Suzanne Wright
Lynn Connor
Heather. E (S) Armstrong
Bev Pemberton ( Pottery)
Melanie Wasylyshen
Marie Nestel
Marion Zaruk
Kris Wahlstrom
Chris Sadler
Maureen Wheeler
Maureen Wheeler is a Quesnel artist working primarily in acrylics. She has been drawing and painting most of her life. Working for the city, she has done mural restorations and completed a large outdoor mural depicting the endangered Mountain Caribou. She designed “Sockeye Run at Likely” which was chosen to be made into the banner that hangs on light standards around the city. The Pacific Salmon Foundation also bought prints of the work, which depicts sockeye salmon in their spawning cycle, to auction at their various functions around BC. Maureen is a member of the Quesnel Art Gallery, and a regular participant in the annual August Art in the Market.
Anna Ashcroft
Anna Ashcroft is a Canadian sculptor living in Quesnel BC. She studied sculpting and applied design at the Kootenay School of Art in the 1970’s and after years in graphic design, returned to her first love of sculpting. Anna says of her work :“My pieces are subjective statements, like an anthropologist of my own life culture. I am exploring themes that have an intimate quality to them – themes that have appeared in my life again, forcing me to look more closely.”
Aud Fischer
Aud Fischer is a visual artist specializing in animals. Her personal menagerie is her main inspiration, and she experiments with a wide variety of media: drawing, painting and sculpture. Aud has lived for the last fifteen years in Quesnel BC, but has also lived in Victoria, Germany, and South Africa. She is trained as a biologist (University of Victoria) and as a teacher (Simon Fraser University). Currently she creates art at her studio and teaches art to elementary school kids.
Bert De Vink
After sculpting in wood and stone, Bert deVink started to experiment with steel in the late 1960’s. Although occasionally he still carves in wood, steel is the medium in which he prefers to express himself. While working in historic Barkerville and living on the Bowron River at the edge of the wilderness, he became intimately aware of the beauty –the inter-dependence and sometimes raw aspects of nature, as well as the devastation and waste caused by modern logging.
After moving closer to Quesnel he moved from being an environmental activist to a social activist, joining the Council of Canadians. The human misery and environmental damage caused by the corporate sector became the source of inspiration for his next period, the “human observation period,” At present he is creating sculptures that bring happiness in a world that is more and more deprived of joy – working with wood, stone, natural rock, steel and combinations of all these materials.
Darleen Hendry
Darleen was raised in the Okanagan and Shuswap, where she was influenced by the quaintness of her paternal grandmother’s home in Kelowna. Backed by Mill Creek, her grandmother’s flower gardens, fruit trees, and letter-pane windows had a lasting influence on Darleen. She paints a variety of subjects and enjoys the challenges of using new techniques and different approaches, but she concentrates mostly on landscapes, still life, florals, and people. The strongest influence in her work continues to be the impressionist painters. Darlene says “I love the emotional impact and lively brushstrokes of the impressionist style. Painting is about what I feel more then what I see. I feel very connected to the things I paint, and become totally engrossed in them.”
David Duris – Castle Rock Woods
Early in life David Duris lived in isolation surveying roads into wilderness areas, later settling on a large acreage and practicing agriculture and forestry. There he learned to appreciate the qualities of different types of wood and to carve and turn burls from various trees. David says of his process “When I place a block of wood on the lathe there is only a vague idea as to what shape the bowl will be. As the wood spins, I cut out the defects and the bowl begins to take shape.”
Dennis Siemens
Dennis Siemens is a photographer who grew up in a small town in southern Manitoba. Following his graduation from U of M he taught in Manitoba, then Baker Lake, Inuvik, and Fort Smith in the NWT. He and his family have lived in Quesnel since 1975. Dennis taught visual arts for many years. His favourite medium is still traditional black and white and he still enjoys his darkroom, although he is now working mostly in digital format. Dennis says “My inspiration comes from the bountiful and beautiful God-given environment – rocks and flowers, as well as the designed and accidental designs found in made creations, such as broken glass and twisted metal.”
Dianne Thompson
For Diane Thompson, potting holds a certain element of magic. Clay has a life of its own, and has endless possibilities in the hands of the potter. Now residing on a small farm in Nazko, Diane has spent most of her life living and working in remote areas of BC and the Arctic, as well as travelling in the Middle East, Asia, and South America. Diane loves the wilderness, having a particular fascination for ancient civilization and exploring “off the beaten track” and her work is a reflection of this.
Guadalupe Fuentes de Josephy
Lupita Fuentes was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. She worked in several parts of her native state, the city of Oaxaca and in the Republic of Mexico, teaching middle school and high school, specializing in Pedagogy. She is now retired and married to Peter Josephy, a Canadian landscaper designer. She currently resides in Quesnel, where she began to develop her artistic gift as a painter in 1990. Lupita has also written two books; one entitled La Fuerza Del Silencio – The Force of Silence- a novel about her deaf mute mother, the other entitled El Tesoro deButzow, a chronicle of her travels with her husband. Lupita says “Life is art. Beauty is everywhere and we can design our lives in harmony and simplicity.”
Joan Jochim
Joan acquired her first camera in her teens, and began with photographing family and friends, holiday locations and family pets, later moving onto images of landscapes. For many years Joan neglected photography, but upon retiring found a new desire to pursue her interest in the art of images. Currently Joan enjoys making images of landscapes, old buildings and people.
Joan Ramsey Harker
Joan Ramsey Harker was born in Edmonton, and has painted for pleasure all her life, attending painting classes for eight years at the Edmonton Art Gallery. In 1964 she received a Bachelor of Interior Design from the University of Manitoba. During her 36 year career she has worked as a designer in architectural offices in Toronto and Vancouver, then for the Insurance Corporation of BC. Joan moved to Alexandria after retirement, and has become increasingly involved in the arts in Quesnel. She joined Quesnel Wordspinners in 2002 and is a past president of that group. She works with the Regional Arts Council, assisting with their projects, such as the recent hosting of the Artsfest 2008, and is now serving a second term on the Quesnel Arts Advisory Committee. Painting is her first love and absorbs most of her time. She has had solo exhibitions in Williams Lake and Quesnel, regularly exhibits in the Quesnel Art Gallery, and in 2007 was accepted as an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists.
Judith A. DesBrisay
Judith DesBrisay’s art career gained momentum as her role as a community health nurse/educator drew to a close. Speaking of this experience she says “Nursing gave me privileged access to diverse populations in urban and remote communities from Nunavut to Antarctica, including three years experience in various regions of South America. In every situation, my awareness has grown concerning the interrelationship of people with their natural settings; often manifested through cultural undertakings, including art. Part time diploma studies in the Emily Carr Institute served to focus and further my artistic explorations.”
Judy Crannis
Judy Crannis is a Quesnel quilt maker and fabric artist. She is passionate about quilts and her work speaks of strong feelings on traditional family morals and values, as well as filling her creative needs. She has attended International Quilt Conventions in Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Pennsylvania, attended Island Mountain Arts in Wells, and taken classes with Wendy Lewington Coultor, Valerie Hearder, Pam Godderis and Diane Jensen. Her awards include: Viewers Choice, Top 10 in Prince George Regional Art Show in 2000, and Judges Choice at Quilt Canada in 2007.
Katja Kovanen
Katja Kovanen is a jewellry artist specializing in free-form sterling silver and intricate beaded work. She studied at the Kootenay School of the Arts at Nelson in the Jewellery and Small Object Design program, then returned to Quesnel, where she currently lives. Katja says of her design process “I love making new combinations of colours for necklaces, and selecting which beads go together to create an effect. I also love sawing and filing, coming up with new designs in silver and gold. A great feeling for me is when I see someone on the street who I don’t know wearing a piece of jewellery that I’ve made.”
Laurie Bare
Laurie Bare is a photographer and says this of her work: “I have always liked the idea of being a photo journalist, imagining that I was going out on a location to catch the next big story for National Geographic. Then I grew up and realized that I liked the comforts closer to home. However, that imagination and inspiration is still with me when I am looking at landscapes, buildings, or the people around me.
I encourage viewers of my work to make their own stories with my photographs. I want them to ask questions and then reach out and touch my work. My hope is that when people look at my collection they feel the magical atmosphere of this enchanted area.”
Madonna Young
Born in Happy Valley Goose Bay Labrador, Madonna also lived in Newfoundland and Saskatchewan where she discovered her love for art. After spending 16 years in Invermere, she has recently moved to Quesnel and fallen in love with the area and discovered a new love for photography. Madonna says of her work “ I have dabbled in many different areas of art – acrylics, oils, watercolors, charcoal – and I have truly enjoyed them all, but with the advancement of technology, digital photography has captured me whole heartedly. As a photographer, I see photos everywhere I go. Along with my nature photos you will find pictures from my travels to Belize, California, Florida, Hawaii, Europe and Turkey.”
Matthew Johnston
Matthew Johnston has lived and worked in the Quesnel and Wells area since 1981, working outdoors tree-planting and tree-falling around the Cariboo. He loves working with wood, particularly wood that has been affected by the mountain pine beetle, and finds that the blue stain caused by the beetle adds to the overall aesthetic quality of his work.
Michael deBlois
Michael deBlois was born in Victoria BC in 1962 and has lived in Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta. In 1983 he attended the Victoria College of Art. He now lives in Quesnel with his wife and two children. Since 2005 he has been studying photography and the use of computer software which he uses to enhance and manipulate his images. At Artfest 2008 his image “Cut Field” was chosen to tour central BC. Michael sells his work in Quesnel and Victoria, and also does commission works. Michael says of his work “Letting go of everyday concerns and creating art work has always been necessary for me. When I am first impressed by a subject I pause and ask myself what is it in this scene that has caught my eye, and why? It could be the whole or it could be a very small part of the subject matter. Once identified, I attempt to capture the scene. I am not always immediately successful and often the moment must reside in my memory for some time. My goal is to create images that are engaging to the viewer, possibly to spur forgotten memories, or to evoke a specific emotion – to reconnect us with the world that we so often pass by without noticing its drama.”
Paula Scott
Paula Scott was born in SouthernCalifornia and immigrated as a child to Quesnel with her family in 1964. Her father drowned when she was 12, leaving her mother alone to raise four girls in a strange new setting. As a child, her imagination kept her busy and amused, but repressive religious ties kept her from any attempt at self-expression. It wasn’t until her late thirties that she began to explore art, following a trip to Britain in 1994. She began watercolour painting upon her return home and soon after, left the religion she had grown up in. In 1997 she began to work with oilsticks and soon after that, oil paint. In 2000, she received a $5000 Vancouver Art Development Award (Vancouver Foundation) to work with oil paints in conjunction with different surfaces and mediums as well as to study the psychology of colour in art. She has been juried into the BC Provincial Festival of the Arts on numerous occasions, and in 1996, 1998, 1999 and in 2000 was asked to show solo at the Festival. She has also had numerous shows in Prince George, and in Artropolis 2001 in Vancouver. Her work has been exhibited at Prince George’s Two Rivers Gallery in 2002, at the Comox Valley Gallery in Aug 2002, at IMA in Wells in 2003, at Grand Forks in 2005, and in Portland Oregon in 2004 & 2006. At Prince George in 2008, her exhibit with Davida Kidd, Lisa Hebden and Liz Carter was published in a catalogue entitled “Debutantes” Paula says of her work “My paintings are mainly autobiographical - memories, feelings and musings on the world from my experiences, narratives captured on board and canvas in a colourful way meant to provoke thought.”
Sandra Borgun
Sandra Borgun was born and raised in Vanderhoof . In 1994, while living in Dawson Creek, she took a pottery course at the local college. She loved it immediately, and has been throwing pottery ever since. Moving to Quesnel in 2006 she found space in her home to set up a private studio, and now looks forward to years of learning and perfecting the art. Her work is mainly functional but one-off whimsical piece are also thrown in. Sandra says that her main inspiration comes from the clay itself – exploring what it can and cannot do.
Susan Pelkey
Art was always the most interesting subject in high school for Susan, so it seemed logical to move to the Faculty of Education at UBC, where I studied painting and graphics and received my Bachelor of Education degree. She has taught high school in Kelowna, Mission, Enderby, Salmon Arm, Prince George and Quesnel. A trip to Ecuador and Peru in the mid 70’s sparked an interest in weaving as through visits to several villages that produced numerous woven products. In the early 80’s Susan took a year’s leave of absence to study and travel to Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. With strong memories of all the sheep and woollen products in New Zealand, she headed north to Prince George to take a weaving course and started to work with yarn. Production weaving began soon after and she began attending large craft sales in BC and Alberta. Susan says of her work “I retired from teaching in June 2002 and have returned to painting – predominately working with watercolours . I enjoy working with themes, pursuing all the dimensions of an idea, and had a show at the Quesnel Art Gallery in June of 2006, entitled “Passages”. I am currently developing a new theme and exploring ideas with acrylics and pastels”
Ting Yuen
Ting Yuen is a self taught artist, who has travelled the world extensively and lived in five countries. Her varied and rich experiences are reflected in the colourful, whimsical and contemporary themes of her figurative acrylic paintings. These paintings’ poetic narratives of every day existence invite the viewer to smile and be inspired by life’s beauty, ironies, and quirks. Since 1999, Ting has exhibited in Grand Cayman, Canada and the United States, Her paintings have attracted many fine art and corporate collectors from all over the world, and are featured in the Grand Cayman National Museum’s permanent collection.
