The North Okanagan Artists Alternative presents a timely exhibition consisting of over fifty works by forty environmentally minded artists, writers and performers. Every medium possible is represented, including text, photographs, acrylic and oil paintings, drawings and prints, assemblage and sculpture. Artists from as far away as Vancouver, Trail, and Nelson have joined the alternative in order to participate in this topically-themed show along with many members from Vernon, Lumby, Armstrong, Falkland, Enderby, Westbank, Kelowna and Lake Country. Both Gallery One and Gallery Two are filled with choice works designed to tantalize your senses, tickle your funnybone, challenge your mind or fuel your outrage.
The title plays on Eliot's "this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper".
How will the world end? Will it be the result of a slow smothering, or due to a cataclysmic event?
This NOAA Annual Members themed exhibition invited members think about these possibilities and to create works that address such environmental issues as air pollution, water and soil degradation, pesticide use, rampant urban sprawl, public transportation, abuse of fossil fuels, food hybridization, loss of farmland, loss of wildlife habitat, animal extinction, etc. This exhibition provides a forum for visual artists and writers to express their concerns and raise awareness in a creative fashion. As usual the North Okanagan Artists Alternative Annual Open Members Exhibition showcases the overwhelming variety and depth of artistic talent in our midst.
Opening Reception:
Thursday, October 16th, 7 to 9pm
Our food table will be featuring produce grown in the Okanagan. Visitors are invited to create and share food items made from the bountiful Okanagan harvest.
Also featuring live music and literary readings by local writers Virginia Dansereau, Marie Deering and Howard Brown. Many artists in attendance.
Admission: We will be collecting donations of non-perishable food items for the local Food Bank in celebration of World Food Day. (Also on October 16th)
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Space Litter - Anna Jurica
Truck and Animal - Jim Kalnin
Baaa...Humbug - Dawn Maddess
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This month features six colourful abstract acrylic paintings by Kelowna artist Julia Trops.
Trop's first career was with the Canadian Air Force where she spent twelve years and lived across Canada. She served on a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East, in the Sinai Desert, and received three medals. After retiring from the military in 1997, Trops received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Great Distinction in 2001 from the University of Lethbridge with a focus on Studio Arts. The artist is currently a resident studio artist in the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna. She currently serves as a Director, Kelowna Museums Society, Kelowna, BC, was a past Director for the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan Artscape Program and serves as an organizer for the Okanagan Arts Award. She is represented by three galleries: oils in Gallery Odin in Silver Star Mountain Ski Resort, mixed media in Hambleton Galleries in Kelowna, and charcoals in Tao Contemporary in Central Hong Kong.
Artist Statement:
I am very ambitious. My work is in public and private collections across Canada (including the City of Kelowna), the US and Europe, and I’m listed in the National Gallery of Canada’s archives. I am a contributing artist in Harold Stone’s book "Exploring Life Drawing", and an author of an article on Art Donations published in the Okanagan Arts magazine Fall 2007. I’ve been commissioned to do a few wine labels for an Okanagan winery, authored an introduction for the City of Kelowna’s Spirit of Kelowna Monograph, and have a Mozart artwork featured in an autumn release book "Spirituality in Music" published by Woodlake Books. "The Best of MASC (Medallic Art Society of Canada)" has two of my medallions juried in to the 2008 show held over the summer at the Geert Maas’ Sculpture Gardens.
My most recent project is for the Rotary Centre for the Arts "Evergreen" fundraiser. I’ve created a gallery, both online and in real life, called Gallerie Diamanté - Jewels of the Okanagan, which has some gorgeous artworks from Okanagan artists, available for purchase all over the world. (We’ve received one bid from Dubai already!)
As Wayne Gretzky said, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take". Upwards and onwards.... I’ve been lucky; the Roman philosopher Seneca "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
I believe the way of the future is through cooperative ventures for the benefit for all. As a part-time webmaster, and a big believer in the power of the web, I create webpages for all my projects. We truly are a global community. (Julia Trops) |
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Enjoy two large paintings by Kelowna artist Kevin Michael Witzke in the window on the street gallery this month.
Witzke was born in Vernon, BC and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UBC Okanagan in 2007. He currently lives and works in
Kelowna, BC.
Artist Statement:
I have to admit I have a fascination with colour and human history.
My studies in anthropology and archaeology have stirred my interest in subjects such as time, culture, language, myths, legends and folklore. My work delves into the human spirit and our relationship with the land and with each other. Working in combinations of paint, colour and light, I braid these ideas through my work. (Witzke)
As an abstract painter, “what” I paint often is abstract in nature. I find painting in an abstract way allows me to bypass our expectations of what something looks like, and explore the soul of the ideas I am working with. I like to use my canvases as if they were windows. This allows the painting to become a constructed world of energy for you peer into. I also explore how colour can help build meaning, mood and emotion within both my work and the viewer. I experiment with the optics colour with paint layers and unconventional painting techniques. (Witzke) |
