I know and respect each of the artists represented in the gallery, some I have worked with for many years, others have come to know me recently, through the gallery. I try not to limit the works to any specific genre, scale or medium despite my own personal biases.
It’s an absolute pleasure to admire, display, reproduce, sell artwork that I’m genuinely enthusiastic about.
Many visitors are amazed to learn how many artists are from Vancouver Island or who travel here to paint, study, vacation and sometimes to disappear for a while.
Charles Villiers seldom offers explanation of his work. He prefers to remain a bit of a mystery, leaving the viewer to form their own opinions of his art. Prolific painter, sculptor and more recently digital media artist, he’s made a transition that many artists struggle with; the process of making your art in different mediums without loosing your style. Somehow even highly technical compositions retain a bit of the innocence of his earlier figurative and nonobjective works. It’s not unlike the way you can still sometimes see the boy within a man.
Ken Kirkby is renowned at an internal level as a decisive canadian painter, he has a distinct graphic style formed by many bush miles. His paintings depict a minimal stillness not unlike other noted canadian realists. He’s a very passionate man who has a dedication to making an impact as an artist that goes well beyond painting.
Rob Elphinstone is a physicist whose area of expertise is the study of the northern lights. I find it fascinating that his work to quantify something ethereal is also reflected in his art, he’s an actualist painter and his paintings depict his experience, not technically what he saw.
Marla Thirsk – is known as Ucluelet’s artist, and I’d have to say she’s so much more. Almost every art event, function, group in the area has benefited directly from Marla’s help. The Whale Festival posters have been a calling card of hers for years. I’m pleased to have several exciting work of hers.
Jeff Edwards – a well known sculptor, and a well liked crab fisherman. Jeff chooses his stone from local area quarries, his works are highly prized. His enchanting bears, and marine mammals are well liked and collected, I’m happy to be showing several of Jeff’s figures, and shapes.
Joan Larson – renowned for her equine (horse) Illustrations, she works almost exclusively in pastels. We’re very pleased to showcase several of her local landscapes, and look forward her RCMP Musical Ride Series.
Peggy Burkosky – Known as a advanced watercolorist, Peggy is an capable painter in any medium. Her paintings have a sincerity about them, a true reflection of her island life. Sea scape scenes often include her daughter, family, or Bob’s fish boat, they are stunning paintings and portraiture. She teaches her secrets at the Old School House in Parksville.
Richard Hoedl – An accomplished painter, his bright whimsical style catches alot of attention. Richard paints in a walnut based oil on deep streched canvas.
Terry Jackson is a Metis artist working in carved wood, silver and cast porcelain. His contemporary use of materials lends a refreshingly clean look to his culturally based works. The porcelain is highly collectible, and the silver reflects an intrinsic value. Terry’s woodwork ranges from masks and wall panels to commissioned totem poles.
Jacqueline Windh, a Tofino based photographer, is well known for captivating seascapes and wildlife. Her work is frequently published and she regularly contributes to CBC Radio.
Nigel Brooks Peer is an art photographer of a different kind, he’s well travelled has worked in several genres, and is fascinated with reflections. He’s formed a style of his own in multiple image exposures, juxtaposing images, often on first blush they’re seemingly unrelated subjects, but subtle cultural refrences emerge to poke at your conceptions of art and photography.
Ucluelet, about fifty miles from Port Alberni, is on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, at the westerly entrance of Barclay Sound. it is not a new settlement by any means. In 1899, there were about fifteen whites and two hundred Indians living there.
