Granville Island artist Alice Parmalee Rich doesn't know the painter she's been paired with for the Port Coquitlam exhibit that opens Saturday.
They both have technically different approaches in their skill but they also share common themes in their craft: They work in abstraction and have a sense of concern in mind when creating man-versus-nature images.
Rich and Karen Holland were put together for the new display by curator Parm Johal.
Holland will show a dozen acrylic pieces, eight mixed media and four metal and steel compositions for her Striation series while Rich will highlight 15 acrylics, four oils and a mixed media from her Segmented Visions collection.
A continuation of her Passages, Elements and New Energy, which she exhibited in 2011 in North Vancouver, Segmented Visions grew out of Rich's worry for the modern landscape and how Vancouver is reshaping.
She has captured her scenes with strong geometrical shapes vertical blocks that jut out of nowhere and break the natural beauty.
"It's a soft view of something being overwhelmed by development," she said. "There's a hard edge to it but it's done in a painterly way."
Architecture is nothing new to Rich: She studied it and design at the University of Copenhagen. After completing her BFA in art history at UBC, Rich joined the Vancouver Art Gallery as an extension and education officer, a job that allowed her to travel B.C. to install art exhibitions and lecture.
Rich later earned a curating diploma from Emily Carr University of Art + Design before founding a photographic greeting card company, Parmalee Publications,while acting as the assistant director/curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery.
A member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Rich is now at Studio 13 Fine Art Gallery on Granville Island, where the motto is "contemporary west coast."
Segmented Visions is Rich's 14th exhibit; it will also show this year at the Deer Lake Gallery in Burnaby.
The opening reception for Striation and Segmentation is May 16 at 2 p.m. in the Michael Wright Art Gallery at the Gathering Place in Leigh Square (behind PoCo city hall).
