New facility more fitting place to create art

Tanya Steinhausen prefers the new art studio at the Garth Homer Centre in Saanich to the old one – this one gives her plenty of room to work on her upcoming exhibit.

The Jennie Butchart Studio opened this year to artists in the ArtWorks program, after they spent several years painting and drawing in a cramped board room.

“There’s lots of bright light to work with. I can see my art better in this room,” Steinhausen said.

The space, previously rented out as a dance studio, has been transformed into an artist’s paradise: beautiful lighting, ambient music, supplies aplenty and a gallery to display and sell the pieces.

At the gallery opening this month, Steinhausen sold two of her pieces. One was “Cassy the Caddy,” a bright mosaic of colours depicting a Cadborosaurus – it was inspired by the lantern ArtWorks members made for the Luminara festival.

Steinhausen and fellow members David Whiting and Ashley Haagensen are working on a three-person show to be displayed in the centre’s Karin Koerner Gallery. “We’re doing portraits of each other and ourselves,” Whiting said, showing off the drawings in his sketchbook of Steinhausen. “I really had to think about the portrait and all the facial features. It’s kinda hard when you have a small part of the brain that is damaged from birth.”

Haagensen rifles through her sketchbook to reference the sketches of her ArtWorks counterparts.

A couple of her pieces – bright greens and blues separating curls and swirls – already hang in the gallery. Although the portraits won't take the same inspiration as her current work, she's looking forward to moving on to those.

"I get my inspiration from anywhere. It doesn't matter where; I'll do anything," she said.

The upgrades are part of a two-year, $130,000 renovation designed to give the developmentally disabled artists the time and space to hone their skills.

Bonnie Laird and Suzanne Blesette, co-ordinators of ArtWorks, said the new space reflects a sense of community.

“We couldn’t have done this without the great contributions from people in our community. And that truly makes this a community space,” said Laird.

Whiting even contributed some of his own money to the renovation. “I wanted to help the people out because they help me.”

And by the sounds of it, the investment is paying off.

kslavin@saanichnews.com