‘What does the Columbia Basin mean to you?’ was the question.
Revelstoke artist Bruce Thomas ‘conducted’ ten local artists – Sue Davies, Julie Kozek, Peter Blackmore, Tina Lindegaard, Tina Bafaro, Mas Matsushita, John Devitt, Jacquie Pendergast, David Rooney and Cat Mather – on a one-weekend collaborative art project called the Columbia Basin Community Art Project to create a new 32-foot long mural to adorn the outside of the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre.
The challenge, says Thomas, was the clock. They chose to represent the Columbia Valley from the river level. The view from the Big Eddy southward will be familiar to Revelstokians.
The artists created a layered colour scheme. “We went with a far more iconographic idea of a colour palette that we felt fit the area,” Thomas said.
They focused on the natural landscape, paying homage to things that have been extirpated or evicted from the valley bottom – stumps depicting the flooding of the reservoir, caribou and more.
“We wanted to incorporate the natural phenomenon that tells the story of the Columbia Basin in a historical but also present and future [way],” he said. “Let’s get the widest angle depicting all the life inside of it in a colourful graphic so you can see it from 500 yards – and hopefully beautify the former cop shop, which is now the art gallery.”
The exhibit will feature a video of the process and sketch work.
Coreen Tucker premieres Behind the Mask
Revelstoke’s Coreen Tucker presents her first show. Her works synthesize cast masks, naturally stencilled canvas and organic fabrics in unique combinations.
Tucker has lived in Revelstoke since 1980, but has recently focused on her art. “I’ve always dabbled a little bit, but this year I decided to get serious,” she said. “I paint everyday because I love it and I have the opportunity right now to do that. I’ve decided to put a lot of focus on my art. I just love creating. It’s just like any artist – it’s what’s on the inside – it sort of comes out and lots of times you don’t even know what’s going to come out,” Tucker said.
“You start with a bit of an idea and then go from there.”
Dawn Thrasher explores the Durrand Glacier
“That overwhelming experience of being almost on another planet” is what Dawn Thrasher portrays in her series Upward Bound, which is based in studies she created while exploring the alpine bloom in August of 2009. “It moved me greatly,” she said of the visit. “You can actually see the cycle of nature as it moves.”
Her representations evoke the fluid nature of the natural alpine glacier and summer bloom.
The acrylic works include vistas and more focused studies of natural flora.
Thrasher said the experience was transcendent and personal, something she sought to express in the works. “It’s just like nature, it’s never going to be the same.”
See the photo gallery preview here.
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The opening reception is Friday, June 8 from 6–9 p.m. at the RVAC. The show runs until July 6.