The members of Parksville’s DeCosmos Fine Arts Group will hang their hearts on the wall as opposed to wearing them on their sleeves next month. For their annual show, which starts on June 2 at the McMillan Arts Centre, the group has chosen the theme Art from the Heart.
“All our art comes from our heart,” said the show’s co-ordinator Vivien Frow.
According to Frow, 51 of the group’s 95 members will exhibit work in the show. With such a large number of participants, president of the DeCosmos Bernice Stearns said that each artist will only be allowed to enter one piece or else there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone.
When it comes to content, however, there were no restrictions given.
As such, there will be a number of different mediums shown, including all types of painting, photography and possible some three-dimensional art, said Frow.
“It covers everything,” she said.
One of the group’s photographers, Penny Marshall, said she will submit an image called Hellebores, which is named after the flowers it depicts.
“I’m a naturalist,” she said, describing her love of getting close to nature. “My passion has always been closer photography.”
Stearns, on the other hand, said she will enter a silk painting called Relaxation.
The semi-abstract work attempts to capture the ease of an eagle flying in a storm. “I try to get the shapes and colours,” she said.
Frow will also submit a painting, though hers is not on silk.
Titled Jellybean Row, Frow’s work depicts some of the colourful homes she saw on a trip to Newfoundland. “I was stunned by the colours,” she said, adding that her guide has called the structures “jellybean houses.”
This annual show is the only joint exhibit the DeCosmos Fine Arts Group will have all year, said Stearns.
The group does, however, informally display some of their works throughout the year at the Parksville Library and the Parksville Community and Conference Centre. Several individual members also host their own full-scale shows.
The DeCosmos show will run June 2-27 in the Concert and Nemeth Galleries at the MAC in Parksville. Throughout the run, Stearns said there will usually be a De Cosmos artist working or walking around in the galleries ready to answer any questions about the show during weekday afternoons.
“There’s always a story behind it (the art),” she said.
The show’s opening reception will be held on June 6 from 1-3 p.m., which everyone is welcome to attend in order to meet the artists and enjoy some refreshments.