The Silver Moon Art Gallery celebrates its official opening on Friday, Oct. 18, and will be open for the 2019 Art Crawl, Venue #30. There will be a reception from 7 to 9 p.m. with live music and refreshments.
The gallery will highlight the work of three accomplished local artists: Mark Benson (fine art landscape photography), Levi Purjue (Indigenous fine art paintings and carvings) and Sandy Kay (fine art paintings).
Mark Benson is a renowned landscape photographer on the Coast. Benson’s inspiration in his photography is to reflect the raw beauty of the West Coast and his style of long exposure photography reveals the Divine through minimalist composition. “It is a reflection of my inner spiritual journey that I find expressed in B.C.’s raw nature.” His work is sold internationally.
Levi Purjue is a self-taught painter and carver who works to develop complex images that connect the Tahltan and Shoshone heritage with his experience growing up in the Haida Gwaii. Music is a fundamental part of his inspiration and as a musician, he creates an avenue of dynamic expression throughout his artwork. Naturalism is his style; using acrylic medium he strives to evoke the feeling of motion in his artwork. Purjue is also a wood carver, using mainly red and yellow cedar to create expressions of Indigenous culture. Carving from a natural and living material such as wood feels completely grounding for Purjue.
Sandy Kay is a well known, professional artist on the Sunshine Coast. She recently exhibited her Tangled Web Series at GPAG. Kay’s paintings are very emotion-based, working in both classical and contemporary styles, from abstract to photo-realism. The commonality can be found in their stories. “I strive to create a feeling rather than portray a picture, to evoke a response from the viewer and create a sense of time and place in this rapidly changing world. We often miss the small moments, the obvious unseen, what happens on the sidelines. I am especially drawn to the portrayal of light and atmosphere in my work.” Kay’s images are all based on the West Coast.
The Silver Moon Art Gallery, located at #307 - 287 Gower Point Rd., is the newest edition to the Lower Gibsons community of local shops, restaurants and artisans. The mission of the gallery is to bridge the works of three diverse local artists and provide the art community with a selection of inspirational work.
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