Insight Art Gallery

‘HeavyTrophy’ by Roksan Kohen

   Roksan studied painting at the well-known Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in Istanbul and has been self-employed as a visual artist and drawing/painting ‘Heavy Trophy’ by Roksan Kohen instructor for the past 9 years.  She has worked as an illustrator, designing logos/posters/banners for companies, theatres and universities, and has done illustrations for book and advertising companies, as well as selling her art works to organizations and individuals.

               Roksan emigrated from Istanbul in 2009, searching for a home, community and environment that suited her and her lifestyle.  She lived in Vancouver and then, finally, discovered Galiano. Like many of us, she fell in love at first sight and moved her in June 2012.

               Her vision is powerful – her presentation is unique.  She looks at the world we live in and speaks about it in her staggeringly detailed, skillful images.  You can hold up a magnifying glass and see more than you ever thought was there.  She speaks about now, the past, or how things may go.  She searches with hope and love and is driven to paint and draw.  Come see the fabulous results in June at Insight Gallery.

‘Tale of the Rock’ by Roksan Kohen

 

Search for a Better World

As an Istanbul based visual artist

I luckily have lived and painted on Galiano since June 1^st 2012.

Walking on trails, asking trees to share their stories

With the aim of releasing the truth about who we are

Hoping that the current spirit of our age is moving

Towards an encompassing happiness,

I practise every day…love, kindness, art and appreciation

Grateful for eyes, I stare

For the breath I take

For the soothing sea

For the flying big bird and all the magical beings

Shining beyond beauty

Together  …

Searching for a better world

Helping each other along

To be a better one

Trying to find peace within

Without stepping on one another

How powerful we are

As we come together

What do we draw now?  …  Given the forces of nature.                                         Roksan Kohen

 

‘Babylon Tower’ by Roksan Kohen

 

 

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'My Neighbour the Owl' by Francine Renaud

How nice it is to be in touch with you all again!

I am indeed excited about my upcoming show and you are in for some exciting evocative images and soulful colors!!!

The show will consist of paintings and prints mainly produced since my last September show at Insight.

'Moonrise' by Francine Renaud

I have mentioned to some of you that I often think like a print maker…..Well somehow, last fall, surfing the net, I came across “The Malaspina Printmakers Society” on Granville Island. I realized that a huge obstacle had been resolved.

I could rent access to a fully equipped printmaking studio and began working alongside some very talented knowledgeable artists. I still had all my silk screening equipment from the art tiles Frank and I were producing 10 years ago. I just had to wake up all these technical skills, get my wood carving gouges out to start some woodcuts, and learn to use water based inks.

To print in multiple colors requires bending ones mind around a fascinating puzzle. All of these constraints become a source of delight and flow when one gets back to painting again.

'Grand Owl' by Francine Renaud

For those of you who love the visual arts and how, we artists, express the beauty of this island, this show will offer new ways of seeing our beautiful landscape and it’s creatures.

I am still working away at the cottage in my painter’s retreat mode. The quality of my work seems to demand that kind of space, something I need. The fact that I have my feet and my bike to get around has kept me close to home.

That feels just right these busy days before the show.

Yes it’s true, we haven’t been much around straddling two worlds, but it’s now time to catch up with you and share the good work that has kept me busy here and in Vancouver.

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'Legacy - The Promise of Spring' by Bruce Dolsen

Wherever we go, we leave our mark; wherever we settle, we interact with the landscape; in whatever place we inhabit, we are inhabited. The paintings for this show focus mainly on gardens of Galiano, on the marks people make on the land, on where they live or where they travel. Stone steps in the forest, a path along the edge of a bluff, a row of beans, tulips arising from their winter sleep…all speak of human intention, and an attempt to “manage” nature in some way. And then there are the telling discards: mattress springs and liquor bottles buried under moss in the forest from a time before recycling became common, and—most amazing of all—the middens that ring our island, reflecting hundreds and hundreds of years of human habitation.

Blue Flags, Montague by Bruce Dolsen

Some gardens are rigorously formal; others delightfully haphazard. Sometimes gardens get “out of hand”: they reflect a desire at one time on the part of landowners to expand their sphere of influence beyond their ability to cope, and they become rough around the edges. “I don’t have enough time to look after it!” they will say, watching nature take its course and reclaim, weed by weed, their well-meant interventions.

'Garden Path' by Bruce Dolsen

And Nature will take its course: no sooner do we leave off our efforts to plow, plant, clip, pull, arrange, re-arrange and replace than Nature arrives with her agenda intact. Our carefully built walls crumble and erode, our fields give over to weeds and neglect, our pathways become hidden, and deer graze their way, unconcerned, through remnants of our plantings.  Still, the marks are there: faint but unmistakable indicators of human intention that proclaim, if not ownership, stewardship—a temporary status, at best.

'Still Life with Moon Snails' by Bruce Dolsen

I was painting in Kath Benger’s vegetable garden the very afternoon of her death, and I call the painting “Legacy—the Promise of Spring” because any planting like that is an act of faith that, when we must leave it, becomes a gift to others to make of it what they will.  Her garden reflects decades of mulching and weeding, and a sort of faith that there is something sacred about stewardship of the land. I didn’t know then, of course, that she would slip away from this life as I painted her bean rows, and the sea beyond. But I thought, as I painted, “Kath won’t mind.” And I thought of how she literally embraced the whole island, giving her loving attention to those she encountered, nurturing people and rejoicing in their growth just as she might, as an act of faith, plant beans and garlic and potatoes with the promise of life continuing, whether she is there for it or not. Maybe Art has something to do with this planting business, this nurturing of the spirit. If these images are nurturing, if they leave their mark, so to speak, then they have captured a moment of life, a sacred space, sunlight and shadow—the marks we leave in passing.

'North from Montague' by Bruce Dolsen

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'Beach, Trincomali Side, Galiano' by Tish Saunders

I am very pleased that this year Annie Okuda and I are having a show together.  I have known her and her family for many years, and as well as being my outstanding Yoga teacher, she is also a fabulous painter.  I look forward to seeing both hers and my work on the walls together.

'Stone Stairway, Galiano' by T.Saunders

These days, I have been doing landscape paintings, more on the realistic side, paintings of places that I know and like here on Galiano.  I’m interested in things like:  how the sky looks; how the light falls on objects; the kind of weather that is blowing through; what the surface of the water is doing.

'Looking Across to Vancouver Island from Dave's' by Tish Saunders

I enjoyed the sheer distances when I did a painting from the Bluffs a while ago.  It was exhilarating sketching up there, and just feeling the height and breadth of the view.  You see almost all the way to Sidney – how tiny things looked that distance away.  Translating that onto a canvas required the smallest of strokes.

'Panorama View from Bluffs' by Tish Saunders

I’ve been visiting the Bluffs for 32 years now.  I felt a strong sentiment during the time I spent there.  It seemed to me that the Bluffs have changed in a slow, geological way, while the people, all the lives I’ve known here, were more like a fast, flickering movie in comparison. On this island, we have many beautiful places we can visit and contemplate such things. As I stood high up on the Bluffs, I was thinking that I was so very glad I found Galiano when I did.  I am thankful.  It has been my good fortune and honour to come to know this beautiful island and all the good people I have met.

Quietly painting and observing, standing on the shore or in the woods, these thoughts arise and make the work of painting even more pleasurable.  I hope that I have captured that in these canvasses and the viewer can experience the same joy that I have felt.

'Gladiolus with Tomato' by Annie Okuda

Merging in Light

In my life as Annie O.

I notice the light dancing around objects of beauty, in form and colour.

I am blessed with the opportunity to capture these images for posterity.

Come see my latest offerings of colour captives

that are free to jump for your joy.

See you at the Insight Art Gallery

Annie Okuda

'Sunset Bay, Rainbow Channel' by Annie Okuda

'Rose Ganesha' by Annie Okuda

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'Path Thru Paradise-Montague Park', Betsy Fairbrother

This year we are beginning the gallery season with a show entitled “Ten Galiano Women Artists”.  Why, you might wonder, are we showing only women artists in this group show?  That is because, in October, we are showing 10 Galiano Men Artists in a group show.  In my opinion, in the arts, gender has little to do with whether a work of art is interesting, successful, or well-executed.  At the same time, I haven’t seen an exclusively male or female show in a while. Why not do it?  And so, June is the month to see a display of art created by some of the skilled and talented women artists of Galiano. Here are a few tasters of what viewers will see:

'Ceramic Vessel' by Kasumi Lampitoc

We are showing the masterful ceramics of Kasumi Lampitoc, and as she puts it, “My motivations are from nature, simple shapes and forms – subtle lines or accents are enough to finish the piece”.

'Red Field Poppy' by Janice Prevedoros

Janice Prevedoros, as an artist and gardener, appreciates the wide spectrum of plants which can be grown on the islands, and the various hues, leaf shapes and flowers have become part of her artwork; in the series of  botanicals displayed in this show she has created a perpetual season of blooms for the viewer!

Titanium Fractal Scale Maille Earrings by Anne Kelly

Anne Kelly, a maker of very unique jewellery, is showing work that fuses ancient & 21st century techniques of weaving, forming, and texturing metal with a naturalist’s eye for tendrils, scales, feathers, and intertidal organisms.

'Lighthouse' by Dianne Laronde

Dianne Laronde, is exhibiting her recent paintings, and notes that, “The beauty of the land around us has always been a pleasure to sketch and paint; lately it is the community and the individuals who inhabit these lovely places in which I find inspiration”.  Betsy Fairbrother is displaying some of her new Galiano landscape paintings which are, “Inspired by the intoxicating visual perfumes of nature, harmonies and rhythms of colour and form”, that surround her, while hoping to capture the spirit and love of place.

'Just Humming Along' by Irene Castor

Irene Castor has been focusing on very light, delicate and transparent watercolours of flowers, trees and buds, in the work for this show.  Chris Gaylor will be showing her hand-woven scarves, in rich colours and fibres, as well as displaying the new, multi-coloured, glass, shell and ceramic mosaic wall pieces she has been creating.

'Leaves, Shells & Buds, Mosaic Mirror' by Chris Gaylor

Strong, colourful pastel drawings of Galiano’s special places are being offered by Annette Shaw who says that, “Even though my art is still in a state of flux, I am rediscovering the joy of simply drawing for the pleasure of it”.

'Laughlin Lake' by Annette Shaw

For Eleanor Coulthard, ‘painting is becoming her retirement career’ – she paints in themes inspired by her travels, working mainly in watercolours and oils.

'Airflow' by Eleanor Coulthard

And finally, Shera Street is sharing with us, her powerful, free flowing paintings, ”For me ‘art’ is an unfolding adventure from the instant paint first hits the canvas. Vibrant colours speak through me, touched with a connection of spirit”.

'Dancer's Joy, Part 1', by Shera Street

This offering of artwork from ten different Galiano Women Artists promises to be exciting and visually stimulating.  I plan to take note of how the entire space and energy of the show looks and feels, and then in October, I will stand in the same place again, and see and feel what the Galiano Men Artists have created.  I hope you will join us in this adventure.

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'Spirit Swimmers' by Tish Saunders

This is an interesting show because it spans 15 years of painting.  Included are pieces from shows  I have had through these years, for example,  “‘When the Green Woods Laugh” show from 1996  at the Dandelion Co-op Gallery.  This show was all about Trees – magical, symbolic trees in pastoral,  day or night settings.  The trees represented abundance, love, the softness of night settings,  wisdom and mystery.

'Abundance' by Tish Saunders, 1996

The “Magic Island Show” at Galiano Art Gallery situated at the Galiano Inn was in 2003.  This show was a celebration of this little island of Galiano and island living.  Our unique setting here gives us insights, makes us see connections.  Our whole experience is like living in parentheses (our rock) surrounded, in every direction, by the sea or sky.  The paintings look at an island in the dawn, or in the midst of a storm, or in a state of sleep or harmony or as a symbol of a metaphysical reality.

'Passage Westward' by Tish Saunders, 2003

“Life of the Ponds”,  which was the opening show for Insight Art Gallery in August 2005,  was a show I really enjoyed painting.  I spent many hours observing the pond life – the gold fish, the dragon flies, the way the sun’s rays penetrated the pond’s surface and refracted through the water.  In this show I wanted to paint some very large pieces in order to really use the big walls the gallery provided.

'Life of the Pond' by Tish Saunders, 2005

In this present show, I’ve included some pieces from “Cosmic Colour”, a show all about prismic colour in 2006.

“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!”
-William Wordsworth

Wordsworth says it – the colours of the rainbow lift our spirits!  The power of colour and light affects a person’s state of mind and health.  My continuing colour explorations have shown me that colours can have a positive effect on your outlook and your health. My paintings for this show were mainly abstract colour studies and the colours just sang out beautifully.  Below is an example of one painting using one simple hue in a powerful way.

'Prayer of Healing' by Tish Saunders, 2006

In 2010 I had a show entitled ‘Sacred Geometry’.  I had been painting some mandalas beginning in 2005, and in this show there were many beautiful mandalas.  Over the years, the mandalas have been very popular and there are only a couple that are still available for sale.

'Revealing Process Mandala' by Tish Saunders, 2008

'Daisy Delights Mandala' by Tish Saunders, 2010

I hope that this show and all of the pieces on display are enjoyed by viewers.  Its really been fun for me to assemble pieces from 15 years of painting and see them all hanging together.  There is a distinctive thread running through all of the work, and this reminds me of comments made to me by long-time viewers of my paintings – they often say that my approach can be so different in every show, but they can always tell its my work.

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'Deneb' (Detail) by Francine Renaud

This little Island in the Salish Sea tucked away with its neighbors along a huge island, not too far from Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle, is the home of so many creative people.   Perhaps it has Magic!!   Perhaps we recognize somewhere deep, deep in our bones, the Magic of the Original Garden.  In this Garden there is Beauty, and there are Fauna, Flora and People from times immemorial.

Perhaps the Magic gets stronger when we call places by their original names…

like, “the Salish Sea”.

'Through the Grasses' by Francine Renaud

Our little island has inspired many of it’s people to capture it’s magic and bring it to reflect in paintings, music, plays and stories, to share it’s essence with the whole world.  But first of all, it’s for us who live here and visit, to discover and realize this. Galiano’s many realms have that certain quality that takes us to another level – where time stops and we feel so alive – our Self expanded out into the landscape.

After a year or so of being part of Island’s Edge Gallery and spending much more time back on the Island, I had the opportunity to reconnect with old friends, acquaintances and to meet new islanders and visitors. I had a chance to observe how the magic of the island transforms the viewer. A most valuable experience!!

Last fall, I was invited to put on a solo show at Insight Art Gallery.  I have been so pleased to have this opportunity – to show in a venue where a body of my work could be seen, in the context of this Island and its artistic tradition!  This seemed to be just right.

'Winter Light' by Francine Renaud

What you will see is my process of integrating this love of place and tradition with seeing fresh.  Seeing fresh means, for me, allowing discovery through my own process and also through the work of my peers in the art community at this time.

Seeing fresh is, perceiving Zeitgeist, the spirit of the time.

Here and Now…..

Wondering why you haven’t seen much of me since the “Mini Show”?

Come and see what this fair month of September has to offer at “Insight.”

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Looking North, Galiano Island by Bruce Dolsen

Over the dreary, rainy months of the past winter, I turned for inspiration to my sketch books and watercolours from Galiano and from years past, some of them from my travels. I found new inspiration in looking at these images, and found new life in them as I re-worked them in larger formats in acrylic. In doing so, I was struck by the notion that, while I was revising the image, I was in fact “re-visioning” the experience, and that “re-visioning” is what happens in image making anyway: whatever the subject matter happens to be, the resulting image is strictly a personal expression of experiencing it. Painting and image making are processes calling for vision, to begin with, and envisioning in order for the image to manifest itself.

'Periwinkles' by Bruce Dolsen

Once the light returned and the rain stopped, I could again visit favorite locations, and I once again found the familiar rocks and forests, the trails and winding roads, the changing sea and sky, and the blossoming earth were sources of inspiration—and of new vision. I worked outdoors, sketching and laying out paintings, but also taking reference photos with which to return to the studio to let the painting happen. To my eye, the photos are never as interesting (or real?) as the “revisioned” image that emerges, and I think that has something to do with the way we see, as opposed to the image a fixed lens presents: our eyes are constantly moving, creating composite images which our brain interprets as one seamless experience. By contrast, a camera’s fixed lens gives only one impression, a fixed blink at the world, and while the camera has undeniable advantages and creative possibilities, the composite image we carry around in our heads is the impression that lasts.

'Looking South to Ruxton Island' by Bruce Dolsen

On another note, during the opening weekend of my exhibition, my wife Marian will be doing a very special draw.  In September she is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, in Africa, to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society (her mother has Alzheimer’s).  She has to raise $10,000. for the climb and has been licensed to sell raffle tickets for 3 woven ‘Forget-me-not’ Scarves she has made.  The draw is taking place at Insight Gallery on July 31 at 3:00 p.m.  Marian will be selling the tickets at all the various venues, including a table outside of the Market.

'Poppies #1' by Bruce Dolsen

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'Path at the Bluff' by Betsy Fairbrother

“As a respectful & vigilant observer, I continue to be inspired by the intoxicating visual perfumes of nature, harmonies, rhythms of colour and form that surround me.   When I approach every blank canvas, I see it as a beginning of a new relationship with the end result feeling like a child of my imagination.

'Cabin in the Glen' by Betsy Fairbrother

This past year, my eyes have been drawn to the idyllic quality of the many landscapes on island, those lovely walks, and vistas intrinsic to the island spirit.   In my landscapes, I mostly work from memory, hoping to capture the spirit and love of place.

'In the Field' by Betsy Fairbrother

I have also thoroughly enjoyed exploring the human form, by playing with images of my shadow infused with colour and my garden statues that grace and guard my inner sanctum”.

'Cupid Amidst Flowers' by Betsy Fairbrother

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'Paternity Analysis' by Sam Hesse

‘ECLECTICA’, this year’s Opening Show, is an exciting, eclectic mix of sculpture, painting, photography, glass art, and more, all in a furnished setting with home decor items for sale. Featuring some inspired and skilled new artists to the island, the gallery will also show an outstanding mineral display for the viewer’s pleasure. Come and explore many beautiful offerings in a visually stimulating environment.

'Pomegranate' by Bruce Dolsen

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