A new art gallery has opened on Mackenzie Avenue.
Find Hayley Stewart’s colourful renditions of Revelstoke and other winter landscapes in her new pop-up studio.
Stewart said a storefront was always part of her plans and the temporary sublet on the space where Wandering Wheels will return to in the summer, is the perfect chance to try it out.
However, she said opening a business during a pandemic has been both challenging and exciting.
At the moment she is showing pieces from her exhibit at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre last year.
“Experiencing the sublimity of the mountains and participating in the mind-expanding activities which engage the body and free the mind are the foundation of my work,” she said in her artist statement at the time.
Stewart only started painting mountainscapes while living in Golden in the winter of 2017-18.
She had just returned to the town after spending three years in Calgary working a 9-5 painting sets.
One of her favourites was an Alice in Wonderland themed backdrop for a music festival that was a 150 metres long.
She said she loved the work, but wanted to pursue a career making her own art.
So she returned to Golden for a year before relocating to Revelstoke to join the blossoming art scene.
“I always wanted to paint mountains,” she said. “But I never thought I was ready. I needed to study them more.”
Alpenglow was her first.
Stewart says she usually paints based on photographs or places she has seen, adding colours that are all her own. But sometimes she paints places that she would like to go, like Mica Mountain. One year later she was invited to do a residency at Mica Mountain Lodge.
Though she prefers to paint on large canvases, you will find her filling in the smallest details with the tiniest brush at the end of a project.
“I’m a perfectionist,” she said with a laugh.
Stewart’s art can also be found at Art First on 1st Street and is featured in the new Basecamp Resort on Highway 23 north.
Visit her at the pop-up gallery on Mackenzie Ave. Wednesday-Saturday, from 12-6 p.m., or check out her website at hayleystewart.com.
