Lecture:
Three Great Authors, Three Great West Coast Tales
Guest Speakers:
Betty Keller, Jo Hammond and Rosella Leslie
When: 7pm, Thursday, October 21st
Where: Rotary Gallery, Courtenay Museum
Admission: $5 museum members; $6 non-members. Advance tickets recommended. Plus HST.
The Courtenay Museum plays host to a trio of speakers on Thursday, October 21st with "Three Great Authors, Three Great West Coast Tales".
Betty Keller, Jo Hammond and Rosella Leslie will each present a sampling from their recent books beginning at 7 pm. A book signing will follow.
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NIC's Focus Exhibit
On Friday, Oct. 1, North Island College's Professional Photography winter intake students displayed the results of their efforts at the opening of the programme's 13th showing of student work in the Courtenay and District Museum's changing exhibition gallery. The event marks a milestone collaboration between the museum and the college by utilizing the spacious second floor gallery for student artists' work. The opening drew over 150 enthusiastic visitors from the Comox Valley community and North Island College. Led by North Island College Instructor, Paul Bailey, the collaboration was a success and the museum looks forward to future exhibitions with the college.
Capes Escape Mystery
Edith Coton
CDM 2000.156.4
This summer, Capes Escape, the Courtenay Museum’s vacation rental house, was the scene of a family reunion, hosted by Pam Wilkinson of Courtenay. As the family was celebrating they noticed a small watercolour sketch. The original is in the Courtenay and District Museum, but it has been scanned and a framed copy sits on the desk at Capes House. After examining the sketch carefully they realized that it had been done by a relative. It was a sketch done by Edith Coton in or around 1925! The family, of course, was thrilled.
Mabel (May) Edith Skerry was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1886. As a young girl she studied watercolour painting at the Slade in London. It has been said that she was not athletic and never in very good health. She was a genuine person described by some as aristocratic. May travelled to Canada with her mother Suzanna and stopped in Victoria where they rented a room from a Mr. Horace Coton.
By 1914 romance had blossomed and May married Horace Coton at the old wooden Christ Church Cathedral (where the present law courts now stand) and changed her name to Edith Coton. The altar in front of which they were married, now stands in the Lady Chapel at the present Christ Church Cathedral. For many years May belonged to the Victoria Sketch Club, and went on many outings with them. Emily Carr also belonged to this sketch club.
The Wilkinson family has no idea how the sketch came to be at Capes Escape. Was Edith a friend of the Capes family? It is a mystery! We may never know for sure. What we do know for certain is that Edith’s little sketch was viewed by her granddaughters, great-granddaughters, and great-great-granddaughters, two of whom are Art teachers!
Thank you Pam for the information on Edith and for staying at Capes Escape!
Museum Sponsors
Dogwood
Judy and Stan Hagen
Comox Valley Community Foundation
Daryl and Evelyn Wright-Francis Jeweller's Ltd.
The Rotary Club of Courtenay Foundation
The Robert Hunt Family
Don and Marie Gordon
M. Jean McMullan Estate
Arbutus
Comox Valley Echo
Marjorie Thorpe
The Bickle Family
Lorna Gunn
John Wilson and Family
Judy Gurr
Sue and Ian Leakey
Ed LaFleur
Fir
Elizabeth Braithwaite
Jean Hawthorne
Seedling
Dove and Mike Hendren
Ruth Masters
John and Joan Wilson
George E. Sprogis
Gordon Schnare
Mary Mobley
Photo of the Month
CDM #998.219.304
Loading truck, Bevan, 1924
You can view more photos like this on our website. Click here to visit our holdings.
Museum Funding
The Courtenay and District Historical Society was registered as a nonprofit society in 1961 to preserve and interpret cultural and natural heritage of the Comox Valley. It has functioned as an independent society since that time. Funds are derived from the generous support of the City of Courtenay, British Columbia Arts Council, Comox Valley Regional District, Valley Charitable Bingo Society, and from museum generated revenues and donations.
Proud sponsors of the Courtenay & District Museum: