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Lake Country Art Gallery’s Catwalk a purr-fect way to combine love of art and cats

A few kittens found their furrever home during the adoption event

A couple of cool cats strutted their stuff at an adoption event on Sunday.

The Lake Country Art Gallery and the Okanagan Humane Society had a lot of fun hosting Catwalk - a wearable art competition for felines.

President of the Okanagan Humane Society Romany Runnalls said, “I think it kind of spun from the idea of the cat cafe,” but credited the community engagement coordinator for the Art Gallery Rena Warren for the creative idea.

Bringing the love of art and cats together, Warren said the gallery received 14 submissions of wearable art.

Tanya Charpontier submitted a fancy feather piece for the show.

“I just saw the post on Facebook and thought that looked like a lot of fun. I haven’t been getting my craft on as much as I’d like to, so it kind of gave me a little push and I love animals and arts.”

Tanya Charpontier holding her wearable art for cats submission at Lake Country Art Gallery’s Catwalk June 26, 2022 (Brittany Webster - Black Press)
Tanya Charpontier holding her wearable art for cats submission at Lake Country Art Gallery’s Catwalk June 26, 2022 (Brittany Webster - Black Press)

Charpontier said she had started with a stuffed cat that was laying down to build her design, but things changed as she put it together.

“I originally wanted to have a bird’s nest on its back with a little baby bird in there, but just life didn’t allow me to find the way to do that and construct it. But the colours and the way it sort of came together just reminded me of Mardi Gras.”

Shauna Reid also submitted a wearable art piece that allowed her to let her creative juices flow.

“I used pretty much everything but the kitchen sink,” Reid laughed. “Everything here is hand-felted by me. We’ve got different, various kinds of wool, mohair… The beads are glass, crystal, and semi-precious and I beaded everything here. This trim was hand-dyed and I’ve sewn everything by hand.”

Shauna Reid holding her wearable art for cats submission at Lake Country Art Gallery’s Catwalk June 26, 2022 (Brittany Webster - Black Press)
Shauna Reid holding her wearable art for cats submission at Lake Country Art Gallery’s Catwalk June 26, 2022 (Brittany Webster - Black Press)

Reid named her stuffed cat Simone after putting the piece together.

“It was actually a labour of love and I’m happy to do it. I’m a cat person and it’s for a very good cause.”

The event fundraised for both the humane society and the gallery with a silent auction, a hissing booth, and 10 cats up for adoption.

“This represents our first kittens of the year,” Runnalls stated. “We’ve got over 100 kittens growing up in foster currently, so these are the first few that are fixed now and ready to be adopted.”

Pizza and cupcakes were also available for the taking.

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@thebrittwebster
brittany.webster@blackpress.ca

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