Editor's note: The Squamish Valley ArtWalk 2005 Studio & Gallery Tour is set for Saturday, Sept. 17 and Sunday, Sept. 18 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day with local artists displaying their works in studios and local galleries in and around Squamish. This is the third in a series of articles profiling the participants.
Toby Jaxon: Painter
38078 Cleveland Avenue
Nature is alive with vibrating colour and animating spirit: this observation is confirmed in the views Toby enjoys from her own backyard and informs her latest canvases. Beneath the gaze of the tranquil coastal mountains, dappled forest stands and stark granite outcrops reveal the vital nature of the local spirits inhabiting them. Blue sky, gray stone, and green tree reveal their chartreuse, violet, and fuchsia souls. Jut as Squamish grows into a community of diversity and opportunity, so, too, her canvas flowers bloom in vivid contrasting colour and multiple perspective, celebrating the vitality of her community.
Liza Liebich: Potter
1018 Tobermory Way
Liza located to Squamish in 1997 and began taking pottery classes in West Vancouver. She participated in a local pottery guild and has since pieced together her own studio. Most of her experience is in hand-built tableware, but she is experimenting with whimsical and raku pieces, influenced by flora and fauna. Late in 2000 she began a career in horticulture. She currently runs her own Hosta and Iris nursery, with 20 varieties of Hosta and 75 varieties of Bearded, Japanese, Louisiana and Siberian Iris. To carry her artistic interest into her work, she creates garden designs using both computer and traditional drafting methods. Liza considers her settlement in Squamish permanent, and embraces all that the Sea to Sky corridor has to offer.
Marg Marlow: Quilter
37970 Fourth Avenue (front doors)
Marg Marlow is an accomplished quilter and embroiderer who uses her sewing machine like an extension of herself. She has been sewing since she can remember and opened her own fabric shop, Needles and Pins, in 1982. As she taught her customers to sew clothing and quilting, she discovered free motion machine embroidery, which naturally led to free motion quilting. Marg teaches at quilting stores on the lower mainland, and for quilting Guilds such as the Squamish Valley Quilters Guild, the Whistler Valley Quilters Guild, and the Lions Gate Quilters Guild. Just some of her specialized techniques include stippling, embroidery, and lace making all on the machine! She has won awards for some of her quilts and wall hangings.
Garry Hughes:
Drawer/Painter
37970 Fourth Avenue (front doors)Garry has been drawing and painting for most of his life, from the age of 10 or so. His main influences are Oriental line drawing and paintings from all over the world. Since he lives on a limited income his models come from magazines. His usual format these days are 8"x 10'' or 5"x7" with pen and ink or watercolor pencil and he has used gouache acrylic and various other inks. For the time he has lived in Squamish, from 1996 until now, Garry has facilitated the Consumer Art Club, part of the Dogwood clubhouse, which is for mental health consumers. He is Buddhist this is one of his inspiration sources.
Lorelli McKay: Painter
37970 Fourth Avenue (front doors)
Born 1926 in Vancouver, Lorelli studied at Calgary Art School from 1945 to 1948. In 1989 she moved to Lion's Bay and studied silk painting. In 1991 Lorelli moved to Squamish and began giving classes in silk painting, drawing, and watercolor. In 2003 she had a solo show of polar bear paintings on silk at the Newport Gallery. In 2004 she had a solo show of oil pastel drawings at the Foyer Gallery.
