Artist Shelby Assenheimer looks at the forest and envisions her canvas laden with the richness of colour and etched with her signature ‘mark making’; fine furniture maker Oliver Scott views the forest and is reminded of the fine, sensuous grains that can only be discovered in the organic contours of wood. Those distinctive visions and the intimate relationships of artist and craftsman to the forest inspire them to come together October 11 at the GAGE Gallery in a show entitled “Wood and Canvas.”
Fascinated with light and its reflective values, Shelby Assenheimer expresses the essence of the ancient forest sentinels with loose, broad strokes. Abstracted tree forms and exaggerated hues play across her canvases while purposely grounding the viewer with a sense of realism.
Scott’s minimalist design of the “Bothy Collection” embodies and highlights the very nature of the tree allowing the warmth of colour and the intricacies of grain to meet the eye. Crafted masterfully, this Collection musters nostalgia and triggers all senses as it connects the contemporary to the tree’s age old beauty.
The spirit of the forest wends its way through each artist’s unique transforming process, is contemplated, expressed with respect and sensitivity then finally offered to the viewer. The circle is completed as the mind’s eye of the onlooker savours and transforms the image for memory.
OPENING: Oct.11/14 from 2pm-5pm at GAGE GALLERY – 2031 Oak Bay Avenue
Exhibition runs to Oct. 30 Tues. to Sat. 11am-5pm
