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At the Galleries: Late summer salons fill area galleries

Salt Spring arts launches prize finalists
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Madrona Gallery showcases Karel Doruyter this month with an opening reception Saturday, Sept. 16 from 1 to 4 p.m.

It’s third solo show with the master artist, Doruyter continues to refine his textured landscapes while also looking inward, creating a collection of complex and engaging pieces. The show also features the longest painting Doruyter has ever made at 15-feet.

Between 1961 and 1968, Doruyter attended the University of British Columbia. He worked in marine design for a number of years which allowed him to explore the BC coast which influenced his subject matter and style. Doruyter currently lives in Penticton, BC.

“Through my travels I have always been drawn to isolated places. In the past these were physical geographical parts of the world I have experienced. Now I find myself going inward, areas of spiritual and emotional isolation that I find disturbing and fascinating. I find recording the former on board or canvas much easier than the latter, but that only adds to the attraction.”

The show runs Sept 16 to 30 at Madrona Gallery, 606 View St.

The Union Club of British Columbia hosts Art + Fare3, a fundraiser for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria on Sept. 23.

Join members for an evening of local food, music and art and a fundraiser for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Proceeds support programs such as Family Sundays – hands-on-art making for the whole family with engaging activities of storytellers, artists, performers and musicians

Other programs include school tours and half-day workshops in schools featuring local artists; teacher resource guides offering free activities and projects for grades K-12 and a new extreme mentorship program connecting local artists and youth

Art + Fare3 features unique exhibitions by a number of Victoria’s finest art galleries and accompanied by local sourced fare. The art is curated and displayed throughout The Union Club, offering guests the opportunity to view, enjoy and acquire unique pieces for their own collections.

Art + Fare3 introduces a silent auction featuring covetable offerings from generous donors.

Tickets are $125 per person (includes a $25 tax receipt, if requested), and patron tickets $1,500 (includes four event tickets + access to AGGV Leadership Circle Benefits + $1,000 tax receipt plus VIP Access to the AGGV for one year) – available at artandfare.com.

Eclectic Gallery offers a salon show featuring Heather Keenan, Chris Alers and Katrina Pavlovsky showcasing different media and themes.

Alers paints colourful, detailed paintings that depict strong naturalistic elements. Working only with acrylic paints and medium, her process includes use of texture, glazing and negative space. The painting process evolves through both spontaneous and measured strokes creating areas of intense activity coupled with soft ethereal aspects. Through multi-layering a thick, tactile effect is created making the painting almost sculptural in nature. The end result is a kind of visual poetry that expresses her love of nature, colour and pattern.

Keenan’s recent work is a narrative on imagined places of gathering; railway stations, streets and landscapes. The figures are at a nexus point, either beginning or ending their passage into or from a place of light. The work is in an impressionistic, automatic style using oil pigment sticks, (oil paint, linseed oil and waxes in stick form) which enable her to draw and paint using her hands, rags and scrapers to erase and build layers.

Pavlovsky was born in Toronto, Canada. Katrina devoted many years to working with both adults and children as a Dance/Movement Educator. In 2007 she relocated to Victoria, British Columbia. At this time she discovered her passion for photography. Nature is the primary source of inspiration in her work, as are dance and music.

The late summer salon runs to Oct. 7 at Eclectic, 2170 Oak Bay Ave.

West End Gallery, presents An Exhibition of New Paintings by Robert Savignac opening Sept. 23.

A native Montréaler and a graduate of Université du Québec à Montréal, Robert is a meticulous and detailed painter whose exhibitions are rare and highly sought out by collectors from across North America. Masterfully playing with colour, perspective and composition his ability to capture truly magnetic scenes is undeniable. Painting landscapes from his travels through Provence, Montréal and the surrounding countryside, Robert conveys a deep connection and understanding of his subject.

An Exhibition of New Paintings by Robert Savignac runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 5 at West End Gallery, 1203 Broad St.

Gage Gallery showcases Gillian Redwood’s The Ferry starting Sept. 19.

The Ferry is an exhibit of new paintings by the Victoria artist featuring large, dynamic canvases documenting journeys by ferry through the Gulf Islands, the San Juan Islands, and further south into distant communities. This is Redwood’s fourth solo exhibit in Victoria. She has exhibited widely in Europe and North America.

‘Travel by ferry is a stress-free taxi ride into the heart of a different culture. In my signature painting ‘The Ferry’, American tourists sit in the back of the boat blown by the wind and kissed by the sun, while the locals stand near the front under a canopy,” Redwood said. “I notice how they stand holding the canopy rail, silent and serious.”

The Ferry runs Sept. 19 to Oct. 7 with an opening reception Sept 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Gage Gallery Arts Collective, 2031 Oak Bay Ave.

Re-vision by Peter McFarlane shows at The Robert Bateman Centre until Oct. 8, integrated with the centre’s exhibit Migrations: Travellers of the Salish Sea. Migrations shows in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Migratory Bird Convention Act, one of the first international conventions on wildlife.

The exhibit explores the migration paths of animals near the Victoria region, enhanced by McFarlane’s sculptures surrounding the tension between the natural and modern world.

“By transforming the harsh realities of that great Canadian icon the chainsaw, where its two stroke engine can level a tree or clear-cut a forest and consequently clear-cut ancient or current culture,” McFarlane said.

Visit The Robert Bateman Centre at 470 Belleville St.

Avenue Gallery offers new work by Ron Parker Sept. 6 to 13.

His landscape oil paintings represent the culmination of skills acquired over 36 years of painting. Parker began with wildlife paintings in 1978, first in watercolour and then acrylics, learning how to render feathers, fir and foliage realistically.

“I have been told by people that they can ‘hear the crash of the waves’ or ‘feel the heat of the sun’ in my paintings. A successful painting is a complete sensory experience and that is my goal,” Parker says.

Visit Avenue Gallery at 2184 Oak Bay Ave.

Hot off a group exhibition, Alcheringa Gallery (an Aboriginal Australian word for the Dreamtime) features the work of individual aboriginal artists from three areas of the Pacific, the Northwest Coast of Canada, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, in the fine art market in Canada and abroad.

The Salt Spring National Art Prize gears up for its gala opening of the finalists’ exhibition Sept. 22.

SSNAP is pleased to announce the launch of its second national competition of Canadian visual art.

The intent of SSNAP is to encourage artists whose practice demonstrates originality, quality, integrity and creativity—resulting in significant work with visual impact and depth of meaning. Approximately 50 finalists will be selected by an independent jury from across Canada to participate in the Finalist Exhibition on Salt Spring Island. All artists’ submissions will be anonymous to the jury. Finalists work is revealed Sept. 22 and the showcase will be open daily through Oct. 22. Finalists may be selected to win one of eight awards, five selected by jurors and three selected by public vote. The award winners will be announced at the Gala Awards Night Oct. 21. Learn more at saltspringartprize.ca.

editor@ oakbaynews.com

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