Local Arts

A parade of light will be shone during one of the darkest days of the year in Port Moody next week.

With titles like "Four Hugs a Day," "I am a Pizza," "The Hug Bug" and "Dicky Dicky Dinosaur," singer Charlotte Diamond has been making kids and adults alike smile for 25 years.

Most people know pantomime as wordless acting. Ellie King knows it as something quite different -- and timeless.

EXHIBITS Evergreen Cultural Centre: Gregg Simpson's Out of the Woods, until Dec. 10. Kovan Photo Club, Light on the Mind, Dec. 16 to Jan. 7; opening reception Dec. 18, 4 p.m. Place des Arts: Positively Petite and Christmas Boutique, until Dec. 17.

Santa Claus is the theme and the big man himself will be the star of the show when young performers from the Tri-Cities and across the Lower Mainland bring Christmas Pops back to the stage.

EXHIBITS Evergreen Cultural Centre: Gregg Simpson's Out of the Woods, until Dec. 10. Kovan Photo Club, Light on the Mind, Dec. 16 to Jan. 7; opening reception Dec. 18, 4 p.m. Place des Arts: Positively Petite and Christmas Boutique, until Dec. 17.

Join the Harmony women's vocal ensemble as they celebrate the sounds of Christmas Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. at St. Laurence Anglican Church. The 10-voice group will present Need a Little Christmas? with special guests, the Inlet Jazz Band.

When the Vancouver Opera Orchestra strikes up the opening notes of Tchaikovsky's classic The Nutcracker , professional dancers will float on to the stage to tell this timeless Christmas story.

At a time when Kindles are on many Christmas wish lists, the Leigh Square Community Arts Village is celebrating the beauty of the book in its latest exhibit, the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design.

'Realscapes' is how Coquitlam-based visual artist Ken Nash describes his acrylic paintings. On Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m.