Last June, John and Verna Elliottwere beachcombing on Brooks Penin-sula on the west coast of Vancouver Island when they came across a hand blown glass bottle with three messages inside, one of which included an email address. When they wrote, they learned the message bottles had been part of a show mounted by the Gibsons Public Art Gallery (GPAG) last year. Local glass blower Miyuki Shinkai of Mellon Glass Studio in Langdale had put on a dazzling display of mixed media and glass creations designed to represent Japanese fishing floats. For part of her show, she invited the public to write messages of good will to be sealed inside the bottles that were then released by a local fishing boat with the hope of reaching far away places, even Japan. "We have beachcombed for many years on the West Coast," said the Elliotts, "and find that things lost off the Oregon and Washington coasts end up on Vancouver Island and all the way up to Alaska in a very short time period, sometimes two or three months. Things that come from Japan may take several years."
There is an irony in the GPAG receiving this message now. The gallery is currently hosting a display on the theme of water -the ocean is depicted in many different mediums including a central installation of Shinkai's latest ice blue glass bottles and a shelf featuring her glass tugboat selection.
Several of the prolific Pender Harbour painters are also exhibiting in this show that displays the work of 27 artists. Four paintings are by June Malaka, including the lovely Middle Point, On the Rocks and several by Solveigh Harrison, including her mixed media piece of spawning salmon called Night Watch. One wall is devoted to the watercolours of Wendy Simmonds.Perhaps one of the most striking paintings is Marleen Vermuelen's textured oil on canvas, Ocean and Eternity, that suggests an expansive estuary leading to the distant ocean and manages to epitomize the West Coast. Marje Umezuki's Sea-breeze watercolour is delicate and fresh, while Daniel Bouman's photo (gel and selenium on fibre) of a rushing creek froths with energy. Eve Smart's Serenade to Neptune is a humorous take on what a fish might sing to the king of the deep if accompanied by a mermaid playing the harp. Marilyn Marshall is one of the few artists to involve the human element, a seated nude figure, in her acrylic Healing Water. Stewart Stinson's triptych Water Under the Canoe offers a seal's perspective.The Water Show is on until Sept. 4. It's probably the only gallery on the Coast where, while viewing the show, you can study up on water conservation and have a glass of Gibsons' artesian finest. See www.gibsonspublicartgallery.ca for gallery hours.
