Previously featured local artists

Great works of art require skill, deep insight, depth of knowledge and thoughtful execution. The same is true for wealth planning. 

Click here to view our current featured local artist.

Sharon Lalonde

Sharon Lalonde is a Comox Valley resident who strives to make statements about the world in a way that has not been said before and that part of her process is continually evolving. She is inspired by the amazing beauty of Vancouver Island, the vast talent that surrounds her and the infinite possibilities for expression. 

The heart of her practice

Sharon strives to use themes from the natural world to create paintings that give the viewer a new experience. Her greatest joy is having someone express a real connection with the work.

She has aspirations of a technical nature, to make paintings that are pleasing in terms of color combinations and that are strong compositionally, but the greatest satisfaction comes from conveying a feeling that resonates with someone else.

When she sets out to create a series, the things that inspire her decision about a particular place or thing is something that goes deeper than the moment in time. It is the energy and the collective experiences from the past that capture her imagination.

She is surrounded by nature living in the Comox Valley. It allows her to contemplate the evolution that has occurred for thousands of years and attempt to interpret the significance of that in the art.

To learn more about Sharon and her art, please visit: www.SharonLalondeArt.com

Marianne Enhörning

 

Celebrating Women!

Marianne Enhörning’s figurative work is a tribute to the indomitable power of women. Her life size figures celebrate inner strength and personal power. Despite the many challenges faced by women culturally and historically, they rise above, using love, wisdom, and the sisterhood to prevail against all odds. These iconic women love life and all that it means to be a woman.

Utilizing a combination of bold, textural strokes and delicate lines, Marianne connects to herself as woman. Personal longing has fed the work and an internal struggle exists in the layers of the art. Using intuition, heart and soul, the artist creates strong, graceful women who are grounded in their sense of self.

“Painting is my voice, the place where I can express passions that words can't reach. I begin with a palette of paint, a new canvas and no preconceived ideas. When I raise my head, I see an image true to my being that still evades words.”

Marianne Enhörning is a West Coast Canadian artist. To learn more about Marianne and her art, please visit www.EnhorningDesign.com.

Helen Utsal

 

Singing Trees

Helen Utsal is an award winning contemporary landscape painter living and working on Vancouver Island. Spending time in Nature is a critical aspect of her inspiration and practice; a space for meditation, creation and renewal.

“I love trees, and all their diversity of shapes, moods and personalities. I don’t seek to reproduce reality, but rather reflect my impressions of the forests. Using unexpected colours to see the forest as a child, a place of wonder and possibilities.

Hiking and paddling, I cherish the quiet sounds and stillness. With my camera and my painter's mind, I mark moments; light shining bright and chartreuse on stirring leaves, dramatic light on the water, tangles of roots weaving the land together under my feet.

As an artist, it is my privilege to witness and reflect the exceptional Canadian landscape that manages to convey both an ancient power and newborn vitality.”

Bio

I grew up in a creative, nature loving family and I have been fortunate enough to have had excellent artistic mentors and teachers along the way.

After studying Fine Art at Concordia University in Montreal, I worked as a studio assistant to artists and photographers including Tom Hopkins, Graeme Metson, Donigan Cumming and Michael Flomen. I learned so much from them, and knew I also wanted to be a professional artist.

I had my first solo exhibition in 2006, “West Coast Trees”and it was well received. 2011 found me daydreaming with fellow artist Lucy Schappy. It led us to join with other artists to form Art Alchemy Studio which hosted art events, including 10 years of the Square Foot Show in Courtenay.

My love of Old Growth trees informed my solo show at Gordon Harrisons Gallery in Ottawa in 2022.

I exhibit my paintings in Solo gallery shows, group shows, art fairs, festivals,art galleries in Canada and the US, and of course my studio gallery in Tintown!

I have participated in International Exhibitions in China (Shenzhen, Hangzhou), France (Paris, Orquevaux) and the US (San Diego, Cincinatti). My artwork is in the permanent collection of the Diderot Gallery in Orquevaux, France.

I love teaching workshops in my studio and welcome the public every Saturday to visit my studio/gallery in Courtenay.

www.helenutsal.ca

 

Shea Kotilla

 

"I have come to understand that the process, not the outcome, is the juice of an evolving art practice."

Shea Kotilla is on a journey of exploration regarding the use of art materials to evoke a human, sensory experience. Living in the Comox Valley for the past 50 years has brought Shea Kotilla all kinds of joy. She has lived much of her life outdoors, skiing, biking, hiking, kayaking, and gardening. She has raised three wonderous children on the island, and to Shea, they are her everything.

Attending to the craft of art has come and gone over the years, but it has always been a passion that draws her in. Shea excelled in art classes in her junior and senior high schools, then years later, she attended leisure art classes while her kids were growing, and she would join friends in their studios during her free time. Finally, Shea rented her own space in a shared studio and in the last five years, she has been able to devote more time to her art. She retired in late 2022 from her full-time job and has since become a full-time practicing artist.

The heart of her practice

With this outlook, there is elegance, freshness, and a place for curiosity and to imagine new things. She is forever seeking and discovering ways to express on canvas the ‘essence of a thing’, to cause a sense of motion, or a spark of wonder.

Shea is passionate to continue her learning around art by watching videos, reading books about artists’ lives, and looking at artists’ work online. It’s a world she loves to explore and it is an influence on the changing nature of her practice. Art is deeply a part of Shea, and she can hardly help but dive in… for the love of art!

Follow Shea or find her art online at her website:

kotilladesigns.com