“Island Dreams” Art Exhibit and Art Sale By Francine Renaud

An Art show By Francine Renaud with an Art opening on Saturday June the 30th starting @ 4pm until 9pm.

Presenting On Galiano Island, a Summer Art Show for 2018

The nature of an Island evokes so much mystery …

The first images that come to mind are its shores, especially the ones we first approach to land on. It is because of these defining natural boundaries that the Island has the natural ability to have identity and definition. It has an edge.

The shores of an island are a world of their own. They are populated with inhabitants from the wide ocean’s fluids. They rekindle memories of what was our primordial realm.

Yet, the mystery of the island remains for us to explore. It allows us to go further, deeper through its edges, its surface to discover that, what a first looks like an impenetrable mass of green is composed of a variety of so many beings. Maybe all of these beings are migratory, just like us, arriving through the atmosphere or arriving on its shores, linking this isolated landmass to the vast world and, becoming part of it.

Still, we can feel that a more pervasive presence is at work here, nourishing life and allowing it to vibrate… What is it that that carries forces in waves and allows us to resonate? Which element constitutes us to the greatest proportion and quenches our thirst? Which element changes form, from the vapours travelling our skies to mists and drops that reach the lands to fill our streams, our aquifers and then, can turn into crystals that totally transform our landscape from green to white? Which one makes an island feel alive?

Water’s presence, I love and celebrate…

“Caring for Water” is a theme that is being explored as a unifying principle, for the people of the earth to rally and address climate change in as many forms as we can find to be of help.

For me, it is part of a joint effort with Chilean artist and writer Raimundo Nenen Villarroel, his close community of like-minded graphic artists, friends and writers, to create an alliance and awareness, based on exploring and rekindling the wisdoms, languages and cultures indigenous to these mountains valleys and coastline as well as the myriads of hybrid cultures that have emerged throughout the Great Cordillera.

Through this alliance we are creating between artists of the Great American Cordillera from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego on the Pacific Coast, we have the intention to use the best skills we have as artists, to share with current audiences spanning different languages, cultures and age groups.

New Works 2018

I am very excited to present you some new works where I push further my image making adventures with symbols, colour, paper, brush, inks, printmaking and mixed media techniques and, where I will often, but not always, bring digital tools into play. I am creating evocative works that will bring into your living spaces, I am hoping, peace, joy and, enchantment. I am also exploring the possibilities of illustration. They are an invitation for me to tell you stories…

Works of all sizes: Paintings, Prints, Mixed Media, Cards.

Retrospective 2018

It seems timely to also present to you a selection of older works that will provide context to the new works that will allow you to follow the evolution of my thoughts and processes, as I have explored many different mediums throughout my career.

“The Galiano Island Festival of Trees-1988”

Marvelling at the size of the flowering plum behind the Galiano Elementary School this spring, I thought it would be timely and fun to look back at the community celebration I created around the planting of this tree with all the children and their parents and crew, who helped us make and celebrate this occasion of Spring Equinox of 1988.

“The Tree Festival” was a rather big event, under the guidance and support of ECCUAD’s Geoff Rees, my teacher that year and of Ed Andrusiak and Akasha Forest at coproduction and coordination, under the hospice of Elizabeth Brinson who was then principal at Galiano Elementary. The performances featured Bonny Bonnie Fordyce, Nancy Warnock and Carmen Rosen, fellow students at ECCUAD and Island dancers Elizabeth Fairbrother Fairbrothers, Yvonne Creamore, Johanna Newmoon and Ginou Lev , in performing around my installation, a piece called “The Well”, while Carmen Rosen sang and played the harp.

First Nation Storyteller Ellen White enchanted the children with stories of old. She then took them for a nature walk through our forest. (Ellen White was honoured as a member of the Order of Canada in 2017,

www.snuneymuxw.ca/press-coverage/snuneymuxw-elder-ellen-white-given-insignia-member-order-canada

We are now most fortunate and grateful to have access to Rene Zich’s documentation of this event. We will be showing this footage during the show and be featuring some precious moments from that day and shots of the work we did leading to the celebrations. A loop will be running during the show and a longer presentation during the opening Saturday evening.

“Foxfireworks: 1997-2000”.

Tile making in the Gulf Islands with creative partner Frank De Waard.

Foxfireworks is a unique project where Frank and I combined our skills and efforts; Frank’s experience and ingenuity at firing clay and creating glazes with my designing and printmaking skills to create Gulf Island made tiles.

Our tiles were inspired by the beautiful tiles produced in the early 20th century, by Malibu Potteries in southern California. We have kept a collection of the best of these tiles created in that period of time and would love for you to see them. We also produced a beautiful series of small silkscreened prints based on the same motifs we developed for the tiles and will have these available to be purchased.