The Reef, by Ian MacDonald
This is the second installment of this exhibition by a collective group of sculpture artists (featuring Olga Campbell, Ian MacDonald, Derek Stuart, and Susanna Blunt) at the Capilano Institute under the guidance of George Rammell. This exhibition will run from January 5 to January 30, 2013. The Art Institute, specializing in Sculpture, Media Art and Printmaking, is an artist-in-residence programs which offers advanced studies to artists with several years of experience in sculpture, media art, or printmaking, artists practicing in parallel media such as painting or photography, and recent university or art school graduates. Sculpture studios include the necessary facilities for woodworking, steel fabrication, stone cutting, art foundry processes and paper casting. Areas of concern are often multi-disciplinary and various forms of media.
Ian MacDonald – A retired businessman and successful inventor with commercial products distributed around the world, Ian is currently in third year at Emily Carr University and is a member of the Capilano Sculpture Institute. He is at the stage of his artist career where he wants to explore a wide variety of methods and materials – be it bronze, metal fabrication, wood, stone or synthetic materials.
Image courtesy, Susanna Blunt
Susanna Blunt – Having lived in the San Francisco Bay area for three years before returning to Vancouver, Susanna continued teaching in both private and public institutions, including three years on the faculty of the Fine Arts Department at the University of British Columbia. She has worked with Yoko Ono, assisting her with various art projects and was invited with David Hockney to jury a national art competition. She then moved to California and started a teaching career.
Susanna Blunt became known for her trompe l’oeil paintings and designed the optical illusion room for the Science World museum in Vancouver in 1988. In 1991 and 92, she lived in France and took part in five shows, group and solo, winning an award in an international competition. She is widely acclaimed by a large international clientele who have commissioned her to paint their portraits. Among the well-known people she has painted are Toni Onley, painter, Vancouver; George Woodcock, author, Vancouver; Stanley Donen, film producer, Los Angeles; Stephen Isserlis, Cellist, London; and was chosen in a nation wide competition, by Her Excellency, Gerda Hnatyshyn, wife of Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn, to paint her portrait for Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1997, she painted and personally delivered to Buckingham Palace a portrait of His Highness, the Prince Edward. Please visit Susanna Blunt’s website for more information about her work.
Sculpture by Olga Campbell
Olga Campbell – Olga Campbell has been creating art since 1993 when she graduated from Emily Carr School of Art and Design. Her work includes sculpture, mixed media, digital prints and photography. She has had numerous shows in Metro Vancouver throughout the years, including a solo exhibition on the Holocaust at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery in Vancouver. In her first book, Graffiti Alphabet, she has combined her passion for photography with her love of graffiti. Olga is currently a member of the Art Institute in Sculpture at Capilano University. Please visit Olga Campbell’s website for more information about her art.
Derek Stuart – Derek is interested in creation/design, both artistic and technical. He studied sculpture and bronze casting at the Vancouver School of Art under the late sculptor Jack Harman. During this period, he created a number of bronze sculpture maquettes and in 1977 received a commission to produce a one meter tall enlargement of one of the maquettes, “Freydal (The walking woman)”, for the Coquitlam Centre in Coquitlam, B.C. In 1996 he was accepted into Capilano College Art Institute program where he studied sculpture and ceramic-shell casting of bronze, under the guidance of sculptor George Rammell, the facilitator of the casting of the large bronze sculptures of Haida sculptor, Bill Reid. Subsequent to this two year study/work experience, Derek set up a home/studio space on Bowen Island, complete with bronze foundry. The primal allure of light and colour combined with his sculptural inclinations, has drawn Derek to the world of “cire- perdue “ (lost wax) casting of glass. His studio now includes the specialized materials and equipment required to cast sculptural glass. Please visit Derek Stuart’s website for more information about his work.