Jane Richardson, an artist, retired teacher and lover of art books, ran the Leighdon Studio Gallery on 3rd Avenue in Vancouver. She featured British Columbian artists and developed good relations with those she met, helping them to promote their work.
"My gallery was the only one in Vancouver that exhibited only B.C. artists," Richardson said. "We had fundraisers like Nudes for Breast Cancer Awareness that were very popular with a huge number of artists."
She began to invite the artists whose work she admired to participate in an art book that she was producing, Artists of British Columbia, Volume 1. It was so well received that soon after, Volume 2 appeared, and just last month, Volume 3.
"I wanted artists who exhibit a great passion for what they do and for the art world around them," she told Coast Reporter. "The styles and types of art and the artists differ incredibly - and that is what makes the books so interesting."
The artists in the books are listed alphabetically, with simple bios and information. There is no effusiveness or star-making here. The reader can explore the merits of each artist at their leisure.
The Leighdon Gallery is closed now, but Richardson hopes it will rise again in Sechelt where she has designed a new home for her part-time residency. Right now she is concentrating on her own commissioned art projects and looking ahead to an exhibition in New York. The art books have taken on a life of their own. Many artists approach Richardson about being published - she must turn some away but always encourages them to continue developing their work.
Volume 1 featured four Coast artists out of 36 artists chosen, Volume 2 had four out of 35, and the new Volume 3 lists seven Sunshine Coasters out of 39.
Artist Betty Pehme is one of them. She found the previous publications to be extremely well done, with superb colour reproductions of the artists' images. She liked the layout of the book and the intent of the publisher, and when Richardson asked for her inclusion, she did so willingly.
Pehme's contribution is the only digital art in this volume, a medium that has expanded enormously in recent years. Pehme explains that there is acceptance and appreciation of this medium by those who are informed and who understand its diverse complexity. She suggests that tremendous potential exists for further exploration and discovery, limited only by the artist's imagination and creativity.
Coast artist Donna Stewart is also included. Her interest in painting emerged in recent years when she arrived in Halfmoon Bay and bought Anchor Rock, the gift shop and gallery. "I met a lot of great artists there especiallyone - Charly Mithrush - who helped me realize my desirefor painting."
Stewart likes to explore using acrylics, but her subject matter changes all the time.
"I love watching time create magic, leaves changing in the fall, a rusty piece of metal and the colours they produce, lines in the sand on the beach from the tides changing."
Stewart's painting career has been helped along by working with Mithrush, who is also featured in Volume 3, in much the same way as Mithrush's father, a commercial artist, helped her grow to love painting. Stewart and Mithrush often paint together.
"We're like two kids playing in the sandbox," Mithrush laughs, and they often show together at private exhibitions or, more recently, at an unusual location, an airplane hangar. Mithrush is experimenting with encaustic now and hopes to pull together another show by the end of summer.
Also included in Volume 3 is Francine Desjardins, who shares her time between Vancouver and the Coast and who shows her intriguing mixed media work. Brett Varney works with oil pastels and metallic leaf to intensify his colour. An image from his portfolio, Woodland Trail, is seen on the back cover of the book. Kristjana Gunnars, whose abstracts were exhibited at the Doris Crowston Gallery last year, is also featured, and so is Donna Balma, long-time Roberts Creek resident whose imaginative art is shown all over North America.
Artists of British Columbia, Volume 3 also lists contact information and where work can be viewed. The book is available at many Coast bookstores and interior design shops.
