Tag: artist

Every Painting Has a Story #5 – Diana Waller’s Women of the Bible Series

Diana Waller, a Blind Bay Painter, is well known in the Shuswap area for her creative use of glass and paint and now is exploring new ideas using mixed media.  Mixed media is a combination of more than one medium, in her case she uses paint, glass, paper, fabric, plastic, and any other objects she might find that would enhance the concept she is creating.  In her new series, called “Women of the Bible”, she uses several of these combination of materials to create a “painting” on a tile.

Diana has completed 8 of the 11 planned tile paintings and is continuing to work on the remaining pieces.  Each tile is backed with cork and uses a variety of materials to create the art.

The women of the Bible each have their own story to tell in each tile.

The Samaritan Women – “He told me everything I have ever done!”  Sarah – “I will give you and Sarah a son.  Sarah laughed, “A Woman, my age can have a baby?”  Ruth – Ruth said to Naomi her mother-in-law,  “Perhaps I can go into the field and glean
where she met Boaz her husband to be!” Rachel – Rachel came with her father sheep and ,when Jacob saw Rachel, he fell passionately in love with her.  Mary and Martha – “Lord do you not care that my sister left me to do all the work ?  Mary has chosen the best part”.  Lydia – A businesswoman, makes cloth of purple from a rare dye.  Hannah – “I am not drunk but very sad, I’m pouring out my heart to God”  Ester – Queen of Persia ,not invited she fell down before the king and risked her life to save her people.

If you are interested in purchasing any of Diana’s tiles, you can contact us using the Art in the Shuswap “Contact Us” page.

 

When Are You an Artist?

IMG_3899When are you an Artist?  Interesting how people have varying opinions on this question.  I found Deborah Christensen’s response, a writer and artist who looked at various “definitions” of an artist and whether there was any correlation with fact or history, one of the best responses I’ve seen to the question.  Here is a link to her article.  Am I an Artist?

 

The Mighty Sockeye Salmon

The Mighty Sockeye Salmon

 

Diana Waller – The Mighty Salmon – 11×14″ Mosaic stained glass window SOLD
Betty Schriver – This is Mine – Get your Own! 20×16 acrylic on canvas, $350 Photo reference of bear by Mary McGee
Joey Nash – Primal Directive – about 48″ acrylic on driftwood, $995
Judi Reglin – New Life 18×24 Mixed Medium $100
Joey Nash – Sockeye Salmon/Life Cycle -26″ Acrylic on Driftwood $525
Betty Schriver – Adams River Salmon Run 2; 11×14″ framed Sold
Melody Roth – “Leap of Faith” 19×26″ Acrylic $200.00
Betty Schriver – It’s Time – Acrylic Ink Pour and acrylics 5×7″ $45 ea or 2 for $80
Joey Nash – Coming Home 48″ acrylic on driftwood, $995
Betty Schriver – Adams River Salmon Run 3 – SOLD
Judi Reglin- Metal 1 – 12×16 Mixed Medium Acrylic/Watercolour/Ink $60 unframed
Joey Nash – Circle of Life – about 48″ acrylic on driftwood, $995
Diana Waller Sockeye – 10 x 8 mosaic on glass, SOLD
Judi Reglin- Metal 2 – 16×20 Mixed Medium Acrylic/Watercolour/Ink $75 Unframed
Betty Schriver – Spawning Time at the Flume -18 x 24″ $250
Betty Schriver – Shuswap Salmon 12×12″x 4 Tetratych, Mixed Media $400 for all four, or $125 each

It’s a fight against all odds for the mighty sockeye salmon to make it home.  For every pair of salmon that returned home to the Adams River, up to 4000 eggs are released.  Out of the 4000 eggs, only about 2 on average are able to survive the complete cycle to come back to the Adams River to reproduce and then die.  As an egg, they need to survive being eaten as food and the water temperature need to be right for them.  From each bunch of eggs, about 900 make it to the “fry” stage.  Here they eat “plankton” which is developed from the Salmon parents dieing.  Its somewhat tragic to think that in order for the species to survive, the parent salmon also have to die.  As they continue to grow in the lake they are called “parr” and then when they reach an adult’s hand size, “smolts”.

After 2 or 3 years in the lake, they are strong enough for the next adventure…heading to sea.  About 250 smolts from the initial 4000 eggs of a pair, take about 3 weeks to get there.  The smolts face yet another danger as they meet salty sea water for the first time.  They swim near the surface where the river floats on top of the ocean to get acclimatized and their kidneys get used to the extra salt.

Once at sea, the salmon must survive and overcome problems of water pollution (plastic and styrofoam), hunters like sharks, tunas, swordfish, sea lions, etc.  People fish for sockeye as well.  While it’s a great food source for humans, nets used to catch fish are sometimes left behind as garbage and create invisible traps that kill fish and other animals.

After 2 years at sea, when they are 4 years old they return to their home rivers.  This is called a 4 year return cycle.  How do they do this?  They say they “smell” their way following a scent of water as it flows along.  They can sense through their pores changes in the water, its chemistry, electrical charge, and pressure and can tell whether they’re in their birth stream river lake or sea.  Out of the 4000 initial eggs from the pair of salmon, only 2 make it back home to reproduce.

The Sockeye Salmon life cycle is both a tragic and miraculous story of endurance and perseverance.  There are any number of things that can tip the scale to reduce the numbers and it’s important we are all guardians of the environment to enable this special creature to continue.

Witness the sockeye arriving home at the Adams River at the Salute to the Sockeye festival.  There is an interpretative centre that can answer any question that you have.  For the festival, they have a wonderful artisan market where local artists sell their wares all in the celebration of the return of the sockeye.    Art in the Shuswap also has several paintings depicting this significant part of our natural environment.

Art in the Shuswap – all art is original and you can use the contact us page if you would like more information about any of the art or would like to purchase.   Double click on the painting to see a larger view.