Blind Bay artist Becky McMahon was one of a dozen artists who participated in the 2016 Art in the Park program in Glacier National Park. Reminiscent of the late 1800s when artists arrived in the mountains on the Canadian Pacific Railway, 12 Canadian artists spent four days in the historic Rogers Pass area of Glacier National Park.
The artists explored the stunning landscapes and rich history of the area, photographing, and sketching.
McMahon says it was an incredible artistic adventure with the diversity of the flora and fauna and geology.
“It really was a wonderful experience to share with other artists the beauty of Glacier Park. It’s stunning. It’s an Interior rain forest, almost like being on the Coast but not quite with all the alpine stuff. There were still early summer flowers coming in. I love to paint rocks, trees, and mountains and water, and there was a lot of that around there. The waterfall was just amazing.”
McMahon, an award winning artist, moved to Blind Bay four years ago from the Coast. She has painted in oils, acrylics, watercolours, coloured pencil and worked in clay, glass engraving, stained glass and fibre arts. But now her medium of choice is Oriental brush painting. Her art for the exhibit will be done in Chinese Ink and watercolours on mulberry paper.
“I’m not a patient kind of person and Chinese brush painting is a very immediate way of painting. That’s the upside. The downside is that it isn’t a very forgiving medium,” she said.
“It’s so transparent. You can’t erase it and you can’t subtract.”
She did sketches and took over 300 pictures while she was there. The landscape nearby gave her the inspiration she needed.
“We split up in different groups. Some wanted to climb the highest peaks – I wasn’t one of them. There were many trails around.”
Their accommodation was in the Alpine Club of Canada’s rustic A.O. Wheeler Hut. Like the counterparts of the late 1800s, they were filling their own water buckets.
“We were roughing it a bit but no one minded. It was an un-plumbed, unheated sort of hut but it turned out to be an amazing space.”
The artists ranged in age from early 20s to mid 70s. McMahon says they left their egos at the door and really enjoyed each other’s company. The conversations, not surprisingly, was often about art, and they shared tips and techniques.
In November, all 12 artists will exhibit artwork and journals, inspired by their visit to the national park, at the Revelstoke Visual Arts Centre. After that, the exhibit will tour across Canada.
“We have to have three major pieces done by the 28th of October. It’s not that I can’t do it, but it’s pushing it a little,” says McMahon laughing.
Currently McMahon has seven paintings at Bradbury’s Restaurant on Hudson Street as part of Salmon Arm’s Artist’s Crawl. She is also part of the Artists Collaborative in the Reedman Gallery at Blind Bay Hall.