Flags Flying

May 31-August 28, 2025

Anonymous, Doug Alcock, Lynden Beesley, Alan Brandoli, Rylan Broadbent,

Janet Cardiff, Glenn Clark, Carin Covin, Briar Craig, Julian Dix,  Robert Dmytruk,

David Doody & Rain Doody, Jorden Doody, Jen Dyck, Joanne Gervais,

Allison Beaumont and Shauna Oddleifson,  Janine Hall, Joice M. Hall, John Hall,

Angela Hansen, Fern Helfand, Asana Hughes, aj jaeger, Byron Johnston,

Judith Jurica, Reg Kienast, Bob Kingsmill, Wanda Lock, Mary Smith McCulloch,

Steve Mennie, Herald Nix, Destanne Norris, Julie Oakes, PeeBee, Gary Pearson, Katherine Pickering, Amber Powell, Shawn Serfas, Todd Schulz, Kevin Spetifore,

Heidi Thompson, Kate Tooke, David Wilson, Deb Wilson.

Flags can become a metaphor for a range of subjects pertinent to art. We work under one flag, that of the visual arts. As a symbol of unity, a flag shields and protects us while granting validation that comes with plurality, as of the same tribe. Despite how cosmopolitan our lifestyles may be, we have a relational sense of commitment to art practices, art professions, art research and writing. A living community is identified. Perhaps each piece is a flag raised.

When a flag is waved, there is an expectation of a spectator. The bearing of a flag requires an actor, one engaged in the action of holding it aloft. A flag can be manually fluttered, creating movement towards a noticeable appearance, just as each new piece is a showing, a presentation, an appearance.

There is a graphic of a Canadian flag in the title, Flags Flying and some of the artworks may specifically address the theme using imagery pertinent to current politics with overtones hinting at tariffs or threats of annexation, glory or oppression. Of late, the political climate has given reason to fly the Canadian flag - without the division that developed during the trucker protest . Recently, when Canadian flags fly and catch attention, there appears a concerned belief in good, a convinced announcement of plurality and strength in the togetherness embedded in sovereignty.

What of the expression, “flag that one” - a flag that warns or signals a need for surveillance, attention, awareness. A call to stay awake and keep eyes open. We take stock of who we are as Canadians, flying our flag. Exhibiting the recent works of these Okanagan artists, is also a way of taking stock, of recognizing what is being considered creatively and intellectually by artists who live in the valley.

Pride is associated with flags and Headbones Gallery is proud to present the works of this roster of artists under this banner. Flags Flying is a timely title, and the current is reflected from the gallery walls. As an example, Joice Hall had completed a new painting, Full Moon, Early Dawn, depicting homes on a hillside in Kelowna, in her signature detailed and exact style which she had planned to show in this Okanagan exhibition, before the title Flags Flying had been assigned. Re-viewing the perspective from which the painting had been taken, she began to notice flags appearing on some of the balconies she had depicted. Headbones has been assured that it should be dry in time to show the change in the appearance of the urban landscape.

And what of flagging: drooping, limp? It’s not happening here. The Headbones’ flag is taut from the energy blowing it straight so that the fullness of imagery is unavoidably showing, exhibiting, appearing.

e Feught

 We look towards the far distant for a sense of something other than the hum-drum existence that often takes over our routine lives. Vacations, videos, reading, music – all become the escape routes to enrichment. Afar Per se fulfills the wanderlust and slakes the thirst for exoticism, transferring a National Geographic mind frame into the refined halls of high culture.

 Amar from Afar is actually residing and working quite close for his studio is in Lumby, BC – yet that fact could translate into a rather exotic imagining for a New Yorker. Headbones Gallery visited the artist’s studio in the fall and were rewarded with a revelation as expanding as that of visiting another country. Amar’s work is not static. It reaches backwards in time as it projects forward and seldom is there only a surface meaning. But this is not a plea for nostalgia or even a reinforcement of exotic otherness for Amar doesn’t let the image rest. He pokes at it, jabs at it with the dissonance of virtual life and in doing so pulls his visual story line into the theatrical realms. There is a taste of intrigue, plot, climax and even the potential for a narrative resolution. He gives us sufficient clues but doesn’t reveal the ending.

 Diane Feught’s actual past, present and future have rarefied beginnings. Feught grew up in an Anglican home. As an adult, she lived in a Buddhist priory in Edmonton for seven years where she experienced the lush overlap of philosophical, spiritual and cultural diversity while still living in the heart of a ‘typical’ Canadian milieu. Her oil paintings and gouaches leave room for study as well as speculation as to their narrative source. Often with a strong composition that supports the drama of the imagery, her technique – impeccable and practiced – supports the strangeness of her subjects by granting an immediate viability to the juxtaposition of elements. The overwhelming perfection and balance take over any doubt at the unusual imagery. Feught also backs her innuendos with information, detailing with a precision to provoke applause.

 Afar Per se - what does it mean? Per se does not only mean “intrinsically” but also, “by, of, for or in itself”. It seems a fitting description of the works of Amar from Afar and Diane Feught with all of the allusions to otherness that they inspire.

 The opening reception for Afar Per se is Friday, November 11, which is Remembrance Day and 11/11/11. Even the date is fittingly evocative yet cryptic.

 Trance and Nilt to cosmic Eastern sounds and melodies during the opening reception with Daniel Stark on sarode, Bill Boyd on cello and Gaz on guitar.