Time is running out to check out the work of six Langley artists taking part in the Fraser Valley Biennale.
Until Oct. 9, the Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford is showcasing 26 local and regional art-making, and profiling some of the best visual artists from across the Fraser Valley.
Presented in collaboration with the Abbotsford, Langley, Maple Ridge and Mission Arts Councils, the biennale is a series of juried exhibitions celebrating regional visual art, ranging from sculpture, painting and photography to installation and video art.
Among those whose work is on display are Doris Hutton Auxier, Jo-Ann Sheen, Randall Steeves, Dan Lefebvre, Aaron Moran and Susan Gorris.
Auxier is concerned with the environmental issues of the Fraser Valley such as efforts to protect the Langley Bog and Riverview Mental Hospital’s Colony Farm.
Auxier’s two paintings which are on display depict the complexity of moss and other forms of vegetation that are under threat.
Sheen is from Fort Langley and has been focusing on print-making. Her work makes reference to the quilt making tradition and draws parallels between printmaking and quilt making.
Steeves explores the medium of painting in an increasingly media based world and is driven by a conviction that the act of painting is another way to experience the essential features of reality. Steeve’s paintings consist of bees wax mixed with pigments and brushed into the canvas to create a layer of translucent wax and a complex surface.
Lefebvre, is a woodcarver who started carving at the age of 15. Through the use of tools and fallen wood, Lefebvre designs and creates wood carvings that express personal reflections on life around him.
Moran uses found materials from suburban demolition and construction sites to create geometric assemblages which draw attention to their present state of uselessness.
Moran’s assemblages made from wood, acrylic and house paint draw attention to material structural/architectural qualities, complexity and organized chaos.
Gorris, a multimedia artist from Aldergrove, uses a variety of mediums to record and react to particular dichotomies in nature and play with human and animal characteristics. Her ceramic work transposes animal forms into the physical image of human forms.
“In anthropology, a glimpse into the values, social rituals and language that were pertinent to survival provide threads of opportunity for visual expression,” writes Gorris, in her artist’s statement.
“Contrasts of culture are often found in artifacts, stories, architecture and skeletal remains.”
