Rainforest Arts members don’t often get to display their biggest works because of limited wall space, but for September through to Nov. 13 the BIG Art show will give them, and art patrons in the region, an opportunity to think BIG.
The BIG Art show takes up all the wall space at Chemainus Valley’s community gallery. Works currently on display must be at least 24 inches to 36 inches wide – there’s no height limit, except what the logistics of moving and hanging pieces impose.
As well as having their large works featured, artists will get a chance to talk BIG during the exhibit. “There will be opportunities during the show for artists to meet the public,” said show organizer Daphne Carlyle. In October and November, on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 PM, artist are invited to do demos at the gallery.
Go to the Events Calendar at CVCAS.ca to find out who will be at the BIG Art table.
Why do artists feel compelled to create big art? Dramatic and emphatic statements sometimes get expressed big, like Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacoix, who depicted the toppling of the king in the Second French Revolution. Or an artist might want to draw viewers into an all-encompassing environment, like the Water Lilies series by Claude Monet.
The RFA show can’t match that scale, of course, but the urge to go big is what’s on display, an urge that has long been a driving force in Chemainus – Muraltown, where BIG art is a driving passion.
BIG Art will be on display at Rainforest through mid-November. Visit 9781 Willow Street, Wednesday to Saturday, 11 AM to 4 PM. More info at 250-246-4861 or info@rainforestarts.ca.