It’s not often you get to see the work of as many as nine painters in one show, but you can for the next three weeks at The Kube Gallery in Gibsons with the latest exhibition by Power of Paint.
Curator Jill Pilon has creatively managed to fit nearly two dozen pieces into The Kube’s limited exhibition space. The task was aided by the Power of Paint’s group decision to submit scaled-down pieces – “small but snappy, in a variety of styles,” as they said in a release.
Variety is a key characteristic of this artists’ collective, founded in 2004. “We all do such different things,” said member Nadina Tandy in an interview. “And we do learn from each other’s differences.” Member Greta Guzek agreed: “There seems to be a good mix of people – those who work more representationally and those who work more abstractly.”
Other members include group founder Morley Baker, Josefa Fritz Barham, Todd Clark, Carol LaFave, Kim LaFave, Ian MacLeod, and Cindy Riach.
Power of Paint members meet every four to six weeks to show each other new work and lend moral support.
“It’s not a critique that we do,” Guzek said. “It’s more discussion around the work. For example, I was a printmaker back in my youth and then I started doing acrylic paintings. But recently I’ve gone back to printmaking, just for the interest of it. Our meetings are the perfect venue for me to say, ‘Hey look, guys, I’m back to printmaking, look what I did.’ The feedback I get from that is terrific.”
Added Tandy: “We somehow just gel and have good conversations around art, what inspires us and why we produce it.”
All participants in the group are painters with many years experience, but they still can look to each other for technical tips. “The thing is, I don’t work abstractly but that’s my favourite kind of art. I love seeing what they’re doing and their techniques,” Guzek said. “Also, I might say to Kim [LaFave], ‘I’ve been struggling painting snow. What have you been doing? How do you get that effect?’ It’s a question I can’t go to my husband or my friends to ask. But I can ask Kim and get a response that makes sense to me. That is part of it. We just get along.”
The Power of Paint’s exhibit is on at The Kube until Jan. 2.
