There are several artistic conversations happening at The Old School House this month, according to executive director of the art centre, Corinne James.
The first part of the exhibition is called Double Vision and involves two Nanaimo artists Kathy Barnson and Colin Spencer who began with the same photographic references and produced entirely different and intriguing pieces of art. Barnson uses media like watercolor and acrylic to create her pieces while Spencer creates three dimensional mixed media pieces.
The second exhibition, called Before and After, involves two local textile groups, the Mid-Island Surface Design Group (the Surfers) and the 93 Group. The artists from the first group began a 12-inch square textile works which the artists from the 93 group completed.
“I felt that Colin and Cathy were in a conversation, their work talking about the same thing in a different way,” said James. “And it’s same with these other artists...It’s very interesting to see that.”
Finally the exhibition features the glass work of Elizabeth Wellburn, using recycled materials like discarded bottles, chipped serving dishes, old stemware and scraps of glass. Her canvass is often salvaged windows from heritage houses. The windows for the exhibition are named after titles or quotable lines from the movies, James explained.
“She feels she’s recycling titles the way she’s recycling glass,” she said.
The exhibition runs at TOSH until April 30. For more information on TOSH visit www.theoldschoolhouse.org or call 250-752-6133.