The works of Emily Carr once more served as inspiration for the Cariboo Artist Guild.
For their 41st Annual Fine Art Show at Parkside Gallery the CAG has chosen the theme of “Through Emily’s Eyes.” Carr, an accomplished Cariboo landscape and nature artist, has long been something of an icon for the guild. Twenty years ago they painted her likeness on the mural that graces the exterior of Parkside Gallery.
“It was based on reading her books and finding quotes or looking at her paintings to find something that inspired you and then creating a painting from that,” CAG member Sheryl Fremlin said. “The show is a collection of oil, watercolour, acrylic, pastel and collage paintings so we have a good variety of work.”
This year, Fremlin said 15 of the CAG’s artists took part in the show and contributed 82 paintings. Subjects include landscapes, wildlife, floral arrangements, still life and portraits. Fremlin said you can see real growth in the skill of a lot of her fellow artists while she herself adopted a completely new collage/mixed media technique for this year.
Fellow artist Neil Pinkett felt the show came together quite nicely, especially the 13 pieces that were inspired directly by Carr’s work. While many artists took inspiration from her paintings of forests, Pinkett chose to bring the sky to life with his piece Dancing as if Nobody is Watching.
“We weren’t trying to ape her style, we just used it as a starting point to create something of our own that’s a little different,” Pinkett said.
Fremlin, meanwhile, took inspiration from Carr and the recent news of the children found buried on the Kamloops Indian Residental School grounds to create the mixed media piece The Lost Children. Carr was well known for painting pictures of First Nations totem poles and Fremlin incorporated that into her memorial collage.
The show runs from July 23 to Sept. 11 and will not have an official opening due to the current wildfire situation. Fremlin said there will likely be some disruption to the gallery’s hours due to the fires.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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