About a decade ago, Elaine Hunter was driving home after organizing a 50th anniversary party in Ottawa, where she owned a large dance studio, and decided to snap the lovely sunset with her new camera.
She played around with it for a while, until the moon began to rise. She downloaded the images on to her computer as well as some new software. And it was while Hunter was learning the programs that she discovered photo manipulation. "I kind of fell in love with it instantly," she remembered.
Now, Hunter has gained a following with her "nature choreographed" altered pictures. In the past two years, she has exhibited her work around B.C., Toronto, California and New York. And last month, she wrapped up a display in Gastown; some of those pieces will be part of a new show opening next week at Coquitlam's Place des Arts.
My Chimerical World, which will be up in the Mezzanine Gallery from Oct. 9 to Nov. 8, is a series that describes Hunter's no holds barred life philosophy. She found that the word "chimerical" (pronounced ki-mer-i-kal) suited her whimsical imagination as well as her artistic process.
She tends to start with a walk around her community of Halfmoon Bay, on the Sunshine Coast, where she owns a small performing arts studio. She likes the wildness there and is inspired by the natural beauty. "I pretty much know what I'm going to do with it later," she said of her images, "though sometimes I even surprise myself."
The English native said she keeps up-to-date with latest software editions, always attempting to push the envelope.
Meanwhile, the Maillardville hub will continue to show the acrylic, oil and mixed media paintings of Karen Santos.
Santos has 21 pieces on display in the Leonore Peyton Salon that date back to 2008, when the opera singer started her bachelor of music degree at the Vancouver Academy of Music. But while the Mexican native studied for four years there, she didn't finish due to vocal complications in her last year of the degree program. "It was right when I was doing auditions and trying to get into competitions that I had to stop."
For three months, she was told to rest her voice. "I thought, 'I'm going to go crazy if I don't do something artistic,'" she remembered.
Her mother urged her to take up the paint brush as Santos had completed her visual arts degree only four years prior at UBC. So, as she continued to see specialists for what turned out to be a polyp, Santos produced a series called Silence Lifted.
Now, since the soprano is limited with her singing (Santos had surgery last month), she wants to tie her two passions. This past spring, at the Silk Purse Art Centre in West Vancouver, she interpreted her abstract art with song.
An opening reception for the two exhibitions will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Place des Arts (1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam) on Thursday, Oct. 9. As well, Karen Santos will be the first guest artist to speak at the centre's new community event, Art for Lunch, on Wednesday, Nov. 5 from noon to 1 p.m.
Visit placedesarts.com for details.
