Marking the Valley: A Juried Exhibition

Byron McBride, "Irene Parlby Park", acrylic on panel, 27" x 21"

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

Tracey Mardon, "Girl in Orange", oil on deep birch panel, 30" x 36"

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

Rosalette Mandryk, "Cinnamon and Burnt Sugar", acrylic on linen, 48" x 36"

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

Lesley Lambert, "Whitemud - Crossing Into Autumn", oil, 30" 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.

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

Nicole Hiebert, "Feltmonton and the Wooley, Wooley River Valley", wet/dry felting, beading, handspun wool, paint pen, 26.25" x 36.5"

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.

On Hiebert's work: Fibre Arts is one of Hiebert's first creative loves. She adores the spontaneity and surprise this medium brings. The texture and colours are fascinating and endlessly evolving. The fibers Nicole uses in her works are part of, and produced by, nature. She feels it allows her a closer connection to the Earth and all the beings that allow her fiber art to exist. She is grateful for the experience and thankful to Mother Nature. Nicole is happy she has found her creative calling and her medium.

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

Wendy Gervais, "Downstream", mixed media, 16" x 11.5"

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.

Gervais describes her process this way: I enjoy walking during the winter along Saskatchewan Drive east of 109 Street; over the hill; down the stairs and along the paths which lately have been inaccessible because of the bridge construction; absolutely a magical place in the winter. In warmer weather my route consists of walks along the river from Emily Murphy Park to Hawrelak Park, traveling not on the pedestrian trails provided but, as often as I can, the little paths along the river. The best stretch for me is beside the Mayfield Golf Club. You cannot see the greens and the area is particularly quiet. One section is lined both sides by high-bush cranberries that have halo blossoms. I do not draw or make art while in the river valley; I enjoy the time walking, listening and looking. I collect all those things we are supposed to leave on the ground in parks. Things are collected, saved until they are required.

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

Natasa Vretenar, "Ravine", acrylic, 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.

Vretenar describes her process: Playing with light is my lifelong passion, both as an Optical Engineer and as an artist. I grew up in the former Yugoslavia, where seed for this passion was planted. I came to live in the Southwest USA in high school, and I fell deeply in love with Wild West, wide-open spaces, and amazing colors of the Western North America. I worked as a scientist for 20 years before moving to Edmonton, Alberta in 2012.  Since moving to Canada, I pursue my passion for painting full time.  I am an avid traveler and nature enthusiast. Instead of realistically portraying landscapes, flora and fauna, I try to capture emotion related to experiencing nature.  I strive to achieve this by applying thick texture to my canvases, playing with light by using dozens of acrylic paint glazes, metallic paints, bright colors and different acrylic mediums. My paintings are 3D expressions of dramatic layers of paint applied by palette knives, and completed with intricate brushwork to create additional depth.  Finding joyful things all around me throughout the year in every season, is a journey that brings happiness not only to me, but also to those who take time to explore my finished works of art.

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

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.