MEET THE ARTISTS
TAM IRVING ― PAINTER, SCULPTOR, STUDIO POTTER, CERAMIC ARTIST
Professor Emeritus Emily Carr University of Art and Design, retired from the institution in 1966 after teaching in the ceramics department for 23 years. He has exhibited widely and his work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Anthropology UBC, the West Vancouver Art Museum, the Victoria Art Gallery, the Surrey Art Gallery, the Gardiner Museum Toronto, the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery Waterloo, the Art Gallery of Burlington Ontario, the Canadian Museum of History Ottawa, and the Victoria and Albert Museum London.
Over the years Tam’s work has changed from high fire, wheel-thrown stoneware pots to lower firing ranges using stronger colour and less emphasis on utility.
Recently he has ended his ceramics practice and has transitioned into painting.
ANDRE BERARD & TOM FINNBOGASON ― HORSESHOE BAY BOARDS
At Horseshoe Bay Boards we make one of kind charcuterie boards and other unique wood products. We focus, wherever possible, on using locally harvested wood.
Andre has lived on the North Shore for over 30 years and in Horseshoe Bay for the last 9 years. Tom has lived in Whytecliff for over 30 years.
We are an arts and crafts duo, Andre is the crafty one, Tom the artsy one.
Our unique boards will be available during the Art Walk and can also be seen year-round exclusively at The Gourmet Warehouse.
RUTH LEITHAL ― PAINTER
My work is in constant exploration of different directions of achieving the basics of light, form and depth while also looking for ways to improvise and find freedom in the dynamics of the unpredictable. Working with acrylics and incorporating mixed media techniques, the style is semi-abstract.
I look for and am inspired by the surprises and imperfections of spontaneous strokes and drips that direct and re-direct as the image begins to develop. I try to find a freedom in the unpredictable and acceptance of the imperfect.
In the end the goal is always to conquer the chaos and find a balance, beauty and harmony. In recent years my focus has been the human figure and working from live models.
As with earlier work, I like to use and combine various mediums, texture, and patterns allowing accidents and searching lines to layer and improvise in search of emotion, expression, revelation of the essence and spiritual reality of the subject.
KRISHNA NEALE ― ARTIST
My work is driven by the beauty of transformation – giving forgotten materials new life and purpose. I find inspiration in the old, the discarded, and the rustic, using them as the foundation for something fresh and unexpected. From furnishing dollhouses with scraps, refurbishing old toys, making miniature rustic houses or functional pieces from reclaimed wood, I love to create something new from something old. I also dabble in pottery, wool felting, embroidery and most recently, watercolour painting. The difficulty is staying focused on just one art form.
LIL CHRZAN ― PAINTER
Lil Chrzan is a Canadian Landscape Painter known for her masterful depictions of Golden Light across luminous West Coast scenes. Viewers invited intro her World experience a sense of calm transcendence when taking in the dramatic light-filled paintings.
Chrzan’s paintings are not intended to be direct representations of Nature, but rather a process of extracting the most essential elements in a scene. Her careful brushwork and critical awareness of humanity in relation to nature sets the scene for her own signature style and vision. These works hum with intensity while offering the viewer contemplative calmness.
Lil Chrzan is an honours graduate of the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, BC. She has also studied at the Seattle Realism Academy in Washington State. Lil has participated in over seventeen solo shows as well as over ninety exhibitions in B.C including Splash, Harmony Arts, Daffodil Fundraiser and Forest: Breath of Life. Her work resides in permanent collections of Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s, Lion’s Gate, St. Mary’s Hospitals as well as in the collection of Hamilton Fabbro Law firm and Pettit & Company Law firm.
Lil has recently published a coffee-table style book called “TOWARDS LIGHT” which features more than eight-five landscape paintings of BC.
Lil has lived and painted in the seaside village of Horseshoe Bay since 1991. She lives there with her partner Leslie and their Labrador retriever.
HELEN WEISER ― POTTER
I am a potter living in Horseshoe Bay as well as an instructor, assistant studio manager and technician at Gleneagles Community Centre.
My interests lie in both functional and sculptural pieces, wheel thrown or hand-built so I alternate between practical and whimsical with the aim of finding something new. Surface decoration and various firing techniques are a big part of this. I am also fortunate to be able to fire some of my smaller work in HSBAW co-founder Jackie Frioud’s salt kiln. My other work is either fired in oxidation or in smoke/pit firings. The ceramic world is full of amazing people who happily share thoughts, ideas, ways of making and I am very happy to be part of this dynamic community.
Past exhibits have included WV Harmony Arts, NVAC Art In The Garden, Miniatures Show at Place des Artes, WV Ferry Building and the Silk Purse.
SHABNAM NABAVI ― ARTIST
Shabnam is an associate member of the Federation of Canadian Artists (AFCA).
Shabnam, has been trained for over a decade under the tutelage of a master painter, internationally renowned for his work.
Shabnam’s art has adorned walls in Asia, Europe and North America during the past three decades. Her most recent work – The Reverence Collection – is inspired by Picaso’s cubist art, Gaudi’s naturalistic architecture and BC’s supernatural beauty, a new style she has named Organic Cubism.
TANNIS TURNER ― JEWELLER & PAINTER
Tannis Turner is an artist/jeweller experimenting out of her studio downtown, and recently from the ceramic and woodworking areas in west van rec centers.
“I love to combine different materials, to see how they work together.
(Sometimes they don’t!) I have been approaching my paintings in this way for years, adding shaped lead panels , chain and moldings to textured polymer pieces, in what I think of as an extreme form of collage. I have recently gone back to using resin as an important element to unify the surface.
In my woven and beaded jewellery, I am adding natural found elements – rocks, driftwood and sea glass. I hope you enjoy the show.”
TANNIS TURNER ― JEWELLER & PAINTER
Tannis Turner is an artist/jeweller experimenting out of her studio downtown, and recently from the ceramic and woodworking areas in west van rec centers.
“I love to combine different materials, to see how they work together.
(Sometimes they don’t!) I have been approaching my paintings in this way for years, adding shaped lead panels , chain and moldings to textured polymer pieces, in what I think of as an extreme form of collage. I have recently gone back to using resin as an important element to unify the surface.
In my woven and beaded jewellery, I am adding natural found elements – rocks, driftwood and sea glass. I hope you enjoy the show.”