Abraxas Books, Art, and Cafe is a convivial and multi-purpose hub for Denman artists, writers, readers, community organizers, lovers of fine coffee and home-made sandwiches, and anyone wanting a welcoming place to hang out.

It is also an art gallery. The café, accessed through the bookstore or via the back entrance from the deck, hosts rotating exhibits of works by local artists. Owner-operator Francesca (Tachi) Barker is herself an artist, so you might see some of her paintings or drawings and, if she’s not busy making espresso or managing book orders, she’s always happy to chat about the art on her café walls.

In the bookstore, you’ll find fiction, non-fiction, and poetry books by local writers, some focussing on Denman Island culture, geography, and history. As well, the bookstore sells a variety of art cards by local artists and you might find locally made t-shirts and other items, depending on who’s making what at the time.

This small-but-mighty space also carries gifts, puzzles, socks, beach toys, art supplies, calendars, music-making supplies, stationary, Denman Island chocolate, and office supplies, while of course the main focus is the judiciously curated selection of books.

For hours, please see website

For over 35 years, Annie Siegel has created art that reflects the beauty of Denman Island’s forests and ocean. Born and raised in New York city in an artistic family, she moved to BC in 1970 and Denman in 1989.

“My first vivid impressions of the West Coast were of the colours and shapes of the beach stone, the tide pools, and the windy coastal forests. The play of the light, the wind and the water continually shift and change the forms, rearranging their aspect, altering their possibilities,” says Annie. After over three decades on the island, she is still inspired by the natural world around her.

Annie’s landscape paintings juxtapose realism with the imagination and integrate acrylic paint and ink, pastels, coloured pencils, and rice and tissue paper on watercolour paper.

Another abiding interest is the human figure. “I see the figure as perpetually changing, forming new connections and relationships. Most of my compositions are based on one-to-ten-minute poses that I place in relationship to each other to suggest a story or to interpret an emotional experience. Movement is always implicit.” Annie’s figurative work uses a variety of mediums including conte, pastels, watercolour crayons, and acrylic paint.

As well, Annie makes jewelry, using sterling silver, brass, copper, and semi-precious gemstones. She is also a jazz musician, art educator, and writer.

Annie’s education includes a BA in Fine Arts (Painting and Music) from the University of Buffalo, a New York State Education Certificate in Art, a BC Education Certificate in Art, and an Associate Degree in Music from Capilano University, B.C. Her figure and landscape series are represented in collections in Canada, the US, England, and Germany.

Studio: 2031 Westcliff Road, by appointment only

Contact: anisiegel@yahoo.ca | 250-335-1027​

Website: www.anniesiegel.com

See Annie’s work on Denman Island: at her studio (see above) and at the Denman Island Craft Shop.

Potter and painter Bentley Le Baron (1937 – 2025) spent over 40 years creating his own ceramic world—a place of beauty and magic, inhabited by creatures both real and mythical: gods and goddesses, ravens and owls, bears and bulls, cats and dogs, and dragons. These stand alongside functional tableware and painting as his main artistic legacy.

Bentley started out not as an artist but rather as a philosophy professor. “I was pushing 30 when I first touched clay,” he said in an interview. He did his doctorate in politics and philosophy in London, England, and then taught in Ontario for six years.

All that time, he was hanging out with artist friends and regularly visiting the art department,  thinking, ‘I’d like to do that too.’ He began learning pottery as a sideline to academia. By the time he moved to Denman Island in 1979, he was ready to devote himself fully to art.

“I just hung out a shingle as a guy who made dinnerware,” he said. Soon he was getting commissions for dinner sets. He then branched into hand-built sculpting, which allowed his creativity to flourish. Over the decades he exhibited throughout BC and Ontario.

Bentley’s themes evolved out of the ceramics process. “The kiln always seemed like the Great Mother Dragon, the Transformer, and so just hanging out with the kiln got me interested in mythology. The elementals—earth, air, fire, water—got me interested in those themes. Then I started finding imagery from mythology around the world—the sun and the moon, the dragon, and animal creatures that had been sacred to early peoples in different parts of the world,” he said.

Bentley filled the woods on his Denman Island property with his art—a playful Pan, a soulful goddess, and more, placed among the cedars and Douglas Firs. He was a mentor for younger potters and a valued member of the the island’s arts community.

Since Bentley’s death in September, 2025, his widow Danni Crenna is managing the remainder of his works.

Contact info: dannicrenna07@gmail.com

See Bentley’s work on Denman: in the Arts Denman Sculpture Park (two works); at the Denman Craft Shop; and by appointment with Danni Crenna.

“The light can transform something in an instant,” says Bonnie Snair.

As a stained glass artist, Bonnie is intimate with the power of light not only to transform but also to be transformed by colour and pattern.

Bonnie’s studio windows are filled with her stained glass creations, each one responding to the shifting light throughout the day. “At about four o’clock in the afternoon, this space comes alive—it just sings,” she says.

Bonnie’s work spans a variety of forms: landscapes, coastal seascapes, and wildlife portraits transform a window; vertical obelisks add artistry to a garden; wind chimes and mobiles hang overhead. Some pieces are lighthearted and whimsical, some are abstract, and others capture the timeless grandeur of mountains and ocean.

The two-dimensional pieces are framed in salvaged wood that adds its own unique  character—weathered barnboard more than a century old, driftwood collected on beach walks, or live-edge cuts from fallen trees. Sometimes, she begins her creative process with the wood and lets its shape guide the design. One curved piece of driftwood shaped like a fish gave inspired her to cut iridescent glass into scales and arrange them in a shimmering, layered pattern.

Stained glass is an ancient art form that lends itself to constant reinvention, says Bonnie.  “People hear “stained glass,” and often think it’s something old fashioned, but in fact this medium lends itself beautifully to modern, contemporary approaches.”

Bonnie is inspired by nature, particularly the sky in all its moods—sunrise, sunset, the northern lights, the many shades of blue. She began creating in stained glass while living in Alberta and has continued since moving to Denman Island in 2024. The geography of both places is evident in her art.

Bonnie works in her oceanfront studio, Ourglass, with her partner Steve, who builds many of the custom frames.

Cynthia Minden is a visual artist, classically trained musician, and educator, and she is passionate and profoundly knowledgeable about donkeys.

She has exhibited sculpture and mixed media internationally and has taught for guilds, art schools, and retreat centres.

Cynthia is also a certified practitioner in equine facilitated wellness (Pro-EFW Canada) as well as a certified therapeutic arts practitioner (Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy).

Blending her interests and skills, she currently offers experiential learning opportunities through exploring creativity and connection with nature and animals. Sessions are usually two hours or four/ five hours with package bundles available too.

Cynthia’s deep appreciation for the surrounding forest, wetlands and wildlife, her special connection with her gentle donkeys, and her love of art-making and pedagogy make these sessions unique.

You will spend time interacting with the donkeys and learning their language, exploring a plethora of fun and accessible art-making projects from her vast repertoire of offerings with some interwoven supportive grounding and mindfulness.

See Cynthia Minden’s work on Denman Island : Visit her studio by appointment, which you can set up via her websites.

Contact : Via her websites:

www.cynthiamindenartsandequine.ca

www.cynthiaminden.com

“I have always made marks to make sense of things, be it ideas, or responding to the visual world. I like to put things down and see what emerges,” says painter Dawn Stofer.

Dawn’s paintings are more suggestive than descriptive, portraying landscapes, interiors, still lifes, people, and animals in semi-abstract ways, featuring bold colours, big shapes, uncluttered lines, and simple compositions. “I’m not going in for the details of things. I’m after the essence,” she says.

But simple doesn’t mean easy. To create her apparent simplicity, Dawn employs a sophisticated set of aesthetic skills and knowledge.

Dawn says that when she’s painting, she feels like she dissolves. When she steps back and observes what she’s created, her analytic mind kicks in to make visual assessments. “Part of my process is problem solving—looking at a piece and figuring out what’s working, what’s not, why, and what needs to change.”

These abilities were developed during formal studies in art at the Universities of Victoria and Calgary, numerous life classes, mentorship in England and the south of France, and years of painting experience.

Dawn also creates dog portraits, both on commission and on her own initiative. “These truly are portraits. I want each one to be clearly that one dog, not just any dog that looks similar. The dog should be looking the viewer right in the eye so that you feel you’re looking at each other. There is such a deep bond between humans and dogs; that’s why I enjoy doing dog portraits.”

For Dawn, all her work is, at its core, a love letter to nature. “Nature is who we are. Humans are not separate from the animal kingdom, from the trees, or the earth. We’re creatures; we’re part of things,” she says.

Contact : It is best to contact Dawn via her website

See Dawn’s work on Denman : a limited selection of her work is available at the Denman Craft Shop

| Home Decor | Gifts | Jewelry | Pottery |

A collective of local craftswomen manage The Denman Craft Shop and lovingly select the handmade work of over 50 Denman Island artisans.

Visitors to the shop are met with the scent of beeswax candles and handmade soap and the temptation of Denman Island Chocolate.

Meander through the adjoining rooms with lush displays of paintings, woodwork, weaving, jewelry, glass, pottery, photography, handmade paper work, fibre arts, and gourmet meal and spice mixes.

Fireweed is a longtime eco-feminist artist deeply concerned about social justice, biodiversity loss, and the climate crisis. For an activist, art making can be both an act of necessity and of pleasure, she says.

“Creating for the sheer joy of it is less of a distraction from the overwhelming challenges before us than an empowered act of resistance integral to sustaining activism. We protect what we value. I hope that my photographic works offer reprieve and inspiration to viewers who share my delight in celebrating the beauty and mystery of our natural world.”

Much of this delight happens via photography. Since first picking up a camera some forty years ago, Fireweed has seen this art form evolve from film and darkrooms to digital cameras and sophisticated editing software. She embraces technological change while remaining true to her roots as a nature photographer.

“My image-making in the realm of photography is no longer the product of chemical development in a darkroom, but digital technology, not to be confused with AI.

“Exploring and documenting the intricate details of Denman’s marine and terrestrial ecosystems is foundational to my creative process. Sometimes the works originate as sculptural forms composed of various raw materials. From brightly coloured seaweed to leaves decaying in a garden compost, island textures of all kinds work their way into my often highly interpretive compositions.

Fireweed is also accomplished in sculpture and graphic design, and combines art with activism in public demonstrations, installation works, and performance art. She has studied at various colleges and universities including the Banff School of Fine Arts and the Emily Carr College of Art & Design. Exhibitions have included solo shows in BC and Ontario as well as group shows in Jamaica, Japan, the USA, and Canada.

See Fireweed’s work on Denman: at her studio on select dates, or by appointment (see box, above left) and often at events such as the Studio Tour and Craft Fair.

When you buy a basket from Glen Kraushar, you are truly getting a piece of the Denman Island earth. All the baskets are made entirely from willows grown on Glen’s Denman acreage—over 7000 individual trees and over 40 varieties in all, he estimates.

Glen’s baskets tend to be large—big enough for a child to hide in, or to serve as a blanket chest. Variations of colour—golds, browns, pinks, reds,  greens and yellows—and texture in the baskets come from different types of willow.

The baskets are the result of a labour-intensive 18-month process. During summer, while the willows grow, Glen is busy weeding. In December and January, he’s harvesting—on his knees, cutting each shoot at its base with loppers.

Next, he sorts the shoots into bundles according to width and lays them out on a drying rack. Drying takes six months. After that, he moves the shoots to a dark storage room, where they need to be rotated regularly to ensure air flow. When Glen is ready to weave, he re-sorts the bundles more precisely and puts them in a tank to soak.

“Willow is truly a magical plant,” says Glen. “It grows so fast—in a year it’s taller than me. It’s so beautiful, it smells great, and it’s medicinal.” The main magic, of course, is the combination of strength and flexibility that makes it perfect for weaving. “It can twist and flex and bend like no other material. And it lasts. I’m pretty sure a lot of my baskets will outlive me.”

Glen also teaches workshops where beginners can create a basket over a weekend.

Contact: Glenraven@gmail.com | 250-335-0789

See Glen’s work: Contact Glen to set up a viewing and/or look for Glen outside the Denman community hall at the Denman Christmas Craft Fair .

Terms like “master artisan” get used perhaps too casually these days, what with everyone promoting themselves on the Internet, but in Gordon Hutchens’ case, this descriptor is richly deserved.

Gordon has been making ceramic art for over five decades. His career includes over 25 one-man shows and over 100 group exhibitions across Canada and the US, with three major exhibitions in Japan; he is widely respected internationally as an educator; and his work is displayed in permanent collections such as the Bronfman family’s Claridge Collection, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Burlington Art Centre, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

In 2019, Gordon was honoured with a Creative Achievement Award of Distinction Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art and Design from the BC Achievement Foundation.

The epicentre of this illustrious artist’s work is a simple hand-built studio nestled in the Denman Island rainforest next to Gordon’s home.  Here, in Gordon’s elegantly lit gallery, visitors can see the range of his work, from museum-scale showpieces to functional pots, vases, platters, and mugs, and chat with about his techniques and inspirations.

Gordon formulates and blends all his own clay, using many different varieties from across North America and England, including clay from his own property. Seaweed, smoke, salt, and wood ash are some of the natural ingredients used in his unique glazes, known for their shimmering lustre and velvety iridescence.

“I get excited by the power of heat, the way fire brings about the transformation, the metamorphosis of elements I’ve combined into something new,” says Gordon.

Ceramics is a bit like alchemy, he says. “Both disciplines are about the transmutation of minerals and metals. You take a pinch of this and pinch of that, add high heat, and transformation happens.”

Visit Gordon at his studio: 4031 Wren Rd, Denman Island, Mon – Sat, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The Firing: Denman Island’s Gathering of Potters at an outdoor wood-fired Anagama kiln

Hester Lessard’s artistic journey straddles six decades and defies straight lines. In the 1960s and 70s, she painted landscapes and interiors, first in New York City, where she grew up, and then in rural Nova Scotia, where she moved at age nineteen in response to American involvement in the Vietnam war.

After over a decade of painting and exhibiting while living a classic back-to-the-land lifestyle in Nova Scotia, Hester changed direction, attended law school in Halifax, and embarked on a 27-year academic legal career, eventually teaching law at the University of Victoria.

As retirement beckoned, Hester felt the pull of the rural life she’d left long ago and moved to Denman Island. She also returned to art and her old subject matter: landscapes. But something didn’t feel right. “I was no longer the same person. To be honest, I was boring myself.” She started exploring abstract approaches.

Hester’s metamorphosis into an abstract painter evolved further when she began using cold wax medium, a soft, malleable, matte-finish substance that combines with oil paint.

“Wax medium’s main attraction for me is how it gets rid of the brush,” says Hester. Freed from the control imposed by the brush, she applies medium with a variety of instruments—squeegees, crumpled wax paper, a credit card, brayers. “You can dab it, you can make texture, and you can create three or four layers and scratch down through the layers.”

Hester’s abstract painting shares certain qualities with her landscapes. “My period as a figurative painter was very much preoccupied with the quality of the light, and that’s still central to my art. Much abstract art operates in a shallow plane and avoids creating the illusion of depth. But once you start playing with light, that changes.”

“My art journey has led me to many unexpected places—down to the bottom where dragons and wolves lurk, and up to the bright places that have no name,” says Jane Fawkes.

Jane has been on this journey for over sixty years, and it has led her through multiple genres, media, and aesthetic realms. She has created room-sized installations, colourful quilts, whimsical illustrations, abstract and figurative painting, prints, photographs, and more.

Themes include mythology, nature, pattern, archetype, eco-feminism, and Buddhism, all expressed in a variety of moods. Jane’s series inspired by the cave paintings of Lascaux is dreamlike and haunting, while her mandala series is bright and cheerful, but both evoke a feeling of timelessness.

“I used to be dismayed by my need to work in a variety of ways—I thought “real artists” stick to one style, but now realize that I work in a spiral, with each revolution feeding and expanding from the last to enrich the result.

“My future work? I never know. That is where both the fear and excitement lie. I no longer have the dexterity and patience for working with fabric and I like the immediacy of painting. I also enjoy experimenting with print making. Above all, my art is about play—a dance with shape and colour,” says Jane.

Fawkes began making art in the 1950s while taking night courses at the Vancouver School of Art. She has a diploma in textile art from Northwest Handcraft House and a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Emily Carr College. She has exhibited her work extensively over the past 50 years. In 2017, Jane created a website that collects much of her six-decades-worth of work in a comprehensive online archive.

Getting in touch: Visit Jane Fawkes’ website for contact information.

If you had to describe Jayne Fogarty’s artistic output in one word, you might choose “abundant.” Her work is both prolific and full of variety. She is primarily a fabric artist, creating both functional and decorative work: wall-hangings, ocean-themed cloth dolls, dish towels, napkins, bags, aprons, flags, and baskets built of coiled, hand-dyed cotton cording and rope.

She is also a printmaker, and her lino-cut and stencilled designs decorate many of her fabric pieces. As well, she is a painter, using acrylics to express the beauty she sees around her. And she makes candles, soaps, flavoured salt and vinegars, preserves, and greeting cards.

Among all this diversity, one item has brought particular delight over the past few years, says Jayne—her flag series. These strings of printed fabric squares can be hung in the garden or across a porch to flutter in the breeze or used to liven up interiors. Her first three sets focussed on the forest, the ocean, and gardening, and she has since added boating, botanicals, and tools as themes.

“I have sold many hundreds of flags,” says Jayne. “At the beginning, I asked people to send me pictures of where the flags were hung. It’s fascinating to know where they’re going and what they look like. I think I have three in Japan now. And some in England, and all across the U.S. and Mexico, and right the way across Canada. I had to stop asking because it was too much to keep track of.”

Jayne grew up in Ontario and began making art as a young child, encouraged by her artist father. Equally, her ballet-teacher mother influenced her, and she studied and performed with the National Ballet School before moving to BC. She currently creates art full-time in her oceanfront studio, Standing Stones.

Studio: Standing Stones, 5300 Lacon, by appointment only

See Jayne’s work on Denman: At her studio (by appointment only; see above), the Craft Shop, and the Saturday Farmers Market, and often at community arts events like the Studio Tour and Craft Fair.

Pottery lured Jeanie Rogers to Denman Island. For years, she visited the island annually from her home in Vancouver to take part in the epic wood firings at Gordon Hutchen’s anagama kiln. In 2017, she moved to the island. Since then, she’s been pursuing pottery full-time in her picturesque ocean-view studio, Gilded Petunia Pottery.

The studio itself and many of the pots that line its interior walls are vibrant turquoise, a colour Jeanie has loved since childhood. “When I was growing up, turquoise was a very fab colour. My grandfather’s car was turquoise and white, all the kitchen chairs were turquoise, and so many nice things that I loved were turquoise. It kind of imprinted on me.”

Another aesthetic passion for Jeanie is lusterware, a type of pottery uses complex firing methods and glazes rich in metallic oxides to create an iridescent, lustrous glow. Jeanie loves sparkle. “I am a bit of a magpie, attracted to beautiful shiny objects. I work mainly with a rich,dark brown terra cotta clay that has mica added to it for an extra glint.”

Luster arose as a phenomenon at the turn of the 20 th Century as part of the Art Nouveau movement, explains Jeanie. “There was iridescence in stained glass and in ceramics. There are a whole bunch of notable artists from that period—Tiffany and the Mougin brothers, for instance—who made unbelievably gorgeous pieces. I love everything about them—not just the luster but also the shapes, the inclusion of natural forms and animals, and the colours.”

Jeanie also makes ceramic murals and more recently has been exploring sculptural pieces, with a focus on sculpture for gardens.

See Jeanie’s work on Denman Island : At her studio and often at Denman events like the Craft Fair, Pottery Tour, and Studio Tour. Also, check out her ceramic mural on the exterior wall of the Denman Island Activity Centre, 1111 Northwest Rd.

Jori Phillips describes her creative process as a journey with magical companions through strange lands.

“I feel like my inner spirit who makes these things lives in a Frog and Toad world full of weird creatures, and we’re just hanging out and being playful,” she says, referencing the popular series of books for young children.

Jori’s assemblages are made from found, gifted, and salvaged material—broken toys (especially dolls), beads, buttons, books, feathers, fabric, bits and pieces of jewelry, household items, and more. She combines these into unique creations ranging from a six-foot dragon covered in hundreds of individually cut hand-sewn fabric scales to a series of clock people that can sit on a shelf.

Jori grew up on Denman Island and points to the Denman Freestore as a foundational influence on her art. “I started volunteering at the Freestore when I was 12 and never stopped. Nowadays I mostly come in after-hours to organize and clean.”

For Jori, assemblage art is much more than ‘a bunch of cool stuff stuck together.’ Creating works that have artistic depth and sophistication demands skill, artistry, discipline, and commitment.

“I have personal rules, even though they are not written down. For instance, I fully cover space. If the skin is going to be covered in buttons, then all of it is covered in buttons, even parts no one will see.”

Jori often ends up spending tens and hundreds of hours on highly detailed work. “For instance, with the Carrier Pigeon, I decided to cover the legs with little paper beads that I had to make. To do this, I cut out a bunch of tiny squares of paper and crumpled them into balls, and then sewed those little balls on one by one.

“Often, when I have an idea like that, I just try not to think too hard about it, because if I think too hard, I’ll realize how long it will take.”

See Jori’s work on Denman Island : Check with Jori to see if any of her work is on display on the island.

Katarina Meglic is fascinated with how the human body expresses our histories, uniqueness, and complexity.

“The human figure is a vessel of storytelling,” says Katarina.  Her intimate portraits—whether depicting a salacious kiss, underwater dance, or sleeping child—are compassionate studies of character and experience. Her canvasses are rich with intense colour, expressive line, and thick textures.

“My work is painterly. I clearly love my medium and I don’t try to hide my materials,” she says.

Her work shows the influence of her classical art training and her passion for art-centred travel. “The impressionists and the post-impressionists are huge influences on me, but also I’m not interested in regurgitating work from the past,” she says.

Katarina has studied at the Victoria College of Art, Barcelona Academy of Art, and Florence Classical Arts Academy, and has participated in residencies internationally, with the assistance of the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. She has spent many hours in galleries and museums around the world.

“I’ve been fortunate to visit urban centres that host some of the world’s most magnificent art collections, both contemporary and classical. My studies have helped me develop figurative rendering skills that are very impactful in my work. Also, being exposed to avant-garde and contemporary conceptual art gives me permission to be more playful and experimental in really delightful ways.”

While focussing on the human figure, her paintings often include abstract elements and have a dreamlike quality. “Abstraction helps me convey human experiences like grief and desire.”

While Katarina describes herself as somewhat obsessed with technique—brushstrokes, colour relationships, compositional dynamics—all this is in service to her core focus: the expression of human experience. “I want my work to be vulnerable and honest and emotional—all these things that connect us as people,” she says.

See Katarina’s work on Denman:

Studio: 3711 East Rd. Visits available by appointment.

In the community: Look for Katarina’s paintings and a mural at the Denman Activity Centre (exterior and interior).

A colourful ceramic fish with a droll, human-like face perches on a stake in a garden bed. Wind chimes made of porcelain bells and stained glass butterflies tinkle in the breeze. A quirky little ceramic man holds his nose on a bathroom shelf, adding a touch of humour. A handcrafted ceramic travel mug in a vehicle’s cup holder offers a beautiful and sustainable alternative to mass production.

Denman Island artist Linda Adair’s diverse body of work combines whimsy with beauty, offering a variety of practical and delightfully impractical objects to bring colour, charm, and visual joy to your home and everyday life.

One of Linda’s signature techniques features unglazed clay surfaces that create texture and contrast. For this, she uses a special clay called Dragonfruit, which she sands after firing to produce a sandstone-like finish. Held in your hand, one of these mugs invites touch—the raw texture offset by the silky smooth glaze of the rim and interior.

“I really like how the clay feels, and I like the natural look,” says Linda.

Linda’s ceramic travel mugs are one of her most popular items. If you enjoy hand-made craftsmanship at home with your tea or coffee, these mugs will let you take that pleasure on the road.

Although Linda is mainly known as a potter, she is also an accomplished painter and stained glass and mosaic artist.

“I’ve been painting since I was a kid,” says Linda. “It’s something I’ve always done.” She discovered ceramics when she enrolled her kids in a pottery class. The teacher, Denman Island potter Wendy Neufeld, noticed Linda’s artistic skills and offered her an apprenticeship. Linda worked with Wendy for many years, mastering the intricacies of clay, glaze, and kiln and developing her own distinctive and ever-evolving style.

When mixed-media painter Lisa Geddes looks at the Denman Island forest, she doesn’t just see trees. She sees dynamic patterns, the play of light, and intriguing contrasts between texture, tone, and colour. This aesthetic banquet, not just in the forest but everywhere, is what motivates her as an artist.

“Nature is my greatest inspiration,” she says. “I’m a highly visual person. Wherever I go, I’m constantly looking at design, thinking how I would redesign a space or appreciating when it is perfectly balanced. Mother Nature is the best designer and what I see in nature gives me extraordinary joy.

When Lisa paints, she is looking for a way to distill the beauty and power of the imagery for a viewer to discover. “I ask myself, what is it that grabs me? Is it the pattern, or is it the contrast of light or colour?”

Lisa’s paintings travel the middle ground between abstract and figurative. They often depict something real, like hills in the distance or the branches of a tree, but equally, they are expressions of shape, line, texture, and colour.

Lisa’s goal in her art is always to illustrate her experience of the landscape physically, viscerally, and metaphorically. To do so, she enjoys exploring new media. As well as using traditional artist supplies (canvas, acrylic and watercolour paint, ink, graphite, and charcoal), she incorporates collage, photo transfer, limestone clay, and  found objects such as string, old fabric remnants, kelp, and pinecones.

Lisa has a BFA in studio art from the University of British Columbia and a diploma in graphic design and illustration from Capilano University.

See Lisa Geddes’ work on Denman: At the Denman Craft Shop and via private appointment.

Contact Lisa through her social media sites on instagram and Facebook.

Rhythm is at the essence of Lynn Urban’s visual art—music, pattern, the rhythms of daily life, and the ineffable vibration at the heart of existence.

“Using mark-making, symbolisms, vibrating colour, and repetitive line, my interpretations suggest the rhythms of life and nature, the echo of sound, the roar of the surf, or nature’s stillness. My compositions represent the essential reverberation of the spirit—the life force,” she says.

Lynn’s work straddles the border between abstract and figurative, influenced by Emily Carr, the Group of Seven, and Fauvism. Subject matter ranges from the local—the forest, whales, salmon, and loons of coastal British Columbia—to the international, drawing on impressions from Lynn’s travels around the world.

When travelling in Mexico, Lynn visited museums and excavation sites, spurring an interest in pre-Columbian pottery. When she returned home, she created a series of paintings reflecting the humour in some of the clay figures and pots she saw. The resulting work is brightly coloured and playful.

“I hope people seeing my work can laugh. People don’t need to take art too seriously. We can get humour out of it or simply feel good as we enjoy the composition and colour.”

A classical musician as well as a painter and printmaker, Lynn spends a couple of hours a day playing her violin. She also listens to music while she paints. “Mostly Baroque—everything from Vivaldi to Corelli to Bach to Haydn, and also Spanish and Cuban music,” says Lynn.

“The principles in music are the same as visual art—rhythm, line, colour, form, and repetition,” she says. Both sound and colour are, at their essence, vibrations, she points out.

Contact Lynn: Lynurban@gmail.com

See Lynn’s work on Denman Island: Visit her studio, by appointment only, and keep an eye out for exhibits featuring Lynn’s work.

Magdalene Joly is inspired by the romance of old things, the hidden potential of objects that have been neglected, and the magic of revitalization.

“I love taking old things and breathing new life into them. I love seeing the beauty in them and bringing it forward,” says Magdalene.

Her earrings and necklaces are mostly made from salvaged and upcycled brass, copper, and silver, enhanced with beads and semi-precious stones. Common motifs are disks, half- and crescent moons, dangling chains, circles within circles, teardrops, and triangles.

Each type of metal has its own personality. “I especially love working with copper,” she says. “It’s fairly forgiving and I’m able to find a lot of it. I just love the way that it is alive and develops a patina, and how it behaves differently in different kinds of weather.

Magdalene started making jewelry in 2016 when she got sick with Lyme disease. She’d been farming on Denman, immersed in a back-to-the-land lifestyle. Illness brought that to a halt.

“I couldn’t do hard physical work. I was visiting someone’s shop and got really inspired. I thought, ‘I could do this. I want to make jewelry.’ I started playing around and was hooked right away.”

The scrap pile at her farm provided a wealth of material. She also began haunting thrift stores, the Denman Free store, and recycling dumpsters. Instead of starting with a finished concept and looking for the right material, she likes to wait and see what she finds and take her inspiration from that.

“Sometimes I find antique brass, or silver-plated copper that has different kinds of vintage prints rolled onto it. I really love this look,” she says.

See Magdalene’s work on Denman: At the Denman Island Craft Shop and the Christmas Craft Fair

Marlee Munro is fascinated by the vibrational power of colour. Physics tells us that each colour has its own wavelength, and that everything in existence is made of vibration, but Marlee doesn’t need science to know that colour has power—she feels it.

“What most attracts me to colours is the way they can hum in harmony and in dissonance. I’m always searching for that throb that happens when the colours combine just right,” says Marlee, who graduated with a degree in fine art from North Island College in 2022.

Marlee’s acrylic and watercolour paintings are drenched in intense, vibrant, multi-layered colour. Some are abstract, some portray fantastic and spiritual realms, and some represent actual things, animals, places, and people, including herself.

“My work explores personal experiences, memories, and imaginings,” she says. For instance, her experience of becoming a new mother in 2023 gave rise to a series of paintings that explored the bodily and emotional realities of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood.

“Art is a language for processing our lives, our memories, and our experiences. It offers us a safe place to place all of our brutal honesty and that way it allows us to sense these things and make sense of them,” she says. Expressing that honesty through art creates beauty, she says.

“Being an artist is such a gift. It reminds me to be present and observant, and to notice the beauty in the world.”

Marlee creates in many genres and media, including photography, sculpture, poetry, and music. “I’m willing to pick up and try anything that speaks to me. I really enjoy mixing and switching between mediums, incorporating things from one into the other.”

See Marlee’s work on Denman: Check the Denman Island Craft Shop and island art events.

Maureen Drew has spent her life immersed in art, design, and creativity, starting as a child in England. “My dad owned a store in which he repaired watches and jewellery. My job was to repair broken pearl necklaces, which were in vogue at that time. I loved to sort them into rows and restring them while listening to radio programs.”

Maureen’s family moved to Winnipeg, and at 16 she started making her own clothes. Later, she did alterations for a living and learned to sew drapery and do small upholstery.

Maureen completed a fine art program and a degree in interior design, worked in interior design, and then founded the Pacific Design Academy, a private college in downtown Victoria offering programs in interior design, fashion design, building technology, and graphic design, which she ran and taught at for 15 years.

Since moving to Denman 18 years ago, Maureen has concentrated on painting in both oil and acrylics, while continuing to explore multiple genres and materials—for instance, creating batik wall-hangings and repurposing lace doilies into mandalas and textural elements in paintings.

Maureen’s work includes abstracts and figurative work, often with a focus on colourful patterns and decorative backgrounds. Favourite subjects are landscapes, flowers, seashells, ocean views, and more.

When not creating art, Maureen keeps busy tending the many fruit trees and the small vineyard on her property and making juice and wine out of the harvest. For Maureen, the world is a cornucopia of inspiration and material, whether the medium is fruit, fabric, or paint.

Contact information: m.drew7@gmail.com

See Maureen Drew’s work on Denman Island: Check local venues to see if Maureen’s work is on exhibit.

The originality of Megan Rose’s beaded earrings stems partly from her innate creativity and partly from her determination to respect Indigenous beadwork traditions.

“There’s so much beaded jewelry that comes from Indigenous cultures. I’m not interested in copying that. I’m trying to be non-colonial in how I work, and also I want to create my own unique designs,” says Megan.

Megan cites art deco as a major influence and you will see many elements of this early 20 th Century art movement in her work: sleek, simple lines and ornamentation, geometric patterns, zigzags, lightning bolts, stylized sunrises, and motifs inspired by ancient Greece or Egypt, as well as Asian and African art.

Megan uses delica seed beads from Japan. These beads are prized for their uniformity, which lends itself to beading into patterns and designs. Her jewelry business name, Island Kraftwerk, points to Art Deco’s European roots and its emphasis on exquisite craftsmanship.

Megan brings that love of colour and pattern to her candle business, Curse the Darkness. As with her bead work, she is particular about materials. Beeswax smells gorgeous, burns cleanly and slowly, and is an all-natural product, unlike paraffin, which is a petroleum product, she says.

Megan’s candles come in many shapes—roses, mushrooms, tapers, pillars, hedgehogs, tealights, fir trees, and more. Colours include natural gold, eggplant, deep red, sky blue, and green. They are hand-poured and hand-wicked using 100% cotton wicking.

Lighting a candle transforms your space and your mood, she says. “I have found the quickest way to make myself cozy on dark and stormy nights is to light a candle. Cozy is a state of mind.”

A consummate mistress of side hustles, Megan is also a musician, culinary creator, fabric artist, stand-up comedian, printmaker,  mushroom forager, bicycle mechanic, event organizer, and part-time staff member at Denman Island’s independent bookstore.

See Megan’s work on Denman Island: At the Denman Island Craft Shop, the Farmers Market, and Christmas Craft Fair.

Melissa Winkler found her way to leatherwork because she wanted to make knives, and an unsheathed knife is dangerous.

“I’ve always had my hands in some sort of art or craft. In my 20s, I was fabricating metal for a sculptor and I wanted to learn how to forge knives. A friend suggested I take up leather work so I could offer a full package—knife and sheath,” she says.

Winkler began learning how to work with leather. She founded her company, Dad Hands, in 2015. “I’ve always had scrappy little beat-up hands thanks to my time as a metal fabricator and all-round maker,” she says.

Leather remained a side project for the next five years. This changed in 2020 with the advent of the COVID pandemic. Melissa had just moved from Vancouver to Denman Island when lockdown happened.

“I needed to find a way to work from home and decided to pick leather back up. I found a lot of sculptural techniques transferred over to leather quite well.”

Melissa developed a product line that includes wallets, pouches, purses, hair clips, earrings, key rings, belts, and—yes—knife sheaths, all made of premium vegetable-dyes leathers. “Natural leathers if cared for properly will last generations and if disposed of will actually break down and disappear.”

“I find tooling leather is much akin to carving wood, or sculpting clay/wax. I tend to stray away from traditional western imagery and tool bright, weird, and wonderful images,” she says. Her imagery ranges from colourful flowers and mushrooms to playful aliens to psychedelic swirls.

Where to find her work on Denman: At the Denman Island Farmer’s Market and Denman Island Craft Shop , and Christmas Craft Fair . Keep an eye on Melissa’s Instagram for commission opportunities.

Fire—one of the most powerful transformative forces in all of nature—is at the heart of Nathan Garfat’s work as an artist-blacksmith.

“I mostly work with the forge and the hammer and the anvil,” he says. “And I mostly use reclaimed metal—junk metal. I love taking what is considered to be garbage, getting it ridiculously hot—up to 2000 degrees, hitting it with a hammer, and then when I’m done it’s not garbage anymore.

“It’s hot, it’s loud, and it’s dirty. It’s a lot of destructive elements leading to a creative, productive, and even artistic thing—something beautiful, something that will last forever.”

Nathan creates full-time out of his hand-built workshop in the Denman Island forest. Most of his work is commissioned by private clients who are looking for unique, beautiful metal tools, decorative items, or household wares. His seemingly unlimited range includes utility knives, kitchen knives, hooks, dinner bells, jewelry, ornaments, bowls, spoons, candle holders, magic wands, athames, candle scribes, fireplace tools, garden tools, hinges, latches, hammers, and axes.

Nathan’s artistic process includes creative scavenging—walking the old E&N railway line, picking up old railway spikes that have worked themselves loose, rummaging through scrap metal dumpsters, taking apart abandoned vehicles.

Sometimes, locals let Nathan know about a derelict tractor or car abandoned in the woods. “I head out with my grinder and my saw. There’s some good steel. I like the patina of rust. I like the pitted textures,” he says.

See Nathan’s work on Denman Island: Contact Nathan to arrange a viewing and/or look for him at the Denman Christmas Craft Fair .

Nicole Tunheim’s creative work stems from her fascination with the energy that animates all life.

“In our world there is a thread, a frequency or energy that resonates through all things, material, animal, and human. I have worked to allow these energies to showcase themselves as visual art. They often show up as strange faces with odd insights and confusing angles, but all resonate with the energy they are imparting,” she says.

“These faces that appear are really interesting. I like the idea that there are helpers. You could think of them as angels, aliens, fairies, or the Fae—whatever fits your system of belief.”

Nicole’s entry to visual art came from her work as a practitioner of Reiki and Reflexology, both forms of energy healing.

“A colleague said, ‘Hey you see energy, and you can paint. You should paint people’s energy.’”

The art pieces that emerged are abstract—a portrait of the individual’s unique frequency, says Nicole. “I see energy as a colourful cascade of shapes and lines. It’s almost like the colours dance across the paper.”

She now brings this energy-based approach to a variety of subject matter, often working on paper in chalk pastel. For example, a chalk pastel drawing called Womb Magic expresses feminine power.

“For this piece, I was thinking about how many women over their lives have issues with their reproductive system, and how central that can be for women’s sense of self. This painting of a beautiful goddess figure came out of that. I use a lot of red in the painting, because we are talking about the root of ourselves, how we connect with the earth, and how we produce life.”

Contact Nicole : nictunheim@gmail.com | 250-208-6360

Instagram: @silverspiritstudios

See Nicole’s work on Denman Island: Keep an eye out for exhibits featuring Nicole’s work.

Denman Island resident Paola Brodsgaard became known as a consummate curator of beautiful things as the owner of Rusty Rooster, a charming boutique/gift shop on Cumberland’s main drag known for the impeccable quality, style, and ethical product standards of its goods.

Not everyone knows that Paola is also a creator, channeling her sense of style into a variety of artisanal products that reflect her love of colour, texture, and natural materials. When she sold her store in April, 2024, Paola was able to shift her energies toward her personal creative endeavors.

Motivated by the belief that everyday objects can be beautiful and bring joy, Paola designs and sews functional clothing out of natural fabrics such as linen, cotton gauze, wool, and cotton. Her current line includes linen shirts, jumpsuits, dresses, tunics, and headbands.

In the holiday season she makes cute little Christmas gnomes inspired by the Danish tradition of “nisser” (Santa-esque gnomes that are placed around the house for good luck), and linen stockings, advent calendars, napkins, and tea towels.

Crafting, says Paola, is a “little bit of magic you can do with your hands. “I get a tremendous amount of joy and fulfillment out of being creative. It makes me focus, be imaginative, and think outside my box.”

When not crafting, Paola is growing her own food, raising animals, and cooking and baking on the Denman Island acreage she shares with her husband and daughter. Cultivating classic hand skills of sewing, mending, and making feels like a natural extension of this lifestyle.

See Paola’s work on Denman Island: Visit the Denman Island Craft Fair the first weekend in December

Rem Skolney seeks to reveal the hidden beauty and intrigue of the world around him. “I’ve always had a way of seeing things others often miss. I use photography to share those moments. I love how a simple photo of something everyone passes by every day can bring so much joy and wonder. Is that just another photo of a flower? Or is it a grand stage set in vibrant yellow with our actors—a tiny fly and a tiny spider—poised to deliver the opening libretto of an epic opera?” he says.

Much of Rem’s art presents the vistas and hidden spaces of Denman Island—oceanscapes, landscapes, forests, cafes, the ferry terminal late at night, the iconic Pickles Road bridge, the General Store—often devoid of people. As well, his photos often feature flowers and plants, sometimes in extreme close-up.

Rem also creates altered photography, using editing software and AI. The results range from colourful semi-abstracts to stylized, deliberately pixelated imagery to works that look like traditional paintings.

“When modifying a photo, I’m often trying to create a feeling like from some vivid dream you’d almost forgotten,” he says. “You’re welcome to imagine a deafening silence broken only by the twilight zone theme song blaring out of some rusty old army siren miles off in the distance if that helps.”

Rem’s interest in altered photography started when he was a teenager and discovered he could hack video game graphics. This involves extracting the graphics, altering them, and putting them back into the game. This left him with digital skills and a curiosity about the ways imagery can be revised and enhanced.

See Rem’s work on Denman: Look for Rem’s work in local galleries, at his Farmers Market booth, or the Denman Island Craft Fair.

Everywhere she look, painter and fabric artist Sara Schouten sees beauty. In response, she creates art.

Sara’s acrylic and watercolour paintings are generally realistic, but subtly stylized, with deeply saturated colours and a folkloric children’s-book feel that captures the magic so many of us experience when we take the time to slow down and look closely at the natural world.

Her favourite subjects include the flora and fauna of Denman Island and the lakes and mountain vistas she encounters on Vancouver island hikes, all enhanced by her vivid imagination.

Lichens emerge from the forest floor like alien beings, a huge rising sun spreads golden rays to the edge of the canvas, a rotting stump hosts new life, tiny succulents hang over a cliff, and imagined fairylands cluster under toadstools.

Sara’s upcycled fabric art—clothing, patches, and wall-hangings—incorporates quilting, crochet, embroidery, and doilies. These are created from old clothing donated by friends or found at the Denman Island Freestore. “I like giving new life to an object that would otherwise be thrown away,” says Sara. She enjoys providing mending and alteration services for Denman Islanders.

Eyes attuned to beauty can see art everywhere, she says. “For instance, I love my rocking chair. It’s interesting, and it’s pretty.” She rejects distinctions between high art and common art, or art and non-art.

“People have all these words like tacky or kitschy, by which they really mean bad, or not classy or elevated enough, but I look at what they’re referring to and often, I love it. Maybe I don’t understand it, but it shows me how someone thought and saw things in a different way and I like looking at it. Just sitting and staring at stuff is kinda great,” says Sara.

Scott Beardsley has enjoyed a 50+ year career that includes high-end large decorative pieces, ceramic murals that can be the centrepiece of a room, high-volume production work, dozens of craft fairs, and many gallery exhibits. Currently, Scott is finding a lot of joy in creating small functional objects that he can sell at affordable prices.

“With the economy these days, not everyone can afford a $300 vase, but people need beautiful, handmade things in their lives. I’ve had people tell me how much their $25 dollar mug means to them, how they love the feel of it in their hands and how it calms them when they’re stressed. Hearing these comments makes me feel I’m fullfilling my function as a potter.”

Scott’s work is inspired by natural beauty of Denman Island. His colour palette is a love letter to the infinitely varied shades of greens and earth tones in the coastal rainforest—golds, rich browns, and velvety black. The leaf patterns—maple, hazelnut, wild rose, bracken fern, lemon balm—that adorn much of his work come from the land he lives on and the forest he walks through regularly to find material. The natural environment is literally inscribed on his pottery via imprints of the delicate vein patterns on the backs of the leaves.

“From all these years living on the west coast, that landscape has surely influenced what I make,” says Scott. “Other major influences are Asian pots, especially from Japan, Korea, and China. “I’m always surprised at how versatile the clay medium is and how even after all these years it can still give me so much joy while also keeping me humble.”

Studio: 4920a Lacon Road, Denman Island, open 10:00 – 5:00 daily

A short walk up the hill from the Denman West ferry terminal lies Lilac Sun Pottery Studio, the gallery and workshop of ceramic artist Shirley Phillips. Full of colour and texture, the studio is a magical space where you are welcome to browse, meet the artist, and ask questions about her style and techniques.

Whether you are looking for an eye-catching statement piece such as a sculptural vase, or something tiny and simple like a one-of-a-kind vase fridge magnet, you’ll find those and more, including wall masks and torsos, chopstick rests, mugs, soap dishes, wee vases and dishes, and bowls large and small.

Shirley uses hand-building methods such as pinching, coiling, kuriniki (hollowing out), sculpture, and slab work as well as a potter’s wheel. Depending on what effect she is looking for, she will choose one of three firing methods: the smoulder of smoke firing in a campfire creates mottled grey to black surfaces with flashes of colour; wood firing in the Anagama kiln produces luscious shades of salmon, green, yellow, and toasty browns; and the digital electric kiln, used for porcelain, yields vibrant turquoise, green, gold, purple, and chocolate brown combinations.

One of Denman’s most prolific and experienced potters, Shirley brings close to 40 years of practice and study to her craft. Her work is often recognizable through its unique emphasis on texture and organic forms. Nature’s inspiration shows up throughout her work. The shapes of her work directly or subtly reference trees, plants, rocks, and the ocean. The textures of the natural world show up via imprints of leaves, seed pods, shells, seaweed, and branches in the clay’s surface.

“Clay allows me to create with texture, colour, and oodles of shapes. I love making one-of-a-kind pieces, some functional, some sculptural. I love to see where experimenting will take the clay. Nature always inspires me with its constant change,” says Shirley.

Studio: Lilac Sun Pottery, 3311 Denman Rd | hours: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. daily or as posted

See Shirley’s work on Denman Island: at her studio, at the Denman Craft Shop, and at art events such as the Denman Christmas Craft Fair, Pottery Studio Tour, and Arts Studio Tour.

Sudasi Gardner’s work offers a feast of colour, texture, and delight in an incredibly diverse array of craft and fine art genres: paintings, tapestries, rugs, pillows, quilts, bags, hats, ceramic tableware and tiles, mosaics, hand-spun local yarn, sculpture, and more. Her themes reflect the beauty of nature, the sanctity of the home, and the power of spirituality.

Sudasi’s creations are often humble (for instance, a cozy woollen toque) but can also be high-impact and thematically complex (her larger paintings and hand-woven tapestries). Her most ambitious project thus far in almost eighty years of creating art is her collection of quilts inspired by the Tarot deck. Sudasi produced these large (3′x4′) intricately quilted and painted pieces, twenty in all, each representing a major arcana card, over a six-year period. During that time, she immersed herself in the symbolism and history of the Tarot.

The quilts have been exhibited in Vancouver and the Comox Valley, including as part of a multi-media performance piece called Tarot Windows that combined an exhibit of the quilts with music, theatre, and dance. Four are now in private collections.

Sudasi says her goal as an artist (beyond making art for the joy of it) is to bring people peace and joy. “I hope my work inspires feelings of happiness and positivity. A simple painting of a landscape can seem boring, but it’s soothing. If you were in a bad state of mind, just looking at it could raise you up. Art can be medicine.

“Life has a dark side and bright side and I’m not suggesting we should be cheerful all the time. I respect artists who express sadness and suffering. It’s just not what I want to do. There’s a lot of negativity in the world that affects individuals and communities, and I don’t want to contribute to that.”

Contact: 250-335-0713 | Sudasigardner9@gmail.com

See Sudasi’s work on Denman Island: At Gallery Deya, 3553 Northwest Rd. (by appointment; see above), the Denman Island Craft Shop, and annually at the Craft Fair.

Each year the Denman Island Summer Gallery puts on about six summer-season shows featuring new and long-term artists.  The shows are free . Volunteer members of the Gallery bring a touch of professional curation to a lively artist community. Our aim is to advance the careers of artists by putting on carefuly mounted shows  in the Arts Centre, the former home of long-time resident Dora Drinkwater. You can’t miss the Art Centre: the beautiful old house right on the corner as you come up the hill from the Denman West Ferry. Each show has an opening reception  on a Thursday night. The gallery is open from 11:00 to 4:00 Monday to Saturday with shorter hours on Sunday from 1:00 until 4:00 PM.

The 2025 summer schedule shows are:

June 12 to 24:  The Painting of Hester Lessard :  Traces

June 26 to July 8: Poet Maudit & Mike Malley :  Transform the Day, Ignite the Night

July 18 to 21: Elizabeth Fox

July 24 to August 5: Tashi Draper : Flught Lines: the Flowing Movement of Birds

August 7 to 19th: Sarah Shouten, Stewart MacNutt & Arliss Dennis: The Power of Surrealist Imagination

August 21 to September 2: Maureen Drew : Water Studies

September 4 to 16th: Nicole Turnheim and Lynn Urban

“Pottery is a slow art form that dates back over 20,000 years,” says Denman Island potter Thalita Forray. “Sacred containers and items made from the earth have been used in ceremony since ancient times. Today, pottery can bring us back in time and remind us to slow down, take a sip, and breathe.”

Thalita’s appreciation of pottery as a connection to history, an invitation to mindfulness, and a sacred art shapes her work. Her functional dishware and one-of-a-kind ceramic sculptures embody an aesthetic that combines earthy with whimsical and organic with mystical.

Hand-built dishes have wavy edges and asymmetrical shapes, glazed in rich earth tones and vividly saturated shades of blue and green. Often, parts of a dish unglazed to reveal the colour and texture of the clay, creating an intriguing contrast with the smooth, shiny glazes.

Dishware is embossed with imagery such as bees, leaves, shells, and flowers. Ceramic sculpture evokes organic shapes like plants and mushrooms and sometimes combines clay with other natural materials including wood, gemstones, feathers, and hand-corded blackberry vine.

Thalita is also a painter, photographer, and writer. Her paintings range from figurative to abstract and explore themes of nature, spirituality, and healing. Her most recent published book is Liminal, a collection of poems.

“Art is an incredible medium to share ideas, express feelings beyond what can be spoken, and reveal the mystery and magic of existence,” says Thalita.

Thalita has a fine arts diploma from North Island College. She has exhibited her work at the Campbell River Art Gallery, Comox Valley Airport, Pearl Ellis Gallery, Denman Art Gallery, and North Island College.