Wondering what to do to please yourself—-or your guests—in the sunny summer days ahead? A visit to an artist’s studio can make a great outing, paired with a day of wine touring or just savouring the spectacular landscape we enjoy here in the South Okanagan.
A group of 12 local artists, including encaustic artist Thea Haubrich, a member of the Oliver Community Arts Council, have teamed up to offer a Studio Tour. They will open their studios to the public from May till October. Taking their cue from the successful self-guided studio tour offered last year by artists on the Naramata Bench, the South Okanagan “Lake-to-Lake” artists are extending the possibilities for everyone to explore art in the place where it is created. (And, by the way, the “Art on the Naramata Bench” Studio Tour is up and running again this year, so with the addition of this new Tour Route, there are studios lined up all the way from Naramata to Vaseux Lake, just waiting for you to come in and say hello!)
In the new “Lake-to-Lake” Studio Tour Route, the twelve artists offer a journey along the ‘Corkscrew Drive Wine Trail’, which takes you from Penticton along hauntingly lovely Skaha Lake via Eastside Road and the Oliver Ranch Road, to Vaseux Lake.
Studio visits are an unusual and colourful way to meet the artists and their work ‘on home ground’. You can meet the artists, see how they use their tools and work-space — and witness for yourself the work behind the works!
You’ll encounter artists working in a wide variety of media. Besides Thea’s work in hot beeswax, there are painters, a potter, a sculptor, a photographer, one working with gourds and another encaustic artist! They are all keen to welcome you and happy to share with you how they do what they do.
To get you started: you’ll find brochures at your nearest visitors’ centre, wineries, hotels/motels, bookstores, local libraries and galleries. You can also download the brochure and tour map from http://bit.ly/jC39sp The tour map (part of Google maps) lists all participating artists, their locations, contact information, and links to websites.
It’s simple to plan your tour. Decide which studios you’d like to see, check the hours of opening, and set out. As you travel the route, watch for the Studio Tour signs telling you that the artist is “In” (or call ahead). Visiting an artist in the special atmosphere of a working studio is a wonderful way to explore the Valley’s treasures. Enjoy your valley touring, and expand your art collection through personal connections with the artists.
In other news, Haubrich has recently won the competition for the cover art in Okanagan Art Work magazine’s fifth anniversary issue (May 2011). Go to this link for more information and to see her winning submission: http://www.s2sartworks.com/MayCoverArt.html
To top it off, she won second place as well! Congratulations Thea!
More about Thea Haubrich’s encaustic art can be found at these sites:
Web: http://www.encaustic.ca Online store: http://www.encaustic.ca/shop/html/ Fine Art: http://www.theahaubrich.com Blog: http://encausticcanada.wordpress.com/
See the Art of John Salsnek at
The courtyard gives access to the whole facility around the square: performance area, gallery, lobby, gift shop, studios, concession, administrative offices, and washrooms.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal” has become the tag line for The Rip-Offs, a collective of nine South Okanagan artists who shamelessly pilfer their creative ideas from great works of art. In a Summer Studio exhibit in July, this multimedia collective interpreted the work of American oil painter Georgia O’Keeffe, each artist in their own medium. They chose as their inspiration O’Keeffe’s dramatic Pink Tulip.
Barbara Levant has been weaving, spinning, and dying for 32 years. She recreated Pink Tulip using a transparency woven with fishing line and embroidery thread (at left). Barbara also dyed yarns in the colours of O’Keeffe’s work and wove an elegant scarf.
Originally a writer from Switzerland, Kurt Hutterli also works with mixed media objects to create entertaining and interactive 3D installations. In his whimsical creation, the tulip resembles an “exploded diagram” with pistil and stamens as a 3D structure standing in front of a painting of the tulip petals.
Digital photographer Russell Work focuses on landscapes and other panoramic subjects, so his interpretation of O’Keeffe’s Pink Tulip closeup view was an artistic departure for him. “When I first saw Pink Tulip, my first thought was ‘vegetables“.” He first photographed a bean, a slice of red onion, some red cabbage leaves, and a zucchini. Using photoshopping software, he shaped and twisted each photo and then pasted each into position on a master photo to represent the various parts of the flower: the petals, stamen, pistil, leaf, and so on. The results are displayed at left.
JoAnn Turner juxtaposed the delicacy of the spring flower with a symbol of mortality: she painted the tulip across the surface of a cow skull. (see left).
From his panoramic landscapes of Oliver, Osoyoos, and McIntyre Bluff to his delicate closeups of local flora and fauna, Russell Work’s photographs have reflected some of the most iconic images of the South Okanagan. The local photographer is the featured artist in residence at Summer Studio from August 10th – 15th at the Quail’s Nest Arts Centre.
