October show brings Raku to Ranger Station
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Updated: October 07, 2009 10:16 AM
Two very unique women have been brought together for a show at Ranger Station Art Gallery this month.
To one side of the gallery, is the work of Diane Mackenzie, an Agassiz painter who is been painting with the Monday Painters for the past 11 years.
Her work varies from portraits to agricultural scenes, watercolours to acrylics.
It's the latter she's experimenting with lately, she says.
"I'm just learning it," she says. And while she's also tried pastels in the past, an allergy to the dust created by the chalk was not worth the trouble.
Mackenzie has shown her work throughout the Fraser Valley over the years, but it's been a while since she's shown at the Ranger Station.
Those who visit the show will see some new pieces, like the family portraits she recently finished, to some of her older favourites, such as the Rosewater piece.
On the other side of the gallery, a completely different style of art.
Diane Ferguson, of Hope, has brought in Raku pottery, ceramics, fabric arts and more.
It was a high school art class that got Ferguson interested in pottery early in life. But it wasn't until adulthood that she got the chance to learn Raku, a Japanese ceramic art form.
Originally, the quickly-made Raku was used for replacing roof tiles, then for making tea cups.
But it also lends itself well to artwork, too.
Ferguson's fish, plates and other pieces show off the possibilities available with ceramics. She learned the art from John Cloutier of Vancouver, when she and a friend were the only two to show up for a workshop in Harrison, years ago.
After a day of hands-on training, the two were hooked on the art form. Cloutier went out to Hope to help the women set up their own kiln.
The show at the Ranger Station runs until the end of October. For more information, including hours of operation, phone the 604-796-2723.
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