From the Mountains to the Sea will rock your view of local art
By David F. Rooney
Run — do not walk — to the Visual Arts Centre this evening to see what could well be the best art exhibition it has ever held.
From the Mountains to the Sea will rock your view of local art. This multi-media show has unbelievable paintings, photography and ceramics by some of the brightest and most creative artists in Revelstoke: Sandra Flood, Tina Lindegaard, Nicola McGarry, Cherie Van Overbeke, Gwen Lips, Sue Davies, Shannon Robinson, Kip Wiley, Lyle Grisedale, Cecilia Lea, Rachel Kelly and Jackie Pendergast.
The works on display are the result of two trips this summer — one to the Pacific Rim of Vancouver Island by Lindegaard, Lips, Van Overbeke, Pendergast, Wiley and McGarry and the other by Lea, Davies, Flood, Grisedale, Kelly and Robinson to Parks Canada’s Fidelity Snow Research Station in Glacier National Park. The works have, for the most part, all been reproduced in a gorgeous catalogue that is being offered for sale at the show by the Friends of Mount Revelstoke and Glacier. It’s definitely worth picking up.
The exhibitions mounted by The Centre just keep getting better and better and this one truly raises the bar for local artists. You really do have to see it to believe how good these artists are.
From the Mountains to the Sea opens at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre at 320 Wilson Street starting at 6 p.m. tonight, Friday Oct. 2.
Run — do not walk — to see it. You will not regret it.
Also on offer at The Centre is an exhibition of works by popular watercolourist Pat Anderson. This one-woman show is entitled Seeing Red and beautifully captures a variety of landscapes, objects and images that interested this deeply talented and productive painter. This particular show is ensconced in the Sophie Atkinson Gallery at The Centre and will enchant every one who enjoys expert water colour painting. Don’t miss it.
Here is a very small sampling of the images on offer:
Cherie Van Overbeke says she was "captivated by the view of the ocean from one of our hikes. The fog was just off in the distance and the trees against it looked amazing. I have tried to capture that in this piece." Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreThe mountain sunset in Cecilia Lea's oil painting glows with light. Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreGwen Lips' paintings in the show explore the trees that make our forests. Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreAlthough hampered by a broken foot, Jacqueline Pendergast still managed to produce some remarkable work for the show. Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentrePhotographer Kip Wiley had this to say about this particular image: "One item at the top of my shot list was 'transition light.' This occurs fairly quickly when the warmth of the sun begins to dissipate the fog. I selected this image for the show because for me there’s something about the mood of the light that says 'West Coast.' Image courtesy of Kip WileyFor photographer Lyle Grisedale the trip to Glacier National Park was a return to the past. "Hiking was really good, the alpine flowers were in prime bloom. The horseflies and mosquitoes were also exactly as I remembered, blood-thirsty and ferocious. The images I have submitted represent my interest in alpine wildflowers and their relationship to their mountain environment, the rocks, the meadows, the tarns and the sky and sun. Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreNicola McGarry's vibrant work excites the senses. Look for her work on special hand-made papers. Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreThe trip to Glacier National Park provided Rachel Kelly with an opportunity. "I'm an artist by nature, not a mountain goat so the places we hiked are places I don't usually get to. It also gave me a chance to try some new techniques and get out of my current style." Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreA potter and experienced artist in several media, Sandra Flood saw the trip as a chance to produce "work (that) begins to explore some of the things I saw. I experiment with the physical and tensile properties of clay and manipulate glazes to produce not imitation rocks but the feelings and visual references that they evoked." Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreShannon Robinson's highly distinctive work in pen and ink will rivet the viewer. "It was interesting to see how we were influenced and inspired by each other, yet it was also very clear how different every one's styles were. For my pieces I was looking to explore taking common themes like flowers, mountains, and trees, and transforming their boldness, their shapes, their details. Some is added, some is removed, but I wanted the subject matter to remain recognizable, even though it's obviously abstracted." Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreAn accomplished landscape artist, Sue Davies' work for this exhibition is near-photographic in its execution and employs rich colours and tones. Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentreWith several works on canvas and paper, Tina Lindegard found the trip to the Pacific Rim to be very productive. "In choosing the Pacific Rim as our destination, the idea was to get a feel for a completely different environment and see what we would come up with creatively." Image courtesy of the Revelstoke Visual Arts CentrePat Anderson's mastery of water colour techniques is very apparent in The Maple Leaf Forever. Her falling autumn leaves are so exquisitely rendered and so graceful they appear frozen in time and space. Image courtesy of Pat Anderson
