laine dahlen - Art of the Peace

Fall / Winter 2008
Issue 11
www.artofthepeace.ca
of the Peace
A Publication for the Visual Arts
LAINE
DAHLEN
Master Apprentice
Angles, Curves and Light
Three Figure Artists
art of the peace I
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The (First and) Last Word:
Yin and Yang
by Wendy Stefansson
F
or every truth, there is an equal but opposite truth. Yin and yang: a philosophy of duality.
Half black and half white, the two parts of the yin-yang circle make up a single unity. Each completes the other. Each is equal to the
other, but opposite. Where one shape waxes, the other wanes, achieving its fullness elsewhere. And each half contains something of its
opposite, the way the dark of the night contains the light of the moon and the day contains deep shadows.
Duality is the theme of this issue, represented in both its form and its content. (If you haven’t noticed yet, flip it over. Check out our
front cover and our other front cover!)
Continued on page 3...
XIV
X
Light
contents
IX
Angles, Curves &
Symposium
VI
XII
3
Editor: Wendy Stefansson
Editorial Committee: Dale Syrota, Carrie Klukas, Suzanne Sandboe
Design, Layout & Advertising: imageDESIGN
Contributors: Eileen Coristine, Wendy Stefansson. Jody Farrell
Publisher: Art of the Peace Visual Arts Association
Box 25227, Wapiti Road PO, Grande Prairie, AB T8W 0G2
Ph: (780) 539-4046 (Dale); [email protected]
Printing: Menzies Printers
Cover: Laine Dahlen, photo by Lindsey Mitchell.
V
Art Out There
Laine Dahlen
a gallery of ARTISTS
Art of the Peace Visual Arts
Association acknowledges the
financial assistance of:
The Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Art Books in Review
(The Other)
Table of Contents
City of Grande Prairie Arts
Development Fund
Q99 Radio Station
art of the peace III
art out there...
Matta Fest
O
n the first Sunday in May for the past nine years, Christina
Otterstrum-Cedar and her husband Mitch have held a
celebration called Matta Fest at Historic Dunvegan Park. Through
rain and shine and wind and snow, the maypole has been erected
and the crowd has enlarged year by year. On May 4, 2008 the park
was elegantly decorated with hand-painted banners, the sun was
shining and several hundred people welcomed spring to the North
Peace. This year the program included a fairy dance, belly-dancing,
drumming, tai chi and a dance around the maypole.
Maypole at the Matta Fest
Mural in Fort St. John
A Painted Garden
Art That Moves You
I
Judi Roberts painting for the Art That
Moves You project.
f you’re waiting for a bus
in Fort St. John these days,
you will have more interesting
things to look at than usual. The
Fort St. John Community Arts
Council, in joint partnership
with the City of Fort St. John and British Columbia Transit, has
commissioned eight local artists to paint large panels mounted on
the sides of public transit buses in the city. “The idea is to promote
the arts within our community and support local artists,” says Arts
Council Executive Director, Tara O’Donnell. “The unique venue
increases the exposure of these wonderful pieces to virtually
everyone in our community.”
The Art That Moves You project, as it is called, is in its third year.
This year’s panels began circulating on buses in early September,
and will be up for approximately three months.
art of the peace IV
T
his past summer, the North
Peace Cultural Centre
invited the Fort St. John
Community Arts Council to
paint a mural on their southern
exterior wall, facing their
garden. Local artist John Green
designed the wall as an abstract
garden inspired by James Jean,
the California-based illustrator
whose ethereal images appeared
on clothing by the Milan-based
fashion house, Prada, earlier
this year. The mural was then
painted by two Fort St. John
artists, Rosemary Landry and
Suzon Anne Tremblay, each
of whom brought her own
influences to the work – the
florals of Georgia O’Keefe and
the sparkly metallics of belly
dance costuming, respectively.
The result is an aesthetic
cross-fertilization worthy of a
garden.
Pettit’s Peace
D
awson Creek, British Columbia photographer and graphic
artist, Donald Pettit, launched his new book on September
3rd. The Peace: A Photographic History is a compilation of
historical photographs of the British Columbia and Alberta Peace
River regions. According to Pettit, the book is “all from local
sources.” He didn’t go to national archives or even provincial
archives: he sourced out his photographs in the places where they
were taken. It’s all local, and
that, according to Pettit, is “a
big part of the book.”
That’s why, when he was producing the companion DVD,
Pettit sought out Dawson Creek
composer and musician, Bert
Goulet, to provide the original
sound track.
Cover of Donald A. Pettit’s new book,
The Peace: A History of Photography.
Pettit will be travelling throughout the Peace promoting his
book and DVD in the months
leading up to Christmas. Look
for it – and him – in bookstores,
libraries and museums across
the region.
(from left to right) Shannon Butler, her grandmother Alveira Forbes and her mother
Deborah Butler in the new kilnhouse studio.
Where Studio Meets Store
F
ort St. John ceramic artist, Shannon Butler, opened her
combination studio and store in August. The business, called
“kilnhouse studio,” is located on 101st Avenue, just a couple of
blocks west of the Fort St. John bus depot. The studio houses
Butler’s pottery wheel, workspace and kiln, as well as a display area
where finished pieces are offered for sale. Butler’s wares include
vases shaped into vintage dresses, mugs with carved muskoxen,
sculptural pieces, ceramic pendants hung on silk ribbons, as well
as “whimsical” watercolour paintings. The store is open to the
public on Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm.
Following Betty’s Trail
T
he Euphemia [Betty] McNaught Homestead historic site
near Beaverlodge, Alberta was once again the setting for an
artists’ retreat weekend this spring. On May 23rd, 24th and 25th,
artists converged on the site for workshops and demonstrations
by Edmonton-based landscape painter, Jerry Heine. At the same
time, Donald Pettit from Dawson Creek provided instruction and
opportunities for field work in photography. According to event
organizer Marjorie Henn: “The many diverse subjects available on
the homestead [provided] … great fodder for the students to hone
their skills and spur their imaginations.”
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Visiting artist Jerry Heine demonstrates his plein-aire painting process.
June - August
9:00am - 5:00pm, Daily
September - May
10:00am - 5:00pm,
Tuesday - Friday
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• 13 Exhibits Per Year
• Art Rental
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Tel: (250) 782-2601
www.dcartgallery.ca
101 - 816 Alaska Avenue
Dawson Creek, BC V1G 4T6
art of the peace V
Colleen Holler
Watercolour Artist
(780) 766.2567 | Box 363 Wembley, AB TOH 3SO
Lesley Grindlay
Capture your most treasured memories on canvas in oils that it may be enjoyed for many lifetimes.
[email protected]
www.portraitsinoils.blogspot.com | (780) 512-9857
a gallery of ARTISTS
www.artofthepeace.com
Evelyn E. Harris Judith A. Brown Carolyn Brown
Grandmother
Mother
Granddaughter
Three Generation Watercolour Artists
(780) 864-3608 | www.telusplanet.net/~jchbrown/
Vicki Hotte
“Unique rural art from the Peace Region” available at the Beaverlodge Cultural Centre
(780) 354-3712
[email protected] | www.vickihotte.com
art of the peace VI
Dale Syrota
Watercolor Artist PWS/CSPWC
Exhibits with the Grande Prairie Guild of Artists and the Peace Watercolor Society
(780) 539-4046
Carmen Haakstad
Marian Jacoba Shilka
Jim Stokes
Intuitive Painting in Acrylic, Watercolor, Mixed Media
(780) 532-7562 | [email protected] | Grande Prairie
Quality Original Art
(780) 539-4483 | www.carmensimages.com
Scott Gallery
Edmonton
Jim Stokes
Wallace Galleries
Calgary
Emily Lozeron
Quality Original Art
Signature member, Artists for Conservation
Portraying wildlife in a way that people can appreciate the beauty of nature...
Available at Unique Gallery
Scott Gallery - Edmonton | Wallace Galleries - Calgary
(780) 567-3114 | www.natureartists.com/emily_lozeron.asp
Suzanne Sandboe
ASA, PWS
(780) 568-4124 | www.suzannesandboe.com
Dale R. Sales
Painting from life experiences, landscapes, portraits, horses and western themes
(780) 876-5432 | 9807-97 Ave, Grande Prairie
[email protected]
RAY LAURIN
Wendy Stefansson
(780) 532-5232
(780) 624-8522 | [email protected]
Visual Artist
art of the peace VII
Art of the Peace Symposium ‘08
by Jody Farrell
We’ve grown!
The Sixth Annual Art of the Peace Symposium will be our
biggest and most varied event yet! Running from October 24th
through 26th this year, it has grown to include an auction, wine
tasting, theatrical performances and hands-on art workshops
in addition to artist’s talks by our three presenters. Beginning
Friday evening, the arts-filled weekend continues right through
to Sunday afternoon.
Held in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, the Symposium will
help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dawson Creek Art
Gallery.
Molly Raher Newman
M
olly Raher Newman pulls her car over so she can chat on the cell phone. The west coast actress
is thrilled about her appearance at this year’s Art of the Peace Symposium as her favourite alterego, Emily Carr. “I am so excited to be coming to the fabulous north,” Newman enthuses. Emily Carr,
the avid nature lover, would have approved.
On Friday, October 24th, and again the next day, Newman will appear at the symposium in the person
of the beloved Victoria, British Columbia artist-writer whose paintings and books have influenced
much of how the world sees the Canadian west coast. Newman will inhabit the character of “Emilyas-painter” in about the 1930s, wearing her painter’s smock, and taking a break from her work. She’ll
mill about the crowd, answering questions in her Newman-as-Emily persona. Newman knows her
subject well; she’s been doing this for nine years, and has entertained audiences at the Emily Carr
House and The Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. Emily’s love of nature, her somewhat
shy, but witty character, and her many writings, both published and unpublished, greatly influence
Newman’s portrayal.
Molly Raher Newman as her alter-ego
Emily Carr.
art of the peace VIII
On Saturday, Newman presents her original “intimate theatre” performance, My Name is Emily Carr.
The one-woman show covers much of the life and work of the artist. The setting is Emily’s studio,
and includes Carr posters transferred onto canvas, as well as other props. She’ll speak of her many
loves; nature, animals, and art. And she will sing. “Emily wrote songs and sang to her paintings,”
Newman says. “Her music conveyed her joy of life.” Newman, herself both an artist and musician,
infuses her show with quotes from Carr’s journals and writings, and her own extensive research. She
welcomes discussion with audience members, answering, as best she can, in the person of the famous
artist. Occasionally, a question arises that causes her to take off the Emily glasses, and answer out of
character. Then, with glasses back on, in true Emily fashion, the renowned artist gives her final word
on the subject.
Greg Crowe
T
his Perth, Australia, artist started pottery in 1974 midway
through a degree in architecture, and though he did complete
that first degree, working in clay became his life. Since then, Greg
Crowe has travelled internationally, giving lectures and workshops
on his unique wheel-throwing and wood-firing methods.
Crow has built and used gas, oil and wood-fired salt kilns, as well
as a number of wood kilns, ranging from 30 to 600 cubic feet. He
has taught extensively throughout Western Australia, and the US,
Canada, Europe, Japan and Singapore.
Vessel by Australian potter, Greg Crowe.
On his clay-street.com homepage, Crowe states that his current
work is salt-glazed, and concentrates on clay bodies and slips developed from locally dug materials. “I am fascinated by the colour
responses in areas protected or shielded from full exposure to the
salt vapours,” he says.
His vessels explore the textural boundaries of clay. Stretched and torn, roughly marked surfaces are enhanced by their salt-glazed
veneers, and feature a diverse range in colour and translucency. His many approaches to working with clay, both directly and on the
wheel have led to a worldwide reputation for enthusiastic and intuitive training.
With over three decades of throwing clay to his credit, Crowe has imparted his knowledge to both beginners and advanced potters. He
will speak about his own travels and techniques, as well as those used around the world. Crowe will also host a workshop in clay handbuilding techniques on Sunday.
Doug MacLean
T
his Canmore, Alberta, owner of Canadian Art Gallery has over
25 years experience in exhibiting and representing artists from
across Canada. He has worked with many important dealers and
art auctions and attended countless openings and galleries.
Doug MacLean will speak about some of the now-recognized
Western Canadian artists who, in his eyes, got a short shrift in
history. Illingworth Kerr, Marian Nicholl and Maxwell Bates,
are all artists whose work was overlooked by a Canadian art
scene overly-fixated on the Eastern part of the country. He will
include an overview of the work of Euphemia McNaught, whose
art and Beaverlodge homestead figure prominently here in the
Peace. MacLean will tell of his own relationship with area artists
McNaught and Robert Guest.
Doug MacLean
“It’ll be a fairly reality-based look at where Western Canadian art
stands in history, and why this standing is not better,” MacLean says. “Even in the seventies, I saw [the above mentioned artists] as
important. But they were ignored in the larger picture. I will make critical comments about why they were forgotten in the bigger
picture.”
MacLean likes to “stay loose” about his speaking topics. He will present a general overview of the Canadian art scene, past and present,
what is selling, what price art fetches and why, and who to keep an eye on in the province and elsewhere. MacLean will also talk about
government funding for the arts, as well as some the more positive aspects of creating art in “a void of listening and looking.”
art of the peace IX
Angles, Curves and Light:
Three Figure Artists
by Eileen Coristine
Leona Cochrane
O
bserving and appreciating what is there is key to Leona Cochrane’s art since joining the Grande
Prairie Figure Drawing Group. “I try not to have an objective,” she says. “If I can focus on the
presence of the model I can produce something very strong.”
Leona joined the group after studying art at the University of Lethbridge and Grant McEwan College.
Working in the group has helped her sense of form and given her lots of ideas.
“My process, on Thursday nights, is to get down the basic outlines very quickly in coloured chalk.
This gives me a gesture statement of the figure that I fill in with an earth yellow, then I gradually block
in the shadows.”
“Observing what is there instead of trying to make it look interesting or dynamic can be a life altering
thing,” Leona says.
Leona Cochrane. Calm Space.
Usually Leona works in oil on canvas producing large paintings of urban lansdscapes; familiar scenes
are enhanced with colour and brushstrokes. Inspired by her weekly sessions with a model, Leona is
now working on a graphic novel. “Figure drawing activates the brain to think of forms and maybe
character,” she says. “I can draw out of my head now.”
Dale Sales
D
ale Sales’ figure drawings may result in paintings. Mostly though, he goes to the weekly sessions
to get himself out of his comfort zone. “Every Thursday night I’m in a non-critical environment.
I’m forced to draw and forced to share it,” Dale says.
Dale Sales. Contemplation.
Dale’s grandfather drew horses at the first Calgary Stampede and was an inspiration to the young
artist. Horses are Dale’s favourite subject and he finds a similarity between
drawing them and drawing from a nude model.
Dale says the models have a positive experience with the drawing group;
there is what he describes as an honouring atmosphere. Yet he recognizes
that figure drawing has a stigma.
“The public can’t handle figure drawing because of the taboo of nudity,” he
says, “but you don’t even see the model when you’re drawing [him or her],
you see angles and curves and light.”
Along with angles, curves and light, Dale believes that there is a recognizable
energy that is transferred to the painting or drawing. “It has nothing to do
with the subject,” he explains. “What you’re painting or drawing is you –
your energy. Paint with energy and emotion. Stay with the scale and let it
flow.”
art of the peace X
Karen Longmate
K
aren Longmate is always up for the weekly challenge of figure drawing. There is an immediacy
and requirement of presence that excites her. She asks herself “How do I transfer this amazing
form onto paper?”
Karen loves that by figure drawing, she’s part of a classical study. She feels successful if her drawings
are true to the person modelling and have quality. “I like testing myself,” she says, “Proportions are
always a challenge and so is capturing the likeness.”
During the figure drawing sessions at the Centre for Creative Arts, the group warms up with twominute gesture drawings and then begins to work on a series of three twenty-minute poses. Although
twenty-minute poses seem quite short to some artists, Karen is sometimes lulled by their length. She
tells of a Red Deer Series instructor who took her class to a turkey farm to draw.
“Turkeys are always in motion,” she recalls. “Back in class he had us draw from ten-second poses;
they seemed luxuriously long, after the turkeys.”
Karen Longmate. Edo. Pencil.
Working with the models and seeing the interpretations of the other artists keeps Karen exploring art.
“We have this beautiful drive to manifest the possibilities.”
The
Alberta Society
of Artists presents
LL IS ALL
SMA
a juried interprovincial travelling exhibition of
S M A L L W O R K S
OCTOBER 18 - NOVEMBER 16
Crowsnest Pass Allied Arts Council,
Gallery on Highway 3 in Frank, AB
Judi Roberts
Artist
p. 403-562-2218 | [email protected]
Opening: October 18, 1-3 pm
AUGUST 12 - SEPTEMBER 20, 2009
Chapel Gallery, North Battleford, SK
Other inter-provincial shows
to be announced
To join the Alberta Society of Artists call
(780) 426-0072
or visit www.artists-society.ab.ca
[email protected] (250) 262-1445
www.judiroberts.artspan.com
Northern Arts Studio & Gallery
8038 - 100 Street South, Fort St. John, BC
www.northernartsmagazine.com
art of the peace XI
Art Books in Review
Expressive Portraits: Creative Methods for Painting
People by Jean Pederson
by Wendy Stefansson
If you are a regular reader of The Artist’s Magazine, you’ve no doubt seen the work of Calgary
painter, Jean Pederson. Best known for her watercolour and mixed water media portraits, Pederson’s
signature style combines figures rendered with depth and painterly sensitivity, and backgrounds
flattened or textured almost to the point of abstraction.
An award-winning painter with works in collections throughout the world, Pederson is also an
instructor at the Alberta College of Art and Design and Red Deer College’s Summer Series, she is also
a contributing editor to The Artist’s Magazine. In writing Expressive Portraits: Creative Methods for
Painting People, she appears to have collected many of her previously published articles, including
a number of step-by-step “demonstrations” of her painting process. She has covered topics ranging
from the fundamentals of watercolour materials, to colour theory, to comprehensive lessons on
proportion. Pederson provides the basic building blocks to get a painter started, and then encourages
him or her to take risks and break the rules.
According to Pederson: “Expressing the human figure in a language that reflects the twenty-first
century is perhaps the greatest challenge in figurative work today.” Funnelling both her passion
for painting and a vocation for teaching into this book, Pederson has written what is essentially a
phrasebook that will help artists to learn and develop this language.
'The Front Range, Evening Moon'
Oil Knife Painting, 12 x 16”, 2007
Robert Guest
Douglas Udell Galleries:
EDMONTON
CALGARY
VANCOUVER
art of the peace XII
CANADA (2008) Ltd.
Phone: (780) 532-3701
Fax: (780) 532-7301
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#104, 10814 - 100 St,
Grande Prairie, AB
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Dianne Bertold. Otto.
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Dawson Creek,
British Columbia, Canada
art of the peace XIII
Laine Dahlen. Fall Afternoon. 1993. Oil on canvas.
Laine Dahlen
Feature
Laine Dahlen
Master Apprentice
by Jody Farrell
L
aine Dahlen is projecting
slides of his landscape
paintings onto a screen in the
visual arts studio. Slowly, I
begin to lose all sense of time.
There’s something so polished,
so pristine about these fields
and hillsides, that for a moment I wonder if it is the work
of some long-dead master I’m
viewing. I’d seen a couple of
Dahlen works before, but the
detail and old world feel of
these images throw me into
another era altogether. My
art of the peace XIV
drive west across the Alberta
border to his space in Dawson
Creek, BC’s Northern Lights
College has landed me back
farther than just the one hour
time difference.
While all of Dahlen’s landscapes are local — some near
Peace River, others toward
Spirit River — the paintings,
given their deliberate rendering and style, could easily
be taken for over a century
old. Grande Prairie artist Jim
Stokes, who years ago was
himself inspired by a Dahlen
landscape in the Prairie Art
Gallery’s Permanent Collection, says the works call
to mind those of 19th century painters Jean-BaptisteCamille Corot and Gustave
Courbet.
Those artists’ meticulous and
deliberate pieces — unlike the
more direct, somewhat brash
paintings that came later in the
19th century — feature layers
of underpainting and carefully built-up compositions.
Dahlen’s works draw from
such masters’ techniques.
“His landscapes are more realist, not loose, not impressionist,” Jim remarks when,
a week after the Dahlen interview, I am still humbled
by what I have seen and am
pressing Stokes for historical references. “They are not
painterly, but solid, built up,
more like those that came just
Laine Dahlen. The Dealer.
before and influenced impressionism.”
Dahlen’s creative abstinence
of late has him calling himself less a painter and more
a teacher. Stokes recalls his
frustration at a similar comment Dahlen made at a recent
arts symposium: “I just wanted to shake him when he said
that ...‘How can you say that?’
I thought.”
But Dahlen, who at 60 concedes to having “one foot in
the nineteenth century,” maintains that truly calling oneself
an artist requires constant devotion and practice.
“I am such a traditionalist.
Part of me would like to see
the old guild system like the
seven year system in Florence,
where you worked under one
person,” Dahlen says.
He despairs at the seemingly
dwindling practice of master
techniques and realism. The
excess of flat imagery coming
out of our fast-paced technological world has resulted in
students who, though many
have a flair for animé and tattoos, show little aptitude in
the studio. It’s perhaps in defiance of high-tech domination
that Dahlen does not use computers and describes himself
as digitally illiterate.
And yet in his single-year,
eight-month course, he somehow manages to whip even the
most perspective-challenged
into shape. Val McMeekin, a
former student and studio assistant of Dahlen’s who went
on to complete a Bachelor of
Fine Arts at Lethbridge, Alberta, says her only instruction in traditional technique
came from him. And while she
sometimes faltered under his
drive for perfection, she has
no regrets about apprenticing
under the teacher she affectionately dubs “Master D.”
“He is a fabulous teacher and
artist, very traditional. Of the
artists I know, he is probably
the most talented drawer and
painter. I am glad my first
classes were with him.”
McMeekin found Lethbridge
University art instruction, in
contrast, to be completely
conceptual. “They do not
teach the basics of painting
and drawing. In many cases it
doesn’t matter if one can draw
these days,” she remarks.
Dahlen teaches a wide range
Laine Dahlen. Peace River at Taylor. 1993. Oil on canvas. Detail.
of painting methods that include imprimatura or underpainting, glazing (painting a
thin transparent layer over a
pre-existing one.), scumbling
(layering a broken passage
of colour over an underlying
colour); and also a variety
of media, including collage
and silkscreen. McMeekin is
grateful for Dahlen’s instruction on the deliberate building-up of layers, and recalls
the considerable attention he
gave to colour temperature
and the push-pull effect of
cool and hot colours.
He is indeed fascinated with
dualities and the interplay
whereby elements can be both
complementary and opposite.
And not just the backgroundforeground spatial elements
created in paintings, but the
negatives and positives found
in life itself. Several of his
figurative works, while built
up in the same manner as
his landscapes, include an
element of storytelling filled
with double meanings, borrowed and reversed imagery,
and elements both dark and
humourous.
The Dealer, a painting Dahlen
made for himself, includes an
homage to Edouard Manet’s
Bar at the Folies Bergère. To
further push the intrigue in
an already mysterious painting, Dahlen has flipped Manet’s barmaid’s reflection in
the mirror. He painted her in
a direct style, as opposed to
the more traditional, built-up
techniques employed in painting the coat of the man in the
foreground. Another woman
in the back sports a mask.
“It all has to do with mirrors, what is reality, and what
isn’t,” Dahlen says.
Dahlen uses the painting to
encourage, even provoke his
students. This work, along
with his trompe l’oeil surrealist painting Mysteriarch,
betrays a fondness for manipulating reality. His collage
Anima, named after psychologist Carl Jung’s term for the
male’s unconscious, inner
feminine personality, is also
rife with dualities and doublemeanings.
“He most definitely has the
trickster in him,” McMeekin
says of her former instructor.
Still, Dahlen wishes he were
“looser” in his work. Collage
makes for more experimentation, allowing the “crazy and
cockeyed” to reveal itself.
art of the peace XV
“I am fond of it,” he says of
the technique that culls from
existing materials, photos,
clippings, and art to create a
new, assembled whole. “I’m
more likely to grab two photographs that I would never
have combined had I composed the image myself. Your
subconscious takes over.” But
even here, Dahlen will go
to great lengths, adding and
scraping layers of graphite in
one, and lifting off images using lacquer thinner in another.
“It’s still tight,” he says of his
style.
vague earlier, saying that a rumour had circulated last year
—“perhaps a wishful one”—
following a celebration of
his 30-year anniversary as a
teacher. He spoke of a “hunger” for his kind of instruction, and wondered who might
give it if he were to leave.
Now however, having talked
at length about those many
years of coaxing creativity
out of others, and nodding to
some drawings he’s made of
a would-be studio, Dahlen appears to be warming up to his
own creative drive.
By the end of the conversation, which has spanned several hours if not centuries,
Dahlen is toying with the
idea of retirement. He’d been
“I’m an old bugger,” he says
with a smile and a shrug.
“Maybe it’s time.”
Laine Dahlen. Anima. (open)
Laine Dahlen. Anima. (closed)
Never in the Sunlight
L
aine Dahlen was born in Edmonton, Alberta and has lived in Rolla and Dawson Creek since
1948. He spent six years in Nelson, BC, where he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at
the University of Notre Dame. He also completed an etching (intaglio printing) course in Florence,
Italy in 1986. He has approximately 50 years experience in painting, drawing and art history.
His works reside with patrons throughout Canada, as well as in Britain, Italy, Japan, the United
States, Australia and Hungary.
A personal biography Dahlen wrote to accompany an exhibition in 1995 includes this argument for
investing in his original artwork:
“Original artwork offers you a one of a kind image, done by hand, not a limited edition done by
machine. Each individual piece is signed and dated. [My paintings are made of] the best of durable,
well-constructed materials and techniques. They are images of this area, or from the imagination,
composed from original drawings or a combination of drawings and photographs taken by me, and
have good resale potential.”
Laine Dahlen. Untitled.
art of the peace XVI
A footnote on the pamphlet asks that you “support your local artists and crafts people, and remember...
Never hang your valuable, original artwork in direct sunlight.”