In Place / Displaced
January 14 to March 3, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery

Haruko Okano (Vancouver BC) - installation
Maria Whiteman (Edmonton AB) - large scale photography
Pamela Speight (Nanaimo BC) - drawings

Opening Reception: Friday January 13 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
Art Talk: Friday January 13 at 8pm during opening reception
Panel Discussion:  Saturday January 14, time TBA – invited panel members will be from the BCSPCA, Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society, and Project Watershed.  Discussion topics will centre around local habitat/conservation, animal rights and wildlife rehabilitation.

This exhibit consists of a selection of artworks by three artists presenting installation, large format photography and drawings together to activate a dialogue surrounding the human relationship with animals, the phenomena of habitat/territory and invasive species.  In addition to an artist talk, there are plans for a panel discussion designed to engage feedback from animal rights and environmental and or conservation groups:  The British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society, and Project Watershed..

Haruko Okano is a Vancouver based artist educated at the Doone School of Fine Arts, Kitchener ON, completing post grad studies at Central Tech, ON followed by a 2 year curatorial apprenticeship at the Grunt Gallery in Vancouver BC. Since 1974, she has exhibited widely in BC, the Yukon, Ontario, Mexico, USA, and internationally. Her works are located in the collection of the Library of Congress, USA, Surrey Art Gallery, Japanese Canadian Citizens Assn, BC Provincial Art Bank and the Canada Council Art Bank.

Maria Whiteman lives and works in Edmonton Alberta. She completed a BFA at the University of North Carolina and an MFA at The Pennsylvania State University. She is currently a Scholar for the Canadian Institute for Research in Computing and the Arts and is the Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Dept. of Art & Design at the University of Alberta. She has exhibited in Canada for the last decade.

Pamela Speight is based in Nanaimo BC. She completed a BFA at Emily Carr University and an MFA at Ohio State University, and has been a Professor of drawing and painting at Vancouver Island University since 1991. She has exhibited throughout the USA and Canada since 1985. Her works are in the collection of the Burnaby Art Gallery, The Richmond Art Gallery, Malaspina Printmaker’s Society Archives and the Canada Council Art Bank.
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Animalmorphic
January 14 to March 3, 2012 - Community Gallery

Open call community exhibition

Opening Reception: Friday January 13 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance

In conjunction with the main exhibit, In Place / Displaced, CVAG invites the community to submit artworks responding to the topic of humanity’s relationship to animals and our practice of attributing human qualities towards them; consider animals both wild and domestic.  How does this practice affect how we see, feel and think about animals?  In its most prevalent form, we see animals as characters in fables, stories, and legends.  Nowadays, how do we continue this relationship in popular media?  Submissions can also be a visual exploration and dialogue of how we perceive animals in our/their shared habitat, animal rights, conservation and/or stewardship.
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My Utopian Comox Valley
Comox Valley Art Gallery / Comox Valley Community  Arts Council Members Juried Art Exhibition
March 10 to April 21, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday March 9 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
Awards ceremony:  Friday March 9 at 8pm, during the Opening Reception

The CVAG and CVCAC co-present this exhibition which features a diversity of artwork by the Comox Valley visual arts community. All genres of visual arts will be exhibited . . . examples are drawings, paintings, prints, multi-media, mixed media, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and fibre arts.
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Diverse Approaches to Watercolours
March 10 to April 21, 2012 - Community Gallery

Gordon Greenhough (Comox BC) - watercolour paintings
Tony Martin (Courtenay BC) - watercolour paintings
Clive Powsey (Cumberland BC) - watercolour paintings

Opening Reception: Friday March 9 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance

In this exhibit, three Comox Valley artists present their explorations in watercolour painting.  From light, shadow, and the precipitations of pigments emerge the natural world images of Gordon Greenhough.  In Clive Powsey’s alpine landscapes he merges the “horrifyingly beautiful with varying degrees of menace”.  Tony Martin’s subject matter is derived from his visual travel diaries and the home environment.

Gordon Greenhough is a graduate of the University of Calgary where he pursued his career in Education and Fine Arts.  For twenty seven years, he taught Fine Arts to secondary students in Calgary.

Tony Martin was educated at St. Martin’s School of Art (now Central St. Martin’s) and Alberta College of Art (Post Grad Painting), and recently retired as Director / Curator of Comox Valley Art Gallery, Courtenay, BC after 19 years.

Clive Powsey studied drawing, painting and printmaking at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1980 and has exhibited his work regularly since 1981 in group and solo exhibitions.  He has also worked in animated film and television with screen credits as an art director and background artist/stylist.)
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From the Treasure Box - A Look Inside Children’s Imaginations
March 10 to April 21, 2012 - George Sawchuk Gallery

Mixed media artworks by students ages 5 to 12
tutored by Comox Valley artist Tracy Kobus

Opening Reception: Friday March 9 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance

This is an exhibit of artwork by children, ages 5-12, created in Tracy Kobus’ kids art classes in the past year.  In these private group classes, Tracy shares a simple art lesson such as; how to create the illusion of distance, make shapes appear 3-D or compose an entire picture.  The kids then transform these new ideas into amazing individual creations.

Throughout her art classes Tracy lets the kids know that their “imagination” is like a golden treasure box inside themselves that holds a bottomless source of ideas; when they ask it to, it will open!
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In Focus
Emily Carr University Graduates from North Island College’s External BFA Program
April 28 to June 2, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery

Group exhibit:
Miel Creasey, Remi Gervais, Janis Guthy,
Carol Hilland, Stefanie Krewusik, Angela Skaley

Opening Reception: Friday April 27 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance

In partnership with Emily Carr University (Vancouver BC) and North Island College (Comox Valley campus), this exhibit presents the culmination of the undergraduates’ studies.

Students graduating from this program present exploratory and experimental works in a variety of media that challenge and intrigue.

CVAG recognizes the importance of fostering the art practices of young and emerging talent.
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What We Wear with What We Wear
April 28 – June 2, 2012 - Window Gallery

Open call community exhibition

Opening Reception: Friday April 27 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance

The CVAG invites the community to submit artworks responding to the topic “What We Wear with What We Wear”.  In this exhibit, wearable art accessories will be the focus; hats, gloves, scarves, jewellery, belts, and bags.  Get creative, think outlandish and submit a unique accessory, an artwork about or created with accessories!
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Compound Eye:
Visions, Views and Imaginings of Bees
June 9 – July 7, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery

Ted Goodden (London, Ontario) - stained glass, collage, woodcut prints
Stephen Humphrey (Toronto, Ontario) - video & poetry
Sarah Peebles (Toronto, Ontario) – video & installation

Opening Reception: Friday June 8 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
Art Talk: Ted Goodden, Saturday June 30 from 1-2pm
Workshop: Ted Goodden, Saturday June 30, 2-4pm (Free or by donation)
Film: 'Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?'- Wednesday June 13, 7:30pm (doors at 7pm)
Art Talk: Stephen Humphrey & Sarah Peebles, Thursday July 5th from 7-9pm (guest presenters Dan Ludwig of Big D’s Bees and Astrid Davidson from the CV Horticultural Society)

In Compound Eye: Visions, Views and Imaginings of Bees, Ted Goodden, Stephen Humphrey and Sarah Peebles explore the world of managed and wild bees in a variety of media. Through an intensive process of inquiry, the artists use material, literary, technologic and scientific methods to investigate and present fact and fable. Ted’s artworks illustrate his book Glory Boy: a work of fiction in which he describes how the very first bee came into existence. Stephen and Sarah collaboratively present their Odes to Solitary Bees video poems. Stephen’s macro video and poetry contemplate the personality of solitary-dwelling wild bees, while Sarah’s work with amplified domiciles for these bees creates a vantage point for the camera and for actions of contemplation and observation.

Ted Goodden - After completing his BFA at the University of Alberta, Ted apprenticed in stained glass for three years with Theo Lubbers in Montreal, QC and one year as a journeyman apprentice with Patrick Reyntiens in England and holds a City and Guilds Certificate in Architectural Glass from Swansea College of Art, Wales.  His past cultural work includes serving as Board Member of Artists in Stained Glass, ON, and London Regional Art and Historical Museums and executive member of CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation), London chapter. Ted was the Stained glass workshop leader at Lester B. Pearson School for the Arts (Victoria, BC) from 2006-10 and continues to create, teach and lecture on the topic.

Stephen Humphrey - A writer, journalist, photographer and poet based in Toronto, Stephen co-organizes the Art Bar Poetry Series, Canada’s longest-running poetry reading series.  He received the Chalmers Fellowship grant from the Ontario Arts Council in 2010 to research bees and pollinating insects for a project called Apis Requiem.  He recently collaborated with composer, installation artist and activist Sarah Peebles on the multimedia project Resonating Bodies, creating videos and 5-line tanka [poems] for the website. His writing about bees has been featured in Guelph Mercury newspaper and Toronto weekly NOW Magazine.  Recently he interviewed leading bee scientists from across the world for a documentary on bee intelligence for CBC Radio One’s IDEAS titled “Dancing in the Dark” which airs June 12, 2012.

Sarah Peebles - Sarah Peebles is a Toronto-based composer, improviser and installation artist. Her initial violin, composition, and theatre studies in Minneapolis, MN, were followed by a Bachelor of Music degree in composition from the University of Michigan School of Music (Ann Arbor) in 1988, studies in contemporary and traditional Japanese music at Toho Gakuen School of Music, Tokyo Association of Shinto Priests, Okada Guild of Sato-Kagura (Saitama) and others in Japan, and, workshops in electronic media at InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre, Toronto. Ongoing work since 2006 includes collaborations with artists and bee biologists on a series of integrated media installations, community outreach projects and a web site which focuses on local pollination ecology and native bees, collectively titled “Resonating Bodies”.  Peebles’ activities have included music for dance, multi-channel sound, radio, video/film, performance art, integrated media, sound installation and improvised performance.
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Striking Gold
June 9 – July 7, 2012 - Community Gallery

Cumberland Candleworks (Cumberland, BC)
candles and beeswax creations

Comox Valley Camera Club
group photography show

Opening Reception: Friday June 8 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
Film: 'Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?'- date/time TBA
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WordPlay
June 9 – July 7, 2012 - George Sawchuk Gallery

A collaborative art project by senior
Art and English students of G.P. Vanier Secondary School
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Lost Treasures
Art Sale & Fundraiser

July 13 – July 28, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery & Community Gallery

“Beach-Themed”Opening Reception: Friday July 13 from 7-9pm
Outdoor Exhibit/Sale Day: During Market Days on Saturday July 21 from 11am-3pm. 

Lost Treasures is a Pirate-themed FUNdraising event taking place in the Contemporary, Community and George Sawchuck Galleries at the Comox Valley Art Gallery.  It is a by-donation, second-hand bargain sale and exhibit of all things creative, artistic and funky: artworks in all mediums such as paintings, prints, sculptures and pottery; antique items such as unique lamps, plates, cutlery and other collectables; gently used art supplies and books; and almost anything else people would like to donate or sell.
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Legacy of the Queneesh
August 4 – September 22, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery & Community Gallery

Guest Curator Dallas Stevenson

Opening Ceremony: Saturday August 4th, 1pm
Big House on K’omoks First Nation Grounds 3320 Comox Rd, Courtenay

Opening Reception: Saturday August 4th, 3pm
Comox Valley Art Gallery
580 Duncan Ave, Courtenay BC

Comox Valley based guest curator Dallas Stevenson (BFA Emily Carr University), working with Michael Frank of the K'ómoks First Nation, will present an exhibition of West Coast First Nations artists.

This exhibit investigates issues surrounding cultural appropriation and cultural ownership, drawing attention to the importance of context and relationship in presentation, and to the concept of hereditary rights. Here, issues surrounding cultural ‘trespassing’ will be explored. Plans to develop a panel discussion are in process, to which community leaders will be invited from a wide array of sectors.

Exhibiting Artists:
Geary Cranmer
Sean Frank
George Hunt Jr
Stephen Hunt
Tom Hunt Jr
Charlie Johnson
Troy Roberts
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Screen Printing: Ad, Art or Alchemy?
September 29 – November 3, 2012 - Contemporary Gallery

Opening Reception: Friday September 28 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
Art Talk: date and time TBA
Workshops and Demonstrations: dates and time TBA
Education: activities for children and youth are in discussion date and time TBA

Comox Valley based screen printer Andy MacDougall presents a compendium of artworks from his collection and on loan from private collections (regional to international) based on the process of serigraph print making.  Included in this exhibit are artworks by First Nations artists, contemporary visual arts, rock posters, t-shirts, textile art, snowboards, and skateboards. This show examines the vast world of screen printing and the integration and application of this art form into everyday life while challenging viewers to question definitions of art and how it is produced.  Training workshops, school tours and an artist talk will form the extensions of this show.

Andy MacDougall, ASPT is a screen printer, consultant, writer, and member of both the American Poster Institute (API) and the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA). He was elected to the internationally based Academy of Screen Printing Technology (ASPT) in 2007, for his writing, demonstrations, and promotion of the screen printing process in North America and worldwide.
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Taking Ink
September 29 to November 3, 2012 - Community Gallery

Channing Holland (Comox BC)
Intaglio printmaking; etchings, collographs, and viscosity rolls

Opening Reception: Friday September 28 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
Demonstration: Saturday October 13, 1-2pm

Comox BC artist Channing Holland presents a collection of her intaglio prints:  etching, Chine-collé, collographs and viscosity rolls.  Employing drawing and surface treatments, Holland manipulates copper plates, ink and the press to produce a variety of richly textured colour and tonal images on paper.

Channing Holland Intaglio Making Demo: Sat October 13 from 1 to 2pm
Channing Holland will show you aspects of how intaglio prints are created. Take a closer look at the process; techniques, the tools, papers, the inks, and the printing press. This is an opportunity to find out more about this print making technique and meet the artist. 
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Once in a Blue Moon
September 29 to November 3, 2012 - George Sawchuk Gallery

Beachcombers Community School Students
(grades 4 – 7, Fanny Bay BC)

Various prints created by the students of Beachcomber School
Instructor Jolaine Kelly

Opening Reception: Friday September 28 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
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38th Annual CVAG Christmas Craft Fair
November 16 – December 29, 2012
Contemporary Gallery, Community Gallery and CVAG Gift Shop

Craft Fair Opening: Friday November 16th, 10am - 8pm
Craft Fair Opening: Opening Day Specials

Handmade and locally created original pottery, glass, wood, fabric, Jewellery, Ornaments, Speciality Foods, Stocking Stuffers and Much More!
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We gratefully acknowledge support from the Government of Canada, the Province of BC, British Columbia Arts Council, BC Gaming, City of Courtenay, Town of Comox, Comox Valley Regional District Areas A, B & C, Membership, Private Donation and Volunteers


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