Artist’s images between the river and the road

Joan Ramsey Harker is having the most fun in her entire life and is happy to be doing it in the North Cariboo.

“I wasn’t able to paint full time ever in my life until now,” she said.

“I’m still evolving.”

Her current show at the Quesnel Art Gallery, is inspired by her rural surroundings.

In 2000, Ramsey Harker retired to Alexandria, about 55 kilometres south of Quesnel, where she pursues her art and writing in a pastoral environment.

Painting is her first love and consumes most of her time.

The show, A World Between the River and the Road, is completely inspired by her corner of the Cariboo between the Fraser River and Highway 97.

“When you walk the land it teaches you to see and appreciate the details,” she said.

Large canvases allow Ramsey Harker to express her love of her home and the river which runs through it.

“It is the cord on which the days, like polished beads, are strung to make a record of the year,” she said.

“The beads slip through my fingers: dead cold ice, warm living springtime, hot summer joys, cool and smooth in the dying autumn wind.”

One canvas, titled Funeral Feast, depicts crows cleaning up the highway carnage viewed by Ramsey Harker and her dog on one of their many walks.

“The land shows me life and death and that theme runs through the show,” she explained.

Another painting is her interpretation of the spirits that surround her, long since dead.

She believes these spirits accompany her, not to frighten but as companions.

In fact, Ramsey Harker thinks she may have lived on the very property in another life. She refers to it as her spiritual home.

The viewer takes a little tour of her world through the work on the walls.

Sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans fly over different river scenes, both magnificent.

Green gold is her interpretation of man-made life between the river and the road.

“Each painting in the show is the result of a tiny detail of my life that touches me deeply,” she said.

The show includes found objects, such as skulls and bones from Ramsey Harker’s property and surrounding area.

A World Between the River and the Road, sponsored by Cariboo Pulp and Paper, hangs until August 1.

For information, call the Gallery 250-992-8200. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10 – 4 p.m.