An art exhibit will be bringing the magic and mythology of ancient cave paintings to Salmon Arm.
The grand opening of local artist Teyjah McAren’s gallery exhibit entitled “Art in Petroglyphs” will be held on June 10 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and June 11 from 1 to 4 p.m. at McAren’s studio gallery at 751 Marine Park Drive NE. The exhibit will remain in the gallery until about the start of August, she says.
McAren’s exhibit is inspired by petroglyphs (cave etchings or engravings) she saw while on a trip to the southwestern United States. McAren has been working on a series for the past five years that borrows heavily from southwestern U.S. but also African and B.C. First Nations’ petroglyphs, for the past five years.
McAren said that her work is about celebrating petroglyphs and educating people about the necessity of preserving them.
“It combined my love of texture and my love of research. I had to research all of these symbols and what they mean and if I couldn’t find anything on them I’d make up a story around them, and of course say that it’s a story. It brought together a whole different set of tools and feelings than the colour abstracts that I normally did,” McAren said.
Rather than using stone for her creations as the original petroglyph artists did, McAren employed a wide array of techniques, tools and acrylic materials.
“My goal is two-fold. One is to make people aware of the necessity to preserve these petroglyphs and also to document and record them before they get destroyed,” McAren said.
