www.markpenneygallery.com

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.

Sweathearts Are Never Parted by Jeff Edwards
Grey Flecked Marble 16″x14″x6.5″
$3200

What is the true nature of love and who can define it?

To the lover or beloved, the mystery of communion between two hearts is a miracle to be experienced, not a puxxle to be solved. When one heart pulses its message of love to a receptive other, photons of light-energy are released, and a sacred pathway of communication is established. The bond thus forged is more powerful than any other force on the planet

In a world which too often substitutes cheap sentiment for the trials and joys of real love, only the lovers themselves have the power to transcend mundane concerns, and reach for the divine.

in this exquisite sculpture, Edwards captures the essence of two hearts that have opened to each other, allowing themselves to join in love, while retaining independent identities

text by Renee Romancia

Pacific Rim Arts Society, is having a local Artists showing. ‘Wave Art Show’ runs October 26-27-28 (in the Harbour Lounge) at Weigh West Resort, 634 Campbell St., Tofino.

More…

www.marlathirsk.com Marla’s new website
http://marlathirsk.blogspot.com/ Marla’s blog

I always enjoy it when artists drop by the gallery;
Marla Thirsk let me know she’d revamped her online presence recently.

An updated website and an ongoing blog showcase her most recent and very exciting series of ‘beauties’ styled after 1940s and ’50s era post cards and old photos.

There’s a lot of self exploration in these pieces and a fresh approach to portraiture for Marla. Her experiences with fabrics, sculpture and multimedia have directly impacted her painting. Each painting observes and details patterns and textures, the way memories are built with each detail recorded with individual importance.

I hope to show some of these new series pieces in the gallery, here’s a sneak peek;

Patterns of the World, 2008, Oil on canvas 48”x36” (122cm x 91cm) by Rob Elphinstone.

Nanaimo Artist, Rob Elphinstone, Contributes to International Peace Art Exhibition at Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul, Turkey

“The Worldwide Artists for Peace International Art Action Project” was created in February 2008 as an artist initiative.

İSTANBUL, a city connecting two old continents with its wide cultural mosaics, has been chosen as the first art action exhibition location. 67 Artists from 26 countries will take part in the first Art Action for Peace, involving 7 visual art disciplines; painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, digital and performance.

Two Canadian artists will participate: Rob Elphinstone from Nanaimo and Gerard Kelly from Corner Brook, Ontario. The exhibition, consisting of visual fine arts exhibitions, video and performance, runs at three locations in Istanbul; Dolmabahçe Art Gallery, House of Photography, Istanbul Photography Center.
It begins on September 26 and runs to October 15, 2009.

For further information contact: http://afp-iaa.co.nr
Or by email: artactionistanbul@gmail.com

Details of the program can be found below and questions can be directed to:
Rob Elphinstone Phone 250-758-6344
email : robelphinstone@shaw.ca

More…

Painted Horse – Jeff Edwards

13″ x 16″ x 6″ Aggregate Marble
$3600

An amazing piece of marble, ribbons of color lace through it, this is BC stone at it’s best. Jeff’s emotive depiction is quite effective at conveying the timeless beauty of the horse.

Jeff Edwards – Goddess
Marble (locally quarried  stone)

Approximately 14″ x 12″ x 8.5″
$1600

Jeff is a local fixture in Ucluelet, and quite literally a household name. It rare that a sculptor meets with this level of regional recognition.

Although he’s best known for amazing wildlife portrayals, we’ve asked him specifically for anything that’s ‘not a bear or a whale‘. It’s not that I don’t love his wildlife, it’s just that he’s had long standing relationships with a number of galleries in the area and I feel strongly that we don’t want to take anything away from them.
I’m not at all surprised by Jeff’s other forms, they show the other side of him; a sensitive, sophisticated, thoughtful artist … and besides, they’re gorgeous.

Sea Spiral by Jeff Edwards
Marble Sculpture
Approximately 11″ x 11″ x 8″
$1800

The spiral is one of the most mysteriously beutiful shapes in the universe, and it is also one of the most commen. From spiral galaxies to ocean waves to the structure of DNA, nature uses the spiral to succinctly encode complex information into meaningful relationship.

In the flowing lines of this small, elegant sculpture, Edwards captures nature’s spiral at the moment of its origin. Is it coincidence that we humans find this shape so beautiful?

text by Renee Romancia

It’s no secret that this particular piece is one of my favorites. It’s quite thin, and well registered, but it’s the outer oxidized and sun bleached edge of the boulder that Jeff has used so purposely to accentuate the shape of this sea spiral that is so impressive. Jeff is a crab fisherman and his connection and love for the ocean is quite apparent in his marine mammal sculptures, but this form is more stylised, perhaps more refined than the naturalist pieces.

Living in the Tofino , Ucluelet area, represented by Mark Penney Gallery in Ucluelet Nigel brooks Peer has recently been recognized by National Geographic.

www.nigelbrookspeer.com nigelbrookspeer@gmail.com

Throughout my life, I’ve been a free thinker and traveller, who passionately expresses through mixed media arts. I’ve explored the world for years, getting in touch with how rich and poor people live all over the world.

My travel and experiences inspire me to make art that gets people thinking about the conventions we live in, our past, our culture and our part in it.

Born April 27, 1972 in Vancouver, B.C. Took very fist picture with a disposable black and white camera when i was 6 in the redwood forest in California . I was very close to my grandfather, we share the same birthday. After he died, I picked up his camera and started using it taking photos.

Growing up in Surrey, I witnessed racial violence and saw farmland and forest change into suburban sprawl. This opened my eyes at a young age to how different cultures collide and grow together.

My whole understanding of the planet and where we are today is reflected in my art. Seeing and experiencing all different cultures through travel allowed me to understand the global picture, and how we affect the planet and each other.

After high school I went to South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore and got my first taste of world travel. I returned home to attend college studying history and philosophy, then art through sculpture and ceramics. After graduating, I continued my travels through eastern Mediterranean and Africa visiting historical sites in Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Italy.

Inspired to play with art further I attended Emily Carr focusing on ceramics sculpture . In my work I explored the juxtaposition between earth and gravity. I also experimented with crystalline glazes on ceramics . Leaded to photography for easier dialog for everyday people to challenge our understanding of international culture , modern society , and our environment .

I traveled again in Europe seeking new expression for myself. I got involved in photo documenting what was going on in countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary. I was developing my eye and becoming more of a photographer. I shot rolls and rolls of film because it felt like the right thing to do. I didn’t understand what I was doing until years later when I used these images in my current work. International Social commentary …

In the middle of art school I continued my world travels through all the major continents, doing documentary photography in India, Cambodia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Peru, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and such far off places such as Papua New Guinea, Tibet and Rapa Nui. Landing in morocco on September  11 , 2001 .

Traveling all over western Canada , exploring or culture , from the oil patch , to organic farms . Lived in work camps in the frozen north , now in small resort town Tofino .

Feeling that I have a voice that needs to be heard, I’m now fully involved in creating art though digital photography looking at the reflections we all need in our time . Recently recognized by National Geographic . Readdressing old work and digital remastering and printing with contemporary giclee print technology. I’m also getting involved in meditation, following a spiritual existence that I’ve always felt. Energetic Elemental Zen …

*Education

1998 – 2003  Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, Vancouver, B.C.

1992 – 1996  Kwantlen University College, Surrey, B.C.

Marla Thirsk – Acorn
24″tall, Wire Framed Soft Sculpture / Art Doll
Sold (private collection)

This Marla Thirsk Art Doll is a original handcrafted creation. Each Art doll is unique; a one of a kind creation, fabricated without a pattern and made with special attention paid to details. Each doll requires 75 – 100 hrs to create. The ART Dolls were show recently at Blackrock resort and received a great deal of attention.

Acorn, admittedly, she's sooo cute ~ but these are soft sculpture, not toys.

Marla Thirsk Art Doll, Acorn - Aproximately 24" tall

Charles Churchill Villiers was born in New York in 1951, son of the noted inventor Amherst Villiers.

His father, who had designed the Blower Bentley in the 1920’s, was past President of the American Rocket Society, helped develop Sir Malcolm Campbell’s “Campbell-Napier Blue Bird’, and was also himself a portrait painter of significance.

Charles from an early age showed astonishing creativity. Though gifted with an aristocratic legacy (he is Winston Churchill’s Godson, and his family tree stretches back directly to William the Conqueror) Charles was never one to rest on his laurels. He grew up in London, New York, California and occasionally stayed for long periods with his aunt, Veronica Milner here on Vancouver Island, who was host to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and other Royal visitors to their Qualicum Beach estate.

When just ten years of age Charles was asked by Ian Fleming, a friend of his father, to draw a picture of a car. The prototype of this drawing was then used to illustrate a book that Fleming was working on, “Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang”.

Fleming later acquired a Blower Bentley, which at age eleven, Charles restored and five years later won the “Concourse D’Elegance Award’ at Pebble Beach in California.

Charles has expressed himself in the world of art from many directions. During the 60’s and 70’s he was a musician and songwriter with such bands as ‘Villiers & Gold’, with Andrew Gold, “Homeward” with Steve Bishop and acted in films, one of which, John Landis “Schlock” won the Trieste Sci-Fi Festival Ward.

However his painting has always been the main venue of his creativity and he has during the past forty years produced an impressive body of work. His work has evolved from the classical, to abstract to the non-objective and in recent years into digital media which have led to a stunning selection of prints.

He has had at least thirty-five major solo exhibitions and has executed numerous commissions worldwide. His work is included in a number of Museums and in the collections of many prestigious and notable collectors.

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Solo Exhibitions:

2006 Control Drama, Downey Museum of Art, Archival Ink Jet Prints, Downey, CA
2001 Young Man on his way to the Spirit World, Virtual Air Gallery, Cyberspace
1995 Soul Trap, Sculptures, Sullivan – Goss, “An American Gallery” Santa Barbara, CA
1995 Paintings from London, Abante Fine Art, Portland, Oregon
1993 From the Artist Collection, Spago, Cesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, NV
1991 New Paintings, GH2 Gallery, West Los Angeles, CA
1989 Large Scale Paintings & Sculpture, Natoli – Ross Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1988 The Metal Primate Variables, Future Perfect, Los Angeles, CA
1988 A Tale of Three Cities, Diane Nelson Gallery, Orange County, CA
1986 New Bronzes & Paintings, Chiat – Day Corporation, New York, NY
1985 The Procreation Paintings, Gallery West, Los Angeles, CA
1985 Selected Works, & Installations, Scratch, Venice, CA
1984 Twin Self, Art Space, Los Angeles CA
1984 New Work, Drawing, Paintings and Sculptures Gallery West, Los Angeles, CA
1983 Chop Wood, Metro Gallery, In conjunction with The China Club, Hollywood, CA
1983 Auras, Gallery West, Los Angeles, CA
1983 New Paintings, Kirk De Gooyer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1982 In a Moment of Time, Lawrence Silver Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1982 New Work as an Installation, Arco Center, Los Angeles, CA
1978 Etching & Drawings from Spain, John Greenburg Gallery, London, England
1977 Osiris, Richard Mann Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1972 Drawings & Woodblocks, Gallery Palma, Majorca, Spain
1970 Charles Villiers – Installation, Hans Morris Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

Group Exhibitions:

Group Exhibition, Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA
The Arbutus Project, Ink Jet Prints & Video Insulation
Downey Museum of Art, featured artist Art International, Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA
Two – Person Show, The James Grey Gallery. Charles Villiers & Craig French Santa Monica, CA
Regional Artists, Group Exhibition, Gallery 22, Nanaimo BC, Canada
From out of nowhere The Thinking Space, Hoxton Square, London, England
Gallery Artists, Abante Fine Art, Portland, Oregon
The Native American, Sponsored by, Black Elk Speaks, Los Angeles, CA
The Final Exhibits – Part II. Art Space, Los Angeles, CA
City of Angles, GH2 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Animal Rights, Studio Leonardo Gavinci Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Group show, Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
The First Show, Modern Multiples, curator, Richard Duardo Los Angeles, CA
Best of the 1980’s Laguna Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
A Continuing Study in Multiples, Transamerica Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
1988 Gallery Artists, Diane Nelson Gallery, Orange, CA
L.A. Arts, Leonardo Gavinci Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Creative Existentialism, Blue Note Experimental Group Exhibition, Chicago, Illinois
Artist from the Center of the Universe, Natoli – Ross Gallery, Santa Monica,
1984 New Mannerism, Davies, Long Gallery, Los Angeles CA
Gallery Artists, Davies & Brown, Los Angeles, CA
Car and Culture, Museum of Contempory Art, Los Angeles CA
Olympic Arts Festival, curator, Richard Koshalek, Los Angeles, CA
Studio Show, Robert Miles Runyan, Los Angeles, CA
Car Plays, Mark Taper Forum, curator, Julie Lazar, LosAngeles, CA
Light and Dimension, curator, Ruth Bachofner, Gensler & Associates.
Metro Rail, in association with L.A.V.A. Los Angeles, CA
Art and the Familiar Object, Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Twentieth Century Sculpture, The Jones Gallery, Huntington Beach, CA
Tubular Art, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
1983 Predictions, Metro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Urban Suite, Monoprint Portfolio, Angeles Press, Metro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Thought Forms, Metro Gallery, Los Angeles, Spring Wave, curator, Barbara Lazaroff, Spago,
Art and Soul, Stella Polaris Gallery, Carl G. Jung Institute Benefit
Summer Show New West Gallery, Tucson, Arizon
Monoprints from Angeles Press, curator, Bruce Richards; Art Space Los Angeles, CA
Emerging Artists, Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Images and Issues, curator, Sandy Ballatore -Nelson,Santa Monica, CA
1982 Similar Views, Yaacov Agam, Eugene Jardin, Charles Villiers
Gallery Artists, Gallery West, Los Angeles, CA
Kirk De Gooyer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Cedars Sinai, curator, Marcia Weisman, Los Angeles, CA
Video installation, At Sunset, curator, Jim Budman, Hollywood.CA
Sex at Exile, Exile Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Lawrence Silver Gallery, Los Angeles. Metro Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Kirk De Gooyer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1981 The Triptych Show, curator, David J Rubin, Claremont Graduate School,
Figuration / Abstraction, Gallery Kirsten Riche, Hamburg, Germany
1980 Shinno Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1978 Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London, England
Celebrity Show, Sotherby Park Bernet, London, England
Layton Gallery, London, England
Gimpel Fils Ltd., London, England
1974 Shinno Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
American Painters in Paris, C.I. P., Paris, France
Galley Artists, Gallery Palma, Majorca, Spain

Select Commissions:

2007 Museum of Contemporary Art & Culture / New Museum, Project / Downey
2007 180 Music “Saudade” Stephen Bishop CD Cover & Booklet Minneapolis, Minnesota
2003 Unit 29 Video Projects, Direction & Production, BC, Canada
2000 Digital Ink The Black Totem, Cyber Entanglements, BC, Canada
1997 J. Colin, “Faith” Fourteen Large Scale Sculptures, Montecito, CA
1997 Spago, Wolfgang Puck – Barbara Lazaroff, Nude Woman With Crown & Goat, Large Scale Painted Insulation, Hollywood, CA
1991 Mondrian Hotel, Arnold Ashkenazi “The Light House” Large Scale Painting, Los Angeles, CA
1988 Modern Multiples, The Metal Primate Variables
1987 The Carriage House, Jay Chiat – Bronze Commission for Interior, NY. N.Y. Jay Chiat, Robert Miles Runyan, Cast from Eden – Bronzes,
1986 Scratch Restaurant, Sculptural Entrance & Building Exterior,Venice, CA
MOCA, in conjunction with. Mark Taper Forum, Car & Culture, The Thirty-Foot Spinning, Triptych
1983 The Laurence Gregar Group, The Urban Suite, Mono-Print Portfolio, Los Angeles, Ca
1970 Motion Graphics, – John Whitney Sr. “Binary Bit Patterns,” Computer Animated Short Film – Musical Direction & Composition, Pacific Palisades, CA
1960 Ian Fleming, Initial Drawings for “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang,” London, England

Jeff Edwards is a sculptor who lives and works in Ucluelet on Vancouver Island’s west coast. He is a native of B.C. with roots tracing back to Europe. He is also a commercial fisherman from a long line of fisherman on his father’s side stretching to Nfld. Many of his sculptures reflect his ocean environment and the wild area where he grew up.

Jeff began sculpting in native species of wood. He was inspired to start sculpting in marble by the beauty of the local Clayoquot Sound marble deposits.

Each sculpture starts with Jeff trekking around the mountainside to find a stream run boulder to suit the subject and bringing it back to his studio. No piece is ever identical in colour or pattern for this reason. He finishes each sculpture  to perfection and hand polishes to a natural hard lustre.
About his work:
“My subjects are often inspired by my background, but their poses may catch me by surprise, suddenly appearing, perhaps echoing my own inner state at the time. Sometimes they work their way out of the stone, changing as I go. They are seldom meticulously sketched, modeled, or blueprinted in advance. I feel my better sculptures just pop up, which of course they didn’t.”
“I enjoy the physical work with the marble, revealing its colours, watching the subject come alive under the diamond blade. Usually the finished piece falls short of the original vision so I go on to another although in someone else’ eyes I may have succeeded. I enjoy the process of juggling and combining the elements of balance and rhythm, colour, line and curve into the finished sculpture. There is a real pleasure in the craftsmanship”.
“The real quest however, is to capture that original emotion in the stone so that I can look at the finished sculpture and say ,”yes that’s what I wanted to express.”

Posts tagged Jeff Edwards

We support our local art scene, so this year Mark Penney Gallery participated in Pacific Rim Art Society’s Random Acts of Art week. 1st we chalked up the parking lot at Whiskey Landing with a fish mural, a bit of a nod toward the aquarium, and our local fishermen.
Then at, Elgin’s suggestion, we made a sculpture out of found objects (garbage) at the south end of Florencia Bay. The sculpture and chalk drawings appeared on the P.R.A.S. website and in their online photo album.