The Lake Country Art Gallery’s 2nd Annual Intergenerational Exhibition now open

With the finishing touches complete, the Lake Country Art Gallery is proud to present two companion exhibitions that celebrate and showcase intergenerational art work: Art Through the Ages, an intergenerational exhibition and Changing Lands by Marlene G. McPherson. Both shows run from April 8th to May 16th, 2015. 

Intergenerational is a term used to describe interactions between people of different generations. Inspired by the work of former Vernon-based educator Sharon McKenzie, who went on to found i2i, the Intergenerational Society of Canada, this is the second year the Lake Country Art Gallery is featuring work created through intergenerational artistic collaborations. 

A special part of this exhibition are written statements written by participating artists describing their artistic process and what it was like to make work with their parents, grandparents, neighbours, friends or siblings. 

“This is where we really get to see the power of intergenerational collaboration”, explains Lake Country Art Gallery Curator Katie Brennan. “You get a glimpse of a special interaction between the artists the introduced them to a new way to interact with one another.” 

The accompanying exhibition by local Lake Country artist Marlene G. McPherson, Changing Lands has been influenced by McPherson’s 20 plus years of intergenerational instruction to local budding artists. She’s taught all ages, including one class where she taught 3 generations of a single family. This series began with deciding what to do with some left over paint after a class. Changing Lands records the natural grasslands of Spion Kop Mountain in Lake Country, before they disappear to development, while also addressing the everyday changes happening in the lands around us.

Also new to the Lake Country Art Gallery is a new outdoor mural by Kelowna based artist Shannon Johnston. This playful mural features colourful, stylized feathers against a backdrop of collaged materials from the 1920’s. Johston’s mural is on view until mid summer. 

The exhibition runs from April 8th - May 16th, 2015, with an open reception to take place on Saturday, April 11th from 1 - 3pm. Admission is free and open to the public. 


Dates & Events at a Glance: 

Art Though the Ages - An Intergeneration Art Exhibition and Changing Lands by Marlene G. McPherson runs from April 8th - May 16th - June 6th, 2015. An opening reception will be held Saturday April 11th from 1 - 3pm. Admission is free and all are welcome. 

Family Art Drop-in - Saturdays from 12:30 - 2:30pm at the Lake Country Art Gallery

Family drop in at the Lake Country Art gallery is a fun and creative journey, focusing both on the exploration of creative processes and on developing strong foundational skills.

$8 / child  •   $15 / two children •   $20 / three

$5 / child if you have a LCAG family membership


Music at LCAG: My Friend West - a band part a growing movement of the new generation of grass-roots folk from Victoria with a special indie-roots to chamber-folk sound

April 16th from 6.30pm 

$15 tickets

$10 tickets available for seniors & students and 

family groups of x4 @ $40 

The Lake Country Art Gallery’s ART BAZAAR returns May 2nd from 9am - 2pm. 

The mix of vintage wares, family activities, artisanal boutiques, glass and other giftware, art books on a variety of topics and outdoor artist galleries were a magical mix at the return of the Lake Country Arts Bazaar.

The Lake Country Art Gallery is busy in preparation of its 5th Annual Under 100 exhibition - the biggest one of the year and bigger than ever before. The gallery has over 40 additional feet of wall space this year to pack in even more artwork. In addition to the new wall space and hundreds of original, one of a kind, artworks from over 50 local artists under $100, the gallery will be offering a new Preview Event to kick the Under 100 exhibition off this year. 

“In the last few years, we’ve had people waiting at our door before the show had even officially opened”, comments Gallery Manager Petrina McNeill. “Some have even offered to buy work even before we’ve hung it.”

This year, the entire show will be strictly under wraps until 5pm on Friday Nov 21st when art lovers will be able to preview the work before anyone else snaps up their favourite pieces that night. This ticketed event includes entry into the preview of the exhibition, as well as entry into the “First Buy” draw to have first dibs on purchasing. 

“It’s kind of like an auction,” explains Curator Katie Brennan. “You come and preview the work, pick out your favourites and enter your name to be one of the first 10 people to purchase work from the Under 100 exhibition. It’s a fun way to make sure you walk away with your favourite pieces, as well as support the gallery’s fundraising efforts” - all sales from Under 100 go to the artists and to support the gallery.

Attendees of the Under 100 Preview Event will also have the opportunity to purchase additional “First Buy” tickets for $2 a piece up until the draw at 6pm. 

The draw will be fast paced. Each “First Buy” Ticket holder drawn will only have 3 minutes to claim their artwork. If a piece has not been chosen in that time, another ticket will be drawn until all 10 “First Buy” Ticket Spots have been filled. Once the first 10 purchases have been made, other attendees will be welcome to purchase work as well.

The exhibition features small original works under 100 inches squared ,priced under $100, as well as a selection of works under 200 and 300 inches squared under $200 and $300. This exhibition also covers the walls of the Lake Country Coffee Shop. 

All proceeds from the sale go to the artists and to support the Lake Country Art Gallery. The Under 100 Preview Event goes from 5 - 7:30pm, with artwork preview from 5 - 6pm, and the First Buy draw at 6pm. Once the first 10 purchases have been made, other attendees will be welcome to purchase work as well. The exhibition will open to the public the next day, Saturday, Nov 22nd at 11am. 

Tickets are $10 per person and include 1 “First Buy” Ticket with entry. Additional “First Buy” Tickets may be purchased for $2 a piece. Tickets are available in advance at the gallery or at the door. Cash and cheque preferred. Debit and credit also accepted. 

Trivia Night tickets for Friday, Nov 28th are also now available. Co-presented by the Okanagan Young Professionals, tickets are $10 per person, which includes a cash bar and prizes, as well as a fun pub-styled trivia night for all. No art knowledge necessary!

The Lake Country Art Gallery is pleased to present two concurrent exhibitions from October 8th - November 15th, 2014. The first exhibition, “Through the Strange - new essences, making the world anew”,  presents work by Vancouver-based artist Stephanie Jonsson and Jill Ehlert of Cobble Hill, on Vancouver Island. The second exhibition, “Airport Visions”, present works by local artist John van der Woude. 

“Through the Strange - new essences, making the world anew” is an exhibition of mixed media work that encompasses drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics and textiles by Jill Ehlert and Stephanie Jonsson.

Jill Ehlert’s work take the form of intricately layered drawings and collages that pull from a wide range of interests: nature, geology, organic forms, cellular structures, cycles of metamorphosis and regeneration. Objects from the natural world and manufactured objects are placed side-by-side, in direct relation, to draw attention to the discovery similar patterns and forms. In her collages, actual objects, like books and lace, are incorporated into drawn and painted compositions. 

In Stephanie Jonsson’s work there is a similar interest in natural forms, which she transposes into ceramic and textile sculptural pieces. She plays with the contrasts of hard against soft, furry against cold and sharp to create new hybrid plant / animal creatures that are both familiar and newly strange. 

This exploration of finding the strange in the familiar is extended in “Airport Visions”, in a solo exhibition of photographic works by Kelowna artist John van der Woude. van der Woude has taken between 700 - 800 screen captures from google earth per piece of the world’s busiest airports and stitched them together to create composite photographic images that explore ideas of security vs. accessibility and the aerial aesthetics and visual appeal of how airports look from sky. 

All the artists will be present at the opening, on Wednesday, Oct 8th from 6 - 8pm. Jonsson and Ehlert will also be on hand for an artist talk on Thursday, Oct 9th at 12noon. They will speak further about their work in this exhibition, as well as previous work. van der Woude will have an artist talk on Saturday, Nov 1st at 3pm. All events are free and open to the public. 

On Tuesday, Oct 14th from 7 - 9pm, the Lake Country Art Gallery will present “What every artist needs to know about the Law and Accounting”. Local lawyer Yadern Gershony of Rush Ihas Hardwick LLP and accountant, artist and OC Professor Shelley Johnson will each present on what artists need to know about the law and accounting in relation to running a successful artistic practice and business. $5 for members / students. $10 for non-members. Drop-in - no registration necessary. 

Also in October, the Lake Country Art Gallery is pleased to offering its fourth Signature Workshop. “Source of Inspiration” is a two day workshop on how to start and sustain the creative process from the spark of inspiration through material exportation to finished product. Facilitated by Vernon based artist Gale Woodhouse, this workshop offers a lively, practical and hands-on approach to design that will enrich and enhance the artists personal style of work. This workshop runs on Oct 18th & 19th. Spaces are filing fast. Please contact the gallery to register - lakecountryartgallery.ca

Artists are also reminded about the Oct 3rd Under 100 Submissions deadline. The Lake Country Art Gallery’s annual Under 100 exhibition features hundreds of works available for purchase for $100 or less. The deadline for submissions is at midnight on October 3rd, 2014. Artists interested in applying are invited to attend a FREE Under 100 Info Night to learn all about how to best prepare for this exciting exhibition on Wednesday, Oct 1st at 6pm. This event is free and open to the public.

A new exhibition and many exciting events coming up at the Lake Country Art Gallery this fall. 

In its twenty-first year, ArtWalk has fast become the Okanagan’s largest art show.  In conjunction with Artwalk, the Lake Country Art Gallery is pleased to present a month long Artwalk Theme exhibition  - “A Step Forward”.

Every year since the Lake Country Art Gallery opened its doors to the public, it has enjoyed the opportunity to play host to one of the art festival’s four main sites - 2014 will mark the gallery’s fifth consecutive year as an ArtWalk venue.

“This is the second year where we’re inviting any and all artists to submit work for this exhibition - you don’t have to be participating in Artwalk to submit work”, explains Lake Country Art Gallery Curator Katie Brennan. “We’ve opened this up to all artists as not everyone is able to be a part of Artwalk”. 

While the theme of the exhibition is “A Step Forward”, Brennan invites artists to interpret the theme in any manner, style or medium. “I’m alway intrigued by how folks approach a themed exhibition. I like to leave a lot of room for creativity of all sorts”, she says. 

The “A Step Forward” exhibition runs from Sept 6th to Oct 3rd and will be open for extended hours during Artwalk on Sat, Sept 6th and Sun, Sept 7th from 10am - 5pm. 

In conjunction with the Artwalk Theme exhibition, the Lake Country Art Gallery has many other exciting events planned for the fall. 

The third installment of the Lake Country Art Bazaar will take place on Saturday, Sept 6th from 9am - 1pm. This outdoor market offers an intriguing mix of vintage wares, family activities, artisanal boutiques, glass and other giftware, art books on a variety of topics and outdoor artist galleries on the grounds of the Lake Country Art Gallery’s Art House. 

On Thursday, Sept 25th, from 7 - 9pm,  the Lake Country Art Gallery presents the 3rd round of its very popular pub-styled Trivia Nights. Co-presented by the Okanagan Young Professionals, this quiz night will test attendees knowledge on art, culture and more. Tickets are $10 per person - includes a cash bar and prizes. 

To celebrate Culture Days, the Lake Country Art Gallery is offering one of its Signature Workshops. “PAINT WHAT YOU SEE, not what you think you see” - a two day workshop on the power of observation with Jerry Markham will run on Sept 27th & 28th. Spaces are filing fast. Please contact the gallery to register - lakecountryartgallery.ca

It may seem a bit early, but it’s time for artists to start thinking about the Lake Country Art Gallery’s annual Under 100 exhibition. This exhibition features hundreds of works available for purchase for $100 or less. The deadline for submissions is at midnight on October 3rd, 2014. Artists interested in applying are invited to attend a FREE Under 100 Info Night to learn all about how to best prepare for this exciting exhibition on Wednesday, Oct 1st at 6pm. This event is free and open to the public. 

We live in a beautiful place. And at this time of year, many would say, the Okanagan is at its best: beautiful, clear, blue skies; deep, refreshing bodies of water; wonderful food and wine, and art sprinkled throughout. It is likely that somewhere in your travels this summer, you will see a landscape painting of a vineyard, orchard or expansive vista in the warm glow of early evening light rendered in a realistic, yet painterly style.

While there is value in the conventions of contemporary landscape painting, where everything looks especially serene and lovely, what about looking at the landscape in a slightly different way?

In it’s upcoming exhibition “In a Different LIght - the Landscape in Art”, the Lake Country Art Gallery, will present the work of two artists who look at the landscape and depict it a slightly different way. There will be an opening reception held on Wednesday, July 23rd from 6 - 8pm.

The exhibition will consist of work by Powell River based artist Rick Cepella and Toronto based artist Stephen Fisher, who each present the landscape in a much different light.

Like many BC-based artists, Cepella is drawn to the land, physically - decades of outdoor activities, twelve years of work as a biological surveyor and countless hours of field drawing and painting in the rugged backcountry of western Canada continue to shape his work. His work is marked by a free and gestural quality that threatens to break loose from representation totally. Marks, that seem like vast and stormy peaks, upon closer inspection, break down into drips and slips of paint.

Fisher on the other hand, takes a more scientific looking approach. Drawing on the idea of terraforming, Fisher attempts to explore our desire to shape the world through constructions, and manipulations of the landscape. Much of his work deals with expressing landforms and landscape in non-traditional manners with preference given to exploring the imagined, digital, and fabricated rather than the natural, such as diagrammatic drawings and paintings.

The pairing of the work of Cepella and Fisher presents landscape in a totally different light. “In A Different Light - the Landscape in Art” featuring the work of Rich Cepella and Stephen Fisher opens on Wednesday, July 23rd with an opening reception from 6 - 8pm. It is free and open to the public. The exhibition runs from July 23rd to August 29th. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.

      In the Okanagan, there is a heavy emphasis on landscape work; in contrast, portraiture is not seen very often - the lovely rolling hills covered in orchards and vineyards are well represented in the valley. 

      And yet, there is an interesting, concurrent trend that has been emerging from the Fine Arts program at UBC Okanagan: Portraiture. Over the last 4 years or so, each graduating class has had some portrait work – Stephen Lee Scott in 2011, and Nadine Bradshaw and Jeda Connor in 2013.

      “It wasnʼt until I learned of the Rucker Archive and got talking with its owner, Mark Rucker, and getting a look at the collection, that this idea of inviting three Okanagan-based emerging artists to make work inspired by the Rucker Archive sprang into being”, explains Curator Katie Brennan. “Having a focus on portraiture naturally followed suit”.

      Nestled in an idyllic orchard above Peachland, the Rucker Archive and its over 100,000 pieces of paper ephemera (such as posters, photos, etc.) make their home. Begun with Ruckerʼs interest in baseball paraphernalia, it has expanded into a collection of the wild and wonderful images of our past. Items from the Archive will be on display beside the work of Bradshaw, Connor and Scott.

      To round out the exhibition is a selection of portraiture from this yearʼs graduating class of UBC Okanaganʼs BFA program. All based in photography, the work of these four artists each approaches it a bit differently: Kelsie Balehowsky investigates the gaze of the camera on our phones, Taylor Crain and Alia Popoff mix in other elements into their portraits, and Anastasia Fox presents fun-loving portraits of manʼs best friend.

      Portraiture - inspired by the Rucker Archive, plus Recent Portraiture from UBC Okanagan runs from June 11th to July 18th, with an open reception to take place on Wednesday, June 11th from 6 - 8pm with remarks at 6:30pm. Admission is free and open to the public.

      On the evening on Wednesday, June 18th at 7pm we will host Jeda Connor and Kelsie Balehowsky for an artist talk and discussion. Admission is free and open to the public.

Dates & Events at a Glance:

Portraiture - inspired by the Rucker Archive, plus Recent Portraiture from UBC Okanagan runs from June 11th to July 18th. 

An opening reception will be held Wednesday, June 11th from 6 - 8pm

Artist Talk Wed, June 18th at 7pm with Jeda Connor & Kelsie Balehowsky

A great idea that began in the Okanagan comes full circle. 

In 1993, Curator Katie Brennan, who grew up in the Okanagan, had Sharon MacKenzie as her grade 6 teacher at Kidston elementary. The two have kept in touch over the years, especially as Sharon MacKenzie founded the i2i Intergenerational Society of Canada, which works to promote intergenerational programs and learning opportunities, and to assist in developing rich and sustainable connections between generations. 

“Sharonʼs work has always been in my mind. Iʼm so pleased to have found a way to bring her work into the Lake Country Art Gallery and activate the visual arts in an intergenerational way”, says Brennan. 

For the past three years the Lake Country Art Gallery has offered an exhibition of work by the local elementary and secondary students. Art Though the Ages                                                                                                                                            - An Intergeneration Art Exhibition offers                                                                                                                                              a new twist. 

“Weʼve put out an open call to art makers of all ages to submit work that theyʼve created in collaboration with someone of a different generation”, Brennan explains. 

Intergenerational collaborations can take many forms, such as: two or more people of different generations working on a single piece of artwork; two or more people having different roles in the making of a single piece of artwork - for example: one person models, the other draws / paints model; one person tells a story and/or provides some kind of inspiration, the other illustrates it / turns it into art. 

The gallery has accepted submissions of 12” X 12” works created through an intergenerational collaboration.

The exhibition will also feature the work of Kelowna artist Jolene Mackie. “Iʼm excited about how the artists of families will inspire other family members to create artwork”., says Mackie. Mackie will also be offering the first in a suite of four Signature Workshops that the Lake Country Art Gallery will be offering in 2014. Her two day workshop on illustrative painting will run on May 24th and 25th. Please visit lakecountryartgallery.ca for more details.

On Saturday, May 31st at 3pm, i2i Intergenerational Society Founder, and former Okanagan resident, Sharon MacKenzie will be on hand for a talk followed by questions and discussion on how i2i came to be, where it is now and the benefits for all from working intergenerationally. 

The exhibition runs from May 7th - June 6th, with an open reception to take place on Saturday, May 10th from 1 - 3pm. Admission is free and open to the public. 

Dates & Events at a Glance: 

Signature Workshop: Jolene Mackie - Illustrative Painting May 24th - 25th - visit lakecountryartgallery.ca for details

Sat, May 31st at 3pm. Talk & Discussion with i2i Intergenerational Society Founder Sharon MacKenzie. 
Admission is free and open to the public.