journal of Wild Culture at www.wildculture.com, the online magazine.
For more information, please contact ws@wildculture.com.
Follow DWC on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dw_communicates
