Cyanotypes create Swan Lake View by Christine Kashuba, which is on display at the Vernon Public Art Gallery. (Submitted Photo)

Cyanotypes create Swan Lake View by Christine Kashuba, which is on display at the Vernon Public Art Gallery. (Submitted Photo)

Gallery gets creative with Okanagan families amid COVID-19

Family Saturday online event mimics artist Christine Kashuba's cyanotype process

The Vernon Public Art Gallery is reopening to the public with two new exhibitions that reflect landscape, memory, and nature.

Opening in the main gallery, Kelsey Stephenson’s flux consists of printed silk veils suspended from the ceiling. Visitors will be able to navigate this unique environment while listening to a soundtrack recorded at the different locations where Stephenson collected her source imagery, says VPAG curator Lubos Culen.

“Kelsey’s installation deals with landscape and memory, examining the impact that location has on humans, while also looking at the impressions that people create on the landscape around them,” said Culen.

Stephenson is an Edmonton-based print artist with an extensive exhibition record in Canada and internationally.

Opening in the VPAG’s Caroline Galbraith Gallery is the exhibition, Full Spectrum, by Vernon-based artist Christine Kashuba.

Full Spectrum consists of cyanotype prints, a photographic printing process that results in a cyan blue and white print, and shows mainly landscape forms complemented by the samples of Okanagan flora.

“With her prolific studio practice, Kashuba moves between landscape, figurative, and still life genres, and often includes botanical subject matter in her work,” Culen said.

Visitors can also join the gallery’s Learning and Community Engagement Curator Kelsie Balehowsky for a special virtual tour and workshop of Kashuba’s current exhibition, Full Spectrum, on Saturday, July 25 from 1 to 3:30 p.m.

This Family Saturday online event will feature information and instructions on the cyanotype process.

Participants are asked to preregister by Friday, July 24 for the workshop at: https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/VernonPublicArtGallerySoci/familysaturday.html

Participants can then pick up a kit in advance at the VPAG. Materials include two pieces of cyanotype paper (5×7″). Participants will also need a bin or tub of water as well as collected leaves, flower, grass, or anything they would like to make a cyanotype with.

Learn more at https://www.vernonpublicartgallery.com/family-saturday.

Both Stephenson’s and Kashuba’s exhibitions will be on display at the VPAG from July 23 to Sept. 30.

The VPAG recently reopened to the public, with safety guidelines in place to protect the health of staff and visitors. Visiting hours are now set from Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Please note that 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. has been designated for seniors and those at risk. Please use all safety precautions when visiting the gallery and postpone your visit if you are feeling any symptoms or if you have travelled internationally or have been in contact with anyone who has been diagnosed or suspected of having COVID-19 in the last 14 days.

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