Many Coast artists became acquainted with Jane Richardson when she ran the now closed Leighdon Studio Gallery on West 3rd in Vancouver.
"We had only B.C. artists at the gallery," Richardson said. "The other galleries thought we were nuts, but we have some great artists in this province."
As a Sechelt resident herself she put on shows that promoted local artists to the Vancouver market and raised funds for various causes. Now, Richardson has brought her work home to show at the Doris Crowston Gallery in Sechelt (Sunshine Coast Arts Centre), along with the fibre art of Sharon Rubuliak from Alberta.
Though Richardson had not met Rubuliak before, it's a fitting combination, since they both work a lot with texture and Richardson's first love at age 15 was fibre arts. When she developed an allergy to wool, she turned to her second love, painting. Her colourful acrylics are on show until this Sunday only.
Richardson works mostly with palette knives in her City series - vivid abstracts that convey the liveliness of downtown. In other, softer-toned works, the viewer recognizes the gentle white sand in her painting of Rathtrevor Beach and understands the soft light of a West Coast misty day.
"I started the beach landscapes when I first moved up here," she said. "There were lots of grey, gentle days and the colour was just not coming out of me."
They have proved popular on the Coast. By contrast, at a New York show of her work, the city gallery selected her more vibrant works. She's currently working on a series of five large canvases and dreams of a gallery with high ceilings and lighting that will show the larger pieces to advantage.
Rubuliak's work, also at the current exhibition, offers an intriguing theme of textiles and yoga practice. It's difficult to imagine the two together, but Rubuliak handles it well. Mantras are sewn into fabric and yoga poses are depicted on gauzy fabric hung over a quilted base. As the filmy material moves gently in the passing breeze, the poses are revealed; it gives a sense of a centring, calming activity.
At Richardson's studio the work is not only about painting. As an author she has been published many times and is currently at work on the fourth in her series of books about art, titled Artists of British Columbia. Earlier volumes of this full-colour art book have featured biographies and reproductions from Coast visual artists, for example, Motoko, Gigi Hoeller and Brian Romer, to name a few. Of the second volume's 35 artists, seven of them spring from this community.
Richardson is still interviewing artists for Volume 4 and has room for a few more submissions. It's a sure bet that Sunshine Coast artists will be featured. If interested, she can be reached at www.leighdon.ca.
