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Ashcroft artist’s work on display at Kamloops exhibition

Debra Gow has two paintings at exhibit at Old Courthouse Gallery

An Ashcroft artist who has been painting for 30 years has two works on display at the Old Courthouse Gallery in Kamloops between now and Aug. 20.

Debra Gow moved to the area four years ago, and has long been active in the Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) through their Granville Island chapter. Since moving to Ashcroft she has been active with the Thompson-Nicola-Shuswap chapter, which is hosting the Kamloops show featuring a number of artists from the region.

Gow describes one of the paintings, “Dreaming of the Day”, as one of her favourites. “When I look at it I want to wrap all the soft colours in my arms and breathe it in. I just love working blues and greens together on a canvas.”

The other painting, “Green with Envy”, was created because of Gow’s love for a “crazy” green dotted vase she has had for years: “I finally put paint to canvas.”

She says that she is inspired by the landscape around Ashcroft, and by recent events. After the devastating fires in the province in 2021, including one that came close to Ashcroft, she created “Keep Our Earth Green”, which she says meant something to her about our beautiful planet.

”I took inspiration from drives through our region. Some areas were still green and colorful, many blackened by the fires and smoke. I used many layers of paint, textures, and mark-making to reflect what I wanted to say.

“The green colours represent hope of regrowth and rebirth in all of nature, and the small colorful areas are the floral beauty we will see again. The blue is for our beautiful blue planet, while the circles represent the circle of life.”

The painting was accepted into two juried shows with the FCA: one in Kamloops last September, the other inVancouver at the Federation Gallery on Granville Island in January.

On her website, the artist writes that “My work has gone from representational to very intuitive and more abstract over the years. I utilize shapes like hearts, dots, stripes, and everything in-between as my design elements. Throughout my paintings you will see a wonderful mix of these designs.

“I like to rearrange composition and change up local colour using warm and cool side-by-side to create tension. Acrylic is my medium of choice. I love the tactile nature of this paint being thick, thin, juicy, or liquid. Colours and designs make me happy, so I use lots of it.

“Painting for me is very intuitive and I let the painting guide me along the way. I am so grateful to be doing what I love!”

Gow has had her work on display at the Sidewalk Gallery in Ashcroft, and some small art pieces and cards are available at Nature’s Gifts on Railway Avenue. “I also did some postcards, because people ask for them. Some are available at the Bloomin’ Paintbrush [in Ashcroft], and some of my paintings are at the Central Café.”

Gow has plans for what she would like to see around Ashcroft.

“I’d like to get a grant and paint the town with art, in addition to the glass mosaics. There are so many places in Ashcroft to paint on the walls. I like to paint every day, and will probably never stop painting. I love Ashcroft; it’s got pictures you can paint forever.”

The display at the Old Courthouse Gallery (7 Seymour Street West, Kamloops) runs through Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday. If you can’t get to the gallery, you can view the works on Gow’s website at www.debragow.com.



editorial@accjournal.ca

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