arts / 8

 

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‘Essence’ art exhibit explores
the energy of nature

» Photographs and ceramics capture nature’s beauty

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor
Marts
@theotherpress.ca

rtist Kathryn Gibson
O’Regan’s photography

features flora and fauna,
blossoms and bones, and is

currently on display in Essence: :
: and to be really drawn into the
: centre,” O’Regan said.

A Collaboration, an exhibit
with artisan Robert Shiozaki
that will run until February 14
in the Amelia Douglas Gallery
at Douglas College.

“When I put together this
compilation, I was trying to
draw parallels and similarity
in both the flora and the
fauna, the structures and the
openings,” she said. “The flora

and the fauna are really to draw :
: image to bring people into

: that, to recognize and really

: see what it is that we walk over
: and that we walk by,” she said.

people’s attention to nature

and the beauty of nature.”
The exhibit features a

series of floral photographs,

: acollection of whale bone

: images, and a series called

: Auguste Rodin to Claude

: Monet, which features

: photographed hands of Rodin’s
: sculptures placed over floral

: images photographed in

: Monet’s garden.

“I want people to reach

: out and touch, whether it’s

with their hand or their eye,

In the Auguste Rodin to

: Claude Monet photographs,

: the hands reach into the image
: from either side or from the

: top and float unanchored over
: of the floral imagery.

“What I was trying to

achieve with these was the
: hands are being drawn into

the vortex at the centre of the

Accompanying O’Regan’s

: work in the gallery are

: Shiozaki’s ceramic pieces,

: which feature colours and

: flowers that are similar to those
: in O’Regan’s photographs. The

: gallery’s art exhibit committee

: discovered the two artists at :
: the 2013 Eastside Culture Crawl :
: and noticed similarities in

: their artwork that would mesh
: well together in an exhibit.

“When Kathryn and I

: joined into our collaboration,

: they felt that the colours that

: I’m achieving in my platters

: and that Kathryn is achieving

: in her art could compliment

: each other,” Shiozaki said

: during a talk that he and

: O’Regan gave in the gallery on
: January 16.

“We were in the same

building complex, the

: Mergatroid Building, and

: what we found is that we’re

: working individually but the

: synchronicity that came about
: was recognized through some
: of the work that youre seeing:
: here,” he said. “Especially when :
: I started my whale carvings, :
: Kathryn had been developing
: her whale photographs.”

O’Regan’s photographs
of whale bones are located

: in the gallery at the end ofa
: floral series of photographs.
: She wants viewers to relate

: the flora to the fauna and

: transition from one series to
: the next.

The photographs are the

result of a dig that O’Regan

: participated in with about 20
: other volunteers on Vancouver :
: Island.

“I was in the pit helping

dig and taking pictures,” she

: said, adding that the bones

: were brought to a local marine
: station to be suspended asa

: full whale skeleton on display.

To learn more about

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“I want people

to reach out and

touch, whether

it’s with their

hand or their eye,

and to be really

drawn into the

centre”

- Kathryn Gibson
O’Regan

O’Regan and Shiozaki, check

out their official websites at

: KathrynORegan.com and

: RobertCeramic.com. Essence:
: A Collaboration will be on

: display for the next few weeks
: at the Amelia Douglas Gallery
: on the fourth floor of the

: New Westminster campus of

: Douglas College.