Feb 19 thru March 16
'Scapes
...land, sea, garden, urban, rural...
Four Comox Valley artists bring the world to the gallery.
​
Alora Griffin, Channing Holland, Trisha Milne and Roger Vermeulen interpret their visions of the environment with water and colour. Both framed and unframed works will be for sale.
​
Join us for the Artist Reception Saturday, Feb 22nd, 7-9pm
The Artists:
_edited.jpg)
Alora Griffin
A recently retired architect, Alora was born in Tofino, raised in Ucluelet and used to spend summers on Cortes Island, where her great-grandparents homesteaded over a century ago. Since Alora was always the best artist in her classes she decided to attend UBC, where she obtained a degree in Fine Arts History. She also enrolled in studio courses, including a drawing course with B.C. Binning and a printmaking course with Toni Onley.
Alora then transferred to Art Education where she studied painting with Ian Thomas and ceramics with Jean Weakland. After teaching high school art in New Zealand and Vancouver, Alora applied to the School of Architecture and obtained a degree in architecture in 1986. She pursued her new career in Toronto, on Salt Spring Island and in Prince Rupert before returning to the island to retire in Comox.
​
In 2023 Alora exhibited her watercolour paintings, featuring shorelines, in a solo show at the Pearl Ellis Gallery, where she also volunteers and teaches drawing and painting classes. She also exhibits her work at the ArtWrx Studio Gallery as well as Artful : The Gallery. Alora recently became a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and is looking forward to the annual 'en
plein air' retreats.
Channing Holland
Channing was born in St. John's, Nfld. and began formal art training during her early teens by studying with Helen and Reginald Shephard, graduates of the Ontario College of Art (OCA). She then took classes from Dutch sculptor Hans Melis for two years before entering Nurses Training at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal.
For 30 years Channing traveled across Canada as the spouse of a
Canadian Forces member and as an Air Force Reserve military nurse
Through several service moves across Canada, Channing managed to continue her artistic development. She worked in oils for two years with Dutch artist Poul Thrane at Loyalist College, Belleville, ON; she developed her acrylic techniques with Jay Dampf for two seasons at the Scarborough, ON Cedar Ridge Creative Centre while taking drawing and painting lessons from Nancy Converse, another OCA graduate. Channing then entered the Fine Arts Program at the University of
Toronto on a part-time basis for three years.
​
In 1989, she transferred to full-time studies in Fine Art at OCA, graduating in 1993 with a major in painting and drawing.
Channing now works in water-based media such as watercolour, gouache, inks, acrylics and mixed media. In recent years Channing has taken up the study of printmaking. She has completed four years of printmaking classes at North Island College including Independent Studies in Printmaking. Her special areas of interest are relief and intaglio printmaking. She is a current and exhibiting member of the Comox Vallet Printmakers Association. Her subject matter is usually based on natural forms, natural details and often includes realistic elements presented in a semi-abstract manner. She also does work which involves classical and religious architecture, symbolism and illuminated manuscripts.
​
Since moving to Comox in 1995, Channing has shown her work through local and regional art galleries and shows. She has also instructed classes in watercolour, monoprinting, mixed media and acrylics through her home studio, North Island College and local community groups. She stresses a sound background in the formal elements of art and design fundamentals. With this knowledge, students are encouraged to develop their own subject matter and style, in combination with experimental techniques, mixed media and the wealth of new materials and tools available to the modern artist. Private collectors hold Channing’s work across Canada from Comox in the West to St. John's, NL in the East and in the United States. She also has work in the collection of the Newfoundland government and in several corporate collections in Canada.
Trisha Milne
The paintings of Trisha Scarlett Milne (Montague) are retrospective -- spanning 25 years of watercolour. Trisha is a peripatetic artist who snatched bits of time from her working career around the globe to create studio pieces as well as many watercolour sketches.
She is known locally for painting buildings and streets in Cumberland during the years 2002-2005 when she opened
Blue Door Studio on Camp Road. Prints and cards of Cumberland are available at the Cumberland Collective Store. Trisha uses watercolour for plein air sketching, but she is enjoying exploring a new medium to her, oil, in her studio.
Roger Vermeulen
Comox Valley based artist Roger Vermeulen has been painting in oil and watercolour for over thirty years. He loves both mediums, and moves about from one to the other contentedly in his studio. He always says that his best paintings are made from the mistakes and revelations which come out in the paint unplanned.
After moving to Canada from France many years ago, Roger began developing and exploring his passion for drawing and painting, eventually instructing life drawing and later working as a scenic artist in the film industry.
Nowadays, when he is not in his studio, he can be found canoeing the local waters and taking in the beauty of the forest trails, gathering inspiration and trying to stay dry.