Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

Shane Golby, "Elemental", mixed media, 26" x 29"

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Golby says of his work: The mixed media wall relief works submitted for consideration for the exhibition Marking the Valley were inspired both by autobiographical events and by discoveries made along the edges of the North Saskatchewan River throughout the Capital Region. Both as a student of history and anthropology/archaeology and as a visual artist I have always been intrigued and inspired by the remnants of humanity. Throughout my life, no matter where I have lived, I have spent a great deal of time rooting in abandoned structures and stumbling through fields, forests, along the banks of waterways and, more recently, through back alleys, marveling over the relics I have found and attracted by the implied narratives and formal beauty of such ‘treasures’. The art works included in this submission are based on such finds literally marking the North Saskatchewan river valley.

Rivers have long served as metaphors for life’s journey. Having been born and raised in Edmonton, the North Saskatchewan River is my ‘metaphor’. The art works I have submitted for consideration for Marking the Valley are thus not only representations of the actual North Saskatchewan River/river bank but also symbolic depictions of personal life experiences.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.

Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

Elaine Funnell, "Populus tremuloides", watercolour on 300 lb. Arches, 23.5" x 30.5" 

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Funnell says of her process: Nature and native Alberta plants have been the inspiration and focus for my botanical watercolour paintings. Preferring to work from life, using watercolour, allows me to accurately capture the fine detail of wild grasses, mushrooms and leaves among other native plants blending fine art and science reminiscent of the early 18th century botanical illustrators. Many of my seasonal studies show the plant specimen as it changes through the four seasons illustrating life as it truly exists. In my work I often include insects that thrive on the plant, not only to create life and interest in the painting but also to illustrate the environmental connection between plants and beneficial insects.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.

Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

Lori Frank, "Winter Bliss", acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Frank describes her process: Although I love working with many mediums for painting or drawing; my primary art style that I focus on is my unique self taught impressionism (pointillism) technique, since I discovered it when I was a teenager. For my Edmonton river valley series on average a painting that is 20" x 20" can take me up to 100 hours to do. I have been an avid photography buff since taking it in school and like to capture what I'll recreate since my primary fine art style is so time consuming. Since pointillism is a process of piecing or layering dots together, I also naturally gravitated to learning how to work in mixed media - mosaics. In 2014, I have also had the honour to unveil all 25 of my recent Edmonton river valley paintings, in my feature exhibit River Valley Coordinates at city hall for The Works Art & Design Festival.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.

Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

GuoQuan Zheng, "Along the Valley", oil on canvas, 24" x 48"

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.

Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

Gerald Faulder, "Northwest", oil on paper, 27.5" x 39.5"

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.

Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

David Yowney, "Terwillegar Park Forest Pathway", acrylic and graphite on linen, 36" x 24"

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Yowney says of his work: I interpret the meaning and significance of the river valley as a place relative to its position the city and the globe, so I used graphite rubbings to yield a physical record of a real place I experienced. I chose rubbings to highlight a new non-destructive way and renewable experiences of nature that may be accessed without altering it for the next person on the trail.

This picture is a rubbing of a foot pathway deep in the Terwillegar Park Forest. This painting symbolizes how nature is left to it natural cycles within the city where, on the soil, roots grow, leaves and twigs fall and nature is undisturbed.

The GPS coordinates; the rubbing and the satellite views signify that viewers may access the river valley project on the Internet. The global community can study the source of the artwork from anywhere in the world and see a higher level of meaning as I marked how cooperation has grown with this unique pathway.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.

Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

Father Douglas, OSF, "Winter Nirvana", acrylic on lexan and tissue paper, 16" x 20"

Marking the Valley is a juried art exhibition celebrating the beauty of the Capital Region river valley. It features 28 Alberta artists from Cold Lake, Athabasca, Calgary, and the Greater Edmonton Region. Presented by Visual Arts Alberta - CARFAC and the River Valley Alliance, Marking the Valley promotes Alberta Art while showcasing the North Saskatchewan River Valley.

Marking the Valley is at the Kaasa Gallery in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (11455 87 Ave NW in Edmonton) from August 28 to October 7, 2014 and at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium ( 1415 14 Ave NW in Calgary) from October 17 to November 30, 2014.