Local artist Neil Collins’ luminous paintings will brighten Okanagan College from now until Dec. 22.
The paintings are displayed in the Kalamalka Vertigo Gallery, a joint project between Okanagan College and downtown Vernon’s Gallery Vertigo.
The gallery is located just past the college lecture theatre in the main building of Okanagan College’s Vernon campus. Admission is free.
“Collins’ work is bright and colourful, with many musical lines, textures and patterns of colour spread like dance across his canvasses,” said Vertigo vice chair and webmaster Harold Rhenish.
Collins says there is something inside his paintings that have no voice or form until he paints.
“And then the canvas is my love, fear, passion, joy and sorrow spilling out of me and taking shape in a spectrum of colour as the paint goes through its process of discovery and finds its destination,” he said.
This latest Kalamalka Vertigo show builds on the currently running North Okanagan Artists’ Alternative members’ open exhibition at Gallery Vertigo, which opened Nov. 16 and runs through Dec. 12.
The show’s opening brought out a large crowd, with members coming from as far away as West Kelowna to see the North Okanagan’s newest alternative art.
In addition to work by Collins, the show includes paintings by John Lawrence, Holly Smith and Raelene Hurlen, collages by Amber Powell, a block print by Akira Hanson, sculptural art by Rhenisch and Howard Brown, and many more.
The next show at the Kalamalka Vertigo Gallery will feature new work by Ryan Robson, just in time for Christmas and right through into the New Year.
Gallery Vertigo is open Tuesday to Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The gallery is located at #1-3001 31st St., above Krause Jewelers.
