BOWKER BRUSH-UP: Art on the waterway (NOTE DATE)
Oak Bay painter Martin Machacek touches up his version of Glenlyon Norfolk School alongside Bowker Creek. He’ll show off his anamorphic style this Saturday during the fifth annual Bowker Creek Brush-up.
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Updated: August 06, 2009 9:27 AM
Bowker Creek the focus for visitors, artists and environmentalists
Growing up in Calgary, Martin Machacek used to cycle into the countryside. Along the way, he’d notice farmhouses abandoned for so long they were keeling over.
Even after he finished art school and was making his living as an architectural technician, he thought of those derelict houses.
Seven years ago he resumed painting, combining architecture with whimsy that reflects prairie impressions. His undulating acrylic paintings of Victoria homes, businesses and other iconic structures have a sculptural presence in two-dimensional form, he says.
That form is what led Minneapolis tourists Sara and David Sausker to grab two of Machacek’s posters at his booth in Victoria’s Inner Harbour.
“We always try to buy art when we’re travelling,” Sara Sausker said. “It’s hard to find art that isn’t kitchy and silly, but his art is kind of unique and we got to meet him in person.”
More people can meet Machacek and check out his paintings at the fifth annual Bowker Creek Brush-up, to be held Sunday (Aug. 9).
From 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 36 artists will line the creek pathway between Hampshire Road and Oak Bay High. Visitors can watch artists paint, speak with them and buy art if they wish.
As well as visual artists, there will be potters, sculptors, jewelers, glasswork and porcelain artisans. Guest artists this year include Ted Harrison, Pat Martin Bates and Brian Simons. In past years more than 3,000 people have taken in the brush-up.
Machacek says he was initially hesitant to appear in public with his work. “Sometimes people ask me ‘how much do you drink?’ I didn’t know how I’d react if I was constantly being asked that question, if they would make me want to go back to my studio.”
But he rarely gets that reaction and finds pleasure in unspoken compliments. “When people walk by and just smile – that’s worth a thousand words.”
Machacek, who lives in Oak Bay, said the Brush-up reinforces his sense of belonging. “That sense of community coming together is inspiring, it’s like the old smaller towns where everybody gets to know everybody.”
vmoreau@saanichnews.com
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