OPENS July 29th - August 16th
What We Carry / What Carries Us
Gathered in nature, translated through form.
What We Carry / What Carries Us brings together the work of Rebecca Santry, Eileen Kiyonaga, and Brent Comber is an exhibition shaped by movement, material, and the relationship between structure and flow.
Working across painting and sculpture, the exhibition explores how experiences of being in nature become translated and carried through making. Inspired by moments of immersion outdoors and the restorative energy held within those experiences, each artist responds through their own medium - creating forms that hold memory, sensation, and connection.
Inspired by moments of being in nature, Rebecca Santry’s recent paintings and mixed media works build on ideas explored in her last series Soft Fascination. Fluid fields of colour and movement are interrupted by harder sculptural lines and openings of exposed raw canvas, creating a dialogue between gesture and structure. These spaces suggest moments beyond the visible, reflecting on what remains after an experience in nature, not the landscape itself, but fragments of memory, sensory impressions, and traces gathered outdoors, leaving imprints that settle and continue to shape the work.
Eileen Kiyonaga’s multidisciplinary practice explores subtle structures and rhythms beneath the visible surface of the natural world. Through layered materials, quiet forms, and restrained gestures, her work draws attention to the elements of connection that often go unnoticed; revealing subtle shifts, patterns, and the quiet forces that shape our experience of nature.
Brent Comber’s vessels ground the exhibition through material presence and form. Guided by a respect for the inherent character of wood, his practice reveals rather than conceals grain, variation, and the marks left by time, allowing the material to carry its own history.
Together, the works consider how organic forms can capture and transmit restorative energy found in nature. Through line, grain, gesture, and form, What We Carry / What Carries Us invites viewers to reflect on what shapes us, what sustains us, and what remains long after the moment has passed.
EVENTS:
Artist pARTy: August 1st, 6-8pm. Please join us!
ABOUT
Guthrie Gloag
Guthrie Gloag’s work is born of the wild and rugged shores of British Columbia that he calls home. He is trained as a biologist, holding a BSc in Biology from the University of Victoria. His understanding and respect for the natural world is evident in his sculpture. Gloag has lived and worked along many parts of the coast and his pieces often evoke the animals he’s encountered in the wild.
His art has been featured at Madrona Gallery in Victoria, Mountain Galleries at the Fairmont in Whistler, and at the Wolf in the Fog restaurant in Tofino.
He lives on Bowen Island with his wife, daughter and dog.
Di
Beauty of nature is the key inspiration behind Di's contemporary acrylic paintings. Clean lines are achieved by a steady hand and are one of the most consistent features of her compositions.
Growing up on the west coast of British Columbia she has developed an intimate connection with forest, mountains and sea. She clearly conveys a reverence for nature in her paintings and highlights this connection with a commitment to supporting wildlife conservation.
The artist lives and works on Bowen Island and in Victoria, BC.
RETURN TO NATURE
By Fleur Sinclair for the Undercurrent
The Hearth Gallery welcomes Bowen artists Guthrie Gloag and Art by Di in their latest collaborative show, Return to Nature (July 16th - August 4th). Through their differing approaches and mediums Di and Gloag work to explore themes of perseverance and environmental impact, in a way that celebrates Bowen’s unique environment and encourages the viewers to interact on a more personal level.
Di utilizes her signature style of bold colours and thick swirling lines to capture familiar Bowen scenes with a new energy and vibrance. Her paintings invite the viewer to recognize and place themselves within her works. Return to Nature takes this a step further by introducing a contest to guess the places depicted in her work for the chance to win of her one of five free prints.
In contrast Gloag takes a more grounded and scientific lens to his work, using his background in biology to create life size sculptures of animals made from driftwood he collects in and around Bowen. Gloag focuses on recreating threatened and endangered species, forcing the viewer to talk among them and consider their place in the natural world.
Together Di and Gloag create an immersive space where viewers can walk among the familiar but reimagined. Viewers can reconnect with nature through vibrant landscapes and sculptural wildlife. In helping that dream Di and Gloag will be donating a portion of all sales to the Bowen Island Conservancy and the Bowen Island Community Foundation, organizations dedicated to protecting the island’s ecological integrity and enhancing community engagement and well-being.
So come and join us at the Hearth Gallery for the artist pARTy, Saturday, July 19th 6 - 9pm for your chance to have a drink, meet the artists and Return to Nature.
