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Colourful exhibitions to open at the Kootenay Gallery

Two new exhibitions open on Sept. 22 at the Kootenay Gallery of Art.
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Heralding her Approach by Catherine Stewart is one of the new works at the Kootenay Gallery.

Two new exhibitions open on Sept. 22 at the Kootenay Gallery of Art.

Catherine Stewart presents Venus Spreads Her Wings in the East Gallery and Katherine Pickering is offering an exhibition titled Sway.

The exhibition Venus Spreads Her Wings is a selection of images from three series of photo-based artworks.

Using the zoological collections at the University of British Columbia as source material for her artistic practice, Stewart focused on the colour differences between the sexes of particular bird species and “the ceaseless, tragic, yet beautiful cycle of sex, birth, life and death that plays out for all species in response to both intrinsic and external forces and the underlying laws of nature.”

Also included are images printed on metallic photographic paper that juxtapose details of plumage with close-ups of sensually appealing clothing. Over the centuries clothing design has liberally borrowed from the avian world both directly with the use of plumage as adornment, and indirectly by mimicking colour textures and patterns.

Katherine Pickering is an Okanagan-based painter. Recently Pickering has extended her art practice from painting to include sculpture, the inspiration for which comes from her investigation into the rich intersection between the history of abstraction in painting and our experience of night’s darkness. The combination of thick layers of acrylic paint on canvases which are then manipulated to create various forms are meant to reference guideposts in the nighttime landscape.

While calling upon different materials and media, the two artists investigate the crossover between two media; Stewart between fabric and photography and Pickering between painting and sculpture. While the work in both exhibitions is colourful and textural, the two artists have added an element of darkness that underlays the themes of their work.

The shows open on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. Both artists will be in attendance that evening.

The exhibitions continue until Nov. 4, 2017. For more information, please contact the Gallery at kootenaygallery@telus.net or call 250 365 3337. You can also consult the web site at www.kootenaygallery.com. The Kootenay Gallery acknowledges the financial contribution of the Province of British Columbia.