What is the impact of art on the brain?
Handworks Gallery exhibits fascinating and stunning works by individuals with acquired brain injury. The 15 artists represented in the exhibit attest to the success of the popular Relaxation through Art program, which encourages the brain injured to develop their artistic skills. The South Okanagan Similkameen Brain Injury Society (SOSBIS) has offered Relaxation through Art to its members since May 2000, as part of their psycho-social program.
After acquiring a brain injury, patients are faced with physical and cognitve deficits such as loss of motor skills, reduced concentration, faulty memory, or inability to talk. They must then learn to make physical and cognitive changes in a world which often has no patience for disability. Art becomes a powerful tool to cope with stressors, express thoughts and feelings, and improve brain function. Member artists attest that they have gained “patience, self-confidence, encouragement, friendship, and pleasure” from their artistic endeavours.
It is a special pleasure for Handworks Gallery to be presenting the artwork of individuals who have an acquired brain injury. Ken Ballyntyne, vice chair of the SOSBIS and a brain injury survivor, adds: “What many of the participants didn’t realize is that they show real talent. The art they have produced and are showing at Handworks Gallery is indeed excellent. The show is worth your time to view it. ”
Drop by the gallery from April 6 -28 … and be prepared to be inspired!
Brain Injury Society April 6 – 28 Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday 10 – 4:30 Saturday 10 -4Starting April 19 the gallery will be open Mondays as well, with hours every day 9:30 – 5
Handworks Gallery 35648 – 97 St. Box 271, Oliver, BC V0H 1T0 250-498-6388
“Those Were the Days” is the theme chosen for the 27th annual Fall Art Show and Sale, October 2 and 3, 2010. The Oliver Community Arts Council has been planning this year’s event with inspiration drawn from the Oliver and District Heritage Society.
“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.
