It's the last call.
On Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 21 and 22), residents will have their final chance to view the work in this year's Squamish Art Crawl. The weekend marks the wrapup of the seven-week extravaganza exhibiting local pieces. The crawl, which started in August, showcases 35 artists with their work exhibited at 38 locations around town.
The art crawl got off to a slow start, Squamish artist Fran Solar said. She's seen momentum build and hopes for a busy weekend as studios' doors are opened for the last time. Volunteers targeted the Lower Mainland and Whistler with the aim of drawing a larger crowd, Solar said.
Once the event is over, organizers are compiling a report on it for the Squamish Arts Council. This year volunteers laid out much of the leg work for the crawl, Solar said, noting next year, the event will need fresh volunteer to get underway.
"I have no idea who will take on the job next year," she said.
Artists to watch for:
Zoe Evamy
Evamy graduated in 1982 with a degree in Fine Arts and Illustration from Harrow College of Art in London (now University of Westminster). She worked in London as a freelance illustrator, producing imagery for books and magazines. Through her natural flair for colour and movement, Evamy began to gravitate toward animation, painting background scenery for classically animated feature films including "Anastasia" and "Titan AE."
Evamy lived a nomadic lifestyle moving from place to place following film contracts in Europe, the U.S. and Canada.
"My commitment to painting, particularly from nature, has been constant through my career and I've had the good fortune of living in some very picturesque and paintable places," she said.
In 2000, Evamy relocated from Arizona to Vancouver to direct several 3D animated productions.
Evamy works from her home-based studio in Garibaldi Highlands. She is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and has been included in a number of their national juried shows.
Kay Austen
When Austen was a student, she designed pots on graph paper using only geometric shapes - squares, circles, rectangles and triangles. Her task was to turn these silhouettes into concrete pieces. That exercise, and the lessons Austen learned from it, has stayed with her throughout her potting career.
Austen starts with strong thrown or hand-built forms, based on classical or traditional shapes. By altering either in an unobtrusive and subtle way, or radically changing the whole shape by cutting and reforming, the static piece takes on a direction or rhythm all its own.
The emotional impact of colour and the subtleties of levels of texture all play a part towards the power of the finished piece.
Jan Phelan
Having worked with clay for more that 25 years, Phelan's porcelain, stoneware, and earthenware works can be found at the residence of the Governor General of Canada, have been presented to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of England, and are included in the collections of the Bronfmans, Reichmans and jazz musician Dr. Oscar Peterson.
Each piece andall processes are done entirely by hand and entirely by Phelan, from the original design, through to the last luster firing.
Each piece is carefully drawn onto and cut into with a small blade while the clay is still soft. Stains, oxides, glazes and lusters are applied in layers and fired many times to achieve depth and a rich, vibrant variation of colour. Each piece has 22K gold painted and permanently fired onto it. The magic, music and beauty of nature are Phelan's inspiration.
