Art at The Place

The foyer, in the main building at Fairfield Community Place, serves as gallery space with the intention of displaying artwork from local artists. Since its inception in 2014, colourful paintings, pictures and installations have decorated the centre’s walls. We strive to feature artists who align with the FGCA’s organization values.

Current Exhibit 

German McKenzie 

Past Exhibitors

Deydree Valdez- December 

Originally from Mexico, Deydree moved to Edmonton, AB in 2009. She had never painted before but started exploring with acrylics and later with oils. Painting has been a therapy to cope with the cold long winters and lack of sun, so she always likes to paint with bright & happy colors.

She moved to Victoria last year, she loves the island, and that we are surrounded by nature and beautiful landscapes that inspire her to paint, here she doesn’t need to escape winter but to enjoy the colors that exist throughout the year. Deydree loves painting flowers, landscapes & the sea. Expressing herself through my art soothes her soul and makes her happy.

Theresa Wright

As a newcomer to Victoria, Theresa decided to explore and photograph her neighborhood. Neighborhood meant anything within walking distance: front yards, houses, sidewalks, fences, people, trees, rocks, and shadows. She began a series of acrylic paintings based on these photos. They range from the long shadows on a fall day to a wet December morning in Cook St Village. Shadows are a recurring feature in these paintings. Their shapes and patterns emphasize the abstract elements in the paintings.

Several years ago, after completing a course of study at the Haliburton School of Art & Design, Theresa developed a series of acrylic paintings which blended her strong interest in figurative work with local history. These paintings, based on old photos from the local museum, highlighted the people of the community as they went about their daily lives. They tended to be in warm neutrals and heavily textured to reflect the era.

Deanna Skinner 

Deanna developed a passion for nature as a child in her home town of Powell River, B.C. She spent endless hours observing the beauty of her surroundings: the forests, nearby lakes, and her parent’s flower gardens. She enjoyed learning from her parents about different flowers including lilies, roses, dahlias, daisies, and tulips. She started out drawing, in particular animals, especially wild cats, and flowers. After high school, she moved to Victoria B.C, where she trained at the Victoria College of Art. During this time, she developed a love of surrealism and also expanded to painting in oils and acrylics. The dream-like images of surrealism influence her detailed style.

After art school, she spent many years away from painting and drawing. During this time, she travelled and became inspired by the artwork she saw in Europe, the Americas, and Japan. Later, she went back to school and now has a Bachelor of Arts in Child and Youth Care. She has taken every opportunity to incorporate creativity and art into her daily interactions with young people. Last year, a reignited desire to reconnect with her love of nature inspired her to pick up the paint brush again. Her paintings reflect her concern for the environment and she hopes to remind us of its importance, fragility, and beauty. Her current series features vibrant, macro images of flora and fauna mostly found here on the West Coast.

Sharon Lam 

Sharon Lam began the “Our Favourite Places” project when her Mom was transitioned into hospice care. In the final months of her Mom’s life, Sharon scrambled to illustrate all of their favourite places they had shared throughout her life. She wanted to show her Mom how much she cherished the life she was given and also bring a little bit of home to the hospital. Sharon loves drawing every day ordinary spots like park benches, grocery stores and coffee shops because she believes that combined, these are the places we spend our lifetimes in. Since her Mom’s passing, Sharon has continued illustrating their favourite places.

David Rokeby-Thomas (Painted Poles of Victoria) 

Dave is an accidental artist who once upon a time ended up with a camera in his hands. Some years and some cameras later, he now resides in Victoria taking photos of any and all things that catch his eye. This is an agreeable artistic pursuit for him, as the subjects already exist, and so thus simplifies the thinking and creative process greatly.
The Painted Poles of Victoria is a series of collages that have been created from pictures taken of all the painted utility poles found throughout the city. They’ve been arranged by the various neighbourhoods in which they’ve been found, and also into other fun thematic presentations.

Heather MacNeil

Originally from Montreal, Heather moved to the West Coast in 1994 feeling drawn to its natural beauty. She has explored working in oils, watercolours, mixed media and acrylics with her paintings ranging from representational to abstract. While currently focusing on abstract compositions, she incorporates vibrant colours, bold brush work, and gestural marks in her work expressing a sense of freedom and spontaneity. In addition to a background in science and psychology, Heather has always been drawn to the expressive and healing components of art and the creative process.

“Although my paintings are mostly abstract, I find inspiration in nature and the interplay of colours and shapes of objects in my environment. Through intention and spontaneity, my work expresses movement, and an energy of joy, harmony, and enthusiasm. The emphasis is on exploration and discovery as I tune in, and create a dialogue with the painting. In working through the layers, I engage with contrast, tension, ease and flow, letting go of old structures, shifting perceptions, and allowing new ideas and creative impulses to emerge.”

Paula Nasmith

Rachel Marie

Rachel Marie is a 22-year-old local artist, pursuing her passion of art making and letting the world become    captivated by her contemporary aesthetic and intuitive expressions. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art from Brigham Young University–Idaho. She has lived on the lush and lively Vancouver Island all her life, which has surely aided her inspiration as she creates visuals through honest artistic executions.

Art is not survival, but it is truly living. My unique style includes various levels and sublevels of abstraction and realism. In my art, I value intuition, the inner self, the human experience, and interpreting surroundings in new ways. Spirituality and nature are extremely important elements in my life that express themselves in my artwork as well.  Much of my work includes surrealist sensations as well as embracing the “art for art’s sake” mentality. I believe that life is art. For me, pursuing creative work is an act of honouring the divinity within myself.

Mari Jagt

Mari Jagt is a twenty-three year old Canadian artist and poet living in Victoria, British Colombia. Studying fine arts in London, Ontario and completed a postgraduate in museum and gallery studies, she now works in multimedia forms including but not limited to — acrylics, watercolour, oils, gouache, photography, writing, collage, and drawing in pencils and inks. Mari aims to make art that is accessible and enjoyable to everyone regardless of education, age, gender, race, or status. She creates bright, free-form abstract works and expressionist paintings that can be reminiscent of lights and florals, the sea, and outer space.

Andrea Fritz

I am a Coast Salish Artist from Lyackson Nation of Hulquminum speaking peoples.  I started learning about West Coast Indigenous art at age 9 in the public school system.  I continued my study of the arts with my teacher, Victor Newman, up past graduation. My knowledge of indigenous art technique spans the entire West Coast of Canada, having learned Kwagiulth and Haida Style art from my teacher and more recently learning my people’s Coast Salish style through study of classical and modern works.

I have developed my own unique style with Coast Salish framework.  I walk the land and create from it.  I spend many hours sitting on our home island in the Salish seas listening to nature, listening to my elders and to the youth.  Each of my pieces have a story and purpose behind them.  I continue to produce art to express modern ideas including indigenous rights and responsibilities.  We can all work together to protect this beautiful land we call home.

Alexa Gibbs

An artist who uses the simple yet stunning beauty of nature as inspiration for her work; Alexa Gibbs spends much of her time by the ocean, in the forest, and in her very own garden. Mostly self taught, with a few workshops and courses to strengthen her technique, she constantly strives to boraden her artistic knowledge and technical ability. A mind constantly flowing with new ideas, Alexa enjoys knowing that she is bringing the beauty she experiences in nature into peoples homes and says that her geatest dream is to one day be known by her art.

With acrylic as her medium of choice, Alexa also incorporates watercolour, pen and ink and photography into her pieces and has show her work around Victoria

Margaret Hantiuk

Margaret paints with oils in her studio. Her landscapes are referenced from photos of where she has visited on her walks and travels. They are often abstract as she works in abstraction with some of her work as well. She draws on paper using a multi-media approach: collage, graphite, acrylic inks, oil pastels, conte, watercolour pencils, gouache—anything that will enrich the process. She likes to paint outdoors in watercolours (plein-air) in the warmer weather.

Brian Simons

Brian’s work attempts to express something more than the physical aspects of a subject. It is not his intent to portray accurately what he sees, but rather to allow what he sees to show itself to him. His role is to freely and joyously paint and let the results take care of themselves. He feels that successful painting just happens and the result cannot be anticipated, therefore is very surprising to the painter. The more the painter can “not paint” so to speak, the more space becomes available for this communication to happen. It is a kind of effortless accomplishment whose success is not measured by the work itself, but in what is stirred or evoked in the viewer. The real fruit of painting or art is that it has the power to awaken the sleeping artist within each of us creating new possibilities for seeing and enlarging our capacity to appreciate the beauty which surrounds us. Aside from his studio, you can view Brian’s work his work at: Kamp Galleries, Chicago, US / Tripp Galleries, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia / Southshore Gallery, Sooke, BC

Joanna Pettit 

Joanna’s paintings explore the edges of colour, texture and form. She applies the paint in layers to create a sense of space and vibrancy. Joanna is interested in the places where one colour meets another, and in the different tones created by layering transparent paints on top of each other. 

She work’s with acrylic paint and mediums using a variety of tools to make marks and create textures and layers. Her tools range from brushes to squeegees to plastic scrapers, and she often begins by applying a few colours to the canvas. Then she builds up the tones and shades of colour and scrapes back to reveal the underlying structure of the piece. Some of her paintings are done on boards or canvasses that have a textured layer applied with sand and acrylic medium. She enjoys working abstractly over these textured surfaces. To Joanna the most important aspect of the work is the feeling evoked through tones, textures and the light/dark spaces in the painting.

Emily Hull 

Emily’s inspiration comes from life on Vancouver Island, where she lives in Victoria with her husband and two young girls, a cat and three little chickens. Emily’s work is a playful study of her life— small vignettes that illustrate a day, a moment. She paints primarily using acrylics, gouache, and uses a lot of gesso. She loves her spray bottle & playing with pools of watery paint. When she’s not painting, you’ll find her salvaging for interesting scrap materials, creating with wood, power tools, paint, paper mache, seeds & soil, driftwood, or anything shiny and old.

Austin Clay Willis

Originally from Piedmont, California, Austin Willis has been studying the arts since the ninth in 2011. Generally, Austin uses bright colors and bold lines in pursuit of energetic positivity, love, and happiness. As an emerging artist Austin has a great interest in public art and creating work that beautifies spaces. After coming to Victoria to attend University in 2015, Austin’s work has developed significantly. Lately, working in a more abstract fashion, his work has used shape, space, colour and line in order to play with spatial illusions and the pictorial shifts between foreground and background, drifting between abstract gesture and intuitive design. He also uses composition, abstraction, and material to enforce the physical structure of the work.

Stanley Street Studio

is comprised of a group of painters who live (or have lived) in the Fairfield Community. Karen McDonald, Laurie McAmmond, Debra Verway, Janet McGregor, Dianne Salmon, Jo Vipond, Mike Laundress, and Fran Spencer make up Stanley Street Studio using water colours as their medium of choice.

A former Fairfielder and now an honourary Fernwooder, I’m always amazed at how watercolour creates it’s own magaic, Often despite the artist. -Mike Laundress

I love the serendipitous fusion of colour that happens when two or more pigments mix when I paint. This emotional response is what excited me the most when I tried watercolor painting for the first time about five years ago. Now I enjoy pursuing the art because I get to go outside and truly see the colour and shape of the natural world. I have also met so many interesting people and made such wonderful new friends since I put brush to paper. -Janet McGregor

Mary Lapp

Mary Lapp is a visual artist living in Victoria British Columbia. She holds a BSc in Psychology from Acadia University. Lapp made the professional shift towards Art in 2015 in order to express her ideas and theories through visual expression. Lapp is currently working with acrylics in abstract form to release and share bold, uninhibited energies. Lapp works in order to add color to her world and express the freedom and movement she feels in dance and music. Lapp also works as a Teacher sharing her passion for creativity, art and music with children.

Carol Koebbeman

I was born and raised in northern Illinois to a creative family and have been making some form of art all my life. I graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1980 with a degree in Fiber. In the subsequent three decades I made fiber art, created a business manufacturing silk cord and pursued woodworking by creating studio furniture. In 2010 I started painting, eventually settling on figurative and portrait work in oil. I strive to make my paintings fresh and direct with a vibrancy of energy, yet precise and accurate with forms and structure. My method of art making has always been a mix of deliberate, labor-intensive elements combined with quick, energetic and daring applications. I’m drawn to contemporary ideas and styles. My aim is to explore the relationship between people and their social environment. As humans, we often play the role of chameleon, sometimes comfortably, other times less so. In my paintings, I address my own experiences and conflicts and strive to portray them through my subjects in an authentic and honest manner.

Kathy Dufour

Kathy Dufour works from her home studio atop Cook Street Village in Victoria, BC. Kathy has been an artist for many years working with different mediums like glass and recently reconnecting with painting. She hopes to merge and create mix media pieces by incorporating both glass and paint. Kathy hopes to depict the fragility of the environment and our society to convey the importance of protecting and preserving that which we are a part of.

Faces of Victoria

Grade 8 French Immersion students from Central Middle School created a project called Faces of Victoria. Inspired by humans of New York, they launched a campaign on social media to showcase Victoria’s diversity and promote inclusivity. The project aims to bring together the community in a way that will acknowledge all humans as humans.  The students feel the way to combat racism and intolerance is to get to know your neighbors. They feel meeting and talking to people from all backgrounds an lifestyles has open up their eyes and hearts.

 Alena Ebeling-Schuld

Alena Ebeling-Schuld is a conservation geographer and photographer based in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. Alena has her BSc in wildlife conservation and ecosystem interactions through the Geography and Biology departments at the University of Victoria, and she strives to find unique perspectives and solutions to current conservation issues. She loves to use photography as a medium for bringing conservation challenges and successes to the public eye, as well as inspire action in others by highlighting nature’s striking beauty, intimacy, and connections between its components (including us!).

 CarrolAnn Smedley

CarrolAnn’s early paintings are inspired by landscapes and the geographies she has lived in from the deserts of Arizona to the forests of British Columbia. Her work explores a variety of subject from landscapes to human form with the thread of vibrant, glowing, colour. CarrolAnn has shown and sold her work in a variety of location in North America and New Zealand. She currently lives and paints in Victoria, BC.

FGCA is starting 2017 with a special exhibit on “shelter” featuring artwork by staff and volunteers. Attend the opening reception to celebrate the painters, poets, and multi-media artists at The Place! This collection on “shelter” is inspired by the challenges that our community members encounter when looking for housing in the city. We also recognize that shelter looks and feels different for different people. We hope to reflect this diversity through art and performance.

Kelly Ketcheson

Kelly Ketcheson moved to Victoria in 1994 after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan Fine Arts BFA program specializing in Painting and Printmaking. Happy to call Victoria his home, Kelly is strongly influenced by the city and its natural surroundings, both rural and urban. His vivid paintings and playful use of color provide a whimsical yet refreshing view on the west coast palette. Kelly engages the viewer in the enhancement of color from everyday objects portrayed, and combines that with a strong contrast between shadow and sun, realism and impressionism.

Kristofer Parley

Kristofer Parley has been painting with Watercolour since he was eight years old. From his initial sketches for his intricate Watercolour pieces came inspiration for his pen & inks pieces. He was advised by a friend to try pen instead of graphite. The pen and Inks that are on display consist of both large and small pieces; these pieces are inspired by the city of Vancouver and of his surroundings in Victoria BC.

 Erin Vanessa

Erin uses watercolour and gouache to create vivid, whimsical art for kids and the young at heart.  Focusing primarily on children’s illustration, she paints scenes with anthropomorphic characters who are reminiscent of children’s books.  The characters are humorous, heart-warming depictions of real life situations.

Her art can be found in children’s rooms, nursery rooms, hobby rooms, wedding invitations, and offices.  Her specialty, however, is in nursery rooms, and she has done countless commissions for expecting parents who are looking for a custom, high-quality final touch to welcoming their new addition to the family.  She can cater to any theme, colour scheme, and choice of animal(s).

Linda Skalenda

Nature – The inspiration that Linda gathers for her vibrant, passionate and colourful canvases, that make you stop in your tracks for a second look.

Suzanne Heron 

The person behind Blue Heron Art – is an artist with a passion for community. After 30 years working in Community Development and co-owning a small town toy store, she is using her own and others’ art to celebrate places that people love to be part of.“Thinking about our summer place, used by 4 generations, I realized my connection to that place gives me deep roots. A sense of belonging, being part of a community, is a basic need for all o fus. So I am using art to share local places that have special meaning for people. Eventually I realized that I am still doing community development, just in a different way. And the process of building the annual Victoria & Circle Tour Calendar – discovering favourite places and meeting people who love where they live – gives me a strong sense of home.” Suzanne paints digitally, using a Wacom tablet and stylus, linked to her computer. “Whatever I paint on the tablet shows on my computer and can be printed out on canvas. If something doesn’t look right, I just erase. It’s very cool!”

Lisa Riehl

Lisa was raised in BC and has been seriously painting since 2004, when she moved to Victoria.  Inspired by the dramatic landscapes around her, she has translated her passion for hiking, surfing and her love of nature to canvas.  Over the years Lisa has perfected her craft, capturing in bold colours her vision of the heart and soul of the West Coast.  This is evident in her interpretations of the beaches of Tofino & Sooke, the forests of the West Coast and the mountains of Whistler.

Annie Nazarian

Through a variety of mediums i am striving to make art that will evoke emotion, a sense of playfulness with an element of darkness. The Paris of Toulouse Lautrec, the paintings of Gustav Klimpt, Ukiyoe prints, Brassai’s photographs, and Minoan sculptures and frescoes are my inspiration. I am looking for the woman behind the veil, her mysterious smile hinting there is so much more than meets the eye. She has wisdom. And she has secrets.

Robert Amos

Robert Amos has dedicated himself to painting the urban landscape, focusing on Victoria, British Columbia, and environs. As an Honorary Citizen of Victoria, a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts and for 26 years art writer for the Times Colonist, he is one of Victoria’s best-known artists.

Robert Ives

I have been painting for 20 years now, and drawing since I was old enough to discover that a pencil could actually leave a mark on a piece of paper.
I spent my childhood looking out the windows and day-dreaming. Doodling visions I saw in the clouds of Fort Nelson, far away from the ocean, in Northern British Columbia.To date, my work has been exhibited across Canada, in Paris and Berlin. Even been part of a group Mural Mosiac that was presented to the Queen on her last visit to Canada.

Laurie McAmmond

currently lives and paints in Victoria, BC.   Having spent most of her life on the West Coast her favourite medium is transparent watercolor as reflects the fluid interplay of water, light and atmosphere.  Her compositions are based on simple natural elements, slightly abstracted and richly pigmented.  She is most interested in painting the ‘feel’ of the landscape that resonates with the image within and the art of seeing with a brush in hand.  Laurie has a studio in Victoria and can be contacted at greenbits@hotmail.com

Joan Cahill

A native Victorian and graduate of Emily Carr College of Art + Design, Joan is a painter and graphic designer. Her works have recently shown at the Sidney Fine Arts Show, The Arts Centre gallery at Cedar Hill and the Coast Collective Art Centre ~ “I am fascinated by the interplay of the elements, surfaces, depth, reflections and the possibilities of revelation”.

Fairfield Stories Mural Project

Through drawing, painting, printmaking and poetry, an artist-led mural made by community will be installed in the Fairfield Gonzales Community neighbourhood in 2015. Neighbouring residents were invited to share poems and visual contributions to this fun and inclusive community arts project. A celebration unveiling event will take place in spring 2015

Joanna Saunders

Joanna Saunders grew up on Vancouver Island is now living in Victoria, is completely self-taught, and started using oil paints in 2003. She continues to experiment with other mediums, but uses predominately oil paint because she loves the rich colours and textures which can be created with it. Joanna also does stained glass work.

Shutterbug

An exhibition of photographs by children aged 5-12 in the FGCA’s summer camp “Artists Alive”, 2014. Generously supported by Luz Studios and Prism Imaging.

Shanna Baker

I’m Shanna Baker, an ordinary gal with an extraordinary dose of wanderlust. Nothing makes me happier than being out in the world exploring, camera in hand. Photographically I’m drawn to the simple, the graphic, and the colourful. The world is a complicated, often devastating place, but it’s also full of beauty. Those moments and details are what speak to me.

James Nesbitt

I was born in Thailand, but have lived the majority of my life in Victoria, British Columbia. My art has gone through many changes since the childhood sketches I created before my earliest memories. Through art I hope to encourage reflection on life – the potential of love, the destructiveness of hate, the wonder of emotion, the beauty of free will, the infinity that can be sensed in the depths of the eyes.