Plant Memory
Tsunkeo Kokubo

March 3 – April 15 (East Gallery)

The inspiration for this exhibition of large size paintings is based on the artist’s own family history. Kokubo’s family spent time in the internment camps in the Slocan Valley. The plants in her mother’s garden originated from BC Coastal communities and before that from Japan. This realization led to an exploration of the connection between the origins of plants and the movement of immigrants as they came from Europe to eventually settle in the Kootenays. The paintings not only depict images of plants but also reference what historical or cultural story they may tell.


Fred Wah, Jin Zhang, Thomas Loh, Bessie Wapp, Nicola Harwood, Tomoyo Ihaya, Phillip Djwa, Hiromoto Ida, Patrice Leung

March 3 – April 15 (West Gallery)

This interactive media installation explores the theme of Chinese immigration to British Columbia, both historical and contemporary and the tensions that exist between them. The exhibition is largely directed by the viewers who participate in an historical Chinese lottery game resulting in the projection of a fortune. The random nature of the fortune reflects the uncertainties faced by new immigrants and often echo the tradition of Chinese proverbs and fortune telling.


Young Visions 2017

April 20 – May 27

Young Visions is an important part of the Kootenay Gallery’s community outreach program. In celebration of a year-long endeavour, the students and teachers from School District 20 are provided with the opportunity to exhibit their visual interpretations of life and community in the Kootenays. In mounting this exhibition, the gallery staff introduces the participants to the professionalism that is involved in an artist’s career, and provides a site where the many talents of students and teachers alike can be presented to the community at large.


West Kootenay Camera Club Photo Salon

Photographs by members of the West Kootenay Camera Club.

The annual Photo Salon, presented by the West Kootenay Camera Club, is part of the Kootenay Gallery’s ongoing community outreach program. In its 20th year, this exhibition provides an opportunity for both professional and amateur photographers to present their recent photographic work in a professional gallery setting. Participation in this four day exhibit is determined through an adjudication process carried out by adjudicators from the National Association of Photographic Arts.


150+ Creative Acts

Susan Andrews Grace – Sarah Elizabeth Grimwood – Jane Merks – Natasha Smith – Deborah Thompson – Rachel Yoder

June 16 – July 29

Six artists’ response to the theme 150 Creative Acts. Join us for this special show to acknowledge the anniversary of Confederation. The original pieces of work are striking both individually and as a group.

In the West Gallery, the community has an opportunity to try their own creative acts with stations for drawing, painting, weaving, writing and collaging.


Remediating Curtis

Stephen Foster

August 4 – September 16

At the turn of the last century, Edward Curtis travelled the North American continent taking photos of the disappearing lifestyle of indigenous cultures. While his photographs brought awareness to the settler community of this immense cultural loss, Curtis often staged his photos and portrayed his subjects in a culturally-inaccurate manner. Artist Stephen Foster, of mixed Haida and European heritage, used Curtis’ exaggerated body of work as a starting point to examine the colonial legacy entrenched in mass-media and North American popular culture. Foster has created an installation using video, sound and digital photo-montage to explore this topic.

Class Act: Digital Arts & New Media Students

August 4 – September 16

The year-end show of the Digital Arts & New Media Program at Selkirk College featured exciting new work by students. The exhibition will feature selected digital 2-D images and a 3-d projection. While the world of digital technology may be foreign to some of you, these students are exploring the medium with passion.

 


Venus Spreads Her Wings

Catherine Stewart

September 22 – November 4

Opens September 22 at 7:00 pm

The exhibition Venus Spreads Her Wings is a selection of images from three series of photo-based artworks. Using the zoological collections at the University of British Columbia as source material for her artistic practice, Stewart focused on the colour differences between the sexes of particular bird species and “the ceaseless, tragic, yet beautiful cycle of sex, birth, life and death that plays out for all species in response to both intrinsic and external forces and the underlying laws of nature”. Also included are images printed on metallic photographic paper that juxtapose details of plumage with close-ups of sensually appealing clothing. Over the centuries clothing design has liberally borrowed from the avian world both directly with the use of plumage as adornment, and indirectly by mimicking colour textures and patterns.


Sway

Katherine Pickering

September 22 – November 4

Opens September 22 at 7:00 pm

Katherine Pickering is an Okanagan-based painter. Recently Pickering has extended her art practice from painting to include sculpture, the inspiration for which comes from her investigation into the rich intersection between the history of abstraction in painting and our experience of night’s darkness. The combination of thick layers of acrylic paint on canvases which are then manipulated to create various forms are meant to reference guideposts in the nighttime landscape.

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