A reputation for recycling helped lead to the first three-dimensional art installation at The Kube gallery in Gibsons.
Vancouver-based artist Richelle Greabeiel opened her debut Sunshine Coast exhibition the waves broke upon the shore with an all-ages gathering at The Kube on Feb. 2.
Greabeiel’s work includes semi-transparent dyed fabric panels that flow from floor to ceiling, punctuated by artifacts and anthropomorphic figures shaped from repurposed styrofoam. The walk-through exhibit was influenced by her quest to pinpoint the region’s unique characteristics.
She spent time on the beach, making sound recordings of crashing surf that provide aural texture to the work’s visual components.
Researching online, she skipped past ubiquitous references to a long-running TV show headquartered at Molly’s Reach. She was inspired by Skwxwú7mesh stories that tell of a great flood and the world’s birth. “But I didn’t feel it was my story to tell,” she acknowledged.
Finally, a random fact caught her attention: Gibsons was the first place in B.C. to recycle styrofoam.
Verifying the fact became an obsession. Greabeiel fired emails to newspaper writers and encyclopedia contributors. “I just thought it was really interesting,” she said. “And I wanted to create something sculptural in this space because I hadn’t seen something like that being done here before. I thought it was a neat opportunity to incorporate different materials.”
She drew the title from the final sentence of Virginia Woolf’s 1931 novel The Waves, using the phrase to juxtapose the permanence and impermanence symbolized by frothing breakers.
“It’s my hope that it speaks to the opportunity for there to be change in the way that we interact with things,” Greabeiel said, “and the way that we use materials and consider materialism.”
Transformation is part of Greabeiel’s own story. Four years ago, she became a full-time artist after a career as an occupational therapist, primarily in pediatrics. Her work with children inspired an appreciation for a multi-sensory approach to art.
In November, her solo exhibition metsänpeitto at Vancouver’s Gallery 881 incorporated photographic prints, charred wood boxes, and video. In 2019, her project over exposed combined portraiture and sculpture by presenting a dress made from every plastic bag she received over several days.
For the waves broke upon the shore, Greabeiel assigned herself a new challenge: to make every element of the installation from repurposed or reused items. A fire-blackened shelf was purchased from a wood reclamation specialist in Chilliwack. An empty bell jar atop it inspired fanciful conjecture from visitors about what could be placed inside. (“A sign,” suggested one youth, “that says welcome for all.”)
Greabeiel’s installation directs viewers to grapple with negative space, either through styrofoam cutouts that once held audiovisual components, or a sinuous trail of glass shards buffed into opacity by the sea. Twisted copper, representing environmental contamination from the Britannia Mine, constricts a fire-blackened piling.
“I am always interested in the memories and the stories that are held in these pieces,” she said. “Some of them are pieces from buildings that had fallen into the ocean. Some of them are vessels that once held beer or wine. But I love that at one time they had a hand that held them and somebody that interacted with them.”
the waves broke upon the shore continues at The Kube throughout the month of February.
