The Salmon Arm Art Gallery is hosting a Federation of Canadian Artists National Juried Exhibition. The exhibition opened last Fridayand runs until Thursday May 19.
The Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is by donation.
The exhibition features work from 19 Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) members from across Canada. Pieces for the juried exhibit are selected by members of the FCA for their artistic merit. According to Tracey Kutschker, the curator of the Salmon Arm Art Gallery, artists from the Shuswap area can belong to either the North Okanagan or Thompson Nicola chapters of the FCA.
Five artists from the Salmon Arm area are featured in the exhibit: Janice Cleland, Margaret Robertson, Frieda Martin, Sharyn Olfert and Justin Maas.
Cleland’s work focuses on acrylic, pastel and oil landscape and still life paintings. According to her website, Cleland tries to paint outdoors as much as possible, but also works from sketches and photographs taken on her regular outdoor excursions. Her work has been featured in FCA juried exhibitions in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Cleland’s painting of Mount Ida won the award of excellence at the recent open show hosted by the Thompson Nicola Shuswap Chapter of the FCA.
Robertson’s work varies greatly in terms of style, from realistic to abstract. Robertson uses primarily watercolour and oils but also pastel, graphite, ink and collage.
Martin, a Salmon Arm resident since 1982, works primarily in ink and watercolour.
“I love watercolour for the immediacy and fluidity it involves, but pen and ink allows me to indulge in the drawing that I have always loved to do,” says Martin in the bio on her website.
Olfert’s website says that her paintings, most of which are landscapes and still life, are inspired by the travels she has taken with her husband, but also by the Salmon Arm area itself.
Maas, whose painting Gypsy Eyes won first place at Thompson Nicola Shuswap Chapter of the FCA’s recent open show, works mainly on portraits. Maas paints in pastel and acrylic and also sketches. Well-known celebrities and exotic animals are the subject of many of Maas’ paintings and drawings.
Standout entries into the exhibition from outside the Salmon Arm area include Illumination in the Rain, a cityscape painted by Debbie Milner-Lively from Kamloops and December Moon, painted by Anne-Marie Harvey from Penticton.
There will be a coffee break and artist talk with some of the artists whose paintings are being exhibited, at the art gallery on May 19 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Upcoming exhibits at the Salmon Arm Art Gallery include Boundaries: Paperworks by Leora Gesser from which opens on June 3 at 7 p.m. and runs until June 25, and Trail Mix: 15 Shuswap Trails highlighted by artists, photographers and guides, which opens on June 30 and runs until August 27.