20 • The Columbia Valley Pioneer
May 21, 2010
Old faves, new finds at Pynelogs By Kate McKenna Pynelogs Cultural Centre In the wake of the wildly popular Wings Over the Rockies exhibition, Pynelogs Cultural Centre is gearing up for more. The next exhibition is a two-week show featuring the artistic achievements of five talented artists — William Croft, Sharon Routley, Stan Lukasiewicz, Sandra Brown and Karla Pearce’s Impasto. The show will run from May 18th to May 30th,
with an opening reception on Wednesday, May 19th from 7-9 p.m. William Croft, a retired chemical engineer from Calgary and occasional painter, moved to Windermere upon his retirement to enjoy the beauty of the Columbia Valley. He was able to further develop his painterly abilities through an intensive nine-month course under the Calgary-based instructor Kui Wang. Croft easily transitions between oils on canvas and his more recently discovered medium of acrylics,
which are instrumental in his discovery and utilization of colour. Another acrylic painter, with a twist, to be shown in this exhibition is Sharon Routley. Doubling as a singer-songwriter, her works are equal parts paintings and performance pieces. Her background is in painting sets for community theatre, which naturally developed into painting on canvas. Many of her works depict sunflowers, and as a result her work is often described as “Van Gogh-like, Narnia inspired.” Originally from Poland, Stan Lukasiewicz moved to Calgary in 1981, acquiring a job as a professor at the University of Calgary in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Upon his retirement, he was able to pursue his hobby of oil painting at his once-vacation destination of the Columbia Valley and present home near Columbia Lake. His works consist mainly of landscapes of British Columbia and Alberta, and are a testament to his wish to preserve “both true image and emotional expression.” Passionate about drawing since childhood, Sandra Brown put her interest in painting on hold to raise a family and attend university, subsequently working as a counsellor all over Canada, from St. John’s, to Toronto, to Vancouver. She has since been able to pursue her passion full-time as a result of her retirement, and though her mediums of choice are oil painting and watercolours, she has experience in many other mediums, including pastels, acrylics, and water-soluble oils. Karla Pearce’s ‘Impasto’ consists of a number of her works done with acrylic paint and knives, resulting in paintings that are very Expressionist in nature. Done on a miniature scale of eight by ten inches, her paintings focus on the Kootenay landscape, including rivers, streams, lakes, and a variety of the region’s plant life. Her biography describes the product of her interest in this area, as her goal is for people to “see what is unique within their own backyard not only in terms of natural environment but also through the subjective eyes of the artist.” Visit Pynelogs to enjoy the pieces by each of these talented artists, and don’t forget to grab a bite to eat in the café. Pynelogs Cultural Centre, on the shores of Lake Windermere at Kinsmen Beach, is the heart of arts and culture in the valley and home to the Columbia Valley Arts Council. For more information about this and upcoming exhibitions, please call 250-342-4423 or visit www. columbiavalleyarts.com.