For several decades, the St. Albert Painters Guild has helped direct the future of local art. It has encouraged expression, provided art classes, and sold diverse paintings at reasonable prices.
It’s time once more for the guild’s Fall Show and Sale taking place at St. Albert Place lobby from Oct. 25 to 27. Close to 60 artists working in acrylic, oil, gouache, pencil, pastels, ink and mixed media will highlight more than 250 distinct paintings.
Among the five dozen artists represented, three are featured in this article – Glenn Hamilton, Frances Pelletier, and Kate Leenders.
Glenn Hamilton, a retired art teacher from Jasper Place High and former cartoonist for Strathcona County This Week, is displaying four of his acrylic paintings. A self-described “doodler,” as a kid, Hamilton stopped painting due to many commitments as a teacher and soccer coach.
But in 2014 the Jasper Place High administration asked him to teach an art class.
“I happily agreed. It was a Grade 10 class. I demonstrated what to do and rediscovered my love of painting,” said Hamilton.
As an artist, he began his journey with watercolour, but discovered the tints could bleed into each other.
“I switched to acrylic. It was the vibrancy, the colour and the possibilities of texture that attracted me. It is like oil, but you don’t have to deal with solvents. But what I really like is that it is very forgiving and if I make a mistake, I can correct it,” he said.
Hamilton’s paintings pop off the wall, in part due to the use of bright, bold colours. But it’s his style – a clever blend of realism with abstract elements combined with a touch of cartoonish whimsy that is the true attention grabber.
His four landscapes are Red Splendor, a splash of red in a grove of trees along a New Brunswick coastline; River Valley, a late spring snowfall in Edmonton’s River Valley; Hunter Amongst Hostas, a tuxedo cat peeping from a bed of hostas, and Lacombe Field.
Frances Pelletier, the long-time painters’ guild president, also displays five of her recent works. A self-taught painter, the Sturgeon County resident, also veered towards acrylics.
She had always enjoyed crafts, but it was only when her four children were in school that she started painting.
“I bought a cheap set from Walmart and went online to YouTube,” said Pelletier, who originally stuck to realism.
“I took classes and loosened up but that was difficult for me – not to be so precise. Now I’ve grown into a looser style, but I can still do realism. My paintings have a stained-glass look like a mosaic. I lay down the colour and lay in lines in black.”
Attracted by nature and its varied formations, her largest piece is Still Waters, a 30-inch high by 60-inch-wide painting of a lake scene of River Teignin in England’s Dartmoor National Park.
“It’s more of a broad stroke painting with a bigger brush. It’s not detailed.”
Out of Nowhere is an expressionist painting with flamboyant blues, oranges and yellows. Its peaceful vibe suggests a hiker unexpectedly comes out of a grove of trees and sees a high cascading waterfall.
Kate Leenders is a guild newcomer, and this exhibition will be her first appearance in St. Albert. An oil painter by choice, Leenders style depicts fantasy backgrounds with a more realistic foreground.
“I’m really influenced by fantasy and dreams,” said Leenders. “As a kid I was really introverted. I had this whole other world in my head, and I painted as a way to get it out. I was heavily influenced by Lord of the Rings and fantasy artists with alternate realities.”
Leenders is hanging three works: Humpback Whale is a whale swimming through a galaxy of stars. Instead, Hobbit Door is more grounded. Illustrating a circular yellow entryway, stone pathway and garden flowers hanging from the roof, it swiftly recalls images of Peter Jackson’s movies. But her favourite is Forest Bear.
“It’s a grizzly bear walking away from the viewer. There are a few fireflies surrounding him and he looks as if he’s aware of them.”
The Fall Show and Sale hours are Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. , Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A reception will be held Friday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
