We are a group of six Comox Valley visual artists with varied backgrounds and life experiences. For the past few years we have been meeting monthly to share stories of challenge, inspiration, and creative processes. Conversations that go off in unexpected directions have created a space of shared reflection resulting in connection.
 

Bridging Conversations celebrates individuality woven into community—a visual manifestation of stories exchanged and growth witnessed and experienced. We are abstract artists; we are representational artists. We paint with different mediums. Our work ranges from nonobjective to figurative, from boldly expressive to quietly meditative. We
come from diverse cultures and have followed varied artist paths. What unites us is our commitment to the belief that art is a vital tool for connection. Stories that tie together with threads of curiosity and identity open up our individual worlds to one another, and the effects of what is known as adjacent possibilities (the inadvertant shift in what is possible resulting from an action taken) come out on the canvas. Despite our differences, we bring the “other” inside our boundaries.
 

Division often dominates headlines, as the world is quite fractured. We share what happens when people come together with open minds and creative hearts. Through this exhibition, we invite viewer into our circle—to feel the energy of collaboration, the vulnerability of shared experience, and the beauty of seeing the world through multiple lenses. For it to be a full conversation there is a ‘call and response’ involving the artist and the viewer, as happens in
an exhibit space. We learn and grow separately and together. We welcome this opportunity to present a curated selection of paintings reflecting the whole of our experience.