Sea to Sky & Inbetween
F e at u r i n g:
Leslie Rowe-Israelson
Melanie Rowe
Megan Parks
Kae Sarich
Andy Chamberlayne
Five artists embark on a journey to share their inspiring art in a joint show depicting the beauty of the West Coast using glass panels & sculpture, photography and glass beads.
Show Dates: September 7th to 26th
Leslie Rowe-Israelson
Leslie Rowe-Israelson is an internationally recognized glass artist. She has spent the last 40 years working primarily in the cast / fused glass genre developing and refining innovative techniques that now give her an artistic "voice" that is stylistically unique around the globe. Her diverse portfolio of world class glass art includes exquisitely delicate sculptures, bold and brilliantly colorful panels and a broad range of intricate open face vessels and plates. Much of her fused work is constructed through a complex process involving detailed glass cutting and multiple kiln firings - and now glassblowing. The work is often combined with or presented on, elements of hand forged steel and hand carved and polished stone that she has collected from the western slopes of the Canadian Rockies near her home.
Check out this fabulous podcast featuring Leslie and her creative process: Talking Our Your Glass
Twin Sisters creating a piece together for the ISGB (International Society for Glass Beadmakers: Kiln casting, Flame working, Blowing out and more: HERE
Wondering how those amazing feathers were made? Check out this video HERE
Melanie Rowe
Melanie Rowe-Prosser spent her childhood in Victoria. For the last thirty years, she and her twin lived and worked in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. Then Melanie moved to the West Coast of Vancouver, B.C. The beauty of the mountains, particularly in Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, was her passion and inspiration. It was in the mountains that she and her twin sister Leslie discovered their other shared passion. Glass would come to consume their thoughts and dreams. Through dedication, this passion became their visual language. Part of the dedication has been training and dialogue with other glass artists. From 1985-2005, Melanie attended the world-renowned Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, where the twins would become instructors for two sessions in 2002 and 2005. Both sisters say, “Pilchuck Glass School was a wonderful atmosphere to share ideas and experiences with people from around the world.” Pilchuck provided an environment where they could contribute to and learn from the triumphs and failures of top caliber glass artists. Melanie received training from the Alberta College of Art, Andrighetti Glassworks, Colton Glass School, Pilchuck Glass School and the Vancouver College of Art.
To express her artistic “voice”, Melanie's visual language has required the development of unusual techniques involving sand-casting, mosaic, pate de verre , blowing and now flame working . Because of the time consuming nature involved in the creation of each piece, it becomes a contemplative process which Melanie finds rewarding.
Megan Parks
Megan Parks has been creating with beads for 30 years and has developed her own signature pieces with intricate design features. Her unique style has won her international acclaim and she has been published in prominent bead books over the years.
Kae Sarich
Kae has been working in glass for nearly 30 years and is refining her own style in multi layered glass panels. Mainly self-taught, she began with mosaics, leaded stain glass windows, fusing, and painting and also attended the world renowned Pilchuck Glass School with the twins in 2002. Kae has been experimenting and moving forward with her amazing technical skills ever since. When Kae and family moved to BC from her small home town in Saskatchewan in 1990, they finally settled in Yarrow, a small community between Abbotsford and Chilliwack.
Each of Kae’s creations begins with a sketch, then carefully choosing the right sheet of glass to turn the sketch into glass art. The glass is hand cut, layered, and often hand painted. Each piece has at least two layers and is fired in the kiln. Pieces are often fired multiple times, each firing taking 24 hours or more. Light plays with the finished pieces, either transmitted or reflected, giving the work new meaning. Once finished, the glass takes on a life of its own, a beautiful life force within.
Andrew Cotton Chamberlayne
It started with Sakinaw Lake and my grandfather’s fishing lodge in Pender Harbour. I’ve been traveling up the coast of BC since the day I was born. At thirteen I got my first camera. By the time I was twenty I started building wooden fish boats which led me to becoming a Commercial Fisherman, fishing, sinking, and drinking up and down the BC coast for fifteen years.
For the past twenty-two years I have been employed in the Television and Feature Film Industry as a Special Effects Coordinator. My photos reflect my years of being on both sides of the camera and a lifetime of West Coast experiences.
A picture must tell a story; evoke an emotion, take the viewer to a different moment or place. It’s very much like a good film; one has to leave feeling briefly moved and better for the experience. I hope my photos do a little something for you.
Check out Andy’s invention, a camera carrying system called the “Cotton Carrier” HERE
