Over 14 years I've attended the Victoria College of Art, studied painting, taught coloured pencil, multi-media and acrylics, and taken house portrait commissions. I paint on site or from my photography, and keep a sketch journal. I don't think a subject is interesting until it has been around long enough to acquire some character. Last year I showed acrylic paintings of leaves, digitizing close-up photographs and, using photo enhancement filters to their extremes, distorting them until they were interesting references. To paint from that product is to step outside Nature's boundaries. And the resulting painting is another step beyond that.

Jesi Keane Barron Born Montreal, Quebec. Attended  art classes at the museum run by Arthur Lismer,  Moved to Victoria B.C cotinued her interest in the arts. She was involved in  Victoria Theatre Guild designing clothes for plays.  Later she went to the Vancouver school of art 1962-4. Attended many  workshops. She loves to draw and paint in many mediums She looks to the light and nature for inspiration.

 A Brief List of Shows: Painted and exhibited in  Toronto, Deep River, Naniamo, Vancouver, Victoria, Parksville Qualicum. Emily Carr Gallery show, Victoria, 1974. The Little Gallery and Crystal Gallery 1978 Member of the F.C.A.1979 Show at the Victoria Art Gallery part of art rental, program 1978.. Old School House show1991 Nanaimo Madrona Art Centre show 1992. Owned and operated Coombs art Gallery from1987-96.tudioFive Qualicum Beach 1996-97 Group show at the Old School House Qualicum 1997. Moved toVictoria 2000. What she enjoys most is painting outdoors by the sea. Presently member EL Frescos Plein Air, Victoria, BC.

Come visit my latest series of paintings, Fragile Entanglements, which explores the delicate co-existence of ecosystems. Using acrylics on large canvas, I build watery layers of fluid colour and superimpose intricate patterns to represent nature’s delicate detail. The resulting abstractions are interwoven, interdependent environments.

Joan Kagan has been making pottery for over thirty years, and believes that there is no such thing as having too many bowls, and that even the most basic everyday pottery can and should be displayed. Her mission is to create pottery that is practical for every day use and pleasing to look at. She has worked full time as a potter since retiring from high school teaching and counselling in Toronto, and over the years has studied with many fine potters around Canada and the United States. She has recently made her home in Victoria and established her new home- based studio. She is continuing to make her lines of household wares while experimenting with new shapes and colours in her new warmer city where she takes great pleasure in being able to see the ocean every day. Small classes for adults are offered,  and custom orders are taken. Call for inquiries and appointments.

Louise's love of color and texture charges her paintings. The inspiration may come from a crack in the pavement or a personal memory. She has shown in various galleries in Victoria and Vancouver. Come see her latest new sculputures also.

Karen has been painting and exhibiting for over 30 years and is included in private, public and corporate collections.  A full resume is available on her website (www.karenmuntean.com).  Her work is colourful, decorative, and representational.  Born in Idaho and a Canadian citizen since 1970, Karen was for many years a resident of Saturna Island, where she painted and ran Gallery Rosa..  She has recently moved to Fairfield and is working out of a studio on Kingston Street. "Colores de Mexico" acrylics on canvas on view during April at MokaHouse/Shoal Point.

Painting for me is about play and exploration. I enjoy working with acrylics, mixed media and watercolour. My creations all depend on the kind of day I'm having - sometimes a minimalist prairie landscape will appear or a burst of colourful abstract flowers. The process is about imagination, vision, inspiration and a good sprinkling of joy.

I was a successful jewelery designer in Vancouver before moving to Salt Spring Island. I am a self-taught artist and began my exploration of various mediums at this time. I also painted in San Miguel de Allende for 7 months. In Victoria 2002, I took up oil painting for the first time. I fell in love with this rich, forgiving and luminous medium.

I seem to be split in two, between the extroverted bright colours and people of Mexico and my contemplative, subdued side communing with close up images of nature.  I either dance to Salsa or listen to Buddhist teachings while I work.

Born in New Westminster in 1953, Linda Jane studied art in Vancouver and Victoria. Since 1989 she has painted steadily and exhibited extensively, working in oils, acrylics, collage and assemblage. Between 1997 and 2008, Linda Jane lived on Hornby Island, where she became an active participant in the arts community. Now living in Victoria, this prolific artist is painting wind-blown landforms, trees, and nests. She is also continuing with her Blue Guitars and Primitive Fiddles series of found material assemblages. “ In all my work, I’m seeking to share my perception and experience of the natural world as alive, mysterious, and articulate.” Recent work can be seen in Art Rental and Sales at the AGGV, The Gallery at Mattick’s Farm, Studio Ryu at 1032 Fort St, and by appointment at Linda Jane Schmid Painting Studio.

After retiring from a long business career, moving to Victoria, and needing an outlet for creative energy and talent he always had, Erwin happily stumbled on some photo altering software. After much experimentation, he has mastered the requisite techniques and now produces work of vibrant colouring and magical depth.

Nancy Slaght  is still content after 23 years living and working in her Victoria home and studio by the sea.  She is enamoured by soft pastels and holds the pure and intensely coloured sticks between her fingers caressing the surface of the paper.  She is intent on her search for metaphor often producing fanciful or odd notions of pairings for her paintings.

A graduate of Victoria College of Art: VCA & Associate Diploma, Slaght has also studied in England, Italy and Switzerland.  An inspiring teacher, Nancy has taught in Japan and Canada: Calgary, Canmore, Red Deer, Victoria, Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands. Chosen by the Painters Lodge and Painter’s Artists, she became a Life-time Resident Artist in 2002. She is one of 16 West Coast artists featured in the International Artist publication “Design and Composition – Secrets of Professional Artist’s “ released in 2001. Winchester Galleries, Victoria, Art Gallery of Victoria Sales and Rentals,  and Avens Gallery, Canmore, Alberta represent Nancy’s work.

Elizabeth’s (Betsy) portfolio includes a background of teaching and exhibiting on the Vancouver lower mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia. For many years she taught creative writing, painting and drawing at the Shadbolt Art Centre, formerly the Burnaby Art Centre, Burnaby and at Place des Arts in Coquitlam as well as Malaspina College, Parksville, The Old School House, Qualicum Beach and North Island College in Comox. Her art exhibits include: Place des Arts, Coquitlam, Seymour Art Gallery, North Vancouver, Klee Wyck Gallery, West Vancouver, New Westminister Library, New Westminister and her work has been represented by Sharli Gallery in North Vancouver, Michelle Frost Gallery in Oak Bay and Gallery 1248 in Victoria.

Presently she is a member of the Collective Works Artist Association, The League of Canadian Poets, The Writer’s Federation, The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, The Victoria Arts Connection, The Nanaimo Art Gallery, The Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria, The Fairfield Art Association. Elizabeth lives in Victoria, B.C. and continues to divide her time between volunteering, writing, painting and environmental issues.

My encaustic mixed media work is an intuitive reflection of the world I see be it natural or man-made. It is sometimes architectural, sometimes organic but is always a visceral interpretation of colour, texture and light and how these elements affect the memories of my experiences. Working in wax is a daily lesson in staying fluid and flexible. The medium of wax simply cannot be completely controlled.  The unpredictable quality of the paint demands that you work with change as each piece progresses and not with a preconceived idea of the finished work.  Photography is more and more becoming a support to my paintings as I abstract important images. I still find satisfaction in the capturing of the perfect light in a garden, or shadow on a wall. And managing to catch a spontaneous image of a child just “being a child” is one of my greatest joys.

Matthew Wolferstan’s representational watercolours are of local scenes familiar to any who know and love Victoria, and B.C.’s coastal waters. Born and raised in Victoria, Wolferstan gives an “insider’s” look at the area, through his paintings. His watercolours are very precise, with close attention to detail, while still maintaining a feel for the subject and overall mood of the piece. Mostly self-taught, Wolferstan’s formal training includes one year at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, instruction in portrait painting in oils with local portraitist David Goatley, and plein air studies, in Italy, with British watercolourist Alan Reed.