The trio of Kimberly Kiel, Carolyn Houg and William Liao bring diversity in media and culture to the Avenue Gallery in the heart of Oak Bay this month.
Kiel has always loved creating things – music, dance – and she discovered one of her greatest passions when she first applied a brush to a canvas. Gere continues to find as much joy in the process as in the final product. A full-time artist for 20 years, she expressed herself through a variety of subjects including landscapes and treescapes, figure work and flowers.
“Creating art is a passion for me. Celebrating the joy and color in life,” she says.
Houg is a Vancouver Island-based clay sculptor whose playful creations celebrate our interconnectedness with nature and each other.
“My sculptures are playful and eccentric, often placing subjects in unlikely situations,” Hogg said in a statement. “Birds can fly and ride; polar bears can swim. Many of my characters All go against their usual instincts — all to make us stop and think about what we have in common with other creatures.”
After studying fine arts at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) in Montreal and the University of Alberta in Edmonton, she worked in oils, acrylics, water-based monochrome prints, concrete, and most recently, clay .
Houg’s clay animals and figures are effortless explorations of pose and personality.
“My goal is to make people smile and feel a caring connection to the animals and birds around us, as well as endangered animals and birds elsewhere in the world.”
Houg has participated in numerous solo and group gallery exhibitions in British Columbia and Alberta. In 2015, he won the Best 3D Award at the Sydney Art Exhibition. In 2017, Hogg received the Merit Award at the Sooke Art Show.
Liao’s artistic inspiration began at an early age. Growing up in Beijing, China, he was surrounded by Chinese classical culture and new European art. These influences still define and inspire his work today. After seven years of professional training, he graduated from Beijing Normal University with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.
Specializing in floral, landscape and figurative works, Liao’s paintings combine traditional mediums with modern techniques to offer his viewers another dimension of experience.
to know more information www.theavenuegallery.com.
The much-anticipated new paintings by Isle of Cortez artist Naomi Cairns will be on view at West End Gallery on Broad Street this month.
Born on Vancouver Island in 1984, Cairns developed an interest in art from an early age. She studied at the Mala Spina University College, then Nanaimo, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, France, before graduating with a BA in Fine Arts from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 2007. In 2002, she won a number of prestigious awards and became the youngest recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, and one of her paintings is in the permanent collection of the National War Museum in Ottawa.
Cairns’ time spent in nature, whether it’s hiking or on and around the water, is an endless source of inspiration. Working primarily on large canvases, she enjoys exploring the interplay of light and composition.
Visit westendgallerylltd.com for more information.
Josh Wallace: Midnight Walk put Madrona in Victoria for a month.
Josh Wallace’s paintings capture the viewer’s attention through the mystique suggested by the artist. By creating cinematic snapshots of the larger narrative, Wallace is able to invite the audience into these suggestive and personal scenes. Images of real and imagined places, memories of late-night adventures, and portraits of the people around him reveal a world of youthful curiosity and freedom. This will be the artist’s first major solo exhibition. Wallace graduated in Fine Arts from Victoria University and has received national attention for his work.
Midnight Walk will host a reception with artists on April 6th from 5-7pm and runs through April 13th.
Visit madronagallery.com for more information.
Arts Council Victoria Gallery will present Avis Rasmussen’s The View From Here at a reception on April 15th from 3pm to 5pm
Rasmussen relies on a variety of mediums drawing, drawing, printmaking and narrative poetry.
“My art is with me every day as I enjoy family, friends, teaching or traveling,” she said.
The retrospective consists of more than 100 artworks documenting her six-decade journey, beginning with early watercolors of Beacon Hill Park.
“I believe visitors will be impressed by the depth and variety of artwork presented in this survey exhibition. The View From Here demonstrates how Avis consistently blends in with its surroundings to create artwork,” said VAC Executive Director and Curator Kegan McFadden said.
The View From Here will run from April 12th to May 28th.
Visit artopenings.ca for more information.
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