Things just aren't as tame at the Visual Arts Studio Association as they usually are. In fact, you could say that their art has gone a bit wild, at least in terms of the subject matter of their works.
Things just aren't as tame at the Visual Arts Studio Association as they usually are. In fact, you could say that their art has gone a bit wild, at least in terms of the subject matter of their works.
The new exhibit called Wild at Heart will show the public their respect and continued fascination with all manner of creatures well beyond the domesticated ones.
Victoria Armstrong has always had an eye out for interesting wildlife. She said that every animal that she paints is one that she has photographed and encountered whether in the wild or elsewhere. This includes the lion that she met in Uganda as well as a spectacular barn owl encountered in the spring, during one of its night hunts on Vancouver Island. She is utterly fascinated with it.
“It's the eyes! Just the darkness and depth that you see in their eyes, it just reaches into their very soul. There's just something about owls. I've always had a passion for them.”
This was the first time she had seen a barn owl in the wild. Well, OK … it was actually at a trained raptor centre near Duncan on Vancouver Island and it was part of a live exhibit. That's still wild enough for her.
“This was my ‘up close and personal' with a barn owl. I was thrilled!” she continued.
For the show, she will include three paintings from a new series based on the Tree of Life plus three others with “more exotic” animals.
Fellow artist Carol Johnson has also had a lifelong fascination with animals. Anyone who has seen her studio should arrive at that impression fairly quickly.
“Depicting them in my art allows me to capture their energy and form,” she began, noting that she focused primarily on North American birds and wildlife for the show as part of her philosophy of “painting what I know best.”
She held onto that until she came across some old photos that she took of tigers and she rekindled her intrigue with those creatures' power and beauty.
The resulting three oil sketches, she noted, each portrayed a different aspect of “these beautiful cats.”
Joining Armstrong and Johnson are fellow artists Nataša Vretenar, Heather Howard, Marilynn Jeffery, Miles Constable, and Shirley Vandersteen.
Wild at Heart will be on display until Sept. 26 with an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow evening during the final ArtWalk event of 2015.
VASA is located at 25 Sir Winston Churchill Ave. in the Hemingway Centre for the Arts. Call 780-460-5990 or visit www.vasa-art.com for more information.
Some painters like to use their paint sparingly but others … well, they're a bit more liberal with their applications. Just ask Rick Rogers, Connie Osgood, Miles Constable, Peter Gegolick, Samantha Williams-Chapelsky, Lisa Jo and Garrett Plummer, seven of the members behind a group with a very evocative name.
The Goop of 7 might have a few more members than just seven but they sure do love their goop. According to its website at goopofseven.wordpress.com, their perhaps unofficial motto is “Splatter, Pour, Smear, Drip, Shape, Glop, Splash, Push, Spray, Melt, … GOOP!”
There will be a wealth of different media employed and a diversity of subject matters found in their experimental and textured works.
The Goop group is all prepped to display its second show, The Fine Line Between _______ (sic) for the final ArtWalk event of the year. It will be featured on the front plaza at St. Albert Place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow. The artists will be in attendance.
The St. Albert Public Library is the ideal place for one to consider the artful writing that can be found in literature. Now, the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild has an exhibit set up to further the concept of books themselves as the art pieces.
Carla Costuros is one of the several book artists who has contributed work to the show. Coming from a textile background means that she veered toward an interest in papermaking. Once you've made your own paper, she said, it's no stretch to start making your own books.
“The progression to bookbinding was just natural,” she said, defining the art form as “making books in as many imaginable formats as possible by hand.”
These formats include scrolls, accordion books, codex books (stitched books typically with folded signatures or sections and handwritten content), as well as the spine-bound books that most people think of.
“Artist books tend to encompass all of the variety of art history.”
As such, she continued, most book artists are interested in the archival quality of their productions so that they can and will last the ages.
The guild has an annual exhibit that pops up at the library with a different challenge or theme each time around. This year, visitors and patrons can check out and admire the selection of miniature books that Costuros – along with fellow guild members Rena Whistance-Smith, Barbara Pankratz, Susan Colberg, Barbara Johnston, Annie Smith, Dawn Woolsey, Janice Peters, Ros Schell, and Selina Elniski – created for your bibliophilic pleasure.
The miniatures are no more than 7.5 cm in height, width or thickness, and include an historical binding as the thickness of the paper, leather and thread must be taken into account. The tiniest one of the lot is 2.5 by 2.5 cm and folds up to fit inside a pendant. Others feature a traditional binding with a leather spine and marbled paper, a medieval diary binding with a wood spine, Coptic bindings with decorative stitching on the spine; traditional Chinese binding, and a hardcover cased in binding as well as non-traditional artist books.
The display on the second floor will be set up until Sept. 25.
If bookish places are your favourite spots to catch some art, members of the St. Albert Painters' Guild also have a fresh exhibit on display at the Bookstore on Perron Street, with an opening reception tomorrow during the Art Walk event.
Elevate Activewear will feature Love Is The Common Thread Art, a father-son collaboration of sacred geometry works by Richard Andries and spin art by his father Sylvester Andries.
These mixed media artists use a variety of technical and experimental techniques, with Richard's work featuring symbols and patterns that signify harmony and unity while retired machinist Sylvester creates his work on a machine he fashioned himself using deconstructed household appliances. The machine spins the canvas like a record while he adds paint in different volumes and colours to create some incredible, unique designs. Occasionally, they collaborate on work too, making those pieces doubly unique.
The WARES store in St. Albert Place will feature works by members of the Floral Arts Society and the potters guild. The collaboration features Ikebana vessels (some of which are made by the potters) that are filled with floral arrangements (made by the floral artists, naturally). There will also be a hand-building demonstration by the potters' guild, a must-see event.
Also in St. Albert Place, the Musée Héritage Museum will feature a display by artists Jim Visser and Tom Yurko, while Judy Martin will be the feature artist in the Art Rental and Sales Gallery at the Art Gallery of St. Albert.
Many of the artists of these ArtWalk events will be in attendance at their respective locations.
Visit www.artwalkstalbert.com for more details.
The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital has a few galleries to offer its clients places for quiet reflection and inspire them to greater heights of recovery from illness and injury. Karen Blanchet is hoping to help out as much as she can with a new series of paintings that just went on display.
The exhibit called Invitations can now be viewed at the hospital's Blue Curve Gallery after being installed only yesterday.
The show is set to run until Oct. 31 with an opening reception – “more like a closing reception,” the artist noted) to be held on Oct. 22 from 1 to 3 p.m. The artist will be in attendance.
The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital is located at 10230 111 Ave. in Edmonton. Looking forward to meeting and greeting you!
