Oliver Art Gallery

Today’s wildlife paintings are a modern genre of the earliest paintings on
cave walls done by early man. Cave men mixed red and yellow ochre with fish
oil and painted their targeted food sources. Because they butchered these
animals they had a fair concept of the anatomy and looks of each animal.
Some of these paintings were naiive symbols, some realistic, and some
expressionistic and even bordering on abstract form.

Early painted portraits of kings, queens, aristocrats and even ordinary
people were often accompanied by animals that were their hunting dogs,
horses, foxes from the hunt, pheasants, grouse and deer that they shot. Most
of these were done in expressive realism and brought notoriety to the
persons who were depicted.

Lawrence of Arabia had his portrait done sitting on a camel. Exotic women
posed with lions and leopards.

Wildlife painting is so accepted and respected that there is a North
American Center for Wildlife Painting in Jacksonhole, Wyoming that is
visited by fans of this kind of painting from all over the world. Man’s
appreciation of his natural surroundings and the animals, fish and birds
within it make this a popular art form. A former Osoyoos resident, Fran
Jenkins, has had her large sculpted stone bears
exhibited here and for sale. The stone she used was mined locally in Kettle
River country.

Many artistic approaches are used to portray wildlife -in realism like
Robert Bateman, in impressionism like Eduard Degas’ horses or in abstract
form like Picasso’s animals.

At the Oliver Art Gallery we have a talented wildlife artist, Cameron
Ogilvie and also Bianca Craig. All of this Gallery’s artists have tried
their hand at wildlife paintings to exhibit in Sept. so please join us and
vote for your favorite!

The Gallery is pocated at 6046 Main Street, in Oliver and open Tuesday –
Saturday from 11:00AM – 4PM. We have two new artists that have joined the
Oliver Art Gallery. Jan Crawford from Penticton and Mina Battagin from
Osoyoos.
Come and see their paintings and all the wildlife art during September.
Look forward to the October Theme. In October we will be featuring Figures
of the human form.

Art work by Steve Staresina