A monthlong exhibition of outdoor sculpture by Kate von Riesen at the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden culminated in a two-day showcase of original works by von Riesen, Donna Stewart and Laurie Beeman, held last weekend in West Sechelt.
A percentage of sales was donated by the artists to the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden. The 40-acre facility is a registered charity run by a non-profit society since 2002.
On July 11 and 12, the trio of sculptors and glass artists arrayed nearly 60 three-dimensional works along the winding pathways of von Riesen’s backyard garden. “Every time we have a show we donate to a nonprofit,” said von Riesen. “I reached out to Heather Vince [the Botanical Garden’s development officer] and they were thrilled that we were going to do that for them.” Vince then suggested the short-term loan of a few pieces that would be displayed in the Botanical Garden itself during the preceding month.
“I said, it has to be a big enough piece so that it can’t just be taken away,” said von Riesen.
Belying their mass and ochre-hued oxidation, von Riesen’s welded-metal and fused-glass creations complement the foliage that surrounds them. In pieces like Rainbow Window (glass tinted by vertical striations, contained in a rigid arc) and Screen #1 (a frame punctuated by variously-sized portals), each oculus provides an ever-shifting perspective on the organic world.
Donna Stewart, who specializes in concrete, acid and mixed-media artworks, is part of the Mix collective that includes Charly Mithrush and Lore Schmidts. “Kate has shown with us before,” said Stewart, “and Kate introduced me to Laurie [Beeman]. We thought the modalities worked really well together — the everything. Nobody was competing, and it was just a really nice mix.”
In Stewart’s Make It Count, bisected fishing floats are mounted, abacus-like, in a metal ring. Nearby, her monumental abstract Golden Hour — a meditation on blue, green, and umber — stood on an easel, caressed lightly by overhanging deciduous branches.
All three artists discovered common threads: their works were linked by visions of water and the ocean. “The pieces don’t look the same, but they kind of harmonize and it’s in knowing each other and supporting each other in what we’re doing, it kind of makes us more harmonious in our art pieces,” said von Riesen. Sometimes it’s literal representation — as in von Riesen’s Trail Islands or Stewart’s Bird Bath. Elsewhere the theme is expressed more esoterically, like Beeman’s Salish Blue.
Although Beeman has been a stained glass hobbyist since 1977, her retirement allowed more time to explore the medium’s potential. “I started doing this work with stained glass and wood in the last couple of years, and then the ladies graciously invited me to join them,” said Beeman. “So this is basically my very first art show.”
In Athena Noctua, Beeman inlaid a menhir-like slab of undulating wood with coloured glass, rooting rings that ripple outward from the aperture. The motif is reflected in her Salish Goddess, in which blue glass contrasts with golden hardwood.
“Kate’s been the curator to sort of organize Donna and I,” explained Beeman. “The sight lines have to match, and you’ve got to have a little mystery in the garden.”
Sometimes the collaboration extended to the works themselves: Ski to Sea blends von Riesen’s distinctive metal framing and Stewart’s naturalistic colours (on a circular substrate with geologic craquelure) to evoke an altar-like object of reverence. The work combines antediluvian mystique with lush verdure.
“Does the garden make the art look good?” mused Stewart, “or does the art make the garden look good?”
A selection of the garden-exhibited works can be viewed on artists’ respective online platforms: @kate_von_riesen, @donnastewartart (both Instagram), and Beeman’s website artisticstainedglass.ca.
