Bring on the singing

You're Invited

By Al Joyal

(Updated: Friday, March 21, 2008, 5:23 PM)

Choral festival returns

The Sierra Choral Festival will be held April 11 and 12 at Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church in Oakhurst. Conductor and Composer Allan Robert Petker will again direct the festival. He is the minister of music at the San Pedro Presbyterian Church and conducts both the Consort Chorale from the Bay Area and the 60-voice Santa Clarita Master Chorale. He is owner of Pavane Publishing and also is connected with the Fred Bock Publishing Co.

The Sierra Choral Festival is for singers from the Mountain Area who will work with Petker on five different anthems of different styles. Petker is a fine teacher and has more than 250 published compositions. This year it is again a privilege of the festival to premier a commissioned piece - the third time that the Sierra Festival choir has done this. One of the founders of the Sierra Choral Festival, Bob Frembling, commissioned Petker to write a tribute to his family. As a result, the choir will present "The Fruit of Love is Joy," at a program to be held at the conclusion of the festival. Family members of the singers and the general public are invited to the program at Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 to hear this piece and other choral and special music.

Singers who wish to participate may receive a registration form by contacting Catherine Walker at (559) 658-7376. The festival registration fee for singers is $45, which includes music. The public performance is free to the general public.

Bruner at bookstore

The featured artist for the Sierra Art Hop at Willow Bridge Books in Oakhurst is quilter Sheila Bruner on Saturday, April 12, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a presentation at 2 p.m.

About 20 years ago, Bruner discovered her life-long passion for sewing turned more specifically to quilting and began to hand quilt all her work. Then she discovered and mastered sewing machine quilting and now uses the APQS Millennium Long Arm Machine for finishing quilts. The time saved has allowed her to expand on her own quilted creations and also has allowed her to help others in finishing theirs.

A number of her works are on display at Willow Bridge Books and are available for purchase.

Her work has been featured in Quilt Magazine Summer and Miniature Quilt Ideas Magazine. She is a member of six quilt-related associations. In addition, she has won recognition at fairs and contests and was juried in to the prestigious Road to California Quilt Show.

Willow Bridge Books features an artist or craft person once a month as part of the Sierra Art Hop. The SAH is always on the second Saturday of each month from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features an art reception at most of the local art galleries and other places that feature local original art.

For more information call the bookstore at (559) 692-4552.

Paint bamboo with Joy

On March 29, artist/teacher Joy Harvey will continue her popular, ongoing series of classes on Chinese Brush Painting. Beginners can join any time. May 10 will feature pandas, Sept. 6 chrysanthemums and Nov. 1 poinsettias. Call (559) 539-6123 for more information.

This special class is brought to our area by Vision Academy of the Arts, which is non-profit organization for the arts. This class and others are listed in the Vision Academy of the Arts 2008 workshops in the Sierra catalog, which is available for free at the Oakhurst Branch Library. For more information about Vision Academy, call Jackie Byers at (559) 683-7071.

Al Joyal can be reached by e-mailing aljoyal@sti.net.