Homeage to a Rock
SEPTEMBER 18th, 2021 - NOVEMBER 6th, 2021
Main Gallery
Featured Artist:
Beverley Reid (1936-2019)
During the summer of 2016, the first show I curated at the Gallery was an exhibition of work by Beverley Reid entitled, Heart of Stone - Heart of Garden. I presented this exhibition at the Grand Forks Art Gallery with the exhibition also travelling to Spremberg, Germany and the Langham Gallery in Kaslo. Homage to a Rock, was created in the years after this exhibition and was a key piece of Beverley’s solo exhibition, Soft Rocks, which toured to venues throughout the Kootenays between 2007–2013. I am thrilled to be able to share this incredible piece with our community.
This mixed media sculpture is a meditation on nature, paying homage to an actual stone which defined the development of her rock garden overlooking Christina Lake. Beverley’s fabric assemblage features a variety of surface treatments including the use of dyes, chlorine, and hydrogen peroxide to manipulate shading and dimension. Just as a painter develops a unique palette of colours, so Beverley incorporates and manipulates a diverse collection of fabric prints to produce her images.
The rock behind this piece sat on the periphery of her garden for years, too large to move, so she turned it into a focal point of her garden. Both the rock and the surrounding rock wall are exact replicas of the installation created by Beverley in her garden at Christina Lake. The faux rock was entirely hand stitched by Beverley with the assistance of her husband Richard, who helped design and build the armature for the rock wall.
Beverley wrote in a 2005 exhibition catalogue: "I love the sense of discovery in making a work of art. There is always something to gain from that discovery, whether or not ‘success’ is the result. Sometimes the focus is on the materials at hand or in hand. The inspiration can come from places and things that are familiar to me such as the garden, rocks, plants, and occasionally other creatures. Sometimes it's a poem, or it could be a feeling or observation of something mysterious or disturbing. The fabrics themselves are often an inspiration as well.”
Beverley Reid (1936-2019) was born in Regina in 1936. After receiving her Fine Arts Diploma from the University of Manitoba in 1956, she worked as a display designer. A year later, she moved to San Miguel de Allende. After her six month Mexican sojourn she became Chief Designer for Walker Display Co. in Vancouver. She married Richard in 1960. She had a studio made on their property in Richmond and continued her innovative fiberglass works until finding her passion in fabric arts. In 1979, they moved into their new home at Christina Lake.
She was a co-founder of the Grand Forks Art Gallery and served as its first curator from 1984-1989. She led other artistic projects in the area and juried various exhibitions across BC and beyond. Her own work was displayed in group exhibitions in Canada and Germany. Beverley’s last collection, Hanging by a Thread, was exhibited at Gallery 2 in Grand Forks in 2013. Beverley Reid passed away on October 14, 2019 at 83 years of age.
Paul Crawford, Director/Curator
