Main Wall: BC Wild by Kaaren Soby
Kaaren Soby has lived in the Bulkley Valley since the 1970s but was born and raised in High River, Alberta. She has enjoyed growing recognition as a painter of merit with exceptional talent and a gift that enables her to capture the joy in nature. Her paintings are in private collections across North America and Europe.
Kaaren’s vibrantly coloured canvases are loosely painted and full of energy reflective of her own uninhibited enthusiasm and exuberance. Kaaren studied with Nichola Bjelajac at the Forum Art Institute in Winnipeg for a year and was apprenticed to sculptor Katie Ohe at the Alberta College of Art. Of her own work Kaaren says, “when I paint, I try to keep myself away from getting formal and looking for a finished product because then you lose the flavour and the interest, the life and the juiciness, and that element in the good art that allows the observer/participant to use their own awareness to complete the mystery. That’s the kind of art that I respond to – it’s very lively art. It’s very juicy, very organic art.” Kaaren has led a diverse and unorthodox life, travelling widely and selectively gleaning elements of other cultures and beliefs and integrating them with her own intuitive sense of spirituality. Her adventures and experiences include teaching, folk singing, silviculture, tree-planting, prospecting and petrology, practicing and teaching somatics, and four years of living among three Chipewan communities in northern Saskatchewan. She and her partner, Larry, and two children moved to their “perfect piece of land” in Telkwa in the 70s to build the off-grid house which they still call home. All paintings are acrylic on canvas. From left to right: Albatross Soaring Behind Gulf Island Ferry - $3900 Red Tailed Hawk Coming In - $3600 Mama Mountain Goat Coaxing Kid Across A Creek - $4600 Mama Mountain Goat Coaxing Kid Across A Creek - $4600 Nisga'a Wilderness - $6000 Bjorn, Salmon Fishing - $7000 An Exquisite Gesture of Motherhood - $4000 Disappearing Caribou - $6000 A Lovely Caribou - $3200 |
Arrivals Hall: Lynn Cociani and Skeena Valley Fabricating
Lynn Cociani, Summer at Shames, acrylic on canvas. $850 Skeena Valley Fabricating, plasma cut metal silhouettes, from left to right: Large Sitka and Two Bears - $200 Four Sitka Trees - $110 Bear Print Coasters - $40 Howling Wolf - $400 Small Deer - $35 Eagle Landing on Tree - $135 Single Sitka Tree - $50 Two Sitka Trees - $75 Moose - $85 Small Sitka and Two Bears - $55 Main Entrance: Marie-Eve Lavigne
Top Left: Mushroom Mug 1, pottery - $45 Top Right: Mushroom Mug 2, pottery - $45 Middle Left: Northern Lights and Mountain Platter, pottery - $95 Middle Right: Mushroom Medley Bowl, pottery - $95 Bottom Left: Fox in the Woods Platter, pottery - $65 Bottom Centre: River and Moon Salad Bowl, pottery - $85 Bottom Right: Red Cabin Platter, pottery - $65 Main Entrance:
Top Shelf: Sherry Neilson, Prophetic Flight, print on canvas - $105 Second Shelf: Tim Block, Mountain Biker, wire sculpture on wood base - $100 Third Shelf: Sherry Neilson, Eddie Park, print on canvas - $195 Bottom Shelf Left: Tim Block, Mountain Goat, wire sculpture on rock base - $75 Bottom Shelf Right: Tim Block, Haida Gwaii Bird, wire sculpture on wood base - $40 |