www.markpenneygallery.com

www.canadarides.ca
Joan Larson has launched a new website featuring her RCMP musical Ride Series of Illustrations. The pastel illustrations are amazing, and like the illustrations themselves, the new website is nearly complete.

I’ve watched people reach out to touch the horses and applaud as the men and women of the Ride paraded before them. I have seen and felt the special sense of what it is to be Canadian when I watch the Musical Ride. These horses and riders are uniquely Canadian and it was my goal and passion to produce a series of paintings that celebrate their pageantry and Canadian Heritage

~ Joan Larson

Kunamokst – Coastal Inspirations Mural Mosaic Unveiling

Coast and Trees 12″x12″ Oils, plate 81 of Coastal Inspirations Mural Mosaic by Rob Elphinstone

For the last year and a half over 200 of some of Canada’s finest artists from along the west coast have collaborated to create a stunning 12 foot x 21 foot mural. The mural has been invited to be officially unveiled as part of the 2010 Winter Games. It is comprised of 231, 12 inch x 12 inch original paintings that when all the images are combined together a united image comes to life. There are no digital effects and the artists did not know each other or know what the united final image would be. It is a mural about unity through diversity – a great symbol of the Olympic ideals through art.

Kunamokst – Coastal Inspirations Mural Mosaic combines artists as young as 16 years old to artists as old as 91. Nanaimo artist, Rob Elphinstone, has contributed a piece entitled “Coast and Trees”. There are first nations artists, world renowned artists, French Canadian artists and artists from various regions along the coast. World renowned first nations artists like Roy Henry Vickers and April White contributed to the mural. As did Iconic Canadian artist Robert Bateman. Many other of the 200 artists, have been featured on the world stage as well. Special guests artists include California world renowned whale muralist WYLAND and California muralist Judy Baca.

Mural Links-
www.muralmosaic.com/kunamokst.html

Winter Games web page
westvancouver.ca coverage of the mural

Kunamokst – Coastal Inspirations Mural Mosaic

Mural Unveiling Saturday, February 13th, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
West Vancouver Spirit Square – an official 2010 Celebration Site
West Vancouver Community Centre (Art Studio), 2121 Marine Drive, West Vancouver.
On Display from February 13th – February 28, 2010
10 AM – 5PM Daily, until 9PM Friday and Saturday.

Congratulations to all Island Artists who participated, among them: Rob Elphinstone, Elissa Anthony, Roy Henry Vickers, Gordon Henschel, Mark Hobson, Rohanna Laing, Peter Lawson, Martin Machacek, Christina Munck. What a great project

For 10 days during Whale Festival, March 6th – 16th, we’ll be exhibiting a group show consisting of 6 artists with special ties to Mark Penney Gallery.

Welcome the Whales, as they migrate past Ucluelet and join us for an Art Exhibition at Whiskey Landing featuring some of the area’s finest artists…

Inspired by history and the Art of Vancouver Island, this exhibit showcases Fish, Ships and Lost Art Treasures; the fish of Nile Creek – realist paintings by Ken Kirkby, a lost print series by Charles Churchill Villiers, the actualist paintings of Rob Elphinstone, a preview of Joan Larson’s Musical Ride Series, an exciting portrait series by Ucluelet’s Marla Thirsk. Whales, fish, and scenery by Bruce Muir, and more…

Three Fishers, Hoping by Ken Kirkby
40″x60″ Oils on canvas, c1980
$8000

Two Fishers, One Fish by Ken Kirkby
40″x60″ Oils on canvas. c1980
$8000

Dusk at Amphitrite Point by Teresa Knight
16.75″x15.75″ Acrylic on board, framed.
$400

The view from the Lighthouse at Amphitrite Point, Ucluelet looking south-west. The lighthouse loop af the Wild Pacific Trail, is one of the most remarkable spots on the entire west coast of Vancouver Island. Aside from the immediate beauty of the Peninsula itself; George Fraser and Crow Island, Jenny Reef. The views peek into the Broken Group Islands in Barkley Sound. On clear days you can see the mountain peaks of the Olympic Mountain Range, but one of the best parts is as pictured here… the stark contrast of the Open Pacific.

the Wild Pacific Trail by Teresa Knight
16.5″ x 23″ Acrylic on board, framed.
$600

Sunset on the trail is one of the highlights of a trip to Ucluelet. The pacific has a tendency to flatten out at dusk and even then, when the water is glossy smooth the odd set rolls in and breaks much bigger than the rest.

Sandy Tidal Pool by Bruce Muir
16″x20″ oils on canvas, framed.
$1800

A stunning portrait of Vancouver Island, there are thousands of tranquil little spots along the coastline, just like this. Star fish of many colors and varieties abound in the calm inshore waters of Barkley Sound. Masterfully painted, with many layers of glazing to build up the misty atmosphere depicted so well in this painting.

Harvest of Herring by Bruce Muir
20″x30″ oils on canvas, framed.
$2900

Hard at work in the herring skiff, these fishermen are a stark contrast to the rainy coastline. While the highlight of color draws our attention to life aboard the fishing vessel, we’re made conscious of the bounty of life shining as it comes aboard the skiff. The seine boat is beautifully rendered and I’m stunned by how beautiful the scene is.

Cubist Photo-Realism and by Nigel Brooks Peer
20″x30″ Giclee on Canvas.
$500

This image is one singular image, it’s a straight photo, un-manipulated.
It expresses Nigel’s fascination with reflections and contains within it the essence of what he strives to create in his artwork. Layers of reflections, in a perspective encapsulating the many facets of an individual experience.

Nigel Brooks Peer describes this as Cubist Photo-Realism; Cubism depicts object from multiple perspectives creating an image with greater context, showing impossibly more than you could experience at once. Photo Realism usually references the adaptation of pseudo-photographic detail in art, attention to details especially reflections, highlights, lens flares and distortions … art has been long been influenced by photography and photography has reciprocated by truly becoming art.

Terracotta Warriors and Stonehenge by Nigel Brooks Peer
20″x30″ Giclee on Canvas.
$500

This image is comprised of 2 source images; one of Stonehenge ( Wiltshire, England ) and one of the Terracotta Warrior statues ( Xian, Shaanxi Province, China ). Nigel is extensively well traveled, and he develops his art from hand exposed overlapping negatives, in the darkroom. The resulting composition is digitized and prepared for contemporary print output. These prints are unparalleled in print quality and longevity, 200 year certified archival canvas with a water-resistant acrylic laminate applied. It seems somehow appropriate to strive for a long lasting image of these ancient symbols of humanity.

Transforming the World Mind by Jeff Edwards
Marble Sculpture
13″ x 10″ x 8″
sold (private collection)

This wonderful sculpture depicts a female africanized head and salamander … and these are some of the oldest symbols known to mankind.

Perhaps the most profound meanings of the salamander stem from observation in nature. The symbolism often deals with transformation, intuition and motion. Salamanders are symbolic of spirituality, emotion, shadows, secrets, dreams, intuition, camouflage and even psychic abilities.

The salamander comes to those who are in need of change in their lives. The salamander is an evolutionary feat to observe, and as such, it asks us to evolve in our own lives.

Jeff quarried the stone himself, as he frequently does from favored local marble deposits. Several pieces of sculpture came from this same piece of stone, although there is a remarkable color difference between the three I’ve seen.

Hurricane Amanda by Charles Churchill Villiers
36″x36″ Oils on Canvas
$9500

One of small series of non-objective modern abstract paintings by Charles Villiers, each was named for a love in his life in the way that storms are named.

This particular piece really caught my attention, I like the square format and the custom metal floater framing. It’s an old-school modern abstract, heavy impasto oils on Egyptian canvas. Each in the series had varying scale, shape and framing details. It’s quite difficult to create a painting this way and I admire how almost sculptural it is.

Path to Unknown by Richard Hoedl
36″x48″ Oils on Canvas
$5425
This painting depicts the path to Florencia Bay, on the day Richard sketched it out; I wanted to photograph the beaches distinct rocks at the base of the bluffs. The other artists in the group were fast to climb down the sandy bank to the beach, but Richard remained behind awhile to take in the trail and of course to consider the trees along the way.

Raven, Cayote’s World by Terry Jackson
Slip-Cast Porcelain Vessel 7.5″x4.75.5″x7.5″
$130

Raven and Coyote are both important characters in many Indian stories, as they symbolize the creative intelligence bestowed on us by the Creator.
I watch them almost every day and see them use their minds and instincts to not only survive but to create their own games just for fun.One of the attributes of this trickster mentality, however, is the propensity to sometimes be a little too smart for their own good.

-Terry Jackson

They’re collectible, and highly regarded as gift items. Each piece comes in it’s own form fitted, satin lined box.Raven

Breath by Terry Jackson
Slip-Cast Porcelain Vessel 6.5″x3″x9″
$99

This intriguing shape, carved with alternating geometric and curvilinear designs, relates to the basic fact of life – our breath, moving inward and utward, as depicted by the spiral design. Each of us must consume air and expel it to live, in an ongoing exchange with nature that is fundamental and absolute. When this starts and where it ends is a question only the Creator can answer. It is said that we must die to live.

-Terry Jackson

They’re collectible, and highly regarded as gift items. Each piece comes in it’s own form fitted, satin lined box.

www.pacificrimwhalefestival.com
24th Annual Pacific Rim Whale Festival – March 6th-14th, 2010

The Whale Fest posters have started to appear … with great anticipation. This year
Angie Roussin ( of Pina ) is the featured poster artist. She grew up in a commercial fishing family and has opened her shop here in Ucluelet, having spent some fishing seasons here. I like her graphic inked design work, it’s playful, very finely rendered and I think quite a strong contemporary look. I’m also fond of her paintings.

Last year Shannon McWhinney, a long time local Art teacher designed the poster in a pencil crayon illustration.

Fish of Nile Creek Series by Ken Kirkby
24″x48″ Oils on canvas
$4000 each

Ken has been hard at work painting many of the fish represented in the Nile Creek, his goal is to share with you the wonderful diversity of fish, and just how beautiful they really are. These paintings as well as prints will serve to promote this awareness and to support the stream restoration work of the Nile Creek Salmon Enhancement Society.

Congratulations Bobby and Jill, who got themselves married on New Years Eve.

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