My Upcoming Art Exhibit with Sarah Graeme

I am thrilled to announce my collaborative art exhibit with Sarah Graeme. Based across the way on Vancouver Island, Sarah is a ceramic artist who uses weaving and basketry techniques to combine plant fibers with ceramic forms. I’m a huge fan of her work and who she is as a person, so I’m very excited about our upcoming show.

The exhibit is being held at the Free Spirit Gallery here on Gabriola Island, and it runs from August 16 through to September 5. The official opening night event is Friday, August 19 from 6 to 8 PM.

An “Interview” with the Gallerist

Free Spirit Gallery Studio & Shop was established last fall by Catherine Hallam. It’s an incredible addition to the island’s art community, encouraging and enabling local artists and artisans to showcase their work. You can see its exhibition schedule for the year on the gallery’s website.

A full year of exhibits is certainly a testament to Catherine’s passion for and commitment to the arts — not to mention her organizational skills! Here are some of the insightful questions that Catherine asked me about the artwork I’m exhibiting in this show.

What ideas, concepts, and experiences does the body of work communicate?

This body of work communicates a visual footprint of my spiritual and healing journey over the past 10 years. The journey of creating each painting here on display taught me something important that has helped me to re-connect and align with my authentic self. Often the painting’s title reveals the message I received and what I learned in its creation. The work imbues a healing frequency, each painting emanating the energetic stamp of the learnings and healing I received from its creation.

What inspirations or traditions guided or influence this body of work?

Before I begin painting, my inspiration and tradition are in my healing practice to go within via meditation, silent time in nature, and journal writing. When I begin to work, I am guided by my intuition and let the painting guide and lead me as I add and take away layers. Knowing that the process and journey of creation is the greatest gift of being an artist. Trusting the finished piece will reveal herself.

How are the methods or techniques you use important to this body of work? Tell us how, or what, the choice of medium or process contributes to this work.

There are a lot of layers in these paintings and also the unique aspect of sand added as texture. I think I use a lot of thick mediums and mixed media because it's just simply so darn fun playing around with the colours and textures. When I look back on this work I also think these paintings are a lot like each of us in the world, that is, we come in as a baby pure innocent naturally happy, and excited about life. 

Then things happen, beliefs are formed, and occurrences and incidences happen and shape us. We grow, evolve, and learn while trying to figure out this thing called Life. For those of us on a conscious healing journey, I feel part of that process and journey of re-claiming our authenticity is taking off some of the layers we never really wanted, and getting back to our real selves. This is what I’ve been up to for the past couple of decades and that is what I see when I look at my work. As for the sand elements, well, I’m always going back to nature to re-calibrate and nourish myself… I just can’t help myself but to add it into these pieces!

Exhibit Statement for Moving; Through, Towards, Within

The title of Sarah’s and my collaborative art exhibit is Moving; Through, Towards, Within. Our exhibit statement encapsulates our individual approaches to – and what we aim to achieve with – our artwork. It follows below:

When faced with uncertainty we can either become fixed, paralyzed by the unknown, or move; through, towards, within.

Through Deb Chaney’s abstract, ethereal paintings, she explores the narratives of her own personal healing journey. Through the process and ongoing practice of painting, Deb Chaney explores themes of authenticity, truth, and connection.

Gathered on plinths, Sarah Graeme’s woven ceramic vessels emanate a sense of delicate balance. In her work, Sarah combines daylily fibers from her garden and smoke-fired ceramic vessels to create work that navigates the uncertainty and precarity she feels in our current environmental and social climate.

Both artists’ work use the process of creating to work through and into the unknown, uncertain, and ambiguous expanse in an attempt to navigate questions without definitive answers.

How do we be in a better relationship with ourselves, each other, and the world around us?

Moving into the expanse of discomfort, through, towards, within.

Original Artwork and Prints for Sale

Original paintings on display at the show can be purchased through Free Spirit Gallery. Contact the gallery owner Catherine Hallam via email or phone at (250) 247-0197. Or, if you’re fortunate enough to be on Gabriola Island, stop by the gallery at 590 North Road.

Prints of some of the pieces in the show are available in my online gallery at Saatchi Art.

Saatchi Art has a range of options to fit your individual preferences and needs. You can choose to have your prints on paper or canvas, and most are available in 4 sizes to fit any room. There is also an option to have it framed in white, black, or natural wood.

The “View In A Room” image gives you an idea of its size and lets you see what it looks like on a wall.