As the snow finally starts to recede from the summit of Silver Star, artists and art lovers are getting ready to make their way back up the mountain for Gallery Odin’s 10th anniversary summer exhibition.
Odin is reopening after a busy winter season, where guests from around the world, including Australian country star Keith Urban and his wife, actress Nicole Kidman, were given a private tour of the gallery.
“They were only going to spend 15 minutes with us, as they were late for a dinner date, but they ended up spending an hour and really enjoyed a piece by one of our local artists,” said Maria Molnar, who runs the gallery with her husband Kalman.
Besides celebrity visitors, and those from all over Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa, and the U.S., the gallery has attracted even more international attention, having been featured in a Seattle magazine as well as one from Germany.
“We were featured in Qantas Magazine two years ago. I guess after being around for 10 years, people hear about you and we have so many repeat clients,” said Molnar.
To celebrate a decade in the making, the Molnars have invited many of their regular artists to show in the exhibition. There will be 27 artists in all –– 26 from B.C. and one from Alberta.
“This year it was hard for us to put in new artists as we wanted to keep the space for our loyal artists, but we received some beautiful pieces that we could not turn away,” said Molnar, who at press time was just about finished hanging the show.
“Gallery I, the large room, is a fantastic array of colours, all abstract, and Gallery II and III, I call the very beautiful British Columbia: mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers.”
Czech-born artist Dana Roman is the lone Albertan, who lives in the mountains of Canmore. Roman has been with the gallery for seven years and is known for her acrylics, pastels, watercolours, monoprints, mixed media and textiles, specifically painted on silk. For the Odin show, she has painted the piece, Eiffel Mountain from Wastach Pass, a rozome painting on silk sewn on canvas.
Artist Lynne Grillmair is also back with her multi-textured abstract pieces that she painted en plein air around her mountainous home in the Columbia Valley south of Golden.
New to the gallery is Campbell River artist Dawn Piché, who has sent a textile wall hanging entitled Almost Home, which shows the view of Oyster Bay approaching Vancouver Island.
“It was specifically made for the show,” said Molnar.
Penticton ceramic artist Lisa Prowse is also new to the gallery and will show her functional art pieces such as olive oil drizzle bottles, a cookie jar, and salad bowl.
“It’s our first time showing functional art besides bowls and vases,” said Molnar.
Returning artist Barry Rafuse, who is based in Lavington, will show two large and four small abstract landscapes and still-lifes.
His one mixed media on canvas of a sunflower, entitled Last Hurrah, won the Marlene Martens Award at the Federation of Canadian Artists recent Blossom Show in Vancouver.
For those who love B.C.’s mountains, forest, water and land, Penticton’s Karel Doruyter is returning with his representational three-dimensional landscapes, while fellow South Okanagan artist Glenn Clark has sent in a large landscape of the Peace River Valley near Fort St. John.
Penticton’s Debby Merkel has a new series of colourful abstract trees, while Vernon-born artist Peter Lawson, who now lives on Vancouver Island, is also back to show his representational landscapes of the province.
Abstract art comes in its many forms from Kelowna’s Julia Trops, who is known for her colourful and charcoal nudes, and has sent in a painting of Venus, while Kelowna’s Dawn Emerson has some of her colourful and textured mixed media created with gels, paint, papers, and collected items related to the subject matter.
Lake Country’s Julia Elliott is also showing four of her large abstract graphic pieces.
North Okanagan artists showing at the 10th anniversary show include Vernon area painters Destanne Norris, Elizabeth Moore, Colleen Couves, Jerry Markham, Rosanna Marmot, as well as Armstrong’s Charlene Woodbury and Trinity Valley’s Ann Crook, who moved to the area three years ago from Ottawa.
Falkland ceramics artist Leonhard Epp, Vernon potter Al Scott, Kelowna’s Bonnie Anderson and stone sculptors Deborah Wilson and Todd R. White have also submitted three-dimensional pieces, along with Ginny Hall, whose scrimshaw etchings on mammoth tusk continue to grab attention, said Molnar.
Gallery Odin’s 10th anniversary show opens this week with two receptions open to the public, Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. The gallery, located at 215 Odin Rd. on the Knoll at Silver Star, will be open for the summer thereafter on Thursdays and Saturdays or call 503-0822 for an appointment.
