Arts Commission showed film Sunday

Some 60 people came out on a near winter-like Sunday afternoon to see local filmmaker Jack Gunter’s documentary “The Quest for the Lost Paintings of Siberia” in Maple Hall. Gunter, a Camano Island artist better known for his paintings, calls himself the “Brat Artist.” Much of his art is humorous, exemplified by his flying pigs, which are a part of the film. In fact, a pig narrates Gunter’s account of his 2013 trip to Russia to recover paintings stuck in the former Soviet Union back in 1989.

The film, organized by the La Conner Arts Commission to provide activities to both residents and tourists in the shoulder season, raised funds for the Sunday summer concert series on Gilkey Square. The Commission partnered with the La Conner Library Foundation, both for publicizing the film and to raise money for the new library building through auctioning a Gunter painting and selling wine. Wine sales totaled $139.

Gunter introduced the film and took questions afterwards. The painting he created to auction matched the film. Call it: “Meeting a shaman in a Siberian forest.” An animated Don Wick pushed the bidding to $1,100, a round number, in a bidding war between Bruce Bradburn, a local art collector, and Beverly Swanson, an old friend of Gunter’s from Anacortes.

The art commission plans to develop a winter 2018-19 film series. It will probably consist of films from area film makers.

The Library Foundation’s next fundraiser will bring Seattle librarian and author Nancy Pearl to La Conner in June.