Tag: Glenda Bartosh

Whistler’s Artistic OriginsWhistler’s Artistic Origins

March 12, 2024 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The 1980s was an exciting decade for arts and culture in Whistler. As this article first came out in Pique Newsmagazine on International Women’s Day (March 8), we wanted to highlight a few of the women who sparked the arts scene at this time.

Whistler was in its early stages of development, dominated by sports and a lively bar scene. There were some theatre groups, dances, and musicians, and events such as the Alta Lake Community Club’s Fall Fair, a fundraiser that featured local goods and crafts. The Squamish Arts Council, which was established in the early 1970s, had a column in the Whistler Question advertising their offerings. And there were many artists in the area, including Isobel MacLaurin – Whistler’s first professional artist.

Isobel MacLaurin taught workshops at the first Whistler Children’s Festival in 1983. Whistler Question Collection.

The community recently came together to celebrate the life of Isobel. A true ski bum, she was a strong advocate for the growth of arts in the community. Her artwork is seen across the valley through murals and trail signs, she inspired others to spark their own creativity, and she was involved in almost every artistic effort that came about throughout her life (Arts Whistler/Whistler Arts Council, the Whistler Singers, The Point Artists Run Centre, and more).

After moving to Whistler in 1979, textile artist Inge Nielsen became involved in the adult education craft workshops at Myrtle Philip School, as well as hosting her own knitting workshops at the Blackcomb Day Lodge. Inge also sold her own goods at the 1980 Fall Fair, and that same year, opened Whistler’s first dedicated local artisan store, “Inge’s Gift and Craft Store,” in the Clocktower building. It was not a regular souvenir shop; all items on display were created by artists within Whistler or around British Columbia. She continued workshop offerings once her shop was opened and became further involved in the arts once Whistler’s first arts council was created.

At an art exhibit showcasing the works of Roy and Olga Tomlinson, the couple present Inge Nielsen and Glenda Bartosh a stone lithograph to be the first artwork added to WCAC’s permanent collection. The event was sponsored by Inge’s Gifts and Crafts and was held at the Delta Mountain Inn. Whistler Question Collection, October 1982

In 1981, fresh out of journalism school, Glenda Bartosh became a reporter for the Question. A year later, she bought the newspaper and became one of the youngest publishers in Canada. That same year, Glenda and other community members started the Whistler Community Arts Council (WCAC), now known as Arts Whistler. Their goal was to fulfill local needs for more artsy events.

Tuesday night craft class, part of the Adult Education courses that were offered at Myrtle Philip School. Left to right: Inge Nielsen, Jenny Busdon, Ruth Howells, Marilyn Willoughby, and Kelly Fairhurst. Whistler Question Collection, 1979.

WCAC’s introductory event occurred in the summer of 1982. It was an art exhibit at the Blackcomb Lodge and featured seventeen local artists. According to Glenda, they received an overwhelmingly positive response that showed the need for this type of organization.

By the end of the decade, the arts council had established many programs that are still running today. Margaret Long led the first Whistler Children’s Festival. Joan Richoz and Tamsin Miller organized the first Performance Series (now Arts Whistler Live!). Gail Rybar organized the first Bizarre Bazaar (now the Arts Whistler Holiday Market).

At the close of the 1980s, our own Florence Petersen opened the Whistler Museum, and Anne Popma founded the Whistler Centre for Business and the Arts. This organization further grew the cultural sector in the following years. Thanks to foundations laid in the 1980s, Whistler’s arts scene continued to grow in many ways through the 1990s and continues to thrive today.

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News for the community, by the communityNews for the community, by the community

June 29, 2021 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

Just how many communities can boast that their first reporters were a group of schoolchildren? Like most of Whistler’s history, the history of print news in Whistler is far from conventional, and relied heavily on community input, support, and organization.

The Whistler Question was published for the first time in 1976 from the basement of the Burrow’s home in Alpine Meadows, and, although it was the first newspaper about the valley, it was not the first source of community news.

The Burrows’s home in Alpine Meadows. Whistler Question Collection.

Early reporting in Whistler (circa 1930-1960) often centered around events that many would no longer consider newsworthy. Reports of gatherings for tea and details of newcomers in the valley featured prominently in Whistler’s (then Alta Lake) early newsheets. Whistler is by no means a roaring metropolis now, but the small community of Alta Lake was a fraction of the size, and the reports showcase the quiet life many residents led.

The first news-sheet in the valley was the Alta Lake School Gazette, a single page publication put together by a group of students at the Alta Lake School. It had a total of six issues, and ran from February to June, 1939.

Students at the Alta Lake School, some of which contributed to the publication. Jardine Collection.

The second news-sheet was published by the Alta Lake Community Club from 1958 until 1961. The single page publication changed names a few times before the Club settled on the Alta Lake Echo. As of its second issue, it featured a subtitle that read “published for fun”, which highlights the nature of the sheet. It was never intended to be a serious newspaper, and it never became one. Rather, it was a way for members of a small community to be kept up to date with the goings on of the past week, and informed of upcoming events.

By the time the Question was introduced, the community had changed significantly. Its first edition was published mere months after the Alta Lake community had been incorporated as the Resort Municipality of Whistler. Despite the significantly larger readership warranting a different approach than earlier publications in Whistler (just imagine if an article was written for every new arrival or departure from the valley), the Question nevertheless still encouraged, and relied on, community involvement.

The Question featured many different columns, some more conventional than others. A perennial favourite, called “Bricks and Roses,” was published from 1981 until 1998, and was in some ways reminiscent of an earlier and quieter time in Whistler when community happenings made up all of the news. The idea for the article was suggested to Glenda Bartosh (editor of the Question) by Gary Raymond, who at the time was the treasurer at the RMOW and had seen a similar column in a Quebec newspaper. A few months before it was introduced, the editor’s column had encouraged readers to send in their input in order to “make this community paper a dialogue – rather than a monologue.” The Bricks and Roses column set out to do just that. It created a forum for readers to express their gratitude for the good deeds of individuals and organizations by bestowing roses, or to call out and (rather publicly) condemn what they considered bad behaviour. More importantly, it gave people a direct path to the publication that did not require a comprehensive letter to the editor.

As you can imagine, people seized the opportunity to submit either a Brick or a Rose, and a wide variety of colourful submissions began to pour in. Some submissions were phoned in, while others were given verbally to one of the Questionables (name given to the staff at the Question) while they were out and about.

Keely Collins is one of two summer students working at the Whistler Museum this year through the Young Canada Works Program.  She will be returning to the University of Victoria in the fall.

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Remembering Jane BurrowsRemembering Jane Burrows

April 30, 2019 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

The integral role Jane Burrows played in the founding and operations of the Whistler Question, Whistler’s first newspaper, came through clearly at the opening of the museum’s temporary exhibit in September 2017 featuring photographs from the Question.  In the Question, as in so much else, Jane and Paul Burrows were equal partners.

Jane and Paul Burrows with their dog Simba upon their return from their world travels in 1984.  Whistler Question Collection.

Born Doris Jane Burrows in Kirkland Lake, Ontario in 1941, Jane moved west to Vancouver in the 1960s after completing a degree in Marketing Research at Ryerson University and taking time to travel the world with a few friends.  While living in the city Jane obtained her teaching degree from the University of British Columbia and, in 1968, met Paul at the Dev Pub.

Jane began her teaching career with the Howe Sound School District (today Sea-to-Sky District #48) soon after her marriage to Paul.  After teaching for a time in the two-room school at Britannia Beach Jane transferred to Signal Hill Elementary in Pemberton where she taught primary grades.  Commuting from Alta Lake, where Jane and Paul lived in their Alpine Meadows A-frame, and Pemberton in the early 1970s was not for the faint of heart.  In a 2000 interview with Whistler Cable Paul recalled that stretch of Highway 99 as “nothing more than a glorified logging road.”  A spot was decided upon by the Burrows as “the point of no return” and if conditions became questionable Jane would decide to turn back or forge ahead depending upon whether she had passed that point or not.

Jane Burrows and her class show off their Halloween costumes. Whistler Question Collection, 1980.

Alta Lake officially became the Resort Municipality of Whistler in 1975 and the next year brought great changes for both the Burrows and their growing community.

Following an unsuccessful run for Whistler’s first mayor on Paul’s part, the two sat down to decide on their next project.  They came to the conclusion that Whistler was in need of both a bus company and a newspaper.

Without the funds to purchase the requisite vehicles, the Burrows decided upon the latter.  The first edition of The Whistler Question was produced in their basement and published in April 1976.  Jane was an important influence on the Question, both in what was covered and who was hired.  When Glenda Bartosh (who would buy the paper in 1982) applied for a job as a reporter she had to pass two interviews, one with Paul at the Creekside office (by then the paper had moved out of the basement) and one with Jane at their home.

The staff at Myrtle Philip School, 1978.  Whistler Question Collection.

Five months after the Burrows became publishers Myrtle Philip School opened in September 1976.  Jane transferred from Signal Hill to form part of the school’s original staff.

At Myrtle Philip Jane was not only a kindergarten but the kindergarten teacher in Whistler, a position which held a great influence over an entire generation of Whistler children.  When the growth of Whistler’s population led to the need for a second kindergarten class there was great consternation that, for the first time at the school, students would start their schooling with a teacher who was not Mrs. Burrows.

Jane and Paul were also incredibly active in their community outside of the school and paper.  Both were involved in the Alta lake Ratepayers Association before there was an RMOW, joined the Whistler Ice Stock Sliding Club, sang in the Whistler Singers, contributed to the Whistler Museum and Archives and sat on the Whistler Public Library’s first Board of Trustees.  Despite these and many more commitments, the pair made time for extensive travels to almost every continent (as far as we know the Burrows did not got to Antarctica).

Publisher Paul Burrows and his wife Jane prior to a well-earned visit to the Caribbean.  Whistler Question Collection, 1982.

In 2000, now both retired, Jane and Paul moved to their dream home in Salmon Arm and quickly became involved in their new community.  They continued to travel, even after Jane was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2012, taking their 60th cruise in 2015.  Jane passed away December 29, 2018.

This past Saturday (April 27) there was a Celebration of Life held for Jane at the Myrtle Philip Community School.  This was an opportunity for everyone who felt her influence to remember an amazing woman who, whether teaching five-year-olds about Stone Soup, instructing Question employees on what to keep in their car for winter driving or helping shape the Whistler we know today, impacted so many people.

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Sharing and Naming Whistler’s HistorySharing and Naming Whistler’s History

September 23, 2017 Whistler MuseumWhistler Museum 0 Comments

A huge thank you to everyone who came out last Friday evening (September 15) to the opening of The Whistler Question: A Photographic History and to those who came out on Thursday for our first Naming Night!

It was great to see so many familiar (and new) faces at the museum, as well as so many past and present Question staff members.  We would also like to thank our amazing special guest speakers Paul Burrows and Glenda Bartosh for joining us for the evening and for creating the paper.  Without The Question we wouldn’t have these photos that we now get to share with both the community and visitors.

Paul Burrows speaks to a packed house at the opening of The Whistler Question: A Photographic History.

Paul and Glenda both let those present in on a few secrets about the early days at The Question and the years when the survival of the paper and of the town seemed questionable at best.

The Burrows’ A-frame on Matterhorn, where the first editions of the Whistler Question were created.

The Whistler Question was started by Paul and Jane Burrows in 1976 in their A-frame home on Matterhorn Drive.  After an unsuccessful run to be Whistler’s first mayor, Paul had to decide whether to start a bus company or a printing company.  At the time the Burrows couldn’t afford to buy the buses needed for a bus company and so The Whistler Question was born.  The first issue was given out for free; the second issue cost buyers 15¢ and, as Paul Burrows explained, the paper’s readership dropped dramatically.  He continued publishing, however, and today The Question continues to be printed and distributed each week.

If you weren’t able to see the exhibit on opening night or are planning to come again to take your time and leisurely peruse the photographs (to view all of the images takes over 20 minutes), The Whistler Question: A Photographic History will be on display through the end of November.

As you may have read last week, community members have been identifying the subjects of some of our photographs on social media and here on our blog.  To continue this important work, we recently hosted our first Naming Night.

Community members came out to help us identify many of the people and places in 100 photographs.

As the title suggests, we invited everyone to the museum to help us add names to the subjects of our mystery photos.  We also wanted to know the stories behind the photographs and the memories these photographs brought to mind.  We had a great time listening as those who came out debated various names, locations and dates for the photographs on display.  In one evening we were able to add over 250 names to our photographs!  We can now tag all of these people and places in the photographs so that when you’re searching for something or someone in our database it is more likely that these photographs will come up.

Just one of the photographs on display. Photo: Whistler Question Collection, 1984

We’ve got a lot more photographs we need information for so keep an eye out for our next Naming Night!

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