In the muddy waters of humanity, the arts often choose to express sorrow over joy, disaster over achievement, malice over goodwill. Though opposites amplify each other, we wonder if it is harder to find symbols or marks of joy.
Is achievement not as compelling? Is malice more prevalent?
We have hope that at the core, whether quiet or radiant, life, and every expression of it, is joyful. We would like, through this show, to tip the scales in favour of a hopeful perspective and see the glass half full rather than half empty.
Greta Guzek
Greta embraces and captures the spirit of West Coast landscape. Her intricate designs and vivid colours have become a distinctly joyful feature of her artwork, which has gained wide appeal throughout Canada. She completed a Fine Arts Degree in South Africa, where she grew up and then moved in 1980 to Vancouver, working as a designer and illustrator. Since 1990, Greta has worked as a painter from her studio on the Sunshine Coast.
Motoko
Motoko was born and raised in Japan and immigrated to Canada in 1992. She operates and exhibits her art in her private gallery in Pender Harbour, on the Sunshine Coast. Motoko’s personal inspiration from the beauty and diversity of nature and human emotions are expressed through her use of colour, texture, and stylized abstracted art forms. Her goal is to create art that inspires and generates peaceful and harmonious energy in the viewer’s heart and mind.
Jennifer Drysdale
Jennifer was born in Montreal, Quebec. Her greatest artistic influences were her parents, who were both illustrators and fine art painters also working in the commercial art industry. She studied visual arts in Montreal, Toronto, London, and Guelph, Ontario.
Creating art is a process of mystery and discovery for Jennifer. Trying new mediums and exploring their potential fuels inspiration for her next piece. Through the use of colour, symbol, and metaphor, her artwork strives to tell visual stories of people and places imagined, Planet Earth and its fragile environment.
Working almost daily in her studio in Gibsons, BC, Jennifer draws significant influence from her local environment and enjoys the abundantly creative community in which she lives.
Josefa Fritz Barham
Josefa studied drawing and painting at the Peter Zeiler School of Art in Munich. After she immigrated to Canada in 1999 she met her mentor, the renowned Kathryn Jacobi, who took her on as a private student and helped discover her technique and unique style. Josefa’s paintings are carefully built up in many thin layers of oil paint to achieve a vibrant, kaleidoscopic feel of balance, a fine line between abstract and realism.
She finds her joy and inspiration in the ever-changing beauty of the West Coast. Josefa now works from her studio in Gibsons, BC. She has shown her paintings in numerous exhibitions over the last ten years and is represented by Art Junction Gallery in Whistler.
Kirsten Guzek
Kirsten graduated from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design with a Bachelor in Communication Design. She has been working as a graphic artist in Vancouver for the past fifteen years. Her portfolio has a strong variety of work, with a large focus on environmental design.
“There’s nothing more exciting than seeing your design become a part of a living, breathing space,” she says. She has a passion for communicating ideas through art and design and solving project challenges with creative, collaborative solutions. “I love combining materials, textures, lighting, and painting techniques; the options are limitless and impact is strong.”
Original work specifically designed for the show will be on exhibit at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery from July 9 to August 9, 2020. Visit gpag.ca for gallery hours and safety protocol for visitors.
