While Cariboo artists Leslie Ginther and Olaug Jaenicke may have different approaches to their multi-media crafts, a common thread behind their inspiration for painting can be found in a love of nature.
Several works from members of the Cariboo Artists Guild will be on display for the month of August at the South Cariboo Business Centre’s Showcase Gallery. There is no defined theme affiliated with this month’s exhibit, but both artists’ diverse displays of works reflect a deep appreciation for the beauty our province has to offer.
“I’m a mountain lover, that’s why I moved to B.C.,” Ginther, an Ontario native, said. “I’ve always been interested in different forms of visual arts - sculpture, paintings, craft work - even the designs and patterns in a piece of material or in nature.”
Ginther, who works in various mediums including watercolour, acrylic, pen and ink and oil, didn’t pursue her craft seriously until she was near retirement, but said she had a lifelong interest in painting passed down to her from her grandmother.
“She was a gifted artist, an oil painter and pastel artist,” Ginther said. “She inspired me to try oil painting when I was in my teens, and I never forgot that experience.”
While often inspired by nature - and with plenty at her fingertips here in the Cariboo - Ginther said she also enjoys the versatility that comes with expressing herself as a visual artist.
“It’s so open-ended,” she explained. “You can express yourself in a very fluid way, and be quite abstract or realistic.”
Jaenicke, who also paints in a variety of mediums, said she draws inspiration for her paintings from things she sees in the world around her.
READ MORE: Home is where the art is at Showcase Gallery
“These beautiful things I see, they get stuck in my head and stay there, sometimes for years, before they come back out again,” Jaenicke said. “Sometimes I paint from a picture, but it’s not the same as painting it from your head.”
Jaenicke, who grew up in Norway, north of Lillehammer, is a life-long artist who began her journey as a means of keeping busy on long winter evenings.
“In the winter, it was usually dark around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, so what do you do?” she recalled. “My sisters used to do hand-crafts but I wasn’t really interested in that. So I would draw. And when I got to the age when most people stop, I didn’t.”
Both artists will have pieces old and new on display for the month, including different mediums and even different techniques; Jaenicke is displaying brushwork, a few pieces created with finger painting and even a piece she did with a putty knife.
Sharing their work at the Showcase Gallery is an honour for both artists, not only to bring their art to a wider audience who might not otherwise see it, but to also promote important issues surrounding the environment they hold so dear.
“It’s a way to share our talent but also bring to people’s awareness that when it comes to nature, we need to protect, honour and respect it,” Ginther said. “That’s part of the reason why I paint what I do.”
melissa.smalley@100milefreepress.net
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