Two painters who use the local landscape as inspiration put their works on display at the downtown Nanaimo Art Gallery until March 24.
The show features Patricia Banks and Eunmi Conacher, who are also part of the art gallery’s rental and sales program.
Banks brings the heart and soul of the West Coast to her paintings and her sensitive poetic verses. Imagine the various moods of the sea and the feelings evoked by long strands of sand and blustery skies, while taking in the sensuous beauty and invigorating drama of nature woven into words.
Banks’s paintings are filled with atmosphere that connects her viewers to moments in time: passion, joy, respect, reverence and peace, amid wild waves and fresh winds.
Banks said she is inspired by the magnificence and splendor of the natural environment.
“I am intrigued by the fleeting balance between strength and fragility in nature,” she said. “I lead my viewers to pause and reflect, to feel as if they are here, in the moment.”
Banks is a member of the International Guild of Realism, the Island Illustrators Society, and president of the Nanaimo Chapter of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Her work can be found in national and international collections.
Conacher, who was educated in visual arts in Korea, Australia and Japan, tends to be influenced by contrasts in the world, such as cityscapes versus landscapes, or people contrasts such as Mars versus Venus.
“My show will bring the energy, represented by urban landscapes, to the canvas,” Conacher said.
“I have attempted to capture daily life in the City of Nanaimo, the City of Vancouver, and the town of Whistler, as seen through my eyes. My work is more an expression of the mood in the scene, rather than a realistic picture of the scene.”
An opening reception at the gallery is set for Saturday (March 10), 1-3 p.m.
For more information, please call 250-754-1750 or visit www.nanaimoartgallery.com.
