Elisabeth Jahren

Elisabeth was born in Norway and raised on the west coast of BC, where she has spent most of her life. She lives and practices as a veterinarian on Mayne Island, while also providing clinic services to Galiano Island. Music and art have always been a big part of her life from a very early age, but it is only the last few years she has had the opportunity to more deeply explore both her passions. 
 
Artist’s Statement: 
Early on, I shared my love of music and art with my kids, who now share that love with me. While working as a veterinarian, I started painting and drawing portraits of my patients’ pets, turning them into cards and using them as fundraisers for a local animal rescue group, which even awarded me the odd commission. My more recent art adventure has led me into abstract art using mostly acrylics and a bit of collage – always with a scrap of sheet music buried in every painting. Expressing myself through color and sound is like breathing…absolutely essential! I love bold, bright colors. Painting frees me to express my real self. Life places many burdens on all of us, but art lets me live outside the box!

Bill Maylone

A twenty-two year resident of Mayne Island, Bill Maylone’s current artistic work includes painting, carving, and music.
Through more than four decades as a filmmaker and stop-motion animator, his work included many cinematic recreations of prehistoric life; an award winning National Film Board of Canada series that encouraged critical thinking in children; several commercials and public service spots; work on a couple feature films; and special effects for planetariums and museums.
He also taught animation, filmmaking, and media analysis courses at Capilano College, Emily Carr, and UBC. He was editor and layout artist for the Mayneliner Magazine for over four years, and he organized many art shows on Mayne Island.
Incidentally, he also helped renovate the building you’re standing in now.
You can reach him at: maylone@shaw.ca or 250-216-1722.

Artist Statement:
I’m self taught, and I work in a variety of styles. The particular style of a painting is always dictated by the subject, how I perceive it, and what it means to me. Mountains and landscapes: usually fairly realistic since I spent a lot of my life hiking and climbing, and I work to capture exactly what I saw. Flowers and gardens: lots of bright and contrasting colours (especially since my cataract surgery a couple years ago allows me to once again see them in their full spectral vibrancy). Concerns about life and society: these paintings are usually abstract or surreal since it’s sometimes hard to express these issues through a single concrete realistic image that illustrates the larger questions.

Famous Empty Sky

Famous Empty Sky, whose name has its source in her early studies in Tibetan Buddhism, lives on Mayne Island  full time.  She lived with her life partner in Vancouver, BC for 22 years. There she taught “Secrets of Collage” and creativity access to several hundred artists.  Through one of her students,  they found  this magical Gulf Island.
After visiting  for more than a dozen years, they made the big move and have been very happy and deeply creative here

She has a permanent mural installation in the Main Branch of the Public Library in Vancouver, BC. Her work is in many private collections in Canada, the United States and even in Europe. Having lived in San Francisco and New York City, this couple feel that they have found their true heart’s home here on Mayne.

Artist Statement:
These four works are selected from a large series called  “Out of Darkness”.They are unique mixed media works that reflect the eternal quest for Beauty and Harmony through visual imagery. In them, I combine original prints and painting through the magic of Collage. Though very Modern in their feeling, there are echoes of Renaissance sensibility.

Carolyn Sullivan

With a lifelong passion for photography, Carolyn has woven her artistic journey through the captivating world of imagery. Her formal college education in analogue and digital media laid the foundation for her creative pursuits. Beyond the lens, she embraced her education and experience, with various other forms of art such as video, mixed media, modern dance and the delicate art of florals. Her interests in photography include all her delights: dance, dogs, flowers, food, plus my concerns about urban development and environmental erosion. Carolyn’s career path has been as diverse as her artistic interests. As a commercial photographer, she expertly captured moments that told stories for countless clients. She also shared her knowledge and creativity as a curriculum developer and arts instructor, leaving an indelible mark on aspiring artists. With more time, she is enjoying her love for artistic imagery and mixed media, focusing on the subjects closest to her heart. Carolyn’s photography radiates the pureness of one floral petal in the moment of now, to the concerns of modern conversation with photo-based storytelling using: a single photograph, mixed media collages, digital layered compositions or short videos. Carolyn is an active member of various artistic groups and has continued to show work in many gallery shows over the past few years. She appreciates the opportunity to work collaboratively with other artists of different mediums. Her new portfolio images have sold locally, internationally, and I have just recently sold some photos for the set on a new TV series, Tracker.

Artist Statement:
Carolyn Sullivan My newfound connection to the coastal edges has become an inspiration and ignited a passion to capture the essence of coastal life through my creative endeavours. I find myself entranced by the enchanting dance between the tides and the shore, capturing the ever-changing relationship between water and land. Photographing the low and high tides that inconsistently expose and cover the Tafoni rocks along the coastal edges of the southern Gulf Islands is now an expanding portfolio area for me. I am drawn to the simplicity of the elements of art exposed in the tafoni rock formations, strong textures, and honeycomb shapes, plus the surprise of colours from the daily light temperature to the seasonal shell life attached to the rock formations. The tranquillity that I feel while swaying with the tide, brings me closer to the beauty of the erosion, a connection to aging a compelling parallel to the beauty of older women. Through my work, I seek to convey the profound beauty and tranquillity that I have come to cherish and invite viewers to join me on a journey of discovery and reverence for the natural world.

Dell Maxwell

I’ve always loved doodling, drawing and blending colours. When I retired from teaching in 2005, I decided I wanted to once again explore painting. I began with Japanese Sumi painting on rice paper, learning from a wide variety of resources. I wanted to learn to paint with watercolours, so began searching for a teacher here on Mayne Island. I eventually convinced Cedar Christie to teach an introductory class to six of us. After the classes those six and then others began gathering at the Community Centre on Monday afternoons to explore more about watercolour painting and to paint together once a week. From there I found other teachers and began taking classes in Victoria, Long Beach and Protection Island. During Covid quite a number of artists began creating Facebook groups and offering on-line courses. I began participating and morphed into exploring abstract art using acrylics, multi-media and many new techniques. I am thoroughly enjoying the joy and excitement of creating art with these seemingly never ending ideas for mark making, collage and layering.

Artist Statement:
Creating art is an exciting, joyful experience where it’s easy to lose myself in the process.

Libbie Bake

Libbie Bake is a botanical artist who uses chalk and charcoal to capture the emotion and quirkiness of her subjects –birds, roots, bones, bugs, newly unfurled leaves, all observed and recreated with detail and particularity. She honed the passion and joy of creating during her career working with young primary children.  Libbie has studied botanical drawing for many years and completed several courses through the Emily Carr University of Art.

Living on Mayne Island off the coast of B.C., she has exhibited in local and regional shows.

Maeva Lightheart

Maeva Lightheart grew up in Vancouver graduating from UBC. She taught English as a Second Language at Vancouver College for 25 years retiring in 2005 and moving to Mayne Island in 2011. She is a wife, mother to four and grandmother to eight, the joys of her life. She has a strong attachment to the rugged mountains, oceans and wildlife of the west coast. Though she loves travelling the beauty of the west coast always calls her back. She started painting in 2017 studying under Terrill Welch, internationally known landscape artist for two years. She has shown her work in student shows and regional Arts Council shows. She also showed her work in a local gallery.

Artist Statement:
I have been influenced by the beauty of the west coast mountains and oceans and am intrigued by the vibrant colours and feel of nature. I paint in a style that tends toward impressionism using oils.

Anne-Maree Fortes

Anne-Maree Fortes is a paper quilling artist based on Mayne Island, BC, where the natural beauty of her surroundings influences her creativity. Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, her artistic journey began at the age of 16, when she first discovered a passion for calligraphy and lettering. She later studied interior and kitchen design, working in the field for many years before transitioning to card and product design. In more recent years, she discovered paper quilling— a medium that allows her to blend her love of detail with artistic expression.

Entirely self-taught, Anne-Maree creates intricate works ranging from delicate flowers to abstract, emotive forms, all crafted from strips of paper. Her art invites viewers to appreciate the beauty in colour and simplicity, forging a powerful connection between art and design through her passion for precision and detail

Artist statement:
This collection showcases my passion for paper quilling. I’ve created pieces inspired by the unique charm and beauty of Mayne Island, translating its essence into delicate paper forms.

Quasimodo Pottery

Dave Clark and Marlyn Turner

Dave completed a fine arts degree from the Vancouver School of Art in 1973 where he studied drawing, painting and printmaking. From 1976 to 1980 he studied Art Education at both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia graduating in 1980 with a B.A. in Education. Teaching positions being scarce, he took a job with Greenbarn Pottery Supply in Langley where he stayed for several years gaining practical knowledge of ceramic materials and equipment.

Marlyn graduated with a Degree in Art Education in 1978 after completing a three-year Arts and Crafts program at Capilano College studying pottery, weaving, fabric printing, drawing, and art history and then completed one year of studio pottery courses and glaze technology at Georgian College of Applied Arts, Barrie, Ontario and two more years of part time pottery courses at Kwantlen College in Surrey, B.C.

They met in 1981 and it was not long before their passion for pottery and their shared talents brought them together. They rented a small house on a thoroughbred horse farm in Langley with a basement. Dave potted evenings and weekends and they sold his work at local craft fairs. In 1989 they purchased their home on Mayne Island, built their dream studio and Quasimodo Pottery became a full time enterprise. They created their own unique line of stoneware dinnerware selling at all major craft fairs in BC. Their work has been collected worldwide and sold in several local galleries and on the internet. After forty years producing functional “open stock” dinnerware and now semi retired, the focus has shifted to more creative techniques: new designs, new colored stains, and different firing techniques including primitive firings: raku and pit firing. We hope you enjoy his most recent works. Our gallery is open by appointment only: 250-539-329.