The two exhibitions opening on Friday, July 8, by local artists are highly entertaining and visually arresting.
The first, entitled Four Times Four makes Sixteen, is the brainchild of Jackie Pendergast, executive director of the Visual Arts Centre which is home to the gallery. Jackie got the idea from an exhibition of work last year by a group of artists from Salmon Arm known as Lazuline. The artists had all used one image and then interpreted it in their individual styles.
“I thought this was a great idea, and started thinking about how I could use it as a basis for an exhibition,” Jackie said in a statement. “First I got four local photographers, Agathe Bernard, Rob Buchanan, Keri Knapp and Krista Stovel, to select one image from their extensive portfolios. I then challenged sixteen artists to interpret one of the images in any medium of their choice.”
The exhibition will display the four inspirational photographs and the works that were inspired by them. You can see two of the original photographs as well as a couple of the interpretations they inspired.
The second show is called Roots, Stumped, Growth: Fierce Art Project. It began with artist Jo Willems and a course she taught at the Visual Arts Centre entitled, Art of Visual Expression. A dedicated group of students emerged and bonded with Willems over those first seven classes. It grew from there, with the students committing to nine more classes with Willems leading the way. As momentum continued to build, the group set a new goal: The writing of a CKCA grant in order to allow them to create enough exhibition quality work to have an exhibit. This became the final step in the creation of the Fierce Art Project.
The exhibition, Roots, Stumped, Growth, represents the determination, dedication, and personal artistic excellence of this group. The title reflects the qualities the group shares. Roots describes the foundation the group shares to find perfection in creative expression. Stumped, was selected by the group to represent the challenges each member was presented with. And lastly, Growth, is what the group is truly about: Positive critique, the challenge of trying something new, helping one another to find solutions, and working together to achieve more than they thought possible.
These two exhibition will open with a reception on Friday, July 8, from 6 pm until 9 pm. This exhibition will run July 8 – September 2. Here are a few images from the show that that we ho0e you’ll appreciate:
