Local artists held the third annual “Art in the Garden” event on the weekend of July 26-27.
Sunny skies and warm temperatures returned to the Similkameen valley, creating a comfortable outdoor venue for the display of local art, which took place at the home of Kermeeos artist Bonny Roberts at 423 Vanderlinde Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Bonny Roberts, Bev Smith, Lisa Zbinden and Myra Hammond, all local artists, had artwork on display during the informal two day art show. The event provided the four Keremeos artists with an opportunity to showcase their talents and increase local awareness to the budding artistic community that is growing in the Lower Similkameen.
Lisa Zbinden showcased several canvasses of her work at the entrance to the show.
An abstractionist, Zbinden uses acrylic and mixed media in her art creations. Zbinden has been painting for years and teaches art to local children after school.
Bev Smith considers art a passionate hobby that she has been involved in for 20 years. Some examples of her work in the showing included arcylics and photo art.
Myra Hammond also had her works represented at the show.
Bonny Roberts has hosted Art in the Garden for the past three years. A prolific artist in her own right, Roberts has been painting for 35 years.
“My main thing - what I teach is colour,” she said, “my focus is on the three primary colours - the same ones you use in your printer.”
Roberts began painting with watercolours, but her more recent work includes acrylics. Over time she has become more impressionistic and abstarct.
“I think that’s the harder method to do,” she said, it’s totally creative. The same rules apply as with realism, but you have nothing to go by.” Roberts believes art is all about the “science of colour.”
“An artist who doesn’t understand colour is like a muscian who doesn’t understand notes,” she said.
Roberts says that for her, in art, “everything is colour.” That is evident in her paintings, bright and bold, with the colours almost leaping out of the canvas. Part of Roberts’ extensive art display includes a number of canvasses depicting local scenes, from such titles as “Ice on the Ashnola” to Skaha Pines.” She also has on display a number of works that utilize resin. Roberts said her interest was originally piqued by some examples of the art form, but she didn’t particularly like what was being done with it.
Using a material that is common to the aerospace and plastics industry, Roberts said resin can be horrible to work with. She is still experimenting with the medium, lately adding colour to the resin while pouring it. Some of her pieces include multi-layering of resin with paint applied in between. The result appears to be three dimensional.
Roberts said the medium is becoming more and more common among the higher profile galleries on the Lower Mainland. She is continually finding new ways of working her colours into the resin, that add to the complexity of a piece.
As for describing the creative process itself, Roberts said she has a hard time explaining how she paints.
“ I always start with colour, “ she said. Her methods develop as part of the creative process from there.
“You name it, I’ve done it,” she said.