By Jim Gerwing

Regular readers of the Beacon may recall our October issue which carried a photo, a painting, and a poem about raccoons by Kathleen Lynch. Beginning in January and through the month of February we are delighted that our office walls will feature a representative sample of her art.

Kathleen Lynch was drawn to become an artist through science. Having secured degrees in anthropology in studies at the University of Toronto and Bryn Mawr College, she accepted work in Alaska. Part of her assignment was to translate the obscure legalistic language of the 1971 Alaska Land Claims into plain English. For ten years she worked on a native education project for the University of Alaska.

As part of the settlement, schools were established, and Lynch wrote many of the text books and illustrated them. She honed her artistic talents with workshops wherever she could, traveling extensively throughout Alaska and depicting what she saw of the flora and fauna and landscape of the state. She found water colors ideal for her reproductions.

When the project was over, she was invited to teach watercolors at the University of Alaska. She loved Alaska, but aging parents brought her to Victoria and James Bay. From the west coast of British Columbia it was an easy commute to Alaska. Unlike the birds, her family summered in Victoria and wintered in Alaska.

Kathleen and her husband Bill Strauss made their permanent move to James Bay in 1986. Kathleen was selected by the Tall Ship Society “Artists on Site” program to paint and photograph the tall ships in 2006. Among the paintings she did was one of three cadets from the great Russian ship, Palada.

Her paintings are shown regularly in galleries in Victoria, Vancouver, and Alaska. In James Bay, you can find them at the James Bay Inn Pub.

Recently she has begun to explore acrylics and collages, but her first love is still water color. Her work is crisp and clean, excellent in drawing. Whether she works on representational paintings or delves into the abstract, her principal inspiration comes from the natural beauty of the west coast.

Our office doors are open Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 1-4 pm.