From a Bird’s Eye View
May 20th to June 11th, 2022
TOni Onley Gallery
Featured Artist:
Lyse Deselliers
WRITTEN BY PAUL CRAWFORD
“The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away” Picasso
As we emerge out from under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and attempt to regain a sense of normalcy, the return of events such as the Meadowlark Festival will go a long way towards bringing us back together and help rebuild our sense of community.
For as long as I have been here at the gallery the annual Meadowlark Festival has been among one of our most enduring community partnerships and outreach Initiatives. This long standing partnership has featured some of the best known artists living and working here in British Columbia including: Robert Bateman, James Fenwick Lansdowne, Jan and Patrick Little, Terry Isaac, Alex Fong, Skyler Punnett, Laila Campbell, Lee Claremont, Julia Hargreaves, Dorothy Tinning, Angie Roth McIntosh, Dr. Murray Roed, and most recently Penticton’s much loved Dr. Michael Sime, who had the dubious distinction of becoming one of the first exhibitions we had to cancel and move online in 2020. It was with great pleasure that we were able to finally fulfill that obligation with an exhibition here in January and now we get to welcome back the Meadowlark Festival. “From a Bird’s Eye View” features the paintings ofLyse Deselliers, adding one more name to this list of distinguished artists the festival has featured over the years.
“’From a Bird’s eye view’ is about the beauty of the land, specifically the Okanagan region. This monumental beauty that surrounds us creates in me a strong feeling of gratefulness which in turn propels me to give back by sharing my vision in my work.” said Deselliers, describing her inspiration. She continues, “I believe beauty speaks to the soul and makes us fall in love. And once you love the land and its animals, you naturally want to protect it and treat it with respect. So, I paint what I find beautiful, and I try to interpret it in such a way that others will share in my vision of the preciousness of it all.”
Lyse Deselliers was born in Quebec City and obtained her Doctorate in Veterinarian Medicine from the University of Montreal in 1989. While pursuing this career in Ottawa and then Calgary, she continued to develop her artistic skills as a painter, at the Alberta College of Art and studying under Karen Swearengen. Her body of work mainly consists of acrylic landscape and cityscape paintings along with public art murals. Deselliers has shown her work in Calgary, Okotoks, Canmore and Waterton National Park, Alberta as well as Penticton and Kelowna, BC. She has been involved in numerous fundraising events where her artwork benefited organizations such as Amnesty International and World Wildlife Fund. Her paintings now reside in collections throughout North America and London, UK. Currently, she is focusing on creating larger pieces to better capture the monumental beauty of the Okanagan, using aerial photographs of the area surrounding her hometown of Penticton.
Speaking to her medium, “I paint with acrylic paint using a red underpaint to lend more vibrancy to my work. I am looking to create some movement through repeated patterns or curved elements. Letting what I see lead the way but using composition to translate my message into visual cues. A melange of recognizable landscape elements peppered by eye-candy colours arranged in a rhythmic composition.”
Deselliers’s passion for animals and the environment go hand in hand with the Meadowlark Festivals purpose. “From my perspective, events such as the Meadowlark Festival that remind the public about the beauty of animal life and the importance of the natural environment are crucial in overcoming public indifference towards climate change. I believe that is what the Meadowlark Festival does best. It brings hope and good people who care about birds and the environment together. If nothing else, it helps create new connections and a sense of community around the love of birds. The more we feel connected, the happier we all are, and the more likely we are to be generous with one another and our beautiful planet.”
may open the door to the why and how of the subject represented.”
