James Bay Art Walk 2014 Artist Profiles

Ken Crassweller

Ken is a prolific artist known for his animated people paintings, often in a familiar Victoria setting. Ken says some of his work illustrates social commentary musings, mysterious enough to invite viewers to draw their own conclusions about their meaning. Ken has worn many vocational hats, including teaching and working with Inuit artists and craftspeople in the Canadian Arctic.

Mary Lou Florian

Mary-Lou is a longtime resident of James Bay. This is her first foray into the James Bay Art Walk. She more than lives up to her floral surname, having worked as a professional biologist, world renowned for identifying plant material found in museum artifacts -- woven baskets being one example. She advises museums on the plant species in question, essential information in helping curators decide how to conserve their collections. In fact, Mary-Lou is a bit of a superstar in the "museum community," bestowed with an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria in 2011.

Martine Gow-Cooper

Martine works with kiln-formed glass. She will unveil her bright, newly refurbished studio and workspace for Art Walk walkers. Marvel at Martine's creative and beautiful fixing job of a hole in her studio floor with a mosaic of colorful glass bits. One of her enduring artworks, which came to be known as "The Hanging Gardens of Merrickville," (in Ontario, where she lived) consists of over 15 streamers made from recycled glass. Hung in the canopy of two large maple trees, some of them are forty feet in the air, having been shot into the trees with a homemade bow and arrow.

Lou Hammond

"In every day life I find there are momentary vignettes of possible paintings, glimpses of lighting, shapes, textures, that present a mood or sensation that, if captured in a painting, would offer the opportunity for it to stay in our presence for longer contemplation. This would allow the viewer to revisit that mood, that sensation, whenever they wished. My challenge as an artist is to capture the scene, along with the mood, into something permanent so that it can be shared."

Lou has an affection for ferrets, and has had several of them as pets.

Anne Hansen

Anne Hansen is a different species of wildlife artist. There is much wildlife art that borders on clinical illustration. Anne celebrates her subject matter with spirited, playful paintings that put her in a class of her own. Anne ushered in 2014 with paintings of bald eagles. Determined some time ago that she would never paint bald eagles, "because everyone else does," she has now changed her tune. "I needed a bald eagle as one of many characters in an oystercatcher painting. I loved doing the eagle so much that I couldn't stop."

Bonnie Laird

Bonnie is a figurative painter who periodically pursues skyscapes. One of her portraits - "Woman in Red Turtleneck" - made its claim to fame through the Designers' Choice Award as the artwork chosen for the 2014 Sooke Fine Arts Show poster and publicity materials. Her work is in private and corporate collections in BC, Alberta and Ontario. Bonnie works full-time as a co-founder and coordinator of a professional art studio and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities.

John Mackintosh

John Mackintosh, originally from Ontario, made frequent visits to Vancouver Island from childhood. He loved the rich natural surroundings of Victoria so much that he moved here 11 years ago. Captivated by a Robert Bateman art book in his youth, he has been painting birds and landscapes ever since. His work has been exhibited in Victoria, Toronto, and New York.

Deborah McCarron

Deborah operates Profiles Picture Framing and Photography in James Bay. She takes photographs in Beacon Hill Park. She says, "I am embracing digital technology. Why not? It's here, it's current, and it is green technology. Don't get me wrong. I loved the analogue process and still do. I just think it is time for me to develop a new set of tools to see where it may take me."

Nancy Murphy

Nancy has recently been named artist-in-residence for the next season of the Victoria Baroque Festival. Her artistic calling is to capture performing artists in their work. She is guest artist for Ballet Etoile, based in Victoria, and was invited to sketch rehearsals for the Canadian Pacific Ballet in their recent season. Nancy belongs to Ground Zero Printmakers.

Avril Nolin

Avril's art reflects images from her Metis ancestry. She depicts the power of women and the beauty of nature. "I am grateful to be able to express myself through my art", she says.

Paul Peregal

Paul's people, landscapes, cityscapes and musicians are instantly recognizable by their "throb and twist, bob and weave," as he says on his website. He has lived and painted in the USA, England, Denmark, Israel and France. He serves on the faculty of the Victoria College of Art.

Roberta Pyx Sutherland

Roberta has lived on the west coast all her life, and has travelled to East Africa, the UK, Japan, Nepal and elsewhere. She was one of 50 artists featured in Canada's Raincoast at Risk: Art For An Oil-Free Coast.

Daniel Sali

Daniel exhibits his work in Canada and Japan. The key elements in his finely-detailed art are symmetry and symbolism. "My hope is that my paintings will remind people that we are also nature."