<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span><span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">Nanaimo</span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"> <span>Art</span> <span>Gallery</span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span><span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">150 Commercial Street</span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span><span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">Nanaimo</span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">, <span>BC</span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">V9R 5G6<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">250.754.1750<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif">For immediate release: <b><i>Black Diamond Dust </i></b>Book Launch & Readings<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.85pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="font-size:8.5pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51);border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0in"><img src="cid:ii_j02q53iy0_15ab4557de67166e" width="366" height="454"><br></span><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;font-size:10pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Black Diamond Dust </span></i><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Book Launch & Readings </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Thursday, March 16, 7 PM </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Free </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)"> </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Join us to celebrate the launch of Nanaimo Art Gallery’s first major publication <i>Black Diamond Dust</i>. The event will feature readings by local historian Lynne Bowen, curator and co-editor Jesse Birch, and Vancouver-based artist and writer Elisa Ferrari, who will share the work of the late Nanaimo poet, Peter Culley. There will also be a reception with beverages, book signings, and an opportunity to see our current exhibition <i>Landfall and Departure: Prologue.</i></span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)"> </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">The publication expands on the contemporary art exhibition by the same name that took place at Nanaimo Art Gallery in 2014. <i>Black Diamond Dust </i>refers to coal mining, an industry that formed and fragmented communities through economic development, racial segregation, and labor inequity, while fuelling the modern world. This book brings to light forgotten or under-acknowledged histories, through artworks, poetry, essays, literature, folk songs, and archival images. </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)"> </span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Black Diamond Dust</span></i><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)"> is co-published with Sternberg Press in Berlin and edited by Jesse Birch with Will Holder. It is the first of three curatorial projects to engage the main resource industries of Vancouver Island (coal mining, forestry, and fisheries) through contemporary art. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">Black Diamond Dust</span></i><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)"> </span></i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:13pt;font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(26,26,26)">publications are available now at The Gallery Store for $30.00. The publication can also be ordered by calling 250.754.1750, shipping charges will apply.</span><span style="font-family:"univers 45 light",sans-serif;color:rgb(136,136,136)"><span></span></span></p>
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