InFocus Magazine

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, this web
who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, orthopedist
these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different. While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

 

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

 

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

 

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

 

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

 

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

 

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca
 

The Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee (DSC) came about almost by accident.

In 1998 I was asked by a number of local social service providers to write a series of articles about addiction problems and the social ills they were bringing about in the Comox Valley.

These professionals had long recognized that there was a serious substance abuse problem in the Comox Valley—a problem that was disrupting homes and families, that was leading to an increase in homelessness, and an equally disquieting increase in crime in what had formerly been regarded as one of the BC’s safer communities.
Initially the service providers wanted me to write one or two articles exposing the realities of the situation. In fact I wrote an entire series for the Comox Valley Echo, where I was working at the time.

As a result of the series I won the BC Attorney General’s Provincial Media Award for Crime Prevention Writing for 1999. I don’t mention this to brag, but to point out that the series and award had roles to play in the City of Courtenay being one of only a few selected communities across Canada to have been chosen by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a project designed to develop locally-based drug strategies.

The selected communities received federal funding, and in February 2002, the DSC was formed. The committee has since worked diligently to fulfill its mandate to enhance public awareness and to find the means to combat the undeniable drug scourge in the community.

Since its inception, the DSC has worked toward four main goals: Identifying existing community groups and agencies providing drug and alcohol services; developing and implementing public awareness and education campaigns; working with community partners to ensure a coordinated plan and planning a sustainable drug strategy for the future.

On board virtually from the beginning of the DSC has been coordinator Karen Rushton, who was hired in February 2002. No sooner had she started than the federal funding ran out. The City of Courtenay stepped in and agreed the committee was worthwhile and should continue—they continue to finance the committee via grant each year.

“So, in 2003 we got going again and we have continued now for a decade,” Rushton says. “It continues to thrive due, I think, to its diversity. Diversity is the main strength of the committee. The members come from various backgrounds and organizations, from educators, to social workers, to John Howard employees to members of the RCMP.

That diversity makes it kind of holistic. And it’s good for me because I get to hear all the points of view from different perspectives.”

Since its early days the committee has worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of drug use. Part of this involves bringing in guest speakers to offer their expertise and/or experience during national Drug Awareness Week each November.

“The high points for me,” Rushton says, “were the Odd Squad (the specialized members of the Vancouver City Police Force working among the denizens of the Downtown East Side with huge care and compassion); Matt Bellace, who made both a public presentation and spoke, predominantly to parents in district schools, (former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion) George Chuvalo, and Randy Miller.”

In Chuvalo’s case, he told the tale of how he had lost several family members, including sons and his wife to either drug overdoses or drug-related suicide.

Miller was once an aspiring and talented young hockey player who wanted to join the pros but ended up a severe and generally regarded to be a ‘hopeless’ addict in the Downtown Eastside. Near to death he was taken under the collective wing of the aforementioned Odd Squad. He features prominently in the NFB film Through a Blue Lens, which covers the work of the squad. When he came to the Comox Valley he had been clean and sober for a number of years and made a powerful and hope-filled presentation to a packed Sid Williams Theatre.

Another particularly wrenching presentation, remembers Rushton, was the one by Victoria resident Katy Hutchison who, with great candor told the tragic tale of her physician husband’s brutal slaying when he intervened at an out-of-control house party in their Squamish neighborhood, where they were living at the time.

While noted guest speakers sometimes provide a little frosting on the cake of the DSC’s community profile, Rushton particularly likes the various projects undertaken by the committee, which are designed to serve individuals and groups in the greater community. That is what she sees as their true mandate. In that she suggests that perhaps there are two needs that should be addressed with greater emphasis.

“It’s important that the committee stays diverse,” she says. “We need varied and differing points of view. And maybe we need a bit more diversity in the groups we reach out to rather than neglecting certain demographics.”

The DSC also has a chair, and since the funding comes from Courtenay, it is natural that the chair be a member of Courtenay City Council.

The charter chair was city councilor and attorney Noor Ahmed, followed by former mayor Greg Phelps. Phelps admits he was a little nonplused when he first took over the role. “At first I was a little intimidated,” he says.

“There were more degrees at the table than there were on my thermometer, so it took a while to get comfortable. Once I realized that, unlike council, everyone on the committee had a common goal, then it just became a matter of helping to keep the meetings on track—and on time, since we all loved to talk. The group had so much experience, energy and passion that it was always hard to figure out which ideas to keep and which ones to put in the parking lot.”

As for which community problems are still with us, Phelps has some opinions to share.

“Never thought I’d be saying it, but it is time to legalize marijuana. There are numerous experts now saying it is time to give up that fight and concentrate our diminishing resources on fighting the more serious drugs. Alcohol causes way more problems in society than pot, yet society seems to tolerate all the carnage it causes as an ‘acceptable risk’. Back when I was a young reporter I asked a court clerk how much the workload would be reduced if we took ‘alcohol involved’ out of the system. He didn’t even hesitate and said, ‘Over 80 per cent.’ I don’t get it.”

The current committee chair is Courtenay city councilor Doug Hillian, who has been at the helm since Phelps left the political scene.
Aside from his council involvement, Hillian also comes highly credentialed and is familiar with substance issues in the community, as he is the Vancouver Island Youth Justice Director for the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

“The Drug Strategy Committee is a great example of a local initiative that builds community through supporting prevention and addiction awareness activities across a broad spectrum of the Comox Valley,” he says. “I continue to be amazed by how much is accomplished in a low-key manner through the good will and dedication of the community people involved and I think we get tremendous value for the relatively small investment of dollars by the City of Courtenay.”

The continued active involvement and oversight of the program by the City lies largely in the positive support given from the outset by Courtenay’s Director of Community Services, Randy Wiwchar.

“Although it was a pilot project, Courtenay city council and staff at the time was proactive in ensuring it would continue indefinitely,” Wiwchar says. “I was impressed with the cooperation and connectedness between council, staff and many community partners who shared the same concerns and goals in regards to making the Comox Valley a healthy, safe community for everyone.”

The committee, Wiwchar adds, serves to provide the means for community members to collaborate and strategize ways to enable families, businesses and those without homes or families to remain safe and healthy.

Like it or not, the issue of drugs—especially illicit drugs—or such societal negatives as impaired driving or alcohol-induced domestic violence must involve the judicial system, and the first line in that regard is, of course, the police. The DSC is extremely fortunate to have been able to include an RCMP presence in its operations, and most notably that of the North Island Drug Awareness Coordinator, Gus Papagiannis, who spent many years offering worthy thoughts and highly active involvement prior to a recent move to the Lower Mainland. He notes that assuming his role came at a difficult time.

“When my colleague, Barry (Schneider) overdosed it was difficult for me,” he says. “I didn’t attend his funeral. I stayed away. It was ironic that a couple of years later I would assume the position he occupied as Drug Awareness Coordinator.”

Part of his motivation to be involved in drug awareness came about due to a couple of traumatizing personal experiences, Papagiannis says.

“When I was young I went through two emotionally traumatic experiences with two of my best friends,” he says. “In the first case, my friend Larry and I did everything together— played high school sports, drove from Toronto to Mazatlan, Mexico with fake ID (we were only 17 and at the time you had to be 21 to get into Mexico), worked together as part-time janitors in a hospital, etc.

“One day Larry was working on his car in his driveway, trying to clan the carburetor. His sister came out and called him for dinner and noticed he was lying on the ground behind his car. Sister didn’t think anything of it and about 10 minutes later went out again to call Larry for dinner. But Larry was lying motionless on the ground. While cleaning the carburetor Larry had gone to the tailpipe to check the emission. He must have caught a whiff of the exhaust and had collapsed by the tailpipe. The car was running so Larry kept breathing the exhaust and it killed him. The autopsy revealed marijuana in his system.”

The second incident was even more traumatizing for Papagiannis.

“Steve and I were childhood friends,” he says. “We were both first generation Greek from immigrant parents. We were ‘best man’ at each other’s weddings. Steve’s dad was a furrier and business was booming so Steve opened up his own shop in a town just north of Toronto. A few years in and the business collapsed, leaving Steve looking for a way to make money. He got involved with the Mob. He purchased large quantities of liquor from them (approximately $50,000 worth each time) and sold the liquor through ‘back doors’ of local restaurants.

“One day his parents phoned because they hadn’t heard from Steve for a couple of weeks. As it turned out Steve was to be ‘missing’ for two years. A police informant knew that Steve had gotten ‘ripped’. The mob had taken his money, kept the booze and killed him.”

Papagiannis shares his thoughts on why he thinks the DSC continues to work so effectively in the community.

“In the beginning the committee focused on raising awareness in the community,” he says. “We planned yearly events for the community and the schools. We invited speakers who had suffered greatly and had compelling stories to tell.”

But, then there was a change in emphasis, and it was one that Papagiannis felt made sense.

“The committee kept growing and evolving to a point where primary prevention became the focus. We brought in people like Dr. Gordon Nefelt and Dr. Matt Bellace. Their ideas focused on creating a healthy person without focusing on drug use. If a youth was healthy and remained healthy via responsible choices, then drug use wouldn’t even enter the picture.”

Papagiannis says he always liked the fact that the committee had patience and invariably took a long-term approach rather than seeking quick fixes to a deep-rooted problem

Much of the success of the group, he adds, has come about due to the dedication of those involved. “One of the best things the committee did was to hand out $500 community prevention grants. This ensured community members would get involved in drug prevention and take ownership of their community. Everyone plays a role in creating a healthy community and it also takes a community to raise a child.”

Papagiannis wasn’t the only RCMP connection with the DSC. Almost invariably there has been a Member involved whenever duties would permit, such as Csts. Tammy Douglas and Catherine Colthart. The other committee members come from various concerned groups in the community such as the school district, VIHA, CFB Comox, the John Howard Society, Mental Health and Addictions, AIDS Vancouver Island, the Alano Club and more.

“The Courtenay Drug Strategy Committee offers an organized forum to get support, information and professional development regarding drugs and alcohol issues,” says Sarah Sullivan of AIDS Vancouver Island.

AIDS Vancouver Island benefited from a community grant that allowed them to develop their ‘Love Shack’ youth peer training program, and the DSC also offered support when they were expanding their harm-reduction supplies.

The Committee also offers funding to local schools and community organizations to create prevention activities. As of 2012, 33 schools and organizations have received a total of $19,000 from the Committee. Calls for proposals go out annually in December.
For more information on the Community Drug Strategy Committee contact Karen Rushton at 250-339-3603 or [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.
The Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee (DSC) came about almost by accident.

In 1998 I was asked by a number of local social service providers to write a series of articles about addiction problems and the social ills they were bringing about in the Comox Valley.

These professionals had long recognized that there was a serious substance abuse problem in the Comox Valley—a problem that was disrupting homes and families, troche
that was leading to an increase in homelessness, and an equally disquieting increase in crime in what had formerly been regarded as one of the BC’s safer communities.
Initially the service providers wanted me to write one or two articles exposing the realities of the situation. In fact I wrote an entire series for the Comox Valley Echo, where I was working at the time.

As a result of the series I won the BC Attorney General’s Provincial Media Award for Crime Prevention Writing for 1999. I don’t mention this to brag, but to point out that the series and award had roles to play in the City of Courtenay being one of only a few selected communities across Canada to have been chosen by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a project designed to develop locally-based drug strategies.

The selected communities received federal funding, and in February 2002, the DSC was formed. The committee has since worked diligently to fulfill its mandate to enhance public awareness and to find the means to combat the undeniable drug scourge in the community.

Since its inception, the DSC has worked toward four main goals: Identifying existing community groups and agencies providing drug and alcohol services; developing and implementing public awareness and education campaigns; working with community partners to ensure a coordinated plan and planning a sustainable drug strategy for the future.

On board virtually from the beginning of the DSC has been coordinator Karen Rushton, who was hired in February 2002. No sooner had she started than the federal funding ran out. The City of Courtenay stepped in and agreed the committee was worthwhile and should continue—they continue to finance the committee via grant each year.

“So, in 2003 we got going again and we have continued now for a decade,” Rushton says. “It continues to thrive due, I think, to its diversity. Diversity is the main strength of the committee. The members come from various backgrounds and organizations, from educators, to social workers, to John Howard employees to members of the RCMP.

That diversity makes it kind of holistic. And it’s good for me because I get to hear all the points of view from different perspectives.”

Since its early days the committee has worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of drug use. Part of this involves bringing in guest speakers to offer their expertise and/or experience during national Drug Awareness Week each November.

“The high points for me,” Rushton says, “were the Odd Squad (the specialized members of the Vancouver City Police Force working among the denizens of the Downtown East Side with huge care and compassion); Matt Bellace, who made both a public presentation and spoke, predominantly to parents in district schools, (former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion) George Chuvalo, and Randy Miller.”

In Chuvalo’s case, he told the tale of how he had lost several family members, including sons and his wife to either drug overdoses or drug-related suicide.

Miller was once an aspiring and talented young hockey player who wanted to join the pros but ended up a severe and generally regarded to be a ‘hopeless’ addict in the Downtown Eastside. Near to death he was taken under the collective wing of the aforementioned Odd Squad. He features prominently in the NFB film Through a Blue Lens, which covers the work of the squad. When he came to the Comox Valley he had been clean and sober for a number of years and made a powerful and hope-filled presentation to a packed Sid Williams Theatre.

Another particularly wrenching presentation, remembers Rushton, was the one by Victoria resident Katy Hutchison who, with great candor told the tragic tale of her physician husband’s brutal slaying when he intervened at an out-of-control house party in their Squamish neighborhood, where they were living at the time.

While noted guest speakers sometimes provide a little frosting on the cake of the DSC’s community profile, Rushton particularly likes the various projects undertaken by the committee, which are designed to serve individuals and groups in the greater community. That is what she sees as their true mandate. In that she suggests that perhaps there are two needs that should be addressed with greater emphasis.

“It’s important that the committee stays diverse,” she says. “We need varied and differing points of view. And maybe we need a bit more diversity in the groups we reach out to rather than neglecting certain demographics.”

The DSC also has a chair, and since the funding comes from Courtenay, it is natural that the chair be a member of Courtenay City Council.

The charter chair was city councilor and attorney Noor Ahmed, followed by former mayor Greg Phelps. Phelps admits he was a little nonplused when he first took over the role. “At first I was a little intimidated,” he says.

“There were more degrees at the table than there were on my thermometer, so it took a while to get comfortable. Once I realized that, unlike council, everyone on the committee had a common goal, then it just became a matter of helping to keep the meetings on track—and on time, since we all loved to talk. The group had so much experience, energy and passion that it was always hard to figure out which ideas to keep and which ones to put in the parking lot.”

As for which community problems are still with us, Phelps has some opinions to share.

“Never thought I’d be saying it, but it is time to legalize marijuana. There are numerous experts now saying it is time to give up that fight and concentrate our diminishing resources on fighting the more serious drugs. Alcohol causes way more problems in society than pot, yet society seems to tolerate all the carnage it causes as an ‘acceptable risk’. Back when I was a young reporter I asked a court clerk how much the workload would be reduced if we took ‘alcohol involved’ out of the system. He didn’t even hesitate and said, ‘Over 80 per cent.’ I don’t get it.”

The current committee chair is Courtenay city councilor Doug Hillian, who has been at the helm since Phelps left the political scene.
Aside from his council involvement, Hillian also comes highly credentialed and is familiar with substance issues in the community, as he is the Vancouver Island Youth Justice Director for the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

“The Drug Strategy Committee is a great example of a local initiative that builds community through supporting prevention and addiction awareness activities across a broad spectrum of the Comox Valley,” he says. “I continue to be amazed by how much is accomplished in a low-key manner through the good will and dedication of the community people involved and I think we get tremendous value for the relatively small investment of dollars by the City of Courtenay.”

The continued active involvement and oversight of the program by the City lies largely in the positive support given from the outset by Courtenay’s Director of Community Services, Randy Wiwchar.

“Although it was a pilot project, Courtenay city council and staff at the time was proactive in ensuring it would continue indefinitely,” Wiwchar says. “I was impressed with the cooperation and connectedness between council, staff and many community partners who shared the same concerns and goals in regards to making the Comox Valley a healthy, safe community for everyone.”

The committee, Wiwchar adds, serves to provide the means for community members to collaborate and strategize ways to enable families, businesses and those without homes or families to remain safe and healthy.

Like it or not, the issue of drugs—especially illicit drugs—or such societal negatives as impaired driving or alcohol-induced domestic violence must involve the judicial system, and the first line in that regard is, of course, the police. The DSC is extremely fortunate to have been able to include an RCMP presence in its operations, and most notably that of the North Island Drug Awareness Coordinator, Gus Papagiannis, who spent many years offering worthy thoughts and highly active involvement prior to a recent move to the Lower Mainland. He notes that assuming his role came at a difficult time.

“When my colleague, Barry (Schneider) overdosed it was difficult for me,” he says. “I didn’t attend his funeral. I stayed away. It was ironic that a couple of years later I would assume the position he occupied as Drug Awareness Coordinator.”

Part of his motivation to be involved in drug awareness came about due to a couple of traumatizing personal experiences, Papagiannis says.

“When I was young I went through two emotionally traumatic experiences with two of my best friends,” he says. “In the first case, my friend Larry and I did everything together— played high school sports, drove from Toronto to Mazatlan, Mexico with fake ID (we were only 17 and at the time you had to be 21 to get into Mexico), worked together as part-time janitors in a hospital, etc.

“One day Larry was working on his car in his driveway, trying to clan the carburetor. His sister came out and called him for dinner and noticed he was lying on the ground behind his car. Sister didn’t think anything of it and about 10 minutes later went out again to call Larry for dinner. But Larry was lying motionless on the ground. While cleaning the carburetor Larry had gone to the tailpipe to check the emission. He must have caught a whiff of the exhaust and had collapsed by the tailpipe. The car was running so Larry kept breathing the exhaust and it killed him. The autopsy revealed marijuana in his system.”

The second incident was even more traumatizing for Papagiannis.

“Steve and I were childhood friends,” he says. “We were both first generation Greek from immigrant parents. We were ‘best man’ at each other’s weddings. Steve’s dad was a furrier and business was booming so Steve opened up his own shop in a town just north of Toronto. A few years in and the business collapsed, leaving Steve looking for a way to make money. He got involved with the Mob. He purchased large quantities of liquor from them (approximately $50,000 worth each time) and sold the liquor through ‘back doors’ of local restaurants.

“One day his parents phoned because they hadn’t heard from Steve for a couple of weeks. As it turned out Steve was to be ‘missing’ for two years. A police informant knew that Steve had gotten ‘ripped’. The mob had taken his money, kept the booze and killed him.”

Papagiannis shares his thoughts on why he thinks the DSC continues to work so effectively in the community.

“In the beginning the committee focused on raising awareness in the community,” he says. “We planned yearly events for the community and the schools. We invited speakers who had suffered greatly and had compelling stories to tell.”

But, then there was a change in emphasis, and it was one that Papagiannis felt made sense.

“The committee kept growing and evolving to a point where primary prevention became the focus. We brought in people like Dr. Gordon Nefelt and Dr. Matt Bellace. Their ideas focused on creating a healthy person without focusing on drug use. If a youth was healthy and remained healthy via responsible choices, then drug use wouldn’t even enter the picture.”
Papagiannis says he always liked the fact that the committee had patience and invariably took a long-term approach rather than seeking quick fixes to a deep-rooted problem
Much of the success of the group, he adds, has come about due to the dedication of those involved. “One of the best things the committee did was to hand out $500 community prevention grants. This ensured community members would get involved in drug prevention and take ownership of their community. Everyone plays a role in creating a healthy community and it also takes a community to raise a child.”
Papagiannis wasn’t the only RCMP connection with the DSC. Almost invariably there has been a Member involved whenever duties would permit, such as Csts. Tammy Douglas and Catherine Colthart. The other committee members come from various concerned groups in the community such as the school district, VIHA, CFB Comox, the John Howard Society, Mental Health and Addictions, AIDS Vancouver Island, the Alano Club and more.
“The Courtenay Drug Strategy Committee offers an organized forum to get support, information and professional development regarding drugs and alcohol issues,” says Sarah Sullivan of AIDS Vancouver Island.
AIDS Vancouver Island benefited from a community grant that allowed them to develop their ‘Love Shack’ youth peer training program, and the DSC also offered support when they were expanding their harm-reduction supplies.
The Committee also offers funding to local schools and community organizations to create prevention activities. As of 2012, 33 schools and organizations have received a total of $19,000 from the Committee. Calls for proposals go out annually in December.
For more information on the Community Drug Strategy Committee contact Karen Rushton at 250-339-3603 or [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.
 

The Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee (DSC) came about almost by accident.

In 1998 I was asked by a number of local social service providers to write a series of articles about addiction problems and the social ills they were bringing about in the Comox Valley.

These professionals had long recognized that there was a serious substance abuse problem in the Comox Valley—a problem that was disrupting homes and families, that was leading to an increase in homelessness, and an equally disquieting increase in crime in what had formerly been regarded as one of the BC’s safer communities.
Initially the service providers wanted me to write one or two articles exposing the realities of the situation. In fact I wrote an entire series for the Comox Valley Echo, where I was working at the time.

As a result of the series I won the BC Attorney General’s Provincial Media Award for Crime Prevention Writing for 1999. I don’t mention this to brag, but to point out that the series and award had roles to play in the City of Courtenay being one of only a few selected communities across Canada to have been chosen by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a project designed to develop locally-based drug strategies.

The selected communities received federal funding, and in February 2002, the DSC was formed. The committee has since worked diligently to fulfill its mandate to enhance public awareness and to find the means to combat the undeniable drug scourge in the community.

Since its inception, the DSC has worked toward four main goals: Identifying existing community groups and agencies providing drug and alcohol services; developing and implementing public awareness and education campaigns; working with community partners to ensure a coordinated plan and planning a sustainable drug strategy for the future.

On board virtually from the beginning of the DSC has been coordinator Karen Rushton, who was hired in February 2002. No sooner had she started than the federal funding ran out. The City of Courtenay stepped in and agreed the committee was worthwhile and should continue—they continue to finance the committee via grant each year.

“So, in 2003 we got going again and we have continued now for a decade,” Rushton says. “It continues to thrive due, I think, to its diversity. Diversity is the main strength of the committee. The members come from various backgrounds and organizations, from educators, to social workers, to John Howard employees to members of the RCMP.

That diversity makes it kind of holistic. And it’s good for me because I get to hear all the points of view from different perspectives.”

Since its early days the committee has worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of drug use. Part of this involves bringing in guest speakers to offer their expertise and/or experience during national Drug Awareness Week each November.

“The high points for me,” Rushton says, “were the Odd Squad (the specialized members of the Vancouver City Police Force working among the denizens of the Downtown East Side with huge care and compassion); Matt Bellace, who made both a public presentation and spoke, predominantly to parents in district schools, (former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion) George Chuvalo, and Randy Miller.”

In Chuvalo’s case, he told the tale of how he had lost several family members, including sons and his wife to either drug overdoses or drug-related suicide.

Miller was once an aspiring and talented young hockey player who wanted to join the pros but ended up a severe and generally regarded to be a ‘hopeless’ addict in the Downtown Eastside. Near to death he was taken under the collective wing of the aforementioned Odd Squad. He features prominently in the NFB film Through a Blue Lens, which covers the work of the squad. When he came to the Comox Valley he had been clean and sober for a number of years and made a powerful and hope-filled presentation to a packed Sid Williams Theatre.

Another particularly wrenching presentation, remembers Rushton, was the one by Victoria resident Katy Hutchison who, with great candor told the tragic tale of her physician husband’s brutal slaying when he intervened at an out-of-control house party in their Squamish neighborhood, where they were living at the time.

While noted guest speakers sometimes provide a little frosting on the cake of the DSC’s community profile, Rushton particularly likes the various projects undertaken by the committee, which are designed to serve individuals and groups in the greater community. That is what she sees as their true mandate. In that she suggests that perhaps there are two needs that should be addressed with greater emphasis.

“It’s important that the committee stays diverse,” she says. “We need varied and differing points of view. And maybe we need a bit more diversity in the groups we reach out to rather than neglecting certain demographics.”

The DSC also has a chair, and since the funding comes from Courtenay, it is natural that the chair be a member of Courtenay City Council.

The charter chair was city councilor and attorney Noor Ahmed, followed by former mayor Greg Phelps. Phelps admits he was a little nonplused when he first took over the role. “At first I was a little intimidated,” he says.

“There were more degrees at the table than there were on my thermometer, so it took a while to get comfortable. Once I realized that, unlike council, everyone on the committee had a common goal, then it just became a matter of helping to keep the meetings on track—and on time, since we all loved to talk. The group had so much experience, energy and passion that it was always hard to figure out which ideas to keep and which ones to put in the parking lot.”

As for which community problems are still with us, Phelps has some opinions to share.

“Never thought I’d be saying it, but it is time to legalize marijuana. There are numerous experts now saying it is time to give up that fight and concentrate our diminishing resources on fighting the more serious drugs. Alcohol causes way more problems in society than pot, yet society seems to tolerate all the carnage it causes as an ‘acceptable risk’. Back when I was a young reporter I asked a court clerk how much the workload would be reduced if we took ‘alcohol involved’ out of the system. He didn’t even hesitate and said, ‘Over 80 per cent.’ I don’t get it.”

The current committee chair is Courtenay city councilor Doug Hillian, who has been at the helm since Phelps left the political scene.
Aside from his council involvement, Hillian also comes highly credentialed and is familiar with substance issues in the community, as he is the Vancouver Island Youth Justice Director for the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

“The Drug Strategy Committee is a great example of a local initiative that builds community through supporting prevention and addiction awareness activities across a broad spectrum of the Comox Valley,” he says. “I continue to be amazed by how much is accomplished in a low-key manner through the good will and dedication of the community people involved and I think we get tremendous value for the relatively small investment of dollars by the City of Courtenay.”

The continued active involvement and oversight of the program by the City lies largely in the positive support given from the outset by Courtenay’s Director of Community Services, Randy Wiwchar.

“Although it was a pilot project, Courtenay city council and staff at the time was proactive in ensuring it would continue indefinitely,” Wiwchar says. “I was impressed with the cooperation and connectedness between council, staff and many community partners who shared the same concerns and goals in regards to making the Comox Valley a healthy, safe community for everyone.”

The committee, Wiwchar adds, serves to provide the means for community members to collaborate and strategize ways to enable families, businesses and those without homes or families to remain safe and healthy.

Like it or not, the issue of drugs—especially illicit drugs—or such societal negatives as impaired driving or alcohol-induced domestic violence must involve the judicial system, and the first line in that regard is, of course, the police. The DSC is extremely fortunate to have been able to include an RCMP presence in its operations, and most notably that of the North Island Drug Awareness Coordinator, Gus Papagiannis, who spent many years offering worthy thoughts and highly active involvement prior to a recent move to the Lower Mainland. He notes that assuming his role came at a difficult time.

“When my colleague, Barry (Schneider) overdosed it was difficult for me,” he says. “I didn’t attend his funeral. I stayed away. It was ironic that a couple of years later I would assume the position he occupied as Drug Awareness Coordinator.”

Part of his motivation to be involved in drug awareness came about due to a couple of traumatizing personal experiences, Papagiannis says.

“When I was young I went through two emotionally traumatic experiences with two of my best friends,” he says. “In the first case, my friend Larry and I did everything together— played high school sports, drove from Toronto to Mazatlan, Mexico with fake ID (we were only 17 and at the time you had to be 21 to get into Mexico), worked together as part-time janitors in a hospital, etc.

“One day Larry was working on his car in his driveway, trying to clan the carburetor. His sister came out and called him for dinner and noticed he was lying on the ground behind his car. Sister didn’t think anything of it and about 10 minutes later went out again to call Larry for dinner. But Larry was lying motionless on the ground. While cleaning the carburetor Larry had gone to the tailpipe to check the emission. He must have caught a whiff of the exhaust and had collapsed by the tailpipe. The car was running so Larry kept breathing the exhaust and it killed him. The autopsy revealed marijuana in his system.”

The second incident was even more traumatizing for Papagiannis.

“Steve and I were childhood friends,” he says. “We were both first generation Greek from immigrant parents. We were ‘best man’ at each other’s weddings. Steve’s dad was a furrier and business was booming so Steve opened up his own shop in a town just north of Toronto. A few years in and the business collapsed, leaving Steve looking for a way to make money. He got involved with the Mob. He purchased large quantities of liquor from them (approximately $50,000 worth each time) and sold the liquor through ‘back doors’ of local restaurants.

“One day his parents phoned because they hadn’t heard from Steve for a couple of weeks. As it turned out Steve was to be ‘missing’ for two years. A police informant knew that Steve had gotten ‘ripped’. The mob had taken his money, kept the booze and killed him.”

Papagiannis shares his thoughts on why he thinks the DSC continues to work so effectively in the community.

“In the beginning the committee focused on raising awareness in the community,” he says. “We planned yearly events for the community and the schools. We invited speakers who had suffered greatly and had compelling stories to tell.”

But, then there was a change in emphasis, and it was one that Papagiannis felt made sense.

“The committee kept growing and evolving to a point where primary prevention became the focus. We brought in people like Dr. Gordon Nefelt and Dr. Matt Bellace. Their ideas focused on creating a healthy person without focusing on drug use. If a youth was healthy and remained healthy via responsible choices, then drug use wouldn’t even enter the picture.”

Papagiannis says he always liked the fact that the committee had patience and invariably took a long-term approach rather than seeking quick fixes to a deep-rooted problem

Much of the success of the group, he adds, has come about due to the dedication of those involved. “One of the best things the committee did was to hand out $500 community prevention grants. This ensured community members would get involved in drug prevention and take ownership of their community. Everyone plays a role in creating a healthy community and it also takes a community to raise a child.”

Papagiannis wasn’t the only RCMP connection with the DSC. Almost invariably there has been a Member involved whenever duties would permit, such as Csts. Tammy Douglas and Catherine Colthart. The other committee members come from various concerned groups in the community such as the school district, VIHA, CFB Comox, the John Howard Society, Mental Health and Addictions, AIDS Vancouver Island, the Alano Club and more.

“The Courtenay Drug Strategy Committee offers an organized forum to get support, information and professional development regarding drugs and alcohol issues,” says Sarah Sullivan of AIDS Vancouver Island.

AIDS Vancouver Island benefited from a community grant that allowed them to develop their ‘Love Shack’ youth peer training program, and the DSC also offered support when they were expanding their harm-reduction supplies.

The Committee also offers funding to local schools and community organizations to create prevention activities. As of 2012, 33 schools and organizations have received a total of $19,000 from the Committee. Calls for proposals go out annually in December.
For more information on the Community Drug Strategy Committee contact Karen Rushton at 250-339-3603 or [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.
 

The Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee (DSC) came about almost by accident.

In 1998 I was asked by a number of local social service providers to write a series of articles about addiction problems and the social ills they were bringing about in the Comox Valley.

These professionals had long recognized that there was a serious substance abuse problem in the Comox Valley—a problem that was disrupting homes and families, that was leading to an increase in homelessness, and an equally disquieting increase in crime in what had formerly been regarded as one of the BC’s safer communities.
Initially the service providers wanted me to write one or two articles exposing the realities of the situation. In fact I wrote an entire series for the Comox Valley Echo, where I was working at the time.

As a result of the series I won the BC Attorney General’s Provincial Media Award for Crime Prevention Writing for 1999. I don’t mention this to brag, but to point out that the series and award had roles to play in the City of Courtenay being one of only a few selected communities across Canada to have been chosen by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a project designed to develop locally-based drug strategies.

The selected communities received federal funding, and in February 2002, the DSC was formed. The committee has since worked diligently to fulfill its mandate to enhance public awareness and to find the means to combat the undeniable drug scourge in the community.

Since its inception, the DSC has worked toward four main goals: Identifying existing community groups and agencies providing drug and alcohol services; developing and implementing public awareness and education campaigns; working with community partners to ensure a coordinated plan and planning a sustainable drug strategy for the future.

On board virtually from the beginning of the DSC has been coordinator Karen Rushton, who was hired in February 2002. No sooner had she started than the federal funding ran out. The City of Courtenay stepped in and agreed the committee was worthwhile and should continue—they continue to finance the committee via grant each year.

“So, in 2003 we got going again and we have continued now for a decade,” Rushton says. “It continues to thrive due, I think, to its diversity. Diversity is the main strength of the committee. The members come from various backgrounds and organizations, from educators, to social workers, to John Howard employees to members of the RCMP.

That diversity makes it kind of holistic. And it’s good for me because I get to hear all the points of view from different perspectives.”

Since its early days the committee has worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of drug use. Part of this involves bringing in guest speakers to offer their expertise and/or experience during national Drug Awareness Week each November.

“The high points for me,” Rushton says, “were the Odd Squad (the specialized members of the Vancouver City Police Force working among the denizens of the Downtown East Side with huge care and compassion); Matt Bellace, who made both a public presentation and spoke, predominantly to parents in district schools, (former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion) George Chuvalo, and Randy Miller.”

In Chuvalo’s case, he told the tale of how he had lost several family members, including sons and his wife to either drug overdoses or drug-related suicide.

Miller was once an aspiring and talented young hockey player who wanted to join the pros but ended up a severe and generally regarded to be a ‘hopeless’ addict in the Downtown Eastside. Near to death he was taken under the collective wing of the aforementioned Odd Squad. He features prominently in the NFB film Through a Blue Lens, which covers the work of the squad. When he came to the Comox Valley he had been clean and sober for a number of years and made a powerful and hope-filled presentation to a packed Sid Williams Theatre.

Another particularly wrenching presentation, remembers Rushton, was the one by Victoria resident Katy Hutchison who, with great candor told the tragic tale of her physician husband’s brutal slaying when he intervened at an out-of-control house party in their Squamish neighborhood, where they were living at the time.

While noted guest speakers sometimes provide a little frosting on the cake of the DSC’s community profile, Rushton particularly likes the various projects undertaken by the committee, which are designed to serve individuals and groups in the greater community. That is what she sees as their true mandate. In that she suggests that perhaps there are two needs that should be addressed with greater emphasis.

“It’s important that the committee stays diverse,” she says. “We need varied and differing points of view. And maybe we need a bit more diversity in the groups we reach out to rather than neglecting certain demographics.”

The DSC also has a chair, and since the funding comes from Courtenay, it is natural that the chair be a member of Courtenay City Council.

The charter chair was city councilor and attorney Noor Ahmed, followed by former mayor Greg Phelps. Phelps admits he was a little nonplused when he first took over the role. “At first I was a little intimidated,” he says.

“There were more degrees at the table than there were on my thermometer, so it took a while to get comfortable. Once I realized that, unlike council, everyone on the committee had a common goal, then it just became a matter of helping to keep the meetings on track—and on time, since we all loved to talk. The group had so much experience, energy and passion that it was always hard to figure out which ideas to keep and which ones to put in the parking lot.”

As for which community problems are still with us, Phelps has some opinions to share.

“Never thought I’d be saying it, but it is time to legalize marijuana. There are numerous experts now saying it is time to give up that fight and concentrate our diminishing resources on fighting the more serious drugs. Alcohol causes way more problems in society than pot, yet society seems to tolerate all the carnage it causes as an ‘acceptable risk’. Back when I was a young reporter I asked a court clerk how much the workload would be reduced if we took ‘alcohol involved’ out of the system. He didn’t even hesitate and said, ‘Over 80 per cent.’ I don’t get it.”

The current committee chair is Courtenay city councilor Doug Hillian, who has been at the helm since Phelps left the political scene.
Aside from his council involvement, Hillian also comes highly credentialed and is familiar with substance issues in the community, as he is the Vancouver Island Youth Justice Director for the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

“The Drug Strategy Committee is a great example of a local initiative that builds community through supporting prevention and addiction awareness activities across a broad spectrum of the Comox Valley,” he says. “I continue to be amazed by how much is accomplished in a low-key manner through the good will and dedication of the community people involved and I think we get tremendous value for the relatively small investment of dollars by the City of Courtenay.”

The continued active involvement and oversight of the program by the City lies largely in the positive support given from the outset by Courtenay’s Director of Community Services, Randy Wiwchar.

“Although it was a pilot project, Courtenay city council and staff at the time was proactive in ensuring it would continue indefinitely,” Wiwchar says. “I was impressed with the cooperation and connectedness between council, staff and many community partners who shared the same concerns and goals in regards to making the Comox Valley a healthy, safe community for everyone.”

The committee, Wiwchar adds, serves to provide the means for community members to collaborate and strategize ways to enable families, businesses and those without homes or families to remain safe and healthy.

Like it or not, the issue of drugs—especially illicit drugs—or such societal negatives as impaired driving or alcohol-induced domestic violence must involve the judicial system, and the first line in that regard is, of course, the police. The DSC is extremely fortunate to have been able to include an RCMP presence in its operations, and most notably that of the North Island Drug Awareness Coordinator, Gus Papagiannis, who spent many years offering worthy thoughts and highly active involvement prior to a recent move to the Lower Mainland. He notes that assuming his role came at a difficult time.

“When my colleague, Barry (Schneider) overdosed it was difficult for me,” he says. “I didn’t attend his funeral. I stayed away. It was ironic that a couple of years later I would assume the position he occupied as Drug Awareness Coordinator.”

Part of his motivation to be involved in drug awareness came about due to a couple of traumatizing personal experiences, Papagiannis says.

“When I was young I went through two emotionally traumatic experiences with two of my best friends,” he says. “In the first case, my friend Larry and I did everything together— played high school sports, drove from Toronto to Mazatlan, Mexico with fake ID (we were only 17 and at the time you had to be 21 to get into Mexico), worked together as part-time janitors in a hospital, etc.

“One day Larry was working on his car in his driveway, trying to clan the carburetor. His sister came out and called him for dinner and noticed he was lying on the ground behind his car. Sister didn’t think anything of it and about 10 minutes later went out again to call Larry for dinner. But Larry was lying motionless on the ground. While cleaning the carburetor Larry had gone to the tailpipe to check the emission. He must have caught a whiff of the exhaust and had collapsed by the tailpipe. The car was running so Larry kept breathing the exhaust and it killed him. The autopsy revealed marijuana in his system.”

The second incident was even more traumatizing for Papagiannis.

“Steve and I were childhood friends,” he says. “We were both first generation Greek from immigrant parents. We were ‘best man’ at each other’s weddings. Steve’s dad was a furrier and business was booming so Steve opened up his own shop in a town just north of Toronto. A few years in and the business collapsed, leaving Steve looking for a way to make money. He got involved with the Mob. He purchased large quantities of liquor from them (approximately $50,000 worth each time) and sold the liquor through ‘back doors’ of local restaurants.

“One day his parents phoned because they hadn’t heard from Steve for a couple of weeks. As it turned out Steve was to be ‘missing’ for two years. A police informant knew that Steve had gotten ‘ripped’. The mob had taken his money, kept the booze and killed him.”

Papagiannis shares his thoughts on why he thinks the DSC continues to work so effectively in the community.

“In the beginning the committee focused on raising awareness in the community,” he says. “We planned yearly events for the community and the schools. We invited speakers who had suffered greatly and had compelling stories to tell.”

But, then there was a change in emphasis, and it was one that Papagiannis felt made sense.

“The committee kept growing and evolving to a point where primary prevention became the focus. We brought in people like Dr. Gordon Nefelt and Dr. Matt Bellace. Their ideas focused on creating a healthy person without focusing on drug use. If a youth was healthy and remained healthy via responsible choices, then drug use wouldn’t even enter the picture.”

Papagiannis says he always liked the fact that the committee had patience and invariably took a long-term approach rather than seeking quick fixes to a deep-rooted problem

Much of the success of the group, he adds, has come about due to the dedication of those involved. “One of the best things the committee did was to hand out $500 community prevention grants. This ensured community members would get involved in drug prevention and take ownership of their community. Everyone plays a role in creating a healthy community and it also takes a community to raise a child.”

Papagiannis wasn’t the only RCMP connection with the DSC. Almost invariably there has been a Member involved whenever duties would permit, such as Csts. Tammy Douglas and Catherine Colthart. The other committee members come from various concerned groups in the community such as the school district, VIHA, CFB Comox, the John Howard Society, Mental Health and Addictions, AIDS Vancouver Island, the Alano Club and more.

“The Courtenay Drug Strategy Committee offers an organized forum to get support, information and professional development regarding drugs and alcohol issues,” says Sarah Sullivan of AIDS Vancouver Island.

AIDS Vancouver Island benefited from a community grant that allowed them to develop their ‘Love Shack’ youth peer training program, and the DSC also offered support when they were expanding their harm-reduction supplies.

The Committee also offers funding to local schools and community organizations to create prevention activities. As of 2012, 33 schools and organizations have received a total of $19,000 from the Committee. Calls for proposals go out annually in December.
For more information on the Community Drug Strategy Committee contact Karen Rushton at 250-339-3603 or [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.
 

The Comox Valley Community Drug Strategy Committee (DSC) came about almost by accident.

In 1998 I was asked by a number of local social service providers to write a series of articles about addiction problems and the social ills they were bringing about in the Comox Valley.

These professionals had long recognized that there was a serious substance abuse problem in the Comox Valley—a problem that was disrupting homes and families, that was leading to an increase in homelessness, and an equally disquieting increase in crime in what had formerly been regarded as one of the BC’s safer communities.
Initially the service providers wanted me to write one or two articles exposing the realities of the situation. In fact I wrote an entire series for the Comox Valley Echo, where I was working at the time.

As a result of the series I won the BC Attorney General’s Provincial Media Award for Crime Prevention Writing for 1999. I don’t mention this to brag, but to point out that the series and award had roles to play in the City of Courtenay being one of only a few selected communities across Canada to have been chosen by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to participate in a project designed to develop locally-based drug strategies.

The selected communities received federal funding, and in February 2002, the DSC was formed. The committee has since worked diligently to fulfill its mandate to enhance public awareness and to find the means to combat the undeniable drug scourge in the community.

Since its inception, the DSC has worked toward four main goals: Identifying existing community groups and agencies providing drug and alcohol services; developing and implementing public awareness and education campaigns; working with community partners to ensure a coordinated plan and planning a sustainable drug strategy for the future.

On board virtually from the beginning of the DSC has been coordinator Karen Rushton, who was hired in February 2002. No sooner had she started than the federal funding ran out. The City of Courtenay stepped in and agreed the committee was worthwhile and should continue—they continue to finance the committee via grant each year.

“So, in 2003 we got going again and we have continued now for a decade,” Rushton says. “It continues to thrive due, I think, to its diversity. Diversity is the main strength of the committee. The members come from various backgrounds and organizations, from educators, to social workers, to John Howard employees to members of the RCMP.

That diversity makes it kind of holistic. And it’s good for me because I get to hear all the points of view from different perspectives.”

Since its early days the committee has worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of drug use. Part of this involves bringing in guest speakers to offer their expertise and/or experience during national Drug Awareness Week each November.

“The high points for me,” Rushton says, “were the Odd Squad (the specialized members of the Vancouver City Police Force working among the denizens of the Downtown East Side with huge care and compassion); Matt Bellace, who made both a public presentation and spoke, predominantly to parents in district schools, (former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion) George Chuvalo, and Randy Miller.”

In Chuvalo’s case, he told the tale of how he had lost several family members, including sons and his wife to either drug overdoses or drug-related suicide.

Miller was once an aspiring and talented young hockey player who wanted to join the pros but ended up a severe and generally regarded to be a ‘hopeless’ addict in the Downtown Eastside. Near to death he was taken under the collective wing of the aforementioned Odd Squad. He features prominently in the NFB film Through a Blue Lens, which covers the work of the squad. When he came to the Comox Valley he had been clean and sober for a number of years and made a powerful and hope-filled presentation to a packed Sid Williams Theatre.

Another particularly wrenching presentation, remembers Rushton, was the one by Victoria resident Katy Hutchison who, with great candor told the tragic tale of her physician husband’s brutal slaying when he intervened at an out-of-control house party in their Squamish neighborhood, where they were living at the time.

While noted guest speakers sometimes provide a little frosting on the cake of the DSC’s community profile, Rushton particularly likes the various projects undertaken by the committee, which are designed to serve individuals and groups in the greater community. That is what she sees as their true mandate. In that she suggests that perhaps there are two needs that should be addressed with greater emphasis.

“It’s important that the committee stays diverse,” she says. “We need varied and differing points of view. And maybe we need a bit more diversity in the groups we reach out to rather than neglecting certain demographics.”

The DSC also has a chair, and since the funding comes from Courtenay, it is natural that the chair be a member of Courtenay City Council.

The charter chair was city councilor and attorney Noor Ahmed, followed by former mayor Greg Phelps. Phelps admits he was a little nonplused when he first took over the role. “At first I was a little intimidated,” he says.

“There were more degrees at the table than there were on my thermometer, so it took a while to get comfortable. Once I realized that, unlike council, everyone on the committee had a common goal, then it just became a matter of helping to keep the meetings on track—and on time, since we all loved to talk. The group had so much experience, energy and passion that it was always hard to figure out which ideas to keep and which ones to put in the parking lot.”

As for which community problems are still with us, Phelps has some opinions to share.

“Never thought I’d be saying it, but it is time to legalize marijuana. There are numerous experts now saying it is time to give up that fight and concentrate our diminishing resources on fighting the more serious drugs. Alcohol causes way more problems in society than pot, yet society seems to tolerate all the carnage it causes as an ‘acceptable risk’. Back when I was a young reporter I asked a court clerk how much the workload would be reduced if we took ‘alcohol involved’ out of the system. He didn’t even hesitate and said, ‘Over 80 per cent.’ I don’t get it.”

The current committee chair is Courtenay city councilor Doug Hillian, who has been at the helm since Phelps left the political scene.
Aside from his council involvement, Hillian also comes highly credentialed and is familiar with substance issues in the community, as he is the Vancouver Island Youth Justice Director for the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

“The Drug Strategy Committee is a great example of a local initiative that builds community through supporting prevention and addiction awareness activities across a broad spectrum of the Comox Valley,” he says. “I continue to be amazed by how much is accomplished in a low-key manner through the good will and dedication of the community people involved and I think we get tremendous value for the relatively small investment of dollars by the City of Courtenay.”

The continued active involvement and oversight of the program by the City lies largely in the positive support given from the outset by Courtenay’s Director of Community Services, Randy Wiwchar.

“Although it was a pilot project, Courtenay city council and staff at the time was proactive in ensuring it would continue indefinitely,” Wiwchar says. “I was impressed with the cooperation and connectedness between council, staff and many community partners who shared the same concerns and goals in regards to making the Comox Valley a healthy, safe community for everyone.”

The committee, Wiwchar adds, serves to provide the means for community members to collaborate and strategize ways to enable families, businesses and those without homes or families to remain safe and healthy.

Like it or not, the issue of drugs—especially illicit drugs—or such societal negatives as impaired driving or alcohol-induced domestic violence must involve the judicial system, and the first line in that regard is, of course, the police. The DSC is extremely fortunate to have been able to include an RCMP presence in its operations, and most notably that of the North Island Drug Awareness Coordinator, Gus Papagiannis, who spent many years offering worthy thoughts and highly active involvement prior to a recent move to the Lower Mainland. He notes that assuming his role came at a difficult time.

“When my colleague, Barry (Schneider) overdosed it was difficult for me,” he says. “I didn’t attend his funeral. I stayed away. It was ironic that a couple of years later I would assume the position he occupied as Drug Awareness Coordinator.”

Part of his motivation to be involved in drug awareness came about due to a couple of traumatizing personal experiences, Papagiannis says.

“When I was young I went through two emotionally traumatic experiences with two of my best friends,” he says. “In the first case, my friend Larry and I did everything together— played high school sports, drove from Toronto to Mazatlan, Mexico with fake ID (we were only 17 and at the time you had to be 21 to get into Mexico), worked together as part-time janitors in a hospital, etc.

“One day Larry was working on his car in his driveway, trying to clan the carburetor. His sister came out and called him for dinner and noticed he was lying on the ground behind his car. Sister didn’t think anything of it and about 10 minutes later went out again to call Larry for dinner. But Larry was lying motionless on the ground. While cleaning the carburetor Larry had gone to the tailpipe to check the emission. He must have caught a whiff of the exhaust and had collapsed by the tailpipe. The car was running so Larry kept breathing the exhaust and it killed him. The autopsy revealed marijuana in his system.”

The second incident was even more traumatizing for Papagiannis.

“Steve and I were childhood friends,” he says. “We were both first generation Greek from immigrant parents. We were ‘best man’ at each other’s weddings. Steve’s dad was a furrier and business was booming so Steve opened up his own shop in a town just north of Toronto. A few years in and the business collapsed, leaving Steve looking for a way to make money. He got involved with the Mob. He purchased large quantities of liquor from them (approximately $50,000 worth each time) and sold the liquor through ‘back doors’ of local restaurants.

“One day his parents phoned because they hadn’t heard from Steve for a couple of weeks. As it turned out Steve was to be ‘missing’ for two years. A police informant knew that Steve had gotten ‘ripped’. The mob had taken his money, kept the booze and killed him.”

Papagiannis shares his thoughts on why he thinks the DSC continues to work so effectively in the community.

“In the beginning the committee focused on raising awareness in the community,” he says. “We planned yearly events for the community and the schools. We invited speakers who had suffered greatly and had compelling stories to tell.”

But, then there was a change in emphasis, and it was one that Papagiannis felt made sense.

“The committee kept growing and evolving to a point where primary prevention became the focus. We brought in people like Dr. Gordon Nefelt and Dr. Matt Bellace. Their ideas focused on creating a healthy person without focusing on drug use. If a youth was healthy and remained healthy via responsible choices, then drug use wouldn’t even enter the picture.”

Papagiannis says he always liked the fact that the committee had patience and invariably took a long-term approach rather than seeking quick fixes to a deep-rooted problem

Much of the success of the group, he adds, has come about due to the dedication of those involved. “One of the best things the committee did was to hand out $500 community prevention grants. This ensured community members would get involved in drug prevention and take ownership of their community. Everyone plays a role in creating a healthy community and it also takes a community to raise a child.”

Papagiannis wasn’t the only RCMP connection with the DSC. Almost invariably there has been a Member involved whenever duties would permit, such as Csts. Tammy Douglas and Catherine Colthart. The other committee members come from various concerned groups in the community such as the school district, VIHA, CFB Comox, the John Howard Society, Mental Health and Addictions, AIDS Vancouver Island, the Alano Club and more.

“The Courtenay Drug Strategy Committee offers an organized forum to get support, information and professional development regarding drugs and alcohol issues,” says Sarah Sullivan of AIDS Vancouver Island.

AIDS Vancouver Island benefited from a community grant that allowed them to develop their ‘Love Shack’ youth peer training program, and the DSC also offered support when they were expanding their harm-reduction supplies.

The Committee also offers funding to local schools and community organizations to create prevention activities. As of 2012, 33 schools and organizations have received a total of $19,000 from the Committee. Calls for proposals go out annually in December.
For more information on the Community Drug Strategy Committee contact Karen Rushton at 250-339-3603 or [email protected] or visit their Facebook page.

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

 

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

 

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

 

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

 

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca

 

Visitors walking up the path to the log home and studio just north of Courtenay are greeted by a set of playful green “Garden Googlers”, who guard the door with wide eyes.

From their perch in a flower pot filled with sand, these funky creatures are the first hint of what a visitor will find inside the door to Fireworx Glass Studio, which is filled with things both beautiful and intriguing. Jewelry, wind chimes and wall art are just some of the items on display—an array of vibrant colors and reflections that adorn the small studio outside of owner Sabine Arends’ home.

Inside the studio Arends stands at a table surrounded by sheets of glass where her workshop stations are set up and stages of fused glass are waiting to become jewelry. Arends’ newest creations—chunky glass in rainbow hues—are a work in progress and are about to be wound with ribbon for summer bracelets.

This passion for glass jewelry, where each piece is a one-of-a-kind, began for Arends 10 years ago in Victoria, when she created her first mosaic bowl. Over the years she has enjoyed different mediums. From mosaics she shifted into combing concrete, glass and grout for stepping stones. Then she moved into stained glass and finally mirrors.

“This was all pre-glass fusing,” she says. “Then I bought a kiln and started making jewelry.”

The kiln, which brought with it new possibilities, is the base of Arends’ business in glass fusion, and Arends now has two of them at her studio. After selecting glass and cutting it into the desired shapes, the pieces are placed in the kiln and fired to fuse them together. The finished pieces are always unique.

While jewelry tends to be her focus, this certainly does not limit Arends, who also creates bird houses, bowls, candle holders, and other creatures such as the whimsical Garden Googlers.

“I connected on Facebook to help me find a name,” she says of the bright owlish figures. More than 50 names were suggested online, and “Garden Googlers” just seemed to fit. Arends has found Facebook to be a great avenue for her small business, where she advertises, seeks input, and connects with others. “You see how many people are really interested if you get feedback or not.” This can help her determine what direction to take. “Cats and dogs get a lot of interest,” she says with a smile, although it is hard to imagine animals in her art, as most of it is so abstract.

Some pieces have images transcribed within layers of glass—a little fairy peeks out here, a tree looms up over there—but mostly you see brightly composed and subtle shimmering art. Arends lifts a piece of glass to the light, demonstrating how the color shifts depending on how you hold it, and also how you can see right through it.

This is dichroic glass, a medium Arends has been working with for a long time. It is created when vaporized metallic oxides settle on sheets of glass in a chamber, and this thin layer of metal refracts light in such a way that multiple colors are reflected on the surface. The fun thing about it is that one can never predict the outcome of the process. The metals will settle in a way that cannot be controlled, which means that every sheet is different.

While Arends orders most of her glass from Ontario, she has just received some from a friend in Las Vegas, and her eyes light up as she points out a few of the new styles—crinkled glass and patterns.

Her excitement is contagious, and she wants to share her passion with others in the form of workshops. “Many people want to try something, but don’t want to invest long term,” says Arends of her decision to open her studio to others. “I have all the materials, the tools and the space, so people can just come try it.” Workshops start at $85 and go up, depending on the project, and are typically offered twice a month.

“It’s a combination of doing something crafty, and just connecting,” says Arends, who posts the workshops online, but also hosts workshops upon request if a group of friends would like to gather for the evening. The cozy studio has a large table in the centre surrounded by chairs, and it’s easy to envision five people chatting happily as they work on their projects.

The beginner’s art fusion glass—participants create an 8”x8” bowl—is her most basic class. Participants can expect to spend three hours in the studio, selecting, cutting and assembling their glasswork. Once they leave Arends begins the process of firing the glass in the kiln. Her large kiln can hold up to four of these glass bowls, which are fired at a very high temperature for 24 hours.

“The glass pieces come out totally flat, like a beautiful tile,” she says. These tiles are then placed in a mold, and fired again for 12 hours. Once the pieces are complete, Arends takes them to her mini photography studio in the back, where she snaps a picture or two to post on Facebook. This way people can see when their art is ready for pick up, usually within a week or two of the workshop.

Every piece created is unique and personal for the participants. “Everyone looks at their household and what they like,” Arends says, pointing to a variety of styles and colors that have been created in her latest workshop. “A base of glass is used, which we decorate with a multitude of colors, so they all become different.”

Sometimes Arends has clients mixing mediums—such as when driftwood is combined with fused glass pieces in the wind chime workshop. Another class that combines these materials is the driftwood bird houses, which are decorated with fused glass. “I love offering classes,” says Arends, “and I try to come up with something inspiring.” Her latest workshops are posted on her website and on Facebook.

“This is the biggest challenge for me now,” says Arends in regard to trying to get the word out about her business. “Everybody knew me and what I was doing [in Saskatchewan],” where she was well known for her artwork, and was a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council. “Here I am all new and I need to work on the basics again.”

Born in Germany, Arends moved to Canada 17 years ago with her Canadian husband Scott, who she met in the United Arabic Emirates while working as a flight attendant. After having her first child, she decided to move back to Germany to continue her career as a flight attendant. “Sometimes,” she says, “you need to do something just to say, ‘No, this isn’t what I want to do.”

Shortly after that she decided to stay at home, focus on her children and Fireworx also began to grow.

Now with three daughters aged 9, 12 and 16, and a husband in the Air Force who has been away in Halifax for the year, Arends has had to balance her artwork with life’s daily demands. “I needed to be there for the kids first, and everything else later,” she says of her choice to put the house and her children first, and her work second.

Yet over the years she has built a business out of passion and determination. “I worked in my winter jacket,” she says, explaining how the space often had not heated up until she was finished her work. The warmth of the sun and the open door is a welcome change.

“I’m very happy to be in the Valley,” she says of her family’s move to Courtenay last summer from Moose Jaw. “I really want to stay here. It’s the third time I’ve been here, and I think three times is enough,” she adds with a smile.

In the back of her studio, three acrylic paintings are set up. Arends has recently taken a painting class, and now finds herself drawn to creating artwork on canvas. “Acrylic is just a technique,” she says, explaining that she has been working with this medium in the hopes that she can transfer the skill to her glasswork. “Then something really neat can occur.

“There are a lot of glass workers,” adds Arends. “I’d like to figure out something that is unique for me, so that when people see my work, they will know it is one of mine.”

 

Fireworx Glass Studio is located at 5333 Headquarters Road, Courtenay and is generally open from 10am-2pm, Monday to Friday. For more information and for workshop details you can also find Fireworx Glass Studio on Facebook, or at www.myfireworx.ca
Summer’s here and it’s time to fire up the barbeque and take the cooking outdoors! Here are a few tips to make your grilling experience safe as well as delicious.

• Start with a clean grill. Preheat your grill for 10 minutes then use a stiff wire brush to scrape off any cooked remnants from the previous meal. Once the grill is preheated, viagra
  the food will not stick and it will have a better chance of searing properly and developing grill marks.

 

• Be prepared. Have your food, Breast
  seasonings, treatment dishes, spatulas, tongs and thermometers—all outside and ready to use so you can stay by the grill as the food is cooking. Make sure you have clean platters to serve your cooked food.

 

• If you’re grilling meat—especially large cuts, let the meat stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. This allows the meat to cook more evenly and quicker.

 

• Create different cooking zones. This will give you more options as your food is cooking. Have two cooking zones—one for direct heat (where the fire is directly under the food), one for indirect heat (where the heat is off to the side of the food.) That way, you can move your food from one zone to another depending on how quickly it’s cooking.

 

• Don’t overcrowd the grill. Placing too much food onto the grill restricts your flexibility. Leave at least ¼ of the cooking grates clear, leaving plenty of space between each food item so you can get your tongs in and easily move them around. You need enough room to work.

 

• Keep the lid closed. The lid of the grill is meant for preventing too much air from getting in and too much heat and smoke from getting out. When the lid is closed, the cooking grates are hotter, the grilling times are faster, the smoky tastes are stronger and the flare-ups are fewer.

 

• Don’t pierce the food or move it around too much. The food (especially meat) needs time to sear properly. If you move it around too much, it doesn’t get enough time in one place to reach that desirable level of color and flavor. If grilling hamburgers, don’t press them with a spatula—you’re just pressing all the juice out of the meat, creating a dry and unappetizing end result! Usually, you should turn food just once or twice. If you’re doing it more than that, you’re probably opening the lid too much, which slows down the cooking process.

 

• Get a meat thermometer so you can accurately tell the degree of doneness in your food. Remember that all food continues to cook a bit more once it’s removed from the grill. There are all types of instant-read and inexpensive meat thermometers available. These little gems will help you pinpoint the critical moment when the food is done to perfection.

 

• It’s important to let the meat sit for a little while before you cut it after taking it off the grill. This allows the juices within the meat to distribute more evenly. This in turn, keeps the meat moist after carving or cutting.

 

• Use your grill to try foods other than just meat. Grilling vegetables and fruits can add another layer of flavor to your summertime meal. Grilling fruit brings out the natural sweetness and the flavor of grilled vegetables is enhances when they’re lightly charred.

 

• Almost any fruit can be cooked on a grill. Hard fruits such as apples, pineapples and pears are easier to grill than softer fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums and papaya. Softer fruits require more attention when being grilled to prevent overcooking, which will cause the fruit to become mushy. Softer fruit only needs to be heated—not cooked. Try using indirect heat when grilling fruit—that way the fruit will still maintain its shape and not become mushy. Try brushing the fruit with melted butter or oil to prevent it from sticking to the grates. To enhance the flavor of the fruit, you can add sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar or lemon juice. Sugar tends to burn so it’s best to apply it toward the end of the cooking time.

 

• The flavor of the vegetables intensifies when it’s being grilled. Because a lot of the moisture evaporates from the vegetables as they’re grilled, the flavor becomes more concentrated and the sugars become more condensed, increasing the sweetness and flavor of the vegetables.

 

• Vegetables should be grilled over medium heat. The length of cooking time will vary depending on the type of vegetable and the size. Cut them into uniform size pieces to they cook evenly. The larger and thicker the pieces, the longer the grilling time.

 

• If you’re skewering vegetables or fruit, use two skewers rather than one. This will prevent the food from spinning when you’re turning it on the grill. Remember to soak the bamboo skewers for 30 minutes or more to prevent them from burning.

 

• Before placing vegetables on the grill, brush with oil to prevent sticking. The vegetables must be dry before applying oil or the oil won’t stick.

 

• When grilling harder vegetables, such as potatoes, they may need to be parboiled first to shorten the cooking time, especially if you’re grilling them alongside other vegetables.

 

• Experiment by sprinkling with different herbs and spices over the vegetables while grilling. There are many recipes available for spice rubs and marinades. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but remember not to overpower the primal flavor of the meat by adding excessive seasoning. A marinade or rub should be used before you start grilling, while barbeque sauce needs to be added later. Don’t add the sauce too early—it’s sweet, so it will burn on the grill before it can flavor the food. Better alternative—brush barbeque sauce on during the last few minutes of cooking and serve additional sauce alongside the meat.

 

RECIPE FILE

Spicy Lemon Salmon Skewers

Enjoy the fresh taste of seafood with this quick and easy salmon recipe. A simple tip to keep the kebobs from spinning on the skewer is to use two skewers, rather than just one.

1 tablespoon fresh dill weed
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs. skinless wild coho or sockeye fillet,
cut into 1 inch pieces
2 lemons, sliced very thin into rounds

Prepare barbeque to medium heat. Mix oregano, dill weed, salt, cumin and red pepper flakes in a small bowl and set aside. Beginning and ending with the salmon cubes, thread the salmon onto the skewers alternately with the slices of lemon (doubled in half), beginning and ending with the salmon. Brush with the oil and season with the spice mixture, patting onto the salmon. Turn the skewers over and repeat on other side.  Grill, turning occasionally, until the salmon is opaque throughout, about 5-8 minutes.

______________________________________________

Prawn Caesar Salad

If you purchase raw prawns, cook them in boiling salted water for two minutes.  Sriracha Thai hot sauce adds spicy heat to the dressing. Omit it, if you wish a milder salad.

Dressing:
2 tablespoons light mayonnaise
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons freshlemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon Sriracha (hot chile sauce)
1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced

To prepare dressing, combine mayonnaise and the next 7 ingredients (through garlic) stirring with a whisk.

Salad:
¾ cup seasoned croutons
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 ½ pounds prawn tails, cooked and peeled
1 head chopped romaine lettuce
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
Chopped fresh chives

To prepare salad, combine croutons, 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, prawns and romaine in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss well to coat. Top with pine nuts and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish with chives, if desired. Serve immediately.

Yields 4 servings.

______________________________________________

Fresh Summer Berry Streusel Pie

Crust:
2 ¼ cups all purpose four
1 tablespoon white sugar
½ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into ½” cubes
1/3 cup chilled shortening, cut into ½” cubes
6 tablespoons (approx.) ice water
Topping:
6 tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
6 tablespoons whole almonds
6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into ½” cubes
4 ½ tablespoons old-fashioned oats
4 ½ tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Filling:
1 cup sugar
½ cup quick-cooking tapioca
2 tablespoons freshlemoln juice
5 cups assorted fresh berries (such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries or blackberries)

Preparation:
For crust: Blend flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter and shortening, using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 5 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if the mixture is dry. Gather dough into a ball; flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour.

For topping: Combine all ingredients in food processor. Process until moist clumps form. Cover topping and chill; keep dough chilled. Soften dough slightly at room temperature before rolling out.

For filling: Mix sugar, tapioca and lemon juice in large bowl. Add berries and toss gently to combine. Let stand until tapioca softens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 15-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch pie dish, trim and crimp edges. Freeze crust 20 minutes.

Spoon filling into crust. Crumble topping evenly over filling. Bake pie 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then turn oven down to 350 degrees for remainder of time until crust and topping are golden brown and filling is bubbling, covering loosely with sheet of foil if topping browns too quickly, about 55 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool at least 3 hours.

______________________________________________

Tomato, Corn & Avocado Salad

With sweet tomatoes and fresh corn, this easy salad is a perfect accompaniment to grilled summer meats.

One ear corn (husk and silk removed; tip cut off)
2 pints cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Stand ear of corn in a large wide bowl; with a sharp knife, carefully slice downward to release the kernels. Discard cob. Add tomatoes, avocado, scallions, lime juice and oil to bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and toss gently to combine.