Walking into the Friends of the Gallery (FOG) show at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre is like opening a gift package - you just never know what you'll find.
The annual show is an unjuried collection of works, one piece from each artist, in a variety of mediums, though painting predominates. The FOG show opens 2012 in a creative way, plus it always brings out the shy ones, those who don't often show their work at other times.
This year, the number of submissions was down slightly, with about 50 works as compared to the usual 70 or more. But as gallery volunteer Katherine Johnston pointed out, the low numbers made it easier to hang the show. Nothing looks crowded, and it has allowed the volunteers to hang the paintings in a more theme-related fashion.
Thus Bob Moore's bear painting entitled Snow Play is near Cornelia van Berkel's painting of a black bear and an arbutus tree, West Coast Beauty. Johnston also has a piece in the show, the enigmatically titled 73 (it's not her age, she hastened to say), an abstract in oils.
The few photographic entries are surely highlights of the show.
Eleanor Mae's Lasting Dream incorporates the texture and colours of wood in a painterly fashion. Michael Hertz's digital print is engaging. Betty Pehme also advances digital art with her colourful Sanctuary, merged media on canvas.
Paul Clancy has outdone himself in his digital inkjet called Crossing. A young woman - or is she a wood nymph? - crosses a fallen log in the forest, trailing a splashy red fabric train.
Junco Jan's photo is one of the few that makes a statement. Her photo O Canada strongly suggests that Canada grow up and get back to Kyoto.
In three-dimensional work, the exhibition displays Anneke Pearse's carving of a cat in alabaster, two ceramic vessels from Elaine Futterman and Mike Allegretti and pottery from Jack Olive. You'll have to look closely to see the miniature carved owls in soapstone at the tips of elk antlers in a clever piece, Mystic Owls 1, by Philip Warner.
Though local artist Donna Balma is not showing any of her work in this show, artist Genevieve Lemarchand is making sure that Balma is there in spirit. Lemarchand's portrait of Balma is a stunning likeness.
Other portraits include Trish Thompson's acrylic of Arthur Paul that hints at a story - is he a friend or a coffee shop acquaintance? And then there is Jewett Rae's Kellen pastel, and Maurice Spira's skeletal, robotic, unisex beings depicted in acrylic, Quartetto Aggrovigliato.
Apart from Spira's piece, not a lot of the show draws from the imagination; most Coast artists paint from nature and some outstanding examples can be seen. Nefri Lyske's Vineyard Gems is portrayed in oil paints on canvas. It has a three dimensional quality - the grapes pop out, ready for plucking.
Alanna Wood's acrylic Sunday Painting suggests trees in a non-representational fashion, and Sheila Page's The Dinghy illustrates her proclivity for painting character boats.
Donna Swain's The Question/s is intriguing; the abstract is depicted in graphite charcoal and acrylic.
Francine Desjardins' Primal Instinct is done in her characteristic mixed media and suggests underlying forest or jungle depths.
In all, a good, if small, show at the Doris Crowston Gallery (located at Medusa at Trail Avenue in Sechelt) that will be up until Jan. 30. Call 604-885-5412 for gallery hours.
