Perception is everything as two Fernie artists will demonstrate when they host their first joint exhibition at The Arts Station this month.
Carol Cohen and Margaret Hinton met eight years ago and have bonded over their love of art and the Elk Valley lifestyle.
The idea for a joint exhibition came to them during a family boating trip and they have dubbed the collection of work “Two Views”.
“I think when you paint what you’re doing is showing people how you see the world, so it’s just two different people showing how they see the world,” said Cohen.
“And an opportunity to share that,” added Hinton.
The pair created separately, however, they sometimes painted the same subjects as they took inspiration from their surroundings.
But their styles and approach to art are very different.
Cohen prefers realism, while Hinton will present an eclectic mix of paintings in a range of mediums.
“I’ve been exploring different mediums, different techniques,” said Hinton.
“I’ve been playing and learning, so for me, it’s about exploration of art, so you’ll see a whole range of things.
“There’s not a distinct style.”
Cohen has painted all her life, studying art at university before putting her career on hold while she raised a family.
The Fernie real estate agent picked up the paintbrush again about 10 years ago, while Hinton is relatively new to it.
“It was something I always wanted to try so I just started playing,” said Hinton.
She has taken a number of courses with local artists and is part of the Visual Arts Guild.
Hinton said she enjoyed painting in a group environment.
“Good friends, good support, good encouragement, but also good critique and honest responses, so there’s a social element to painting with them but also a huge learning element to being part of that group, which I like,” said Hinton.
Cohen, on the other hand, prefers to paint alone.
“It’s like my own world, I don’t have to interact with anybody and I just disappear for a while and that’s how I’ve been with art, my whole life, even as a child,” she said.
“It’s what I did when things were difficult at home, I would paint and the world would go away for a while.”
“Two Views” opened at The Arts Station last week and will show throughout September.
