Thirty-six artists from around the region bring beauty to the gallery this month
If you want to see the variety and talent of our local art community, this month’s Gwen Fox Gallery show is an excellent way to start. For the entire month of April, 36 artists have come together to show off their work to our local community in the gallery’s all-members show.
This exhibit starts on April 2 and continues on until May 4 and each artist has two pieces on display.
“The show is extremely varied because everybody paints extremely differently. So, you’re going to have a lot of favourites,” said Patricia Johnson, the gallery’s exhibit coordinator.
For those who would like to meet our local artists, the exhibit opening reception is on April 13 from 1-3 p.m.
Deb Hartle
Hartle describes her art as nature-guided photography. This month she’s featuring two photography pieces in the gallery. One is called ‘Make a Wish’ and features a dandelion seed head. The other is a beautiful picture of an owl called ‘Snowy Owl’.
“I started [making art] when I got my first camera when I was 15. I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures, but I hadn’t actually had a passion for it. Then I slowly started doing it more over the past nine or ten years,” said Hartle.
Hartle is an adventurer in addition to an artist. Her work comes from going hiking around her home in Gunton but she doesn’t stick to trails made by people. She says that she will follow deer trails and forge her own path looking for inspiration.
Hartle explained that though she started her passion for photography about a decade ago it was really in the last few years that she decided to share her work.
“I started doing just Christmas greeting cards. The first time I sold them was in the Gunton Yard Sale, I sold a few in our yard sale. From there, I started doing some markets,” she said.
Hartle has recently joined the Gwen Fox Gallery thanks to the advice of a friend.
Her advice for artists not sure where to start creating is to find their passion.
“It took me over 60 years to find that and just be patient, it will come. Photography, if it’s a passion, then you’ll feel it just intuitively knowing what to do what to take,” said Hartle.
She welcomes residents to check out this month’s show.
“There’re amazing artists here. I’ve just been looking around at some of the people’s pictures and if you like art, photography, paintings, any type of art, it’s a beautiful place. The people are just so welcoming and nice and lovely,” she said.
Patricia Johnson
Johnson has two of her paintings featured in this month’s exhibit ‘Heron Morning’ which is a watercolour piece and ‘Migration’ which is mixed media featuring watercolour and beadwork.
Her art is varied encompassing work in many different mediums.
“I usually work on a piece of carving and a watercolour and probably an acrylic or maybe two or three watercolours to keep it fresh,” said Johnson.
Johnson’s journey into art started as a child with the support of her family.
“My paternal grandmother was looking after me when I was six months old. She was sitting beside me knitting. I grabbed the yarn and I was playing with it at six months and it didn’t go in my mouth. So, when my mother came home, she said ‘She’s going to be an artist.’ I always have to have my hands busy with creating something, whether it’s just doodles on paper, or something with thread or yarn of some kind of little bit of weaving just to keep myself busy,” said Johnson.
She says that she finds inspiration from the things in her life that get the juices flowing.
“It can be looking in the water and just seeing the ripples and the reflections of the sky in the ripples in water or a puddle,” said Johnson.
Ripples like this actually inspired another piece of hers called ‘Mirror, Mirror’ which showcases her granddaughter reflected in a puddle.
Johnson has been part of the gallery for 24 years and welcomes anyone who wants to join the community.
“I adore the people that I work with. It’s a place to come and get uplifted. So much of the world is so gray right now. And this is the place to come and get a little bit of sunshine,” she said.
She also welcomes passersby who want to stop in and check it out.
“Please come to the gallery and have a look around. It costs nothing to go through our door,” said Johnson.
Audrey Miller-Cheyne
Miller-Cheyne says that her art does vary often reflecting her mood but that this month at the gallery her pieces are bright and positive.
“It’s spring and summer oriented. Occasionally, it seems to be dark but that’s not here today,” she said.
Miller-Cheyne is featuring two acrylic paintings in the gallery this month. One called ‘Purple Swallowtail’ features a butterfly in a bed of flowers, the other, ‘Seasonal Icon’ people may recognize if they venture to our area’s tourist hotspots.
She says that her inspiration comes from the world around her.
“[My inspiration can come from] landscapes, scenery, older buildings, construction. ‘Seasonal Icon’ is the Sandy Hook Pier,” sad Miller-Cheyne.
Her artistic journey started as many artist’s do, scribbling as a child. From there, she turned to more practical skills as a grown up but, when life allowed her more time, she decided to join some art groups. Living in Teulon meant that she naturally joined a group there and a group in Stonewall followed. She joined the Gwen Fox Gallery because it was another way to connect to our local art community.
She encourages other artists or people wanting to start an artistic journey to just go for it.
“Pick up a pen, pick up a pencil pick up paints. YouTube [is a resource]. Everyone loves YouTube. There’s good stuff on YouTube. There’s good stuff on Pinterest and join a group. There is a fabulous artist who told me years ago that she walked past the stairs to the gallery about three or four times before she actually stepped in. She didn’t think she was good enough. We’re all good. We all have art in us of some sort,” said Miller-Cheyne.
She hopes that residents will stop by the gallery this month.
“It’s a great show. It’s a variety and the weather is warming up so come by,” she said.
Garth Palanuk
Palanuk is a very well-known artist in our community. He is a local art teacher as well as a board member at the gallery and shares not only his knowledge and wisdom but, this month, also his art at the gallery.
“My art is very detailed. My background is in engineering so I tend to be very technical. I like to put all the bricks in the building and all the hairs on the dog and everything else. I teach painting, I teach loose, but I can’t do loose. I get really detailed, and I love details,” he said.
This month Palanuk has a large watercolour painting titled, “Afghan Girl” he also has a still life study with a fun medium used to give it a very unique effect.
“The still life is watercolour on crackle paste. Crackle paste is a paste that you put on and the thicker you put it on the bigger the fissures, the thinner, you put it on the smaller the fissures. I wanted it to look like an old fresco and so that’s why I did the crackle paste. I was told you can’t paint on crackle paste with watercolour and I did,” said Palanuk.
He says that his art journey began when he was young under the guidance of his father.
“My dad used to paint with oil and, and pencil and ink and I would copy him and I would sit there and we would draw together and that sort of thing,” said Palanuk.
When he retired Palanuk decided to take a watercolour course to try it out and it’s been his passion ever since.
He says his work is inspired by trying to emulate the things that he sees.
“I’d be watching a movie and I see a scene I go, ‘Oh, I love that scene’ and I stop the movie. Then I take a picture of it and try to emulate some part of it. Maybe it’s a tree, or a waterfall or something,” he said.
Palanuk says that he, like many other artists who are part of the Gwen Fox Gallery, joined the community because of a recommendation that it was a great community from a fellow artist and friend.
Being an art teacher his best advice to students is to practise.
“Keep painting. Don’t stop. Don’t become discouraged. Join an organization so you can work with others. That’s important. Misery likes company,” he said with a laugh, “And for sure get involved, get totally involved and immerse yourself. Don’t think anything you’ve done is bad because it’s different. You always have a vision in your head of what you want and [sometimes] it doesn’t turn out to be that vision but somebody else doesn’t know about your vision. They see it as a brand new piece of art and they fall in love with it.”
Palanuk hopes to see residents stop by the gallery this month.
“Don’t be intimidated. You don’t have to buy anything. Just come and look at the artwork, because there’s so much talent in the area,” he said.
The Gwen Fox Gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
