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28 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday March 22, 2006 First-time publisher combines music, art and poetry Estelle Hamoline formed lasting friendships while publishing her multi-media coffee-table book By Wilma Blokhuis OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Little did Estelle Hamoline, of Oakville, expect to become a book publisher when her quest for North America in Picture, a new piano teacher for her Poetry & Piano, a beautiful son led her to classical con coffee-table book that comes with two CDs of Sinclair's cert pianist Gloria Saarinen. poetry and It was S a a r i n e n 's 1997, and her "All three artists have music. The son's piano adopted Canada as book is lessons were H a m o l i n e 's p ro g ressin g their home -- all first pub to the point three were born lished proj where he outside Canada." ect. needed a "Gloria more talented Estelle Hamoline, wanted the teacher. publisher of book to focus Hamoline. North America in on Canada s p o t t e d Picture, Poetry & Piano and North S a a r i n e n 's advertisement for her piano America," said Hamoline. studio - which was in "All three artists have adopt ed Canada as their home Oakville at the time, and made the phone call that all three were born outside changed her life. The pianist Canada." Harrison was born in Scotland^ Sinclair in has since moved to Bombay, India, and Saarinen Burlington. The two women got chat in New Zealand. When Hamoline heard ting, a friendship ensued, and before Hamoline real enough talk about this book, ized what she was getting "I gave them an ultimatum. I was with Gloria and Lister into, Saarinen asked her to a few years ago and I told be her manager. Hamoline, who was already in the busi them to do it or stop talking ness for selling concert tick about it." Hamoline gave them a ets for a number of different classical rqusicians, added deadline in order to show the pianist to her roster in case the project to agents and concert presenters at a 1998. As their friendship grew, performing arts conference in her native Saarinen spoke often of pro held ducing a book with two of Saskatchewan in the fall of her best friends, poet Lister 2003. "Working on this project Sinclair, Host Emeritus of CBC's Ideas and Ted was a privilege," continued Hamoline, who through Harrison, a renowned Canadian painter who spent Saarinen, got to know a lot of years in the Yukon. "Gloria talked about this book, a project that would marry their visual, literary and musical arts," said Hamoline, publisher of RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER THE ART OF PUBLISHING: Estelle Hamoline at her piano with her first venture into-the publishing world -- coffee-table book, North America in Picture, Poetry & Piano. a multi-media P RI NG Spring Special 5 sessions for $25 Sinclair and Harrison quite well. "Lister is an incredible human being with an intellect that never fails to astound me," Hamoline said. "His poetry is witty, insightful and full of know!edge. It can be read multiple times and every time you read it you get something new out of it. I'll never tire of it." The three artists collaborated their efforts, under Hamoline's direction, and produced 17 segments on North America that include 25 pieces of music. "Ted's artwork was sent to Lister, who already had a few poems in mind, and Gloria bonded these two segments together with her vast knowledge of classical music plus her knowledge of these areas from her touring career," said Hamoline. "She selected one t© three pieces of music she felt expressed her feelings to best marry the art and poetry for each segment. She did a lot of improvisation and composed one piece for the project. It was wonderful to work with such a gifted musician." She identified and explained her musical selections for each section of the book. is the time to let loose. And swing dance is the perfect way to have fun and stay fit. Call the dance professionals at Fred Astaire Dance Studio. They'll show you how to put swing in your step this Spring. Purchase A Hi-Efficiency Furnace And Receive A FREE " /rCENTRAL AIR (Installation Extra) Plus: NO Payment NO Interest For 6 Months O .A.C. 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(Entrance from both Lakeshore Road and parking lot off Church Street) A iR E ONE? xf> H E A T IN G & C O O L IN G email: oakvillestudio@fredastaire.ca 9 0 5 -8 4 2 -3 7 9 7 9 70 Upper James St. www.aireone.com 1-888-827-2665 905-849-4998 T T T T T T T T T ^ rT T T T T T T T 1 The foreword was written by famed Canadian author Pierre Berton and is one of his last pieces of writing before his death at the end of November 2004. "He and Lister were best friends and it's a real honour to have Pierre' s forward in the book," said Hamoline. She self-published the book through her company, Key Connections, last year. It was edited and proofread by Hamoline's long time neighbour, Melissa Vassallo, a Queen's University graduate, "I watched her grow up and mature into a young woman, and she was perfect for doing my proofreading because she has a degree in English." Hamoline produced 1,000 copies and almost half of them have been sold, at $80 each, at the 50-60 concerts already presented, mostly in Canada - British Columbia, Yukon and Ontario. "We've done a lot of school shows. This appeals to youth and their teachers," she said. "It marries three aspects of the arts and helps students understand they can express themselves through all of these arts." Plus it encompasses history, geography and literature. Excerpts from one of Sinclair's poems, The Mountain Spines, and the accompanying painting by Harrison, will be included in a new Grade 9 textbook, Canadian Geography 9, published by McGraw Hill Ryerson. Hamoline travels with Saarinen and Sinclair and handles the PowerPoint projectjon of Harrison's art at these concerts. Because she's away from home a lot, she's given up most of her roster of other artists she represented, "I've recently scaled back to concentrate on the book and managing Gloria." (She still managers a few other artists.) The next concert is close to home, o` n Friday March 24 at Wellington Square United Church, 2121 Caroline St., Burlington, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10 each, or $25 for a family of three or four, available online at www.performingartsburlington.com, or call 905-381-1441 or at A Different Drummer Books, 513 Locust St., Burlington, The concert is being pre sented by Performing Arts Burlington. For more information, see www.keyconnections.ca.