Some Drawings
A Group Exhibition

Shuvinai Ashoona

Celebrated for her highly detailed drawings and fantastical subject matter, Shuvinai Ashoona is a third-generation Inuit artist living in Kinngait, Nunavut. Her dream-like imagery erases the distinctions between the natural and spirit worlds, and between the real and imagined. Many of the artist’s images highlight the dramatic changes in the North; the shift from life on the land to settled communities and access to popular culture. While many of Ashoona’s drawings contain traditional Inuit motifs, she is best known for the imaginative way that she incorporates these and other cultural references to develop her own sophisticated and highly personal iconography which overturns stereotypical notions of Inuit art. Known for her aerial perspectives and cropped compositions, Ashoona’s carefully executed drawings and prints are often marked by a cinematic sensibility.

B.C. Binning

Bertram Charles (BC) Binning was one of Canada’s foremost modern artists, architectural innovators, and educators. His early work from the 1940s was characterized by elegant, expressive yet controlled line drawings, often with nautical themes, using brilliant colour to express the painting’s flatness as a structural element and emphasizing a strong sense of order and composition. In 1941 Binning designed and built his flat-roofed, post-and-beam home in West Vancouver, which became the key example of West Coast modernist design, shaping the area’s architectural landscape for the next decade. His interest in architecture led to the design of large mosaic murals for public buildings, including the British Columbia Electric Building (1955). This interest also informed his paintings from the 1960s and 1970s which gradually evolved to purely abstract forms and explorations of clear colour and form.

Philippe Raphanel

For over 30 years, Philippe Raphanel’s painting practice has been marked by an awareness and sensitivity to the natural landscape. Most recently, he approaches the idea of landscape from an atmospheric perspective, using line and colour to evoke imagery related to oceanic and celestial maps. Iridescent pigments coupled with hundreds of layers of alternatingly opaque and translucent colours shift with the viewer’s position and in response to light. The process Raphanel uses to create his paintings is extremely labour-intensive, taking years to complete individual pieces.

The Estate of Jack Shadbolt

Jack Shadbolt (1909 – 1998) is one of Canada’s most important artists. He is known for his paintings and murals that draw from his personal experiences and from the social and political conflicts that have taken place in British Columbia and world history, such as the struggles of First Nations, the Second World War, and the environmental movement.

Jack Shadbolt was born in England in 1909 and with his family, came to Victoria, British Columbia in 1921. He lived and taught in Victoria, Duncan, Vancouver and Burnaby. His work is represented in all the major galleries across Canada as well as in corporate and private collections. Shadbolt’s numerous awards include the Order of Canada in 1972, an Honorary Degree from the University of British Columbia, and in 1987 he and his wife, art historian and curator Doris Shadbolt, established VIVA, the Vancouver Institute for Visual Arts, which supports and recognizes the achievement of artists in British Columbia.