INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / FEBRUARY 14, 1989

Selling pictures and winning awards are not the only reasons Sheri King makes art. She is determined to use her special skills to make a worthwhile con- tribution during her life.

King, a 35-year-old Van- couver artist, exhibits her watercolours and prints throughout B.C. and Canada and her work can be found in both private and corporate col- lections. She recently won two Awards of Excellence in two separate international art com- petitions based in New York. Her proudest achievements, though, are ones which help groups and individuals.

After the oil spill hit Van- couver Island, King produced a black and white print entitled Near to Death, depicting a bird dripping with oil. She donated several of these prints to the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. and the Northwest Wildlife Preservation Society and she is looking for other groups to donate prints to. She has been involved in other worthwhile projects such as Polio Plus, art therapy for Vancouver Mental Health, an exhibit on rascism at the Firehall Theatre, and an ex- hibit by Greenpeace to raise money for the oil spill clean-up project.

King also uses the creative process to help people explore

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Self-Discovery

their subconscious and discover what is inside themselves. She teaches three one-day workshops at Douglas College which she hopes will be reward- ing to people who are searching for happiness and fulfillment in their lives.

In the course, Discover Your- self Through Art, King leads the students through several exer- cises which increase their self-esteem. She says adults be- come inhibited by social pressures and self-consciousness.

King has a Bachelor of Educa- tion and a Master of Education from the University of British Columbia, and she specialized in art and communications.

"People have to learn what’s going on inside themselves and put it to positive use," she says. "Since childhood, most people

get only negative input in their lives. They stop looking at themselves or they stop trying new things."

She also wants people to learn that art is not made just to look at. "It’s a process of dis- covery,” she says. "People can not only find a more positive ap- proach to art, but to problem solving as well."

In the two courses Basic Watercolour and Basic Draw- ing, King stresses skill development, but she’s more in- terested in whether people are expressive than if they can do something well. By the end of the Basic Watercolour class, stu- dents will have an introduction to colour theory, line, composi- tion and mixing paint. In the

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