On now!
May 8th to June 2nd
The Octet Salon
May 8 thru June 2
Eight Comox Valley artists doing what they love best! Kate Bridger, Janice Hayward, Teresa Kachanoski, Jude Goffman, Elaine Smith, Laurie Martz, Sonja Turnbull and Corina Menz bring their creativity, inspiration, and productivity to expression through felt, fabric, photography, paint, and mixed media.
Join us for the Artist Reception: Saturday, May 11, 7-9 pm.
The Artists:
Kate Bridger
Kate Bridger was born in the UK in 1954 and settled in Canada with her family in the late 1960s. She attended the University of Toronto and graduated with an honours degree in Landscape Architecture. Following that, Bridger worked for several years in the graphic arts and as Art Director for a southern Ontario lifestyle magazine before relocating to northwestern Ontario in the 1980s where her foray into Fabric Art began. ​
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Over three decades later, her work has appeared in magazines, won awards and is displayed in homes and businesses around the world. She has created pieces featuring landscapes, wildlife, house portraits, old cars, household objects and abstracts. ​ Her sources of inspiration include northern Ontario, the Kootenays, British countryside, Tuscan villages, Greek islands, Nelson New Zealand, Vancouver Island and her own backyard. Bridger’s variety of subject matter indicates she is just as excited about classical architecture and pastoral vistas as she is about unkempt alleys, rusty trucks and crumbling barns.
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Bridger’s family moved to Nelson in 1994 where she lived for 25 years, published four books, raised two sons, owned a downtown gallery, offered interior design consultations and worked in real estate.
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In December, 2019, Bridger moved to Comox where exploring and stitching her new environs have kept her well occupied and introduced her to like-minded creative people in the Comox Valley. Most recently, Bridger has returned to her graphic arts roots creating bold, colourful mixed media abstracts and 3D fabric clad work.
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Learn more about Kate visit: www.katebridger.ca or FB: WordsAndStiches or IN: @bridgerkate
Jude Goffman has explored a wide range of media, including painting, jewelry, sculpture, print, writing, performance, and video. Born in Montreal, Goffman is a graduate of Concordia University in Fine Arts and Creative Writing, and Toronto’s Ontario College of Art and Design. Her dream of moving to the West Coast manifested in 1990. Since then, she has lived on and around Vancouver Island. Goffman has exhibited both locally and internationally.
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For two decades, Goffman made her home on Hornby Island, where she raised her young family, worked at the community Co-Op, wrote, painted, and created silver handcrafted jewelry. In 2012, she relocated to the Comox Valley. She continues to make and sell her art under her studio name, Curved Line Imagery. “I am fascinated by how we perceive light and colour in our surrounding environments, and how our thoughts, moods and actions are influenced by these continuous changes. Through art, I seek to show the beauty and transience of the natural and constructed landscapes in which we live.”
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Jude Goffman
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To learn more about Jude visit: FB: judygoffmanart or IN: curvedlineimagery
Janice Hayward
Meet Janice Hayward, a Comox Valley gal since birth. Hayward’s roots may be in the Comox Valley however, her love of photography and travel has taken her on many adventures across Canada and to various countries.
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Hayward graduated from the Western Academy of Photography in 2013. Since graduating, she considers this big, beautiful world her classroom that offers her so many possibilities to shoot from the heart. The subjects are never ending, the opportunities are numerous and the passion deepens.
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Hayward’s inspiration comes from the subject, its colour, composition, texture, light and space. Her captures range from vibrant landscapes and serene seascapes to candid people and artistic objects. A photograph is a moment of time captured, never to be repeated. Hayward is thrilled if her photographs stir emotions within the viewer connecting them forever through the art of photography.
Teresa Kachanoski
Teresa Kachanoski, a versatile multimedia artist born in Quebec in 1956, recently relocated to the Comox Valley from Newfoundland and Labrador.
Throughout her life, Kachanoski has passionately pursued art, balancing her creative endeavors with raising a family. Her artistic journey began as a child with plein-air painting and drawing. Inspired by her love for the arts, Kachanoski completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2005. During her studies, she explored painting, sculpture, and printmaking, expanding her repertoire of artistic techniques and expressions. Currently, Kachanoski delves into the rich possibilities of felt-making, creating sculptural and two-dimensional textile art, as well as wearable pieces using wet felting, needle felting, and embroidery techniques. Her artistry reflects her interpretation of the beauty of her surroundings and her life experiences.
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In addition to her personal artistic pursuits, Kachanoski is actively involved in the arts community. She serves as the President of the Pearl Ellis Gallery in Comox, BC, where she continues to promote and support visual arts in her community. With her rich artistic background and dedication to her craft, Kachanoski continues to explore and experiment in her home studio in Merville.
Laurie Martz
Laurie Martz is a Comox Valley abstract painter who is grateful to be able to hear the cry of the eagles and barking sea lions from her studio looking out over Kin Beach. Her work is inspired by the beauty of the surrounding nature, abstracted of form and colour. Her process has evolved over the last few years, with less recognisable landscape and more surprise. Martz paints with acrylic and mixed media, using colour and texture as her language. She layers using collage and markmaking tools, adds and subtracts, scraping away what’s not longer needed until the balance she’s looking for is achieved. She may start out with a concept or an investigation, but the painting directs itself.
Self-taught, her art education has come about both through experience and by attending classes and workshops. She has been involved in several volunteer roles with Pearl Ellis Gallery and has had work in exhibits there. Her artwork has also been shown at both juried and community shows across Vancouver Island and is in
private collections in BC and across Canada. She is an Active member of the Canadian Federation of Artists since 2022.
"I increasingly find that my art comes from the core that defines me and tells of my interior landscape. Often images come up unexpectedly and lead me to a place I didn’t plan to go. I believe that artists help make the world a more colourful and complex place. Art can often reflect the world around us: family, nature, society. Images are layered in complexity to then be interpreted through a personal filter. I believe people see what they need to see; and that enriches their world. I share my work to bring joy to others and to let them see…the me inside."
Corina Menz
Corina Menz was born in 1957, grew up in Germany and moved to North Vancouver with her husband and son in 1996. Menz currently lives in Comox, Vancouver Island, Canada after retiring. Besides her career in IT and as a floral designer, she has been involved in the arts throughout her adult life, having explored different media.
Menz has taken a variety of art classes and workshops in the Lower Mainland, Canada and in Germany to explore landscape painting, still life and figure. Since 2021, she has been studying in an online mentoring program with Felix Eckardt, of Hamburg, Germany.
Currently Menz works mostly figuratively to represent what is important to her, the mundane, ordinary situations and people in life to communicate an emotional tone and sense of mystery that she believes every person has within.
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Menz is interested in strong compositions and starts with some sketches that support her idea and then works with multiple layers of acrylic paint on canvas or paper and chooses colors intuitively. Menz wishes to leave the interpretation of her work up to the viewer, perhaps adding their own imagination to the story of the paintings, or weaving in parts of themselves as she often does herself. Her work has been shown in community shows and group exhibitions in Canada and Germany. Menz is a member of the Federation of Canadian artists and the PEG Gallery, Comox.
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To learn more about Corina visit: IN: @corina.menz.art
Elaine Smith
Elaine Smith has been living and creating art in the Comox Valley for over 30 years. "I'm driven by the pure joy of being creative.”
Smith is inspired by the amazing natural landscape, whether it's colours and patterns observed while kayaking, hiking or cycling, or just simply walking in her neighbourhood. She is passionate about the abstract process and feels that it allows the true artist in her to apply paint in a personal and intimate way. She views her art as a form of visual storytelling and feels that creating art is an act that invites the artist and the viewer to create meaning and story within themselves. Smith currently shares space with 9 other artists at Artwrx Studio/Gallery; she is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and has exhibited her work in numerous shows.
“I hope my art brings some enjoyment, curiosity and/or possibly invites the viewer to create a personal story or emotion(s) to which they can relate."
To learn more about Elaine visit: www.elainespace.com
Sonja Turnbull began her fine art journey about 7 years ago when she was inspired to paint the many flowers in her garden and to interpret the beauty of her surroundings on the family farm in Black Creek.
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Turnbull is currently in love with acrylics, but experiments with pencils, inks, encaustic, gouache and forms of mixed media. She has a Diploma from BCIT in Marketing and Small Business and is mainly a self-taught artist. She started formal training with Elaine Prodor, Wet Paint Art Group, in colour theory and composition.
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Turnbull works for the Ministry of Forests with BC Wildfire. Last year, through a government employee art sharing program, one of her larger abstract works was displayed in the Seymour Building, in Victoria for 6 months. She has held various board positions for the Pearl Ellis Gallery Fine Art Society and has sold pieces through the gallery.
Sonja Turnbull
