Doug Alcock, Riley Alexis, Asahna, Rylan
Broadbent, Glenn Clark, Briar Craig, Robert Dmytruk, Jen
Dyck, Janine Hall, John Hall, Joice M. Hall, Angela
Hansen, Fern Helfand, aj jaeger, Byron Johnston, Judith
Jurica, Jim Kalnin, Reg Kienast, Wanda Lock, Molly
March, PeeBee, Mary Smith McCulloch, Steve Mennie,
Marcella Moser, Rhonda Neufeld, Destanne Norris, Julie
Oakes, Gary Pearson, Crystal Przybille, Amber Powell,
Bryan Ryley, Kevin Spetifore, Chuck St. John, Kent Tate,
Heidi Thompson, Kate Tooke, David Wilson, Deb Wilson
Embedded in philosophy since a worldwide (what a
concept!) pandemic raised a specter of the possibility
of being unable to share what artists create, separated
as we were, there is now a sense of gratitude. The
opportunity to appreciate the latest works from our
valley (and slightly beyond), in the company of the
artists, is welcomed. We also have a surprising increase
in the number of artists for during that time of
disappearance, new artworks began to appear, and the
output is even deeper, truer and more specifically here
than ever. We have been and come back. We are more
familiar with the hither and yon.
Artworks are ephemeral, despite the diligent work of
museums and collectors to keep them safe long after the
makers pass. Matter disintegrates and our bodies can
leave before the artwork supporting the notion that
making art may be a drive towards immortality. With the
awareness of a new age, hesitatingly called the
Anthropocene, the impacts of human endeavors have been
revealed to carry consequences beyond historical
imagining or contemporary ken. Yet if anything defines
the uniqueness of the human condition, it must be the
persistent and ongoing spark to do, to make, to create.
Fashioning through justifying words, around concepts as
vague as 'progress' or 'mankind', we have pushed in a
direction equally unknowable (ahead) while we experience
the air and the waters losing their natural authenticity
in the stir of our wake.
A daunting haunting but … there is ART. The artist makes
with everything or nothing in mind, bowed by the
responsibility of being or inspired by the open-ended
freedom that has been held as a masthead within the
arts.
Does art just add to the bulk of the load or take some
weight off? Art is a response to the call to make – a
thought blooms into an idea and the invitation to make
is accepted. Then the art piece must be seen, passed on
in order to connect, from one wandering, wondering
pilgrim to another. And since this relatively small
geographical area contains a potent well of creativity,
we present these insertions into the milieu of things as
necessary impulses of visual heat.
Art brings us into the company of angels expelled from a
bowdlerizing beyond, shining and attractive by sheer
will – chutzpah from hither and yon.