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Showcase Gallery exhibition welcomes spring

Cariboo Artists Guild challenged and inspired by theme “Equinox”
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Donna Peterson holds her pastel masterpiece of two tulips

Spring. Balance. Renewal. The date when day and night are of equal length.

All ideas members the Cariboo Artists Guild thought when confronted with the theme "equinox" for their annual spring group show.

Eight artists from the CAG contributed to the show which will be on display at the Showcase Gallery in the South Cariboo Business Centre until April 4.

The theme presented a bit of a challenge for many of the artists.

"Confusion," says Tom Godin, who contributed two paintings. "It was a bit of a head scratcher"

Although, according to other contributing artists, it was Godin who came up with the theme.

Like some of the other artists, many of whom admitted to having to research the term equinox online before starting the project, the theme gave Godin some pause before he began his painting.

But, as Godin also admits, that's partially the point.

"A lot of us like a theme. We did it a long time ago to force people to create new stuff. If you've got some old thing kicking around the closet and you just keep bringing it out... this way, equinox, who's got an equinox?"

Godin's acrylic painting shows two realistic eagles returning to their nest in the spring — a nest still covered in snow. "You didn't, by any chance, bring a shovel with you?" asks one eagle of the other. It's a feeling many can relate to as March flip flops between spring and winter.

Other paintings include a watercolour piece of a kayaker paddling through a day into night, all resembling the shape of a ying yang; or a painting of a sunrise or sunset — it's up to the viewer to decide which. Each piece provides a different interpretation of the word equinox.

Donna Peterson produced a delicate pastel piece of two tulips.

Equinox "seemed so far out of what I normally do. I don't do landscapes and that sort of stuff generally so I was having a hard time coming up with what I was going to do," she says. "My daughter, who lives in Calgary, took this beautiful photograph of some flowers she took home from the nursery. I took it from there."

Peterson joined the GAC when she moved back to 100 Mile House two years ago. She attended elementary school in the area. Peterson had been involved in artists guilds elsewhere in B.C. and decided she would give it a try.

"I really enjoy it," she says. The themed shows give her the opportunity to stretch her brain and think about what to do next.

"Everybody's got such imaginations," she says.

Katalin Kovacs, an artist who contributed several smaller pieces to the show, agrees.

"If we have this theme, you have to use your fantasy and skill and everything. With a different medium, you improve yourself and put it on paper and on canvas."