OFF-SITE EVENT – 814 TASMAN ROAD, MERVILLE, BC (Brian and Sarah McLoughlin Park)
As a kickoff to Pollinator Week, you are invited to a Summer Solstice Bees + Botany Walk and Mini Artist Talk by Lori Weidenhammer, AKA Madame Beespeaker, who is currently the 2026 Comox Valley Art Gallery Curated Residency artist-in-residence at the McLoughlin Gardens cottage. During this artist-facilitated walk, will learn to identify some of the many types of beautiful native bees who are found in the gardens and discover the interesting relationships they have with the native and cultivated flowers on site.
IMPORTANT DETAILS
- Due to limited space for this event, please register in advance by emailing register@comoxvalleyartgallery.com.
(Your registration is a commitment to attend, but we know life “happens”– please contact the gallery as soon as possible if you are not able to participate so we can offer your spot to someone on the wait list.) - Please arrive at the gate between 1:45 – 2:00pm, on Sunday, June 21, so the group is ready to begin the walk at the designated start time. We will gather together and walk down the steep unpaved hill to the cottage (5 min) and then tour the gardens surrounding the cottage. We regret this is not a wheel chair accessible site. No pets, please. Parking is along the roadside — be careful to not block lane-ways.
- This is an outdoor event and will happen rain or shine, so dress for the weather!
- Participation is free and suitable for all ages (children must be accompanied by an adult).
ARTIST FACILITATOR – LORI WEIDENHAMMER
Lori Weidenhammer is a community-based artist and educator, engaging people of all ages to explore environmental issues related to bees through many different media. Lori is the author of a book called the Revised Edition of Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide for Saving the Bees (and she will have a limited number of books for sale at the event for $30). She is a founding member of the BC Native Bee Society and she is an iNaturalist ambassador. Lori is based in Vancouver, BC.
loriweidenhammer.ca | Media Contact: lorihoney@telus.net (Lori Weidenhammer)
THE MCLOUGHLIN GARDENS SOCIETY – CVAG COMMUNITY PARTNER
Through a collaborative relationship with the McLoughlin Gardens Society, artists participating in the CVAG Curated Residency opportunity stay in the seaside Mcloughlin Gardens cottage situated in the Brian and Sarah McLoughlin Park.
Learn more about the park, cottage, and artist/writer residencies.
CVAG CURATED RESIDENCY PROGRAM
The Comox Valley Art Gallery Curated Residency Program was established out of a desire to provide extended research and site-specific production opportunities for artists, collaborators and curators participating within the gallery’s programs. This program supports deep and sustained artistic practice by facilitating meaningful relationships between artists and the local community for site-specific research, providing working and living spaces, and by exhibition of developed work.
IMAGE: courtesy of Lori Weidenhammer.