FLAG news clippings May 2010

FLAG opening exhibit offers mixed bag

By
May 04, 2010
Photo: Natasha JONES/Langley Times

For the Fort Langley Artists Group, this year’s opening exhibit is In the Bag. No, you haven’t blinked and missed it. The first of two themed shows scheduled for the summer season at the heritage CN train station gallery in Fort Langley is titled In the Bag. As the season’s themes go, each one chosen isn’t necessarily every artist’s “bag” but they are always arrived at in a democratic fashion, explained member artist Robin Bandenieks.

Baggage:
Your bags are waiting at the train station.
Langley Advance May 14, 2010

Julie Bourne is one of the Fort Langley Artist Group exhibitors for In the Bag. Photograph by: file, Langley Advance

“We, as a group, get together and vote for themes. It’s quite an extensive process.” In fact, it can take up an entire evening, said the artist, as members submit their choices and then advocate for them through a series of votes. “It’s like electing a parliamentarian,” she quipped. When the group finally manages to narrow the field to two choices, they then must decide which will be the first one they tackle. “You don’t always get the theme you want, and that’s good because it forces you to think.” Often, she says, the members end up creating something they otherwise wouldn’t, simply because the selected theme has forced them outside their comfort zone. For Bandenieks, that means figures. “I’m kind of cheating because I like to paint people,” she says. Within the In the Bag theme, the artist has managed to include a figure in each of the two paintings she’ll submit. One, of a woman at the market, was painted from a photo the artist snapped in Lyon, France two years ago. Bandenieks, who is a microbiologist by trade, was in the European city working for the World Health Organization at the time. Contrary to what one might think, her artistic and scientific sides aren’t at odds with one another, she said. “Microbiology, to me, is the most artistic side of being in the lab.” Bandenieks has to be able to peer into a petri dish and know exactly what it is she’s looking at — something that’s not always clear. “I have to be able to distinguish five different colonies that all appear white.” She tells them apart by subtle visible differences in their size, shape and tone. “It’s very akin to being an artist,” she said. Among the 15 artist members who will be displaying their work this year are two new members who were voted in this year — Burnaby’s Diane Moran and Maple Ridge artist Dale Sharp. “What’s great about being in a group is the challenge,” said Bandenieks of the appeal being a FLAG member holds for her. It allows members to keep in touch with one another, she said. “They’re there to encourage you when you get in a slump.” In The Bag, the first show of FLAG’s 2010 season, will be on display in the Flagstop Gallery at the heritage CN Station in Fort Langley— at the corner of Glover Road and Mavis Avenue — from May 15 to June 27. The show features a wide variety of mediums and styles including painting, drawing, photography, clay, printmaking, mixed media and others. All art is locally made and 100 per cent original. Opening reception for the show will happen on Sunday, May 16, from noon to 4 pm with all artists in attendance.

The Fort Langley Artists Group has its latest show In the Bag. The show centres on the bag theme but it is open to interpretation by each artist.Julie Bourne went multi-media, making a clay purse that's decorated with her own glass beads."If you step out of your box and try something different, it's fun," she said. "I never would have come up with this if not for In the Bag."FLAG members brainstorm about the themes of their shows. Some felt they had to fight their way out of a bag but eventually creativity won out and many came up with unique projects. "You kind of explore as you go," she said.For her that includes making raku and incorporating human hair into her masks that are on display. Catch the Spring 2010 exhibition in the heritage train station in Fort Langley from May 15 to June 27. The opening reception is noon to 4 p.m. on May 16.

Deborah Strong's interpretation of the theme In the Bag is quite literal.
Langley Times May 04, 2010