Paint-In comes once a year on Vancouver Island. Artists’ booths lined a downtown street on a sunny Saturday in July. We strolled with our hosts, Ira and Rebecca, in Victoria, BC, and we were all looking for art that really spoke to us. We wanted to see something that was inspired, not created specifically to sell. What we were looking for is hard to define. Humor in art is fine, so is color and beauty, but it goes deeper than that. No one quality defines what we love in art.
On with the search… We darted into various booths. Pieces here and there we quite liked. We saw a crowd forming ahead at the booth of Dale Roberts. We waded through to see work unlike anything we’d seen. Dale Roberts had created felt sculptures that were entirely new to us and delighted us.
The Art-In was enjoyable with a lot of “likes” but nothing we couldn’t live without. Ira and Rebecca suggested that we end the walk with a visit to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Sure, why not? The Gallery featured works of David Blackwood, an artist born in Wesleyville, Newfoundland.
The Introduction for his work: “David Blackwood’s prints are a metaphor for the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Set before our time, his images depict Newfoundland as a place of struggle, danger and tragedy. They tell stories of a barren land, a hostile climate and a threatening sea. Drawing on childhood memories, dreams, legends and oral histories, Blackwood captures the hardships of the cod fishery and the seal hunt in the land of his ancestors. Life is fragile … Yet the…people of Bonavista Bay persevere in a menacing world.”
We spent a long time in the gallery with Blackwood’s work. These were exactly what we were looking for: inspired art that is deeply touching, and we found them in an unexpected place.
Flowers from the Farm Market on the Paint-In route brightened the day.
July 2013
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