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Double art opening at Touchstones Nelson

New painting exhibitions by David Alexander and Meghan Hildebrand open at Touchstones Nelson this Friday, November 29.
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Rims Around the Entrance

Two new painting exhibitions will be opening at Touchstones Nelson this Friday, November 29.

David Alexander and Meghan Hildebrand are both graduates of the Kootenay School of the Arts (Alexander attended when it was affiliated with Notre Dame University). While both artists focus primarily on landscape, their approaches are very different.

David Alexander’s exhibition The Shape of Place will survey his career of over 30 years. His vibrant large scale landscape paintings are inspired from his experiences of being immersed in nature during his extensive international travels. His series depicting reflections on water is reminiscent of the lily pond paintings of Claude Monet. Alexander explains, “with the paintings in the Wet series, I realized that water surfaces hold all the landscape around them, including the sky.”

His travels to the arctic resulted in a series of paintings depicting barren landscapes punctuated by tropical flowers in the foreground, creating  stark contrast. After living in Nelson, Alexander attended the acclaimed workshops for professional artists at Emma Lake in Saskatoon, and later received his MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. His work has been exhibited throughout Canada, and appears in private and public collections throughout the country. A resident of Kelowna, Alexander will attend the opening reception, and will give an artist talk on Saturday, November 30 at 1 p.m.

Meghan Hildebrand’s playful, dreamlike landscape paintings are familiar to many Nelson residents. This year she was commissioned by the Shambhala Music Festival to make artwork for their posters and tickets.

Her new body of work, Restless Fables is a departure from her previous work. Hildebrand’s busy, colourful imagery in these new paintings is now contained within loose circular boundaries, contrasted against flat, neutral backgrounds. These suspended spheres read as something between a globe and a mask. Her animal imagery is reminiscent of Inuit art and zodiac calendars. After graduating from KSA, Hildebrand studied at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, and she exhibits her work in private and public galleries throughout Canada.

Everyone is welcome to the joint opening of The Shape of Place and Restless Fables on Friday, November 29 from 7 to 9 p.m. Alexander’s artist talk will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday November 30 and is free with admission.

Touchstones Nelson is located at 502 Vernon Street. For information call 250-352-9813.