The Leighdon Studio Gallery is situated in a trendy Vancouver neighbourhood of small warehouses and art venues between Cambie and Main, and it is now showing the work of several artists including that of Van-couver’s Jan Manaton and gallery owner Jane Richardson. Four of the artists who are showing with her in this Winter Exhibition are from the Coast: Ian MacLeod of Halfmoon Bay, and from Gibsons: Nadina Tandy, whose work could be seen at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre last February, Josefa Fritz Barham and Todd Clark, who paints from his rural home studio near Gibsons.

Most feel privileged by their participation in a group show with others they know and respect. MacLeod was visiting the area last March and happened into the Leighdon to take a look. After chatting with the owner and leaving his card, he was surprised to find that by the time he returned home that evening she had offered him an invitation to exhibit.

Richardson, a fibre artist and painter, opened the gallery last winter with a personal mandate to support the work of only B.C. artists. Though she’s familiar with the Sunshine Coast since she and her husband are currently building a cabin here, the fact that the show includes four Coast artists was a coincidence.

This show features three of McLeod’s new, large works and five other fairly recent works.

“The ones that seem too big for my studio work well in the gallery’s space,” he said. “There’s enough air around the images.”

McLeod’s technique is characterized by its abstract nature and the use of a mix of materials including plastic, cardboard and other substances. He likes to use patterns found in nature and paints in an intuitive manner, with sweeping gestures of opaque and transparent layers of paint, to create surface texture and depth.

All four Coast artists have some association with Westwind Gallery in Gibsons. Tandy does not have representation at the West-wind, but she is part of a lively critique group of artists that meet with gallery owner Morley Baker to discuss each other’s work.

“I feel supported and encouraged by the group,” Tandy said. She sees the exhibition in Vancouver as a good opportunity for Coast artists. Tandy is showing new work: three large paintings produced over a five-month period.

“I’m going for quality rather than quantity,” she says, plus she has included work from her previous show, The Apotropaeic Effect. Because her paintings are process based, meaning they employ a layering of ideas that bubble through her subconscious, they do not adhere to any one theme.

“As an artist, I get to be surprised by what comes out,” she laughs. For example, one of the abstract paintings is titled The Fable, and, though not immediately apparent, figures from an old German folk tale can be seen in a greatly obscured fashion.

Josefa Fritz Barham is also involved in the art critique group and has new work for the Leighdon show — some tree and water paintings, and also a city street theme and a fresh look at Vancouver’s Chinese stores. Barham was always fascinated by stained glass windows and the abstract shapes and forms of brilliantly coloured light which tell a realistic story in her work.

“You experience the same in nature when the sun hits water or shines through trees; the real thing becomes suddenly quite abstract,” she said. “I try to create realism as seen through a kaleidoscope.”

Artist Todd Clark, who will be showing at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery in January, is also showing his abstract work at the Leighdon.

The Winter Exhibition runs until Jan. 29 (closed Dec. 24 to Jan. 4). The studio gallery is located at 190 W. 3rd Ave., Vancouver, and is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. See www.leigh
don.ca for more.