The Abbotsford Arts Council presents its latest exhibit, Awakenings, starting Saturday, April 22.
The show features the work of Helena Wadsley, Suzanne Laird and Yvonne Dale and runs until May 21 at Kariton Art Gallery, 2387 Ware St.
An opening reception, with the artists in attendance, takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. on April 22.
Awakenings features three artists whose work encompasses themes of growth and renewal, trauma, personal identity, and our place in the natural world.
Wadsley’s work coincided with thinking about ways to incorporate her family roots, or lack thereof, into her art practice.
The trees fit in with this theme because they have been here for so long that they have developed deep roots. Her work has to do with roots, and how what seems to naturally belong somewhere was actually transplanted.
Her work also speaks to environmental concerns – the work might draw attention to the trees around us if we see the large drawings in an indoor environment and up close.
Laird’s work creates a dialogue that investigates the forms of healing from emotional pain. The idea of plant life growing and new life emerging from its ashes is the narrative she works with in order to transmit this concept of life after trauma.
Dale, a self-taught watercolour artist, is inspired from more than a decade of kayaking on B.C.’s west coast.
She hopes that her paintings capture a little of the joy that she finds while out on the water. In her paintings she tries to recreate the rich greens and purples, the ever-changing blues and grays, the rolling waves and clouds, the sea stacks, headlands, mist, rocks and rugged beauty of coastal B.C.
She chose watercolour as her medium because of the movement and light created when water pulls the pigments across and into the paper.
Visit abbotsfordartscouncil.com or call 604-852-9358 for more information.
