Studio Tour Map

Mark your calendars: August 5 and 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., artists welcome you to their studios and other venues on Saturna Island!

Energia

Opening this afternoon at the Saturna Café, Saturna Island, BC, and showing through to March 3rd.

June Art Show on Saturna Island

Come and take a look at the latest work of Saturna artists. 
Opening reception: Sunday, June 21, from 2 - 4 pm.
Light refreshments and artists present.

The gallery is located right by the ferry dock, Lyall Harbour, Saturna Island.

Our featured artist for this show is Janet Strayer, whose paintings are also are currently on display at the Saturna Café  (until July 9) in a solo show entitled Of Fables and Myths. You can see Janet's current work online (click here). 

May Art Show on Saturna Island

It's spring time, and time for a new show at the Saturna Point Store Gallery! 

Come and take a look at the latest work of Saturna artists. 
Opening reception: Sunday, May 3rd, from 2 - 4 pm.
Light refreshments and artists present.

Right by the ferry dock, Lyall Harbour, Saturna Island.

Inspiration... is on the wall

In 2013 when I was in Amsterdam, I saw this projection in the atrium of the Van Gogh Museum.  My feeling was that the inspiration behind the projection was the energy of Van Gogh's brushstrokes. 

I have been working on some paintings using this projection as my inspiration.

 

This recent one, called "Spring Energia" (acrylic on canvas and 24" square), gained a landscape element.     Karen Muntean

Another Kind of Art Festival

Those who come to Art Saturna shows know how special they are. The art is enhanced by its setting, our unique Saturna Island in the Georgia Straight.  Some of our Art Saturna artist participants, like me, live both at Saturna Island and the mainland -- Vancouver, in my case. Straddling the straight like this makes for quite a commute... but it's been my life for quite some time.

As Art Saturna is quietly heralding the winter season with a lovely show at our gallery by the ferry landing, another much louder art show starts in Vancouver. The Eastside Culture Crawl is a popular yearly event involving hundreds of artists and thousands (yes) of visitors. It's on from tonight, Nov. 20 through Sunday, Nov. 23.

That's my personal invitation. There's so much to see during the Crawl: original works by painters, sculptors, fabric artists, jewelers, furniture makers and other artisans.  It's  an exciting festival. I'm looking forward to it. And afterward I'll be looking forward to returning to peaceful, inspiring Saturna Island and the special quality of life and of art it supports.

Spring Booms and Snow Flakes

Just as Saturna anticipates our upcoming artists' show on March 16 and visions of spring skip up everywhere, I'm looking at some photos I took just recently. Photos of being snowed-in! A reminder of how very surprising life, even a fairly simple life, can be.

path from our place, Saturna Island (Janet Strayer photos)

Spring comes relatively early in this part of Canada. Earlier in February we'd already seen the crocuses and daffodils  up from the earth, the sun smiling upon them for several days with the promise of spring. Then POW!

Large powdery flakes of snow took over the terrain during the last weekend of February. The sky turned white. The sea a pewter grey. No sight of the distant mountains. Few clear edges at all. The temperature dropped dramatically. Still, it was beautiful on our land at Saturna. But it was cold. Very cold.

Janet Strayer studio (before the tree hit it)

We hadn't been at our home for a week, leaving it without heat. On arrival, it takes about an hour to heat up the house by raising the thermostats. This time, we had about half an hour of electricity before the power went totally out!

Many islands were affected, including Saturna. We could hear trees falling nearby as we walked the path you see.

No power at our place for nearly three days. Cold and getting colder. No heat, no electric light. Our one central fireplace was huffing and puffing so much we'd used up most of the stored dry wood and were cutting some wet logs. Smoky. Even with the fireplace going, we wore hats and gloves in the house.

No painting for me -- fingers much too stiff and mind unable to thaw. What a disappointment as I so look forward to my studio time, painting. Life was reduced to basics: shelter, food, and appreciation for what we had.

The power came back after about three days and we decided to try to drive out and take the ferry to Vancouver. We had work to do there, too. One route was blocked by fallen trees, and our wheels couldn't get enough traction through the snow. The other route was steeper but shorter and downhill. We made it.

Stopping at the store beside the ferry terminal to revisit the current Art Saturna show, I had a huge surprise. My painting wasn't there! What?

Terrible? Not at all. It had just been sold. One of my worst weekends and it was topped off by this very welcome news. My thanks and good wishes to the couple who purchased my painting. May it join you in your home with all the warmth and abiding meaning art can convey.

Art Lover, painting by Janet Strayer, www.janetstrayerart.com

Back at Saturna now, two weeks later, there's a fallen tree atop my studio. It seems to have done little damage and can be chopped for firewood. All in all, it's quite an eventful life we lead...or wander our way through.

If you would like to read more about my eclectic take on this eventful life (travels, art, creative tips and adventures), please see my blog at janetstrayer.blogspot.ca.