Painting Event Raises over $26,000 for Kus-kus-sum
Ken Kirkby addresses the audience
First artwork chosen was Summer’s Color by Nana Cook
Ken Kirkby and Nana Cook
The 2022 Paintings, By The Numbers event, sponsored by Odlum Brown Limited, was a fun afternoon with lovely people and great art. We sold out of all our ART DRAW and SPECTATOR tickets the Thursday before the event, raising over $26,000 for restoring the Kus-kus-sum site!
We were very lucky to have the artists themselves, Ken Kirkby and Nana Cook, attend the event. They graciously allowed participants to take pictures with them and the art received. Ken and Nana said they had a great time and also shared their gratitude for everyone supporting the Kus-kus-sum project.
The event started calmly as people arrived, ordered drinks, and mulled over artwork. There were many hard decisions to make and some participants created colorful spreadsheets to help them narrow down their choices. Things heated up as we got closer to the draw. Finally, it was time and participants waited with bated breath as we called the first name. Marty Douglas was lucky number one and he took home the much sought-after painting, “Summer’s Color”, by Nana Cook.
We wish we could have given everyone their first choice, however, that would be a different, potentially less exciting, event. We are sending out a special thank you to the participants who were chosen last – you may not have gotten your top choice but you helped make the event a success and create habitat for fish and wildlife in our community.
We also launched our 2022 Sponsor a Salmon initiative at the event and had some of the recently painted salmon on display. *You can sponsor a child’s wooden painted salmon to go up on the fence at Kus-kus-sum for $25. These salmon are created as part of our estuary education program with School District 71.
Project Watershed would like to thank all those involved in making this event a success! By sponsoring the event Odlum Brown Limited ensured that all funds raised through ticket sales can go towards the project. 40 KNOTS graciously hosted the event in their enclosed patio and Hot Chocolates donated chocolates for the guest gift boxes. Bryan Walwork took photos of all the artwork for the catalogues and website and Anne Franklin captured photos of the event. Pod Creative helped create the catalogues, design elements, and social media posts and captured footage of the event. In addition, we had a team of volunteers help set up all the paintings, run the event and tear down afterwards.
Event Photos
All the event photos were taken by Anne Franklin and the video was captured by Pieter Vorster of Pod Creative.
Participants viewing paintings
Participants viewing paintings
Brenda of 40 KNOTS receiving her painting
Robert Wolfe of Odlum Brown Limited choosing his painting
The Far Range with artists and new owners
Rumbling In The Hills with new owner
Trailside On The Notch with new owner
Guichon Ranch – South End Of Nicola Lake with new owner
Related Posts
Fall Work at Kus-kus-sum
We are looking for volunteers to assist us with weeding out invasive plants to make room for the native plants arriving later this fall!
Community Water Monitoring Training Sessions
Do you want to explore your local watersheds while gathering valuable data to support research and decision-making? Volunteers are needed to monitor water quality in fall 2024 in a number of local watersheds.
Fall Action at Kus-kus-sum
You may have noticed that excavators were back at work on the Kus-kus sum site, continuing to transform the former sawmill site into a healthy estuarine ecosystem.
Ken Kirkby Legacy Challenge
In 2018, Ken Kirby became involved with Project Watershed and the Kus-kus-sum Project and contributed right up to his death on June 20, 2023. While donating 50 of his most prized paintings prior to his passing, Ken expressed his deep appreciation for our partnerships...
Summer Forage Fish News
Over the summer the Project Watershed Forage Fish Monitoring Team have been busy with data analysis, project planning, collaborating with the Coastal Forage Fish Network and field sampling in the Comox Valley and Campbell River area. To date we have had 21 volunteers contribute 97.5 hours to our forage fish monitoring efforts!
Project Watershed is hiring a Forage Fish Technician!
Our organization is looking for an enthusiastic environmental technician to help us facilitate our forage fish project. The ideal candidate will have a background in ecology/biology and have experience working outside in the field. This position will work closely with our Forage Fish Project Lead Biologist and the forage fish team to meet our grant requirements. This is a seasonal contract position.