Marcia Braundy (Photo by Dale Norman)

Marcia Braundy has been keeping an archive of photos of the Vallican Whole– the building and the people in and around it– since 1973.  She and curator Helen Sibelius have drawn from Marcia’s 900 slides to create Building the Building–Building Community, a photo exhibition at the Kootenay Gallery in Castlegar until September 10.

Marcia Braundy joins us today as guest blogger, to tell us about the exhibit. Readers, please share your stories of the Vallican Whole in the comments section below.

Building the Building–Building Community reflects and documents 40 years building, maintaining, and entertaining  community through the efforts of the volunteers of the Vallican Whole Community Centre and the Rural Alternatives Research & Training Society (RARTS). The Vallican Whole is an architecturally interesting, beautiful building created by the women, men and children of the Slocan Valley and beyond.

A Photo Record Since 1973

Over 700 people have worked on the building since 1971. This exhibition represents the imagination, dedication and effort of all of them. Many of them continue today, and new generations add their emerging visions to those who are no longer with us. It has been my pleasure and passion to document that work in slides and photos since 1973.

Learning Rural Skills

 It is through the initial vision of David Orcutt and Rob Wood for a place to  gather for building community through arts, culture, education, dancing and fun, that the 10 + acres of land was purchased from Michael Kaplan for $5,000 to be paid off at $200/year. With the land in hand, Bill Horswill assisted in applying for Opportunities for Youth, a federal employment & community development program. Eric Clough created the first design. A strong foundation was built, and many young people, newly come from urban areas, learned “rural skills,” the stated purpose of the “wages only” OFY grant.  Many went on to build their own homes in the Slocan Valley. Rob Wood offered his black & white photographs of building the foundation to this project.

The Vallican Whole Centre Today (Photo by Marcia Braundy)

Designed in Exchange for Firewood

1 ½ years later, when the need for the community centre had grown, Joel Harris and I, working with architect Al Luthmers (who designed the current building for four cords of firewood), community members David Orcutt, Tissy Carpendale and her children, Michael & Gretchen Pratt and their children, and so many others, began to plan and build the building that now sits upon that foundation. You can read about our efforts and results in the 1975 Fed-Up Co-op Newsletter on the wall of the Kootenay Gallery, and view examples of the results of these labours as well.

1993 Women’s Festival at Vallican Whole Community Centre: Playing music with Body Art work on walls: Bessie Wapp, Grace, Meg Stewart, Leslie Cairns, Bo Conlan, Shemmaho & Louise Naha Ruby (Photo by Marcia Braundy)

Festivals, Food Co-ops, and Celebrations

Initiators of the Dumont Creek Burial Society and Cemetery (1979), the first Kootenay food co-ops (1971), the Slocan Valley Senior’s Housing Society (1994) and the Passmore Lodge (1999 — B.C’s first rural seniors’ housing facility), RARTS has been an important motivating and supporting force for community development. The Vallican Whole Community Centre has been a home for Women’s Festivals sponsored by the West Kootenay Women’s Association since the 1970′s, diverse fundraising events for local initiatives, and honouring community celebrations like the First Responders Ball for firefighters and emergency workers from New Denver to Crescent Valley.

2008 Japaneses WWOOFers working with Judi Morton from Tuleberry Farms in Passmore at the 100 Mile event at the Vallican Whole Community Centre (Photo by Marcia Braundy)

Whole School, Locavore Feasts, Sculpture Park

The Vallican Whole was a long time home for the Whole School (1976-2008), and has become a centre for the education and celebration of ideas and practices for producing, buying and eating local goods through the 100-Mile events, Locavore Feasts and Rural Skills Workshops. The most recent development is the growing formation of an Ecological Sculpture Park on the site, with sculptures donated or created on-site by well-known local artists and students of the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute. Each of theses initiatives draws from different elements and individuals who make up our larger community.

1974 Raising the 50’ long hip beam at the Vallican Whole. This time we used a tripod instead of the human power we used to raise 7 of the other beams. Good thinking!! (Photo by Marcia Braundy)

A Photographic Story of How to Grow Community

Drawn from over 900 slides, taken and collected by Marcia Braundy, exhibition curator Helen Sebelius notes these photographs “serve as iconic representations of an idea that evolved into a plan, and a plan that became a reality.  This edited version of Braundy’s archives tells the story of the Vallican Whole – a community centre located in the Slocan Valley of British Columbia, and of a community of people who have laboured, loved and lived the idea of building a building that would inspire the building of community.”

For me, it is that in working together to produce a place where community can happen, the additional effect is that people get to work together, which leads to playing together, which leads to working on other projects together, which grows community. I am deeply thankful for the life that has enabled me to both take and collect these iconic and everyday photographs which document the construction, maintenance, community initiatives and celebratory gatherings at the Vallican Whole Community Centre.

Building the Building–Building Community runs at the Kootenay Gallery in Castlegar until September 10. Readers, if you have stories about the Vallican Whole, you are welcome to tell them in the comments section below. There is no log-in procedure– just start writing.