This month at the Foyer Gallery, perilous painter Sandrine Pelissier presents a series exploring experimentation and taking risks! This confident and diverse collection of paintings portrays stylistic landscapes, "people-scape" illustrations, as well as still life - all harmonized by size, format and colour, a true artistic assortment of mixed media.
A closer look at the art reveals more commonality: the addition and subtraction of numerous layers that create an alternate timeline with an "aged" look. Pelissier uses acrylic as her main medium, but then incorporates other media and methods such as wiped-away dry pastels, thin layers of ink or watercolor, collage, squiggles of thread or scratches of coloured pencils to develop technically complicated surfaces with fields of broken colours.
Considered an eclectic artist, Pelissier's subject matter and style varies depending on her current curiosities.
"I might have a period when I will focus more on flowers, and then it could be landscapes or a series of portraits in watercolours, or life drawings," she says. "I always end up with a consistent series of one style, but you might think different persons were the artists if you looked at different series of my work.
"I think working this way has helped me becoming better skilled and not repeating myself. Something I learn with watercolours might help me in a mixed-media piece and vice versa. There is a connection between all the media and the styles."
Pelissier, an enthusiastic and avid learner, tries to create art every day. Her latest endeavour is to make time-lapse videos showing her start-to-end painting process - a work in itself, but also adding interest to the finished piece.
For more about her work, visit [email protected]
Also on display, Shelby Miller showcases her custom-designed, "life-inspired" jewelry of natural elements: sterling silver, copper and semi-precious stones. Just like her personality, Miller creates fresh and unassuming designs. In this series, she incorporates a continuum of texture, colour and materials exploiting common elements of the West Coast in handcrafted bracelets, rings, necklaces and earrings.
Miller admits, "I am a bit of a perfectionist. I like things to be clean and simple but beautiful at the same time I receive inspiration from absolutely everywhere, but I like to be grounded and organized.
"I want to give back as much as I can with the gifts I've been given, and I find if I can let myself absorb inspiration, give myself the time to create, then I can maintain a balance - which is very important."
About 14 years ago Miller, flooded with ideas and inspiration, started with some chain and a few little beads. From there she has gone from beading, to wirework, to hand-forging and to silversmithing. Miller's creative process starts with an intuitive vision, amassing the raw elements and then production of the finished piece, which may or may not go on the same path as the original intent.
"Sometimes I'll be in the middle of a piece and it will go in a totally different direction that I hadn't even thought of," she says.
Miller, who is passionate about our great outdoors, is challenging her growth with ideas of preserving some of the most delicate parts of nature in resin. She has recently opened a working studio downtown at No. 101, 37719 Second Ave. and hopes to bring her jewelry to more locations across B.C. and Canada over the next few years. www.shelbymiller.ca
Pellisier's "Mixing It Up" and Miller's "Natural Elements" are on display through Feb. 4 at the Library Foyer Gallery. Happy New Year!
Toby Jaxon is curator of the Library Foyer Gallery. She can be reached at [email protected]
