Roberts Creek artist Kim LaFave is best known for his illustration of children's books. He's a successful commercial artist and illustrator who has been honoured with numerous awards for his picture book drawings of whimsical figures. But if you stop in at the Westwind Gallery in Gibsons May 28 to June 15 expecting to see LaFave's distinctive art for children, you'd be surprised. For this show is slightly different; the artist takes a whole new look at landscapes.
"The paintings start out big," he says, "with puffy clouds, the sky -then somehow, they home in tighter." Each picture features a micro landscape, practically a detail of a scene, though it fills the entire canvas. One picture, an imaginative corner of Hopkin's Landing, depicts a mailbox, a red house and a laneway that leads - where? There's an element of mystery in these dreamscapes. They are extraordinarily devoid of people - as if they are part of a dim memory from long ago. Another of his paintings depicts a hedge with a gate with Gambier Island somewhere in the distance. He admits that the shapes may have changed somewhat, the scenery rearranged to suit his imagination. In his early days he started with a limited palette of grey, green and brown. "I find I've been incorporating colour into my illustrations more," he remarks. That's an understatement. In these recent works, LaFave has embraced colour: rich reds, sky blues, butter yellows. The painting of Molly's Reach, for instance, as seen from the dock, features a gorgeous yellow that is richer than life. The hill that stretches past the Reach up School Road has been exaggerated so it soars up to the sky. It's the vivid way we might recollect the scene in our fondest imaginations or how a child might remember the big world of grown ups, many years later.
This round of work was inspired by a book project. A few years ago, LaFave took a trip with publisher Howard White and artist Gary Kent to the north end of Vancouver Island, where he took numerous photographs of fishing communities. It inspired him to return to landscape painting. LaFave lived in Toronto for 15 years to be close to the heart of the book and magazine publishing industry, although he was born in Vancouver and studied at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary. Eventually, he returned to live in Roberts Creek with his family. He has illustrated texts written by many of Canada's top children's writers, including a book called Amos's Sweater that won a Governor General's Award. He has since been shortlisted for the award again, and he was recently nominated for the Ruth Swartz Children's Book Award. Unlike the other awards that are judged by peers, the Swartz award is judged by a jury of kids who pick their favourites. An opening reception for LaFave's show will be held at the Westwind Gallery in Gibsons (upstairs at 292 Gower Point Road) on Saturday, May 28, from 4 to 7 p.m. All are invited.
