Laura Genovese dreams in paper and paint.
It’s reflected on her dining table as images from her sleep take form in reality. Paints, canvases and brushes hog the space while Genovese pushes forward with one or two pieces at a time. The art supplies only get stored away when her large family comes over for dinner.
As the daughter of a B.C. Lions football player, Genovese spent her childhood in the Lower Mainland next to the sea. Her love of water is mirrored in her work, which she re-started once the kids fled the nest.
That deep-set love of the ocean can also been seen in the two pieces that hang at The Gallery at the Maury Young Art Centre in Whistler (formerly Millennium Place) as part of an art exhibit called Sky’s The Limit present by the Squamish-based artists’ fellowship VISUALS.
The display ends Jan. 4.
Although she has technically never called the Sea to Sky corridor home, her parents bought a house beside Green Lake in Whistler some 30 years ago and her husband helped build the new highway.
“His name is on the plaque by the highway,” Genovese said of the monument at Tunnel Point that recognizes the 2,124 people who worked on the Sea to Sky Highway leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics.
During that same time period, Genovese reached out to the VISUALS art collective. The non-profit organization welcomed her aboard given her ties to the corridor. Genovese knows the area’s waterfalls and creeks and has studied Howe Sound’s shoreline.
Her paintings, which often incorporate elements of nature that she finds on her walks, show her deep respect for the landscape.
Sky’s The Limit first debuted at the Squamish Wind Festival in July. It includes paintings, sculptures, weavings, photography and jewellery, each of which draws inspiration from Squamish’s windy weather that the community is renowned for. More than 20 artists translated the Sea to Sky corridor’s natural characteristics into a wide variety of art forms, VISUALS co-ordinator Sarah Saunders said, in a release.
Each contributing artist is a member of the collective, which aims to support artists’ growth by curating shows and providing an information-sharing network.
• The Gallery at the Maury Young Arts Centre is open daily with free admission. For more information on the exhibit and The Gallery, visit artswhistler.com.
