The Nanaimo Arts Council membership is coming together to present work inspired by Vancouver Island.
Around 30 local artists will present paintings, photographs and sculptural work at the Island Living Art Show at the Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1.
Exhibition organizer John Moore said the show got a lot of attention when he put the call out.
“We had to cut it off at 64 pieces, many of which were large canvases, because otherwise the place is going to look like a junky mess of work,” he said. “There’s only so much room.”
Moore said the Harbourfront Gallery has a busy exhibition schedule, but Ladysmith Arts Council president Kathy Holmes invited NAC members to exhibit their work because they haven’t had a space to display locally since the spring, when the NAC left its Wharf Street location.
“She said, ‘We’ve got one spot and we’ve got a lineup of people who want it, but I thought we’d offer it to you first since you’re in trouble having no gallery,'” Moore said.
Moore, a photographer, will be showing panoramic images of Neck Point Park’s Sunset Beach, Westwood Lake and Biggs Park at Jack Point. He said he chose the open-ended Island theme for the show because he wanted it to be an inclusive exhibition. He said a more challenging theme could discourage participation.
“If somebody doesn’t have a piece that’s about the Island, it’s pretty rare,” he said. “You can do a landscape if you want, you can do people if you want, you can do a garden if you want, you can do industrial if you want. It’s a wide-open thing and that’s normally what we do with the Nanaimo Arts Council is get as many people in as we can because they do want to show their work.”
WHAT’S ON … Opening reception for the Nanaimo Arts Council’s Island Living Art Show takes place at the Ladysmith Waterfront Gallery, 610 Oyster Bay Dr., on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 6 p.m. Show continues until Sept. 1.
arts@nanaimobulletin.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
