Peace Gallery North is celebrating the works of two artists on Friday with a collection of linocuts, monoprints, and encaustic work from the artistic minds of Linda Haugen and Irene Gut.
Titled Inspired by Nature and Travel, the exhibit delves into the world of journey, drawing on Haugen’s adventures to Australia and Haida Gwaii, whereas Gut’s items are extra a mirrored image of her love for nature.
“They’re not realistic, it’s more intuitive painting for me. I never really start with a specific place, I start the painting and end up somewhere, but it’s almost always nature,” says Gut. “A lot of trees, I really love trees, and it is definitely inspired from the outdoors. I hike a lot and I’ve travelled quite a bit.”
Gut and her husband got here from their house nation of Switzerland to Cecil Lake in 1995, and benefit from the quiet surroundings of the Peace.
“You can have a fun time creating different colours and you’re never sure what you’re going to come up with,” mentioned Haugen, who additionally enjoys mono-printing, creating pictures from a single re-printable block, which will be made out of wooden, metallic, and even stone.
Haugen’s travels have taken her throughout world; heading down underneath to Australia and Tasmania for a month in 2018.
“It’s kind of cliché, but it’s really about those magical moments that you want to capture in art,” she mentioned of her time in Melbourne. “With our trip to Australia, I was absolutely captivated by the fruit bats; the flying foxes, and we had a lovely canoe trip down the Yarra River.”
Haida Gwaii was additionally a serious spotlight of her current adventures, and she or he speaks extremely of a visit to the island in 2019.
“I just love being in the rainforest and the air that encompasses inside the forests, the walks on the beaches, and what washes up every day on the beach,” Haugen mentioned. “We were up in the Masset area, and we had a Haida guide that took us up to one of the old villages that had been abandoned due to small pox.”
“The burial totems there are just in a state of decay and going back down into the earth, and I kind of appreciate that, that recycling.”
Gallery curator Jacqueline Benedetto says the present is an thrilling alternative to absorb two very distinctive and complimentary mediums, and shouldn’t be missed.
“Not only is it a beautiful technique, producing wonderful textures, as seen in Irene’s paintings, but it is also a very natural discipline as its materials themselves come from nature,” she mentioned of Gut’s work, noting Haugen is glad to reply any questions on print making.
“Linda will also be offering insights into the method of making linocuts and monoprints, for those who are interested in gaining a deeper perspective into this wonderful medium.”
By: Tom Summer, Local Journalism Initiative
Source: Alaska Highway News
