Path Along The Shore by Gary McDonald.

Path Along The Shore by Gary McDonald.

‘Eclectic’ art show in Ocean Park

Several artists from Peninsula and beyond to take part in weekend event

A Breath of Fresh Art arrived on the scene like the scent of spring flowers last year – and co-organizer Gary McDonald said the success of the first show by the group of 12 Semiahmoo Peninsula artists has generated a lot of interest in the followup this Saturday and Sunday.

The show and sale of work – following this year’s theme, ‘Bold’ –  will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at Ocean Park Community Hall, 1577 128 St., with an artists’ reception Saturday at 2 p.m.

“There’s a lot of excitement out there,” McDonald said. “I’m getting phone calls at the studio all the time, which is a good sign.”

He and fellow artist-organizers, Nicole Carrie and Mac Grieve, counted some 300 visitors to both days of the inaugural show in November.

“I think we sold about 24 paintings and everybody was raving about it – people were coming up to the artists saying it was the best show they had seen,” he said.

For fans of landscapes, florals, still-lifes and decorative semi-abstracts, A Breath of Fresh Art offers a guarantee of quality, as evidenced by the presence of fellow group members Gwen Murphy, Carolynn Doan, Sheila Symington, Lee Caulfield, Jess Rice and Eileen Fong.

Because three regulars of the group (Adrienne Moore, Lora Armbruster and Carmel Clare) were unavailable, three well-known local guest artists – Bob Wakefield, Jackie Janzen Yee and Marie Heath – were invited to show their work as well.

“We picked artists we felt fit in well with the group and also expressed the ‘Bold’ theme,” McDonald said.

“I think it’s going to be an exciting, eclectic and diversified show. Everybody’s fired up and bringing new art – if it’s going to be a Breath of Fresh Art we had to make sure it really was fresh art!”

For more information, visit www.abreathoffreshart.net

Peace Arch News