Connie Vetter-Johnson & Nick Gibson at Aubin & Associates
202 – 125 Highway 33 East Kelowna, BC, V1X 2A1
On display to October 31th, 2016
// Connie Vetter-Johnson’s Artist Statement //
My mosaic journey began 20 years ago working with recycled tile, creating floors, counter tops, and wall murals. I’ve always been drawn to the arts both visual and performing and studied life drawing for a time. I was inspired to explore using glass 11 years ago, when I moved to the beautiful Okanagan, because my father was a stained glass artist and had an abundant supply of beautiful colourful glass shards. As I experimented with glass I found I was able to achieve the detail and realism towards which I have always leaned.
I find stained glass and recycled mirror amazing mediums with which to work. Pieces come alive with any light source and add sparkle and interest to any space. The colours are so vibrant and never fade. Creating soft lines and realism with a rigid material is both challenging and rewarding. All pieces are painstakingly (sometimes literally) hand cut and then individually glued to either MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) or wood. The final step involves several layers of un-sanded grout.
I find inspiration in the beauty all around me. I often stop and photograph things I think will translate well into glass. Some of my favorite pieces have been commissions which challenged me to try something I‘ve never done before. Art is an Adventure, Explore!
// BIO //
I have creating Mosaic Art for 20+ years. I began with recycled tile, creating floors, counter tops and wall murals. This was during a time when my husband and I lived in a house in Northern California which was being renovated and I was allowed to experiment with abandon. After my husband passed away suddenly in 2003, my children and I relocated to Kelowna, where my parents had retired. My father was a Stained Glass Artist and had beautiful glass of all types available and I decided to explore glass mosaic. Over the next dozen years I created Stained Glass mosaic for friends and family and was even commissioned to create pieces. My experience helped me grow through trial and error, all the while I continued pursuing my career as a Retail Executive. I was most recently employed by Target and had been promoted to a Store Manager when Target decided to pull out of Canada. Since then I have thrown myself into my art. I have grown as an artist and would love to be able to make this my source of income. I am looking for opportunities to show my art and now have an extensive inventory of varied sizes and subject matter.
// Nick Gibson’s Artist Statement //
Nick Gibson, raised in BC, became a hobby artist in 2012 and since has sold many works, has done paintings at local festivals, and has hanged his art in shops around Kelowna. In 2012 Nick started painting vibrant and colourful animals and has now ventured in to geometric paintings, landscapes, people, and intergalactic space paintings and sometimes combining all of these subjects in certain pieces. He is currently sticking with the outer space theme and is planning a solo showing in the near future entitled “space case” so keep your eyeballs peeled for more information on Facebook.
Facebook: fb.com/theuniversalartist
IG: theuniversalartist
E-mail: [email protected]
Prices: Ms. Universal #38 (Not for sale) Space Bay (Not for sale) Space Face $150 Rupert the Great (Not for sale) Space Mountain $600 Golden Leaves $400 The Crab King’s Offering $700 Don’t Look Up $400 In The Sky With Diamonds $300 The Universal Lion (Print in frame) $75
