Three women artists with quite different kinds of art make for an engaging trio of exhibitions showing until March 8 at Gibsons Public Art Gallery.
On the walls of the gallery’s main section are paintings by Gibsons native Marlene Lowden. Known for her large abstracts, these also are abstract oils, but specifically are part of Lowden’s Blind Contour Homage to Canadian women artists. Half of the 32 works in the series are here, the other half are hanging in a simultaneous exhibit at Place des Arts in Coquitlam until March 12.
Using blind contour, an artist locks on visually to an image and slowly copies its contours without looking down at their drawing-hand for reference. It’s a technique that bypasses the busy, analytical left side of the brain in favour of the non-judgmental right hemisphere.
In an interview at the Feb. 15 opening reception, Lowden said she was trying blind contour as an exercise about three years ago using a work by American painter Georgia O’Keeffe. Lowden said it later occurred to her that she could try the same thing with Canadian women artists. “I was embarrassed to admit I could only name about three. So, I started diving into studying other work.”
Lowden was intent on representing every region of the country, and would discover some great creators, including Indigenous artists, who had largely gone unnoticed. “It’s been such a rich experience. These women are incredible,” she said.
Each piece in her show comes with a short biography of the honoured artist and a small image of the original painting. Lowden stressed these works are homages, not meticulous recreations, and use both blind contour and other techniques. “I didn’t want to just copy the original,” she said. Lowden has also created a website specifically for the series, herartstory.com
Throughout the main gallery also are several plinths showcasing Veil, a semi-abstract exhibit by sculptor Lucja Barker. A graduate of art school in Poland, Barker immigrated to Canada in 1986 and has lived in Gibsons since 2011. There are two dozen small pieces here, most of which feature the female form, from hauntingly stark torsos to svelte, full figures. “[Clay] yields to my creative will,” Barker said in her artist’s statement. “I can take risks, channel emotions or recede into the strength of its physical qualities.”
In the smaller Eve Smart section of the Gibsons gallery are pastels by artist Louise Valentine. A full-time artist since 1989, Valentine’s original medium was fabric art and accessories, which she still creates and markets in a business with her husband, Brian Provencher. But in 2009, she said she discovered she also has a passion for painting landscapes in pastel. They also could be called skyscapes, as Valentine has produced beautiful, master-class cloud images in these works.
“Most [of my pastels] are started in the field, in plein air, and finished in the studio,” Valentine said of these works, many reflecting the Bonniebrook area. “I take a lot of pictures and just remember where I was and get a bit of the atmosphere and recreate what I’ve seen on location.”
All three artists will talk about their work, at the gallery from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22.
