www.markpenneygallery.com

When We First Met by Nigel Brooks Peer
Photograph
Matted / Framed 25″ x 21″ .
$600

This is an image made by exposing overlapping negatives, the individual images intermix to create a new one.

Kevin Drews of the westcoaster.ca interviewed Ken Kirkby regarding his recent series of paintings and his plans for raising money for Salmon Enhancement.
the original article is published here

Painting A future for Vancouver Island’s Fish-Bearing Streams

Published Date: 2010/3/19 17:27:31
Article ID : 7653
Version 1.00

Ken Kirkby shows off some of the paintings he’ll sell to raise money for the Nile Creek Enhancement Society. (Keven Drews Photo)

By Keven Drews

UCLUELET — One of Canada’s most celebrated painters has big plans to save the salmonids of eastern Vancouver Island’s fish-bearing streams.

Ken Kirkby – who unveiled a model of a massive 48.33-metre by 3.66-metre painting called Isumataq in Parliament in 1992 – plans to raise millions of dollars for the Nile Creek Enhancement Society (NCES) by selling prints based on about 40 original paintings.

Some of those paintings, part of The Fish of the Nile Creek Series, depict the creek’s salmonids and their international cousins, and are currently on display in Ucluelet’s Mark Penney Gallery.

“You asked me, why is the passion for this,” said Kirkby during a recent interview with the Westcoaster.ca. “Oh, it comes out of anger, disappointment, mystery, negatives.

“When I was first here as an 18-year-old in 1958, the sea was full of fish, and the river was full of fish, and the sea was full of kelp and everything was in great shape.”

Kirkby said he ventured to Canada’s Arctic, and when he returned to eastern Vancouver Island after the trip, the kelp beds and the fish were gone, and he became angry.

“I’m not going to let my species do this bullshit anymore,” he said.
The Nile Creek is located on the central, east coast of Vancouver Island.

Kirkby’s plan is simple but ambitious.

He’ll use the money from the sale of the about 40 original paintings – he’s already completed 16 – to raise funds for the prints.

Some of those originals are currently selling for $4,000.
Corporations and organizations will then host charity events by cutting the NCES a cheque.

Patrons will buy tickets for the charity events, during which they’ll receive a print in a lottery.

“There’s a lottery aspect to the order in which you get to select your print,” added Penney. “You know you’re going to get a print, but it’s a matter of chance, which one you get to select.”

Kirkby said he hopes to raise $4 million: $2 million during the first phase and $4 million during the second phase.

The task shouldn’t raise any eyebrows because charity and fundraising events are nothing new to the NCES.

According to media reports, the society has already pumped millions of dollars into the Nile Creek.

And in 1997, the organization won a Canadian Environment Gold Medal Award from Canadian Geographic and the federal government.

Besides, Penney said, Kirkby’s original paintings are a natural draw.
Visitors to Ucluelet are enamored by the area, he said, and want to capture something from the Island to take home.

He called Kirkby a “titan in the art world.”

Kirkby said his paintings will remain on display in the Mark Penney Gallery.

He currently resides in Bowser, B.C., which is located north of Qualicum Beach.

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.

Teresa Knight’s recent work is full of atmosphere – she imbues what she sees with the emotions the scenes evoke within her. The softness of her style and the subtlety with which she uses colour help create this almost mystical experience. The viewer enters a new and special place outside of normal time where words are not necessary, but where experience is shared.

Teresa has been an artist for many years, and had a love for animals for as long. She got started in art when she and her sisters would pass rainy days at the cottage by drawing and painting, and Teresa continued in art.

She obtained her B.A. in Studio Arts and Bachelor of Education in Art from the University of British Columbia and now paints and teaches painting out of her Union Bay studio.

Teresa exhibits her work at local and West Coast venues. She hopes, eventually, to use her paintings to raise money to improve the lives of overlooked animals

Exhibitions

Teresa’s paintings are available at:

• Cedar Corner Art Gallery in Tofino BC www.cedarcornerartgallery.com
• Leaving Impressions Gallery in Qualicum Beach BC
• Mark Penney Gallery in Ucluelet BC www.markpenneygallery.com

Selected pieces are also available through Art Sales and Rentals at the Vancouver Art Gallery. www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/about_services2.cfm and some of Teresa’s work is available as limited edition prints from Casa Collection info@casacollection.ca

Teresa’s website is featured at the Agora Gallery website in New York www.agora-gallery.com

• 2009 – Winner, Honorable Mention, NAVS 20th International Art for Animals Classic.
• 2008, 2009 – Participating Artist, Local Colours, Courtenay BC
• 2008, 2009 – Originals Only, Comox BC.
• 2008 – Exhibiting Artist, Nautical Days, Comox BC.
• 2008 – Member Artist, Woodland Gardens Juried Show.
• 2008 – “Art that Barks” – group show, Heaventree Galllery, Vancouver BC.
• 2007 – “Here and There” solo exhibition at the Pearl Ellis Gallery, Comox BC
• 2007- “Animals in the Human Landscape”, with Anne Birthistle, at Heaventree Gallery, Vancouver BC.
• 2005 – Winner Best in Show, “Arts in Context: History and Sense of Place” juried exhibition, Muir Gallery, Courtenay BC.
• 2002 – Columbia Street Studio, Vancouver – solo art show “Cats in Heaven”.
• 1999 – Community Arts Council of Vancouver Group Show UnderEXPOSED Photo-based art works.
• 1996-98 – Deborah Worsfold Gallery – gallery artist.
• 1997, 1998 – A Walk Is…, Vancouver “Artists Make Home Good” group show.
• 1984 – Agnes Jamieson Gallery, Haliburton, Ontario – solo show “Portraits”.
• 1983 – Knight Gallery, Toronto, “Portraits”.