The Writers came to Woody Point!

Well its about time we stop procrastinating and update this blog! We have tons of wonderful pictures from The Writers at Woody Point and to be honest we were so busy it’s all just a wonderful blur!

We started the week off with sort of an informal meet and greet on Wednesday night.  It included music from Sandy Morris and Erin Best as well as an impromptu performance by Duo Gelato’s violinist Peter De Sotto and Alexander Sevastion on the accordion.


This year we decided to try something new, so all week long we offered Gluten free options as well as dairy free snacks and lunch options. Not only did we get great response from this, but it also made for a week of recipe exchanges and hint at a new cook book by Greg Malone and his wife White!

Thursday morning we had Russell Wangersky reading from his book of short stories “Whirl Away” followed by a midday matinee played by Pamela Morgan and Sandy Morris joined by Anita Best.

Friday Elisabeth De Mariaffi Read from her book of short stories “How to Get Along With Women”  The short story she read was “Field Work” which had the crowd nearly in tears laughing as she read a story of a fictional field study about tiny men both in the wild and in a lab setting. There was an especially humorous part about tagging the study subjects with different coloured nail enamel to keep track of them.
Friday night we held our all ages move night on the wharf and saw "Orca the Killer Whale" a water based horror movie that was filmed in Newfoundland. The participants had a great night shouting at the hilarity of the plot. 

For our Saturday reading we saw Chad Pelley reading from his novel “Away from Everywhere” During Chad’s reading a group of seagulls few over to check out the scene and Chad joked that this was his first experience of being heckled by seagulls!
Saturday afternoon we had a Breakwater Books kids birthday party for Al Pitman’s  book “A Wonderful Fine Day for a Sculpin named  Sam”. Author Elisabeth De Mariaffi headed the children’s activity of coloring, gluing and attaching sparkles to cut outs of the books illustrations.  And it has to be noted that it was the smoothest and quietest kids activity ever held at Galliott Studios! We think it must have had something to do with the size of sparkles that Elishabeth brought! They were just big enough that they wouldn’t dump onto the floor in one shake! True details that only an experienced mother would know! (Elisabeth, if you ever get bored of being an author and would like to head all of our kid activities from here on out let us know!) We then had delicious butter cream cupcakes from the Chocolate Moose (http://chocolatemoosebakerycafe.blogspot.ca/) with a reading and signing by the illustrator Shawn O'Hagan. .  

Sunday we had another special treat with David Ferry's project “Short Waves/Short Stories” The udience sat on Galliott Studios back wharf facing the scenic bay and long range mountains, while a radio broadcast sounded around them. The performance couldn’t of been on a better day. The morning was sunny yet cool and being the last day of the festival the audience was winding down and in a reflective mood. Barry Flatman introduced Michael Winter’s contemplative story “Archibald the Arctic” and then with the talented readings of David Ferry and musical talents of Pamela Morgan and Sandy Morris, a radio play unfolded around us.

(We've taken this picture from Jeanie MacFarlane's Facebook page!

a Great picture of Michael Winter and David Ferry)

Writers in Woody Point

Here at Galliott Studios we have been getting excited for the Writers Fest! The festival – officially named “Writers at Woody Point” – takes place August of every year and is now into its 10^th year!  During the week-long festival, Galliott Studios hosts free intimate readings by several of the writers.  Along with the Writers events held at the shop, we try to keep the excitement going with other special events put on by Galliott Studios and friends. To make our schedule a little easier to follow, we have broken the events down day by day. All events are taking place at Galliott Studios.  For further information feel free to call us at (709) 453-2142

August 15^th

9:30am     Galliott Studios hosts “Writers at Woody Point” free reading with Russell Wangersky. This is the second time Russell has read here and we are all excited to see him again!   

4:00pm     Pamela Morgan and Sandy Morris play a free matinee   

August 16^th

9:30am            Writers at Woody Point event: Elisabeth de Mariaffi free reading

August 17^th

9:30am       Writers at Woody Point event: Chad Pelly free reading

2:00pm      Breakwater Books will be in the studio hosting a Birthday party for Al

Pitman’s Story “Sculpin Sam.” There will be tea and coffee for the parents,        juice and cupcakes for the kids.  Illustrator Shawn O’Hagan will be reading and we’ll have Sculpins for the kids to color.   

 August 18^th

9am and 11am Writers at Woody Point event: We will be hosting the theatrical talents of

David Ferry. David will be doing a theatrical sound performance using the scenic view from Galliott Studio’s wharf.  (tickets are $10 and are available at the studio)

To Be Announced:  Again this year we will be hosting a water based horror film on the wharf. Last year we screamed as “Jaws” attacked and we sat on the dock with the waves crashing under us. This year we are thinking giant squid are very scary! Stay tuned for more info!

Here is a link to the offical Writers at Woody Point page.   http://writersatwoodypoint.com/

Tickets for event went on sale in May but don't be discouraged, there are always last minute tickets floating around and being handed in by people who bought tickets for friends who already had tickets etc. So if there is any event you would like to see give them a call at (709) 458-3388

Also A quick reminder that there are still tickets for the Writers Fest kick off show, with Joel Plaskett and Rob Lutes Tuesday night at the Woody Point Heritage Theatre. Tickets for that event are $30 and can be purchased by calling the same number (709) 458-3388

Sherman Downey, Muskrat Benny and Wes Swing

We have a list of fun events that will be taking place here at Galliott Studios this week/weekend!

Starting August 1^st (yes, that is tomorrow) we have a last minute booking with Sherman Downey! Sherman will be playing music and shaking his dreads with a few of his band members starting at 8pm.  The next musical event will be Muskrat Benny on Saturday (August 3^rd). Muskrat Benny is the DJ’ing alter-ego of artist Jordan Bennet.  Muskrat Benny will be spinning some tunes for our first Official Galliott Studios Dance Party!

After dread shaking with Sherman and bopping with Benny, we’ll have some swaying with cellist/vocalist Wes Swing on Sunday evening. All events start at 8 to accommodate our early risers and travelers for the event.

See you then!!   

Spicy Mango Dory Races

Today is the 7^th day of the Bonne Bay Regatta. For today’s events, there are booths and concession stands set up at the town rink. One of the booths that we will be looking for is Jason Nesbitt’s booth for “Serenity on the Rock.”  Jason cooks for the local wellness centre and he is some amazing chef!  Last night during our Friday night food special, Jason brought down some samplers of what he will be selling today.  We’ve attached a picture below of the tantalizing samplers of pulled pork with spicy mango chutney! So if you’re up around the rink today, make sure you look for his booth!

Speaking of the Regatta activities, we have attached a picture of Tuesday's Regatta kids activity, as well as some from the bicycle parade that happened Friday morning. Due to poor weather, the boat parade, wiener roast and fireworks have been postponed until Sunday.

We're hoping that the weather holds and the Dory races go ahead this afternoon at 4pm! If you kept track of us last year, you’ll remember that Olivia and Jennifer won the Women's trophy for Galliott Studios! The trophy has been sitting behind the counter for all to see, and today we must give it back to the town. Olivia is coming back to town to help defend our title, so were hoping the town will safely hold on to “our” trophy until we're done the race and we can bring it back again! Wish us luck! 

Biggest Catch and More Music!

We would like to announce the winner of our first annual regatta fishing derby!  Congratulations to Lou Wallace! Lou’s Fish came in at 67cm! As Lou’s fishing derby prize he will receive specialty fish spices from Epicure (http://www.epicureselections.com/en/) as well as a specially made Trophy from Galliott Studios and a cash prize! We’ll be adding pictures of the triumphant Lou and his prizes soon.

We would also like to thank everyone that came out and took part! The weather was crazy yesterday between the wind and the rain! As a result we are going to have the derby for an entire week next year! We had lots of fun measuring the fish and look forward to next year’s derby!  

Now! Onto the music!

Wes Swing is coming to play for us on the evening of August the 4^th. Not only is he a talented musician but he also has an awesome name “Wes Swing” yes that is indeed his actual first name and last name! Check out his website at http://wesswing.com/

Here is also a picture of the show’s poster

Wes is originally from the states, but has been brought here through one of the park staff.

He’s been in the area working on music and taking in the beautiful sights. In our opinion you can’t get a better place for both!

Wes will be starting his show at 8pm sharp (we like punctual musicians), and we’ll be opening the doors at 7pm. Unfortunately he wont have any of his CD’s with him. But you can buy his music straight from his sight ( http://wesswing.com/shop)  

Can’t wait to see you then!

Bonne Bay Regatta!

Today (Monday July 22^nd) is the start of the Bonne Bay Regatta! To kick off the day there is kids craft activities at 1:00pm. The activity is just 3 dollars a person and we are painting flower pots.

Tonight at the Royal Canadian Legion there is a Special Cash Bingo starting at 8pm with a jack pot of 500 dollars!

Wednesday July 24th we are also Hosting a fishing derby! Bring us your biggest catch of the day, we’ll measure it and at 5:00pm award a prize to the winner with the days biggest fish!!  

Artist Talk with Emi Kodama

Last night we had an artist talk with our new artist in residency Emi Kodama.

Emi told us about her interest in stories and how there are two sides to every story. Emi explained that she found it intriguing that one side wouldn't be able to exist with out the other (like two sides of a coin).

Emi read us a story from an artist book she wrote and illustrated about a girl that was going on a trip. The audience was then asked what the important part of the story was. It was pointed out that each persons thought would be different, we were also asked the question “would you rather be stuck on a desert island with the person you loved? Or the person that loved you?” 

Emi then told us her current interest of hiding places both physical and mental as well as her hopes for the park residency.

 The night lead to a lot of great conversation, and a request that Emi have another artist talk at the end of her stay (Emi is staying for a month and has been with us for 1 week).

It was also suggestion that Emi go explore in amongst the Tuckamore trees up the coast where there are some great little hid-a-ways. (For those of you that aren’t familiar with tuckamore trees, they are tight knit wind twisted trees that grow along the coast)

Here is Emi’s web sight http://emikodama.com/EmiKodama/Index.html

And a picture from last nights talk

Veendam's Vist

The town was a-buzz with activity yesterday with the Cruise ship the Veendam. We lost track of how many people came through our doors but we had lots of fun meeting everyone. A lovely couple from Hawaii brought home a clay Sculpin (fish) that just came out of the kiln that morning. We met another artist and singer and a couple that told us they were in there 80tees and 90tees yet only looked in there 60tees!
We would like to thank everyone who dropped in yesterday and visited our little shop! Everyone was so friendly and patient as we tried to keep up with all the orders.
We would also like to thank everyone that signed our petitions against fracking in the area!  We'll write and tell you all about that in our next blog! 


Here is a picture of the boat coming in... 

Fun facts!
 The town of Woody Point has a population of 400 people, while the Veedam holds around 1,350.
  
 

Bus Tour

Today we had a lovely bus full of Americans!  The bus load came from Maine and Florida and were apart of the "John t Cyr and Sons tour company".  Here is their website  http://johntcyrandsons.com/

We had lots of fun with everyone this morning as they joined us for lunch and entertainment which was provided by Mike Madigan of the Sharecroppers.

Mike gave us a little taste of what we can expect from his show on Sunday night, as we learned how to play the spoons and listened to some tunes.

As we sang "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" a minky whale made an appearance close to the wharf and we finished everything off with delicious soup and sandwiches followed by coffee and sweets.

We wish everyone safe travels and hope you enjoy the rest of your time here in Newfoundland and Labrador! 
   

Pottery Classes

This past Tuesday we started with our evening adult pottery classes!

We started with the basics, learning the limits to our clay forming and adding. Over the next few weeks we will then look at the different lessons on the pottery wheel and touch on some sculptural work.  Here is a picture of Tuesday nights participants, the class started at 7:30 and this week we went until 9:30.

 

 

As a side note, if you would like to join in on some classes leave us a message or call us at 709 453 2142 The month of September we will be offering more classes,  pottery, basic print making, tapestry weaving. We will also try to organize any class that there is an interest in!

Sunday Night Music Fun!

This Sunday past we were very privileged to hear the talents of Matthew Hornell,  Andrew Sneddon and Matthew Gallant! The Boys played all of our favourite songs off Matthew Hornell’s new and old record as well as everything from sultry serenades to toe tapping blue grass; they even included a fantastic version of Warren Zevon’s Werewolf’s of London that had us all howling well into the witching hour! As well as all our favourite songs off Matthew Hornell’s new and old record

The boys continue there summer tour and we wish we could have them play for us every night!  Here is there tour poster, if they are in your area make sure you go see them for yourself!

This coming Sunday we change up the music to a little more traditional with the musical styling of Mike Madigan of the Sharecroppers. Mike kicks off the entertainment at 8pm  

And we’ll be opening the doors at 7:30. Hope to see you then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music Fish and Boats

It’s a hot day here in woody point, so we’ll do a mellow blog post today.

We are starting to move a few things around this afternoon to get ready for the Matthew Hornell Show tonight.  Aside from that Jennifer is contemplating the warmth of the bay, and weather or not it is to cold to jump off the wharf….

Our neighbour fishermen from the Quebec boat L'anse aux Basques  have finally made it out to open water, we wish them good luck with the weather and the fish.

Here is a picture of our new neighbour, The Nicole Daniel who is in with capelin to be processed at the fish plant.

 

There have been mackerel in the bay and all the local kids (and adults) have been having a lot of fun catching them off the wharfs. We have also been enjoying the different whales that have been in chasing the schools of fish. A hump back was spotted yesterday and try as we may, our timing was off with the whales breaching.   

Check back again soon, we’ll post pictures of tonight’s show along with a write up of next Sundays musician Mike Madigan.

July 4th!

We would like to wish all of our American friends a happy 4^th of July on this hot summer day!

It was a pretty lazy day here today because of the heat, but we did manage to get a few things done.

Jacky, our newest member of Galliott Studios, was out on the wharf painting before it got to hot.

 

Mid-afternoon we all got to brush up on our French when the fishermen from the Quebec boat L'anse aux Basques dropped in for a visit.  The fellas told us that because of high winds they have been unable to fish and that they are missing their families.  

Here is a picture of the boats along the waterfront today; the L’anse aux Basques (farthest vessel) has been our wharf neighbour for over 5 weeks.

July

July is the start of our summer here in woody point!  Yesterday was the first of the month and the town kicked it off with a Memorial Day ceremony to remember Newfoundland’s fallen soldiers during the First World War at Beaumont-Hamel. There was then a firemen’s lunch of soup and sandwiches and at 3:00 to 6:00 and games and food up at the town ball park, with fireworks at 10:30.

July 16^th we will see a Cruise ship in the bay and then the next big town event will be the Bonne Bay Regatta happening the 21^st of July to the 28^th! Stay tuned for more events!

 

Artist Residency and Talk

For a number of years now the Newfoundland provincial art gallery (The Rooms) along with the Parks Canada has offered a residency program here in the park

(Here is the link if you would like to be the next resident!) http://www.therooms.ca/artinthepark/default.asp

Tomorrow evening at 6:30 the newest artist in Residence Svava Thordis will be giving an artist talk and slide show of the some of her work!

Were pretty excited that all the artist talks that are normally done up in the parks building will now be hosted by Galliott Studios!

Here is Svava’s web sight http://www.svavathordisjuliusson.com/about.html

We’ve attached a picture of the lovely artist having coffee with our local legend Black Hat George.  

Rainy Day Activities

Well we had a few nice days of sun, and now it’s a bit chilly and rainy. 

So here is a list of things you can do at Galliott Studios during the rain!

Top of the list of course is our fair trade fresh ground espressos, coffees lattes. We also offer different specialty teas and hot chocolates and coffee hot chocolate mixes.

Aside from the beautiful art and crafts to look at and hot (or cold) beverages to drink and shop guitar; we also offer drop in activities for rainy days!

All of our activities are kid friendly and we even have aprons for you to wear so you don’t get covered in paint!

You can come in and paint your own pottery, a canvas or wind sock. Make your very own Jelly fish or jewellery or even play with some clay!

If your in town for a few days and would like an activity that don't have listed, we’d be more then happy to try and accommodate! 

 

Matthew Hornell Poster!!

As promised here is Galliott Studios new Matthew Hornell poster!  This one was drawn by Jenn and then the text was put in latter. Not as crazy as last year "quick draw" poster of Matt, but we still enjoy it.

CD Sale!

We’ve been rearranging the studio and realised we have tones of CDs from great Newfoundland bands! So we have decided that this week we’ll be giving away free beverages with every CD sale!

Because when it comes down to it, we’re pretty sure that artist keep themselves pretty caffeinated!

We have all kinds of genres from Traditional Newfoundland, to reggae, alternative, country and folk pop! All created by talented musicians straight from Newfoundland!

  

 Also heres a picture of your shop hours...for now 

Matthew Hornell! 2013

We are supper excited again this year to host Matthew Hornell at Galliott Studios! Matthew has a new cd and will be playing songs off both albums!

Matthew will be bringing along talented musician friends Andrew Sneddon and Matt Gallant.
Andrew Sneddon plays slide guitar while Matt Gallant plays drums, both are musicians are from the Nova Scotia band “The Modern Grass”, Check out their link!


http://www.themoderngrass.com/the_band/

Matthew and Friends will be here July 7^th at 9:30 pm!  You can call for tickets 453 2142 or just drop by!  They will sell out fast so make sure you get yours!
Also keep checking back for this years quirky poster! Last year we had a fast draw competition for the poster, so stay tuned for some more fun!


If you can't make it out on Sunday July 7th and would like one of Mr. Hornell's Cd's  check out the link to our favorite record shop  Freds Records!

http://www.fredsrecords.com/site/shop/matthew-hornell-have-it-all/

Quick Update

Still getting the shop in tip-top shape, but here is a quick up date!

We will have specialty cheeses as of Friday this week! We will also have a special food and wine night this Friday! So drop in for some friendly faces and yummy eats!  

We’ve attached a picture of the sunrise this morning, have a great day!

Sculpins, beautiful sculpins

One of our favourite activities here at the Galliott Studios is fishing off the wharf!  Sometimes we catch Mackerel, Smelt or even a Cod! But more often then not we catch Connors and Sculpin. For those of you that don’t know what a sculpin is, we have added a picture below. As one of the locals says “they wont win a beauty pageant” but we think there so ugly there almost beautiful!

In fact, Jennifer loves them so much she might be on a new artistic kick! Here she is making her very own clay sculpins!    

New Wharf!

It’s occurred to us that we never posted any pictures of the finished wharf,

so here they are! Also, we happily have internet hooked up for the season, so we should be better at updating you on all the fun stuff that’s happening!

 

As you can see in the picture, the fellas got a little 

excited about the wharf building and have extended ut out just a bit more! This is a great little platform for serving coffee to the morning kayakers! We’ll be adding a bell and a sign that will say “Ring for coffee!” 

SMack of Jellyfish 2013!

Last year we found out that a group of jelly fish are called a smack! We think that’s fantastic! We had a request for a preview of this year's smack of jelly fish so here it is:

We open our doors June the 1^st, so if you would like to add one to your collection or start a collection come and see us. Also If you would like to make your own drop in too! As part of our drop in activities this year we are including jelly fish making to the list!

  

Wharf Building!

Some of you may have heard that Galliott Studios lost part of our wharf in the big spring storm. So Last Saturday we got together some able bodied friends and started building a new block for the wharf.

In the first picture you see us stripping bark off the logs, and wedging sections of the wood so they would together. On low tide we then brought the logs down to the beach, nailed them together and filled the block in with rocks...

 Finished for the day...

Thanks to all our wonderful friends for helping out! As well as all the encouragement from our friends away! Can’t wait to have a spiffy new wharf in a few weeks!