The Artym Gallery is pleased to welcome Cameron Bird and Vance Theoret back to Invermere.
Both artists will be at the gallery for an opening reception on Friday, April 6 from 6 to 9 p.m., and for a demonstration of their respective art forms on Saturday, April 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Bird is an oil painter and creates landscape works of the wildness of B.C., and Theoret carves stone into the form of animals and birds from the north.
Theoret sculpts many different animals, but his favourite subjects have always been bears. He finds their personalities and humanlike habits endearing and enjoys titling his pieces with whimsical and humorous names: “Who needs a rocking chair?” and “You can be such a birch!” to name a couple.
His time-consuming techniques include roughing out the piece with coarse tools (chisels, saws, etc.) and then finishing them with an exhaustive sanding and polishing process — it is always fascinating to see a bear coming forth from a (rather plain) block of stone.
Although inspired by traditional Inuit art, Theoret has forged his own path away from it, maintaining his Canadian roots while injecting his own sense of whimsy and fun into his sculptures.
Bird is the quintessential Canadian painter. Born and raised in British Columbia, he grew up with the wild landscape around him, calling to him.
He has always been inspired by the Group of Seven, but has “always been more inspired by the Group’s working methods and lifestyles than any specific artist.”
This show is an homage to that formative inspiration — the Group of Seven exhibitions that are touring overseas right now feature studies that each painter did on location displayed next to the larger finished work, and this is how Bird’s show at Artym will be presented.
“I was always intrigued as to the decisions made when they went from a small piece to larger ones. We thought since I did many studies and sketches outside and in the studio that it would make a different and exciting show if we presented it in that way,” Bird says.
The Artym Gallery is pleased to welcome back these two accomplished and experienced artists to Invermere.
Take the opportunity to meet them at the opening reception on April 6th from 6 to 9 p.m.
If you can’t make it for the evening, be sure to stop by the gallery to see them create their unique works. Cameron will be inside the gallery, while Vance will be out in front from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The show continues until April 15th, and all of their new work will also be on the website artymgallery.com.