The little gift shop tucked into a corner of the main gallery at Port Moody Arts Centre is run by the Blackberry Artists’ Society. Members take it in turns to staff the shop. Their work can also be seen in a display case half way up the stairs in City Hall.

Recently some members of the group took up the challenge of creating work inspired by a locally produced book, ‘Tracks in Time’. It tells the story of Port Moody’s origins, specifically featuring the railway which spurred the growth of this little mill town back in 1885. The book has been published to celebrate the city’s Centennial this year – one hundred years since the city was incorporated.

The artworks created by Blackberry Artists for this project were displayed in City Hall’s Atrium for a week in September and I managed to pop in to see the selection just before we went away. Here are three pieces that caught my attention.

Wood-worker Del Holbrook made a wood intarsia      based on the front of Engine 371. The train  arrived here from back East in 1885 and was the first engine to pull a passenger train across the country.

Glass artist Margaret Billings has made a lamp in the form of little Ioco church. It still stands in the village of Ioco, on Port Moody’s north shore.

A little trivia note: Ioco is not an ancient Native name for the village, it is the initials of Imperial Oil Company which operated an oil refinery there for much of the last century.

Our own TriCity Potters member and website coordinator  and long-time Port Moody Clay Studio participant, Myrta Hayes was inspired to create a lidded jar depicting several features of Port Moody’s history. We see the train with its track running around the jar, the ocean, an eagle and a Golden Spike. As she points out there was actually no golden spike used here in completing the railway line but the title refers to our annual civic holiday event around July 1st, Golden Spike Days.

The labels with each piece refer to the relevant page in the Port Moody History book.

I should mention that the Blackberry Artists take over a large part of the Arts Centre’s gallery space for November and December for their Christmas Marketplace. It is a great place to find good quality locally made gifts.