The Power of Paint is the title of a popular annual art show from the Eleven Equal Artists that takes place at the Seaside Centre in Sechelt Aug. 12 to 14. It’s also the theme this year for a collaborative artwork by the eleven painters. Each artist has completed about five smaller pieces on the theme, and when the five are multiplied eleven times, these smaller works will make up one huge painting.
“When you put the pieces all together, it looks fantastic,” said Greta Guzek, one of the eleven.
Why do they do this? It’s a lot of work, especially since this collaborative work is in addition to their original work also on show for the three days of the exhibition.
They are committed to doing this because, said Guzek, each of the pieces can be sold separately from the whole for an affordable price of $200 each. The money from this collaborative work, about $3,200, goes directly to a fund (after a few minor expenses) that provides four bursaries of approximately $800 each to be divided among the four high schools on the Coast. Each school determines which student will get the bursary according to criteria the artists decide: it must go to students in the visual arts, and that can include film school, art college or graphic design education.
This year two students have already received their bursaries: Emmalyn McKenna, who will attend Emily Carr University of Art and Design in the fall, and Darian Kraft, who plans on attending film school.
Last year the artists each painted birds and they sold well, but this year the theme is indeed more powerful.
“It’s the power of being moved by a painting,” Guzek said, “and it’s the power of being connected with the community.”
It benefits more than just the art students. “We benefit too by showcasing our work,” she said. “We were meeting and critiquing each other’s work and the feedback was great. So we said, ‘Let’s take it somewhere’.” The first Power of Paint was born five years ago.
The eleven, who have been friends and colleagues for over 16 years, will also be showing and selling their new work. They are a diverse group of abstract and realist, landscape and still life artists: Morley Baker, Josefa Fritz Barham, Todd Clark, Elizabeth Evans, Greta Guzek, Carol LaFave, Kim LaFave, Ian MacLeod, Cindy Riach, Nadina Tandy and Marleen Vermeulen.
Guzek notes that their show benefits by visitors from the Festival of the Written Arts taking place across the street in Sechelt on the same weekend.
“They’re people already interested in cultural events,” she said. The Festival, Hackett Park Arts and Crafts Fair and the Arts Centre’s show all taking place at the same time makes for a lively, active Sechelt.
The Power of Paint show opens Aug. 12 with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m. and live music from Heavy Mellow, and it runs on Saturday, Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Find out more about the group at facebook.com/ElevenEqualArtists
