Those departing from the Kelowna International Airport have likely seen the new art installation showing a retro look at Canada’s national game.
Created by Penticton-based artist Glenn Clark, the life-size piece resembles a table hockey game and features players wearing vintage jerseys from the two teams of the NHL’s original six, the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings.
Besides his aptitude with figurative work and his obvious love of hockey, including his work with the now defunct Penticton Vees Hockey Club, Clark also has a love for this province’s landscape, as is evident in the new exhibition about to open at Gallery Odin atop Silver Star Mountain.
What started as a 2007 journey retracing the sketching trips of the late artist E.J. Hughes has evolved into a way to document the ever-changing face of B.C.’s landscape with paintings done en plein air.
For his Odin exhibition, Clark will be showing the lion’s share of his field work in 2013 as well as a few pieces he created in late 2012 and a single field sketch from 2010.
“The paintings include two large canvasses as well as eight-by-10s, eight of which are Coastal scenes, eight are from Northern B.C. and six are from the Okanagan,” said Maria Molnar, who owns the gallery with her husband Kalman.
Most of the paintings were created on five excursions Clark took throughout B.C., including the Ashnola River in the fall of 2012 and Silver Star Mountain this past August.
“By marking down the shapes and colours on wood panels, I am describing my days’ events not unlike a storyteller writing in their diary. They are both very personal things, and sharing them takes courage,” said Clark.
At Silver Star, Clark was one of the artists who participated in the en plein air event put on by Gallery Odin during the Okanagan Summer Wine and Food Festival, which helped raised funds for Vernon Jubilee Hospital. He was joined on this fast-paced journey, where the artists were sent off to paint, and then had their work auctioned, by fellow Odin artist Destanne Norris, who lives and works at Silver Star.
“We found ourselves on top of the world with unbelievable views, discoloured and rapidly fading in all directions from forest fire haze,” said Clark.
Norris, in turn, will also be sharing some of her own landscapes at the Odin winter exhibition.
Entitled Natural Reverence, the works include three large oils measuring four-by-five feet showing her forays into natural environments, memories of these experiences, observations and imagination.
“Being in nature is akin to a spiritual retreat for me, where I connect to the force of creation, being present,” she said. “In my studio and en plein air painting, I aim to stay open to the present and this mysterious force of creation.”
Also exhibiting three large abstracts will be well-known Vernon artist Barry Rafuse, who has gone from painting traditional landscapes, seascapes and florals to bold abstracts.
“My wish is that when a person views one of my paintings from a distance, it will be enjoyed,” he said. “When one gets close to the image, new things will be discovered and appreciated.”
Along with the highlighted work by Clark, Norris and Rafuse, Odin is also welcoming Coldstream’s Wendy Hart Penner as a new artist to the gallery.
A former technical illustrator for Atomic Energy of Canada, Penner spent 13 years as an artist for Pacific Press Newspaper Group, and also ran her own graphic art company.
She currently makes custom designed tile murals with tile cutter Brian Chard and paints western life, still life, figurative, and en plein air, and also participated in Odin’s Silver Star Wine Festival event in the summer.
The winter exhibition will also feature the work of Bonnie Anderson, Karel Doruyter, Edward Epp, Leonhard Epp, Lynn Grillmair, Ginny Hall, Peter Lawson, Jerry R. Markham, Brenda Maunders, Debby Merkel, Dawn Piche, Lisa Prowse, Dana Roman, Al Scott, Todd R. White, Deborah Wilson, and Charlene Woodbury.
The exhibition opens with two receptions, Thursday, Nov. 28 from 6 to 10 p.m. and Saturday Nov. 30 from 2 to 6 p.m.
The gallery will be open for the season Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1 to 6 p.m. or call 250-503-0822 for an appointment.
Visit galleryodin.com for more info,.
