Just 10 days after inhabitants of Christenson Village gathered for a garden party to wind up a Coast-wide research project on aging, a bus bursting with exuberant residents from the uptown Gibsons care facility travelled to the town’s public art gallery. Their mission: to venerate eight artists living at Christenson Village, whose paintings were last Saturday unveiled at a first-of-its-kind exhibition.
The Artists of Christenson Village rebuts any pallid stereotypes about age with its explosions of colour, expansive subjects, and keen-eyed observation. Irene Brougham, a retired teacher and flight attendant, began painting at 93. Now three years later, a selection of her watercolours occupies pride of place in the Eve Smart Gallery. Her watercolour floral studies and birds (like the apricot-hued Western Tanager) reflect the timeless fecundity that stems from self-expression. English-born Sheila Graham, who once pursued a nursing career, is now using pen and ink to produce renderings of thoughtful beasts and winged creatures (her brilliantly-hued Humming Bird thrums toward a spray of blossoms that protrude from beyond the frame).
Christenson art instructors Makiko Kitama and Bruce Devereau curated the show, but the exhibition had its genesis in an in-house display of works by Village resident Helene McIntosh. McIntosh, a lifelong sketcher and painter originally from Montreal, creates in pastels, oils, and acrylics. In her Childhood Memories II, cherubic tots draw syrup from a spile under the long shadows of snow-dusted maples; her Misty is a photo-realistic chalk portrait of a phlegmatic feline.
“Helene had an amazing show hanging in our third-floor gallery,” recollected Devereau, “and a couple of months back we invited the town council. The mayor arrived and the councillors arrived for the opening of Helen’s show. Everybody loved the show, and [town councillor] Christi Thompson said: ‘I am going to pursue getting this into the Gibsons Public Art Gallery.’”
Kitama and Devereau were skeptical, given the gallery’s packed schedule. But gallery manager Christina Symons telephoned two days later, advising of an unexpected opening. Kitama and Devereau had two months to assemble and prepare works from the eight participating artists.
“This is my dream come true,” said Kitama, who has provided art instruction at Christenson Village for 19 years. “I’m lucky enough to witness how these artists grow and improve. Some have stuck with it for many years. I hope I can keep doing this work for the next year and as long as possible: it would be great to be able to have a show here again.”
Coun. Thompson also attended Saturday’s exhibition opening, congratulating the beaming contributors.
Other Christenson artists on display include Lillooet-born Nettie (Annette) Bob, a member of the Xaxli’pmec (Fountain Valley Band) and Wolf Clan. Bob’s bold strokes and dazzling colours illuminate landscapes like The Maritimes and wildlife scenes: in her Two Coyotes — Looking for Their Lunch, the tawny creatures eye each other warily.
Works by Shirley Fortin, who first cultivated her art skills at the Village, spotlight the interplay of birds and their habitats, as in A Crow in the Flower Field. Ann Helfer, a transplant from Red Lake, Ontario, creates effervescent depictions of gardens in acrylic, flora ablaze with pinks and crimson. Janet Irwin’s fine-lined pen-and-ink drawings are imbued with evocative detail (as in the timeworn chimney-pots of Clovelly England); her winsome watercolour portrait of Grandson Maverick captures childhood insouciance.
Winnipeg-born Robert MacDonald participated in a 100-day challenge to paint and sketch every day, concluding: “I love the magic of watercolour.” His landscape studies portray everyday scenes (including Gibsons Way — Sunshine Coast Highway) elevated by dapplings of supernal luminescence.
“This exhibition is a great coming together of like minds,” said Stewart Stinson, president of the gallery’s board of directors.
The Artists of Christenson Village can be viewed at the Gibsons Public Art Gallery until Aug. 17.
