Artist Jill McDonald’s mixed media show, A Touch of Orange, is the next installation in Vernon’s freshly opened The Hub Arts Collective.
In the exhibition, McDonald asks her viewers, “have you ever noticed how a spark of orange can bring everything alive?”
The same could be said with just one look at any of McDonald’s deep and richly developed mixed media pieces.
“Creating art helps me to see, think, observe, reflect and find answers to my musings about the world and the universe we exist in. Sharing and creating art brings the orange to my world,” said McDonald.
Born and raised in the Wirral, England, McDonald has been a teacher and artist for as long as she can remember. She completed her bachelors in Bristol and her masters in art in Liverpool, and first came to Vernon in 1997 on a teacher exchange.
While here, McDonald met her husband who went back with her to live in England until they had their daughter and moved back to Vernon in 2005.
Now an art educator at Vernon Secondary School, McDonald works with others to help them foster a love of art, to gain confidence and skills, to present challenges, open doors, and get in touch with their creativity.
That is why McDonald has invited Maya Sky, a former student that graduated from VSS last year, to exhibit with her.
Sky’s body of work is appropriately named Forgotten Shadows, as she believes that a true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.
“I feel art is a way to explore a lost world within ourselves and beauty originates through each person in a unique way,” she said.
McDonald’s A Touch of Orange and Sky’s Forgotten Shadows both open Saturday at The Hub Arts Collective, located downtown at 2906-30th Ave. beside the Towne Theatre.
The opening reception unveils at 7 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m. Providing some smooth vocals and acoustic guitar melodies will be another former student of McDonald’s, Peter McKillop. Both McKillop and Sky graduated last year with district scholarships awards for their achievements.
A suggested donation at the opening is $5 with partial proceeds being donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which The Hub is raising funds for during the month of February.
The exhibitions can be viewed for the month of February between the opening hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., Tuesday through to Saturday.
