The Kelowna Art Gallery invites you to join in on Wednesday, November 26, at 7 p.m. for Daphne Odjig at 95: The Art of Self Actualizing, as told by her friend Karen Close. This illustrated talk is free and open to the public.
Daphne Odjig’s creative adventure began in the 1920s, on the unceded Manitoulin Island Wikwemikong Reserve in Northern Ontario. Her mother was from England; her father from the reserve. Guided by her paternal grandfather, stonecarver Jonas Odjig, she dreamed of manifesting her heart’s journey through art, creating respect for professional native artists, and achieving her destiny.
Odjig is a woman of vision, determination, humour and love. Her journey has taken her around the world, and she has earned honours and prestige for the generosity of spirit she inspires in those she has mentored and in those her works have inspired.
“If my work as an artist has somehow helped to open doors between our people and the non-native community, then I am glad. I am even more deeply pleased if it has helped to encourage the young people who have followed our generation, to express their pride in our heritage more openly, more joyfully than I would ever have dared to think possible.”
– Daphne Odjig
Currently, Daphne Odjig resides in Cottonwoods Care Facility in Kelowna. She fills her waking moments by observing, reflecting, visiting with old friends and meeting new ones. Most importantly, she continues to make art.
Karen Close moved to the Okanagan in 2003 after retirement from a 27-year career teaching visual arts and English. Since February 2008, she has facilitated heART Fit, an introduction to understanding the heart of creative expression and spontaneous process painting. Close is founding editor of the free online Journal of the Arts and Aging and sits on the advisory board of the Arts Health Network. In June 2014 she initiated the first Creative Aging day held at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna.
The Kelowna Art Gallery is located at 1315 Water St. in downtown Kelowna. For more information about current exhibitions, public programming, or special events visit the Kelowna Art Gallery online at www.kelownaartgallery.com or call 250-762-2226.
