You can always count on the annual Friends of the Gallery (FOG) show at the Arts Centre to be hugely entertaining.
“What do you suppose the artist meant by this?” asked one viewer, contemplating the acrylic painting Winter Interlude by Maurice Spira in which a dead bird lies on a dinner plate beside one Brussels sprout. And what is in the cup? Is it ink for the pen nib lying alongside on the table or is it wine the colour of blood?
This particular unjuried show frees the imagination, attracting 87 artists this year, many with a sense of whimsy. Heather Waddell displays her sense of humour with Eagles in the Rain. Two sullen eagles perch while blue paint drips down the scene. Bette Chadwick’s acrylic Outer City Limits shows prairie grain elevators unlike any previously seen, as these ones come in teal, purple and yellow.
Jean-Pierre Desjarlais has assembled a fascinating carved working model – a log cabin like the one he remembers from earlier days near Winnipeg – in which two sawyers man the crosscut saw while another figure peeps out of the window. Look closely for the rascally raccoon hiding under the porch. Desjarlais’ wife, fabric artist Helen Desjarlais, looking elegant at the show’s reception in a repurposed cloche hat, presented her wall hanging titled Bee-Line, a sunflower in fabric, thread and beads. She admired another fabric art piece, Waiting for My Taxi, by Pauline Hurley, a glamorous seated doll dressed in purple shot taffeta with beads on her stockings and a tiny purse embellished with a rosette.
It wouldn’t be a FOG show without pottery from the Niebergall family. Bev Niebergall shows an interesting piece that would look great in the garden, a ceramic sculpture titled From the Hallowe’ed Earth.
The photography is outstanding this year. Dean Van’t Schip shows Coquihalla 2017, barren trees flashing past as if from a car window. Paul Clancy shows his deceptively simple Red photo. Billie Carroll’s Retro Shakers will bring back memories for any child of the ‘50s who remembers the milk shake makers to be found in a privileged kid’s kitchen. Here the green gadgets shine in a shop window.
Doug Jinkerson’s acrylic painting tells a story of industrial waste surrounded by nature. A heavy loader dump truck sits among the wild grass and trees while in the foreground is a messy pile of reject tires.
When Jinkerson took the photo – one of many that he would use to paint from – he didn’t realize that the equipment belonged to a friend, the late Sandy Gibb, a local logger. He almost excluded the graffiti on the tire, he said, until he learned that it referred to Gibb, so he painted the vehicle just as he saw it. The words painted on the tire say, “Sandy loves small pets” and that is the title of the painting.
Donna Stevenson’s acrylic painting looks like an abstract, though it is the view looking down from the bridge in Cliff Gilker Park. Leif Kristian Freed’s abstract demonstrates warm tones and a satisfying composition.
Kevin McEvoy chose the medium of monoprint in charcoal for his Last of Autumn, while Ian MacLeod depicted his Untitled #3 Epiphany in acrylic and latex on paper. Cornelia Van Berkel portrayed sea birds as you would expect from this avid nature lover, a black turnstone and an oystercatcher on the beach.
At the reception, fibre artist and Arts Council director Nell Burns announced a series of Sunday morning lectures and workshops titled The Business of Art for the benefit of artists of any genre.
The first one takes place this Sunday, Jan. 14 at the Arts Centre in Sechelt from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Social media expert Marc Smith will explain the differences between various social media platforms and how to choose the right ones for your promotional purposes. Registration is necessary at $15 per talk for members of the Arts Council and $25 for non-members.
See www.sunshinecoastartscouncil.com for registration and more about forthcoming monthly lectures.
See more photos in our online galleries at www.coastreporter.net/photos-videos
