ArtSpacific

ArtSpacific, Langley Arts Council’s annual BC wide, juried competition and exhibition opens tomorrow at 6pm @ the Aldergrove Kinsmen Community Centre. I have three paintings included, so if you are in the Langley area stop by and check it out. The show runs to November 24th.

Refilling the Well

September has been a month for refilling the well, taking a vacation and visiting art shows. We went to the mainland for a week and squeezed in a visit to the Vancouver Art Gallery. I very much enjoyed seeing the group exhibition Vancouver Special and Jan Wade’s Soul Power.

From Vancouver Special – Manuel Axel Strain – Me cutting through a white lady to reveal my mother picking medicine in our home territory, 2021.

Also this month I attended Rain Cabana-Boucher’s show, Distance, at Xchanges; Her work included a really powerful selection of monochromatic paintings and sculpture depicting among other things her experience of being part British settler and part Michif, memories of home and reflections on homelessness in Vancouver during the pandemic. It was a pleasure to talk with Rain and learn about her practice. With the first Truth and Reconciliation Day a few days away this is a timely show. Her work ‘Repeat’ made comparisons between the hunting of buffalo to near extinction by settlers and history repeating itself with the current decline in salmon stocks. ‘Article 10’, a work designed to be displayed as a flag, highlights the continuing abuse of land rights granted to the First Nations. Truth and Reconciliation Day is about readdressing history and acknowledging the suffering caused to Indigenous Communities, Cabana-Boucher’s work makes it clear that that these injustices are not a thing consigned to the past.

The second show I got to was Fear and Distemper by Kyle Labinsky at Errant Art Space which continues to October 10th. It was really interesting to gain an understanding of the political commentary underpinning the paintings which at first glance seem light and colourful. Many of the paintings were worked on un-stretched canvas which had been hemmed at the edges. I loved the incorporation of sewn elements into the work. Glitter and googly eyes provided an interesting contrast to more serious underlying political narrative.

Kyle Labinsky – Elegy for the Rainbow Coalition

In my studio I continue to experiment on my next series. I am still not quite ready to share this just yet. There has been some slowdown in the work rate in September. I have struggled with poor sleep due to allergies and asthma, which is always a problem this time of year. After a couple of days of heavy rain, my allergies are gone and I am starting to feel like I am coming back to myself again.

Covid Life – Virtual Opening Saturday December 12

Through the Covid lock down I was able to continue life drawing via zoom. I was skeptical at first – how would it work not seeing the model in person? It actually had some surprising advantages. Firstly some of the models used multiple cameras so there was a greater variety of angles to draw the model from that would not have been available in the in-person sessions. The unusual angles provided a real challenge. Secondly I was able to work with a greater variety of materials than I would be able to in the in person group sessions. In my studio I was able to experiment with watercolour, ink and collage and anything else to hand. I hope online life drawing is something that continues when the pandemic ends. Xchanges Gallery has put together an online show of some of the work from these sessions “Covid Life” together with the annual members show “A Moment in Time”. The virtual opening for both shows will take place on Saturday December 12 at 4pm and you can register here for the Zoom Link.

A Determined Vision

I am delighted that my painting Coral Masters was chosen by the City of Victoria for inclusion in their kiosk animation project. You can see Coral Masters at the Centennial Square Parkade and checkout out the map on their website for details of all the locations of work by some super talented local artists. This project embodies Create Victoria’s vision “to thrive as a place for everyday artistic encounters.”

A state of semi-lockdown has returned to Vancouver Island. I was due to take part in the annual member’s show at Xchanges in December however it was cancelled to try and slow the spread of Covid-19. Understandable but dissapointing. Xchanges will be going ahead with an online exhibition of the drawing from the virtual life drawing sessions that took place during the first lock down and I will share a link to that when it is available.

Before lockdown commenced I got together with a small number of my Thrive Ladies to see the Emily Carr – Fresh Seeing exhibition at The Royal BC Museum. It was lovely to see my group in person and the show was really well put together and comprehensive. The main focus of the show was Emily’s Paintings completed during her time in France. I felt that I really got to see another side to her work. It was so interesting to see her influences and the development in her style. I was inspired by Emily’s determination to continue experimentation and growth in her work even in the face a of a conservative audience when she returned back to Victoria.

Another show that I was able to get to was Liam O’Sullivan’s, Nature Preserve at Xchanges Gallery. Liam experiments with “absurdism and humor to present a landscape of playfully fluctuating possibilities, that we may explore and celebrate these unsung parts of ourselves.” The show consisted of mostly monochromatic, large scale, oil painting and some video installation. Looking into the landscape paintings I was reminded of the feeling of seeing a forest at dusk when the mind imagines seeing faces and wild animals in the shapes of branches and rocks (if you are interested, I just discovered that there is a word for this phenomenon and it is ‘pareidolia’). I really enjoyed this show, the landscape element of the paintings felt familiar and yet simultaneously jarring and otherworldly.

I continue plugging away in my studio and getting together with my fellow artists via Zoom for now.

Eerie Sketchbook

What a year! Pandemic, lock down and a health scare. Through it all I have been working in the sketchbook I bound earlier in the year. I covered the book in road map of Ontario and the Lake Erie is prominent on the front, so I like to think of this as my eerie sketchbook. For this sketchbook I mainly drew from dream imagery for inspiration and many of the drawings are strange, watery and subterranean. I had a lot of fun with this using watercolour, paint pens, collage and gouache. I enjoy so much having these to work on alongside my painting I am going to make a couple of new books today. My the detective ‘Hit and Sunk’ series continues to evolve and I will be updating the gallery this week with new images and progress shots can be seen on my Instagram account.

Summer Art Show and Sale

Finally art shows are back!

Now that the VAC has re-opened, they are showing the work of over fifty artists in their main gallery space all summer long! I am happy that my work “Diving Down Just to be Deeper” has been included among them. I stopped by the show on Saturday and it is looking fabulous.

Come see original art by some of Victoria (and Vancouver Island) artists working in drawing, ceramics, jewellery, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, installation, mixed media.

Each Wednesday the VAC is hosting artist salons where select contributors to the show will speak about their work for a small audience. RSVP: [email protected] to reserve your spot!

Gallery Open 12-5, Tues to Sat – 1800, Store Street, Victoria, BC

Art Demonstration at Opus Art Suplies, Victoria

I will be doing a free art demonstration at Opus Art Supplies in Victoria on Saturday, January 25th, 12:00 – 1:30 P.M.

I will demonstrate how to incorporate dream imagery into your artwork. Learn how to build your own dream vocabulary and layer up acrylic paint to express your subconscious side. Techniques to be discussed include paint pouring, transferring your sketch to canvas and the use of mediums such as glazing fluid and gel medium. Gain confidence to express your inner world using acrylic paint.

Please visit Opus Victoria or contact them at 250-386-8133 or toll free 1-800-524-6555 to register

Double Act

Little Bird by Angela Menzies, Acrylic on Canvas

It’s been a little while since I posted. After my show at Xchanges I was exhausted. I took it easy for a while, recharging my batteries in the beautiful wilds of Sooke. I have been working in my sketch book but nothing huge. I have a couple of things coming up in January that I would like to share. Angela Menzies and I have an art show together at Langham Court Theatre. It will run from Jan 15 to Feb 1st alongside the play ‘Company’. Company is a musical that asks the value of relationships in modern society. I love the Langham Court Theatre, it is such an intimate venue and their performances are always fantastic – I would definitely recommend checking them out.

I will also be doing a free demo later in January at Opus in Victoria and I will post the info for that soon.

I hope everyone had a relaxing Christmas break and wish you all the best for 2020!

My Agent Hasn’t Solved a Case – Acrylic on Canvas – H 29″ x W 29

Hit and Sunk

Just over a month to go until my show ‘Hit and Sunk’ opens at Xchanges. I have been working steadily towards my goals and it has been good to paint consistently on a daily basis. Things are a little out of balance in my life as I am in painting mode and some things have had to slide but I know it is only for a set period of time and I can correct it soon.

In the show I plan to explore our connection to our subconscious side and the internal struggle between who we are and who we think we are using the theme of twin film noir detectives and the game of Battleships. The idea to make a series of paintings with the detectives had been bubbling away for a while and is a departure from the animal theme paintings that have previously occupied me.

Check out my Instagram for progress and process shots in the run up to the show.

Studio Journal