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Cariboo Art Society launches TRU project

The Cariboo Art Society now has a collection of paintings hanging in the library at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake.
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Circling from the left are Cariboo Art Society president Sharon (Cat) Prevette (left)

The Cariboo Art Society now has a collection of paintings hanging in the library at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake on a semi-permanent basis.

The show titled Legacies includes some paintings by art society members that are for sale, a collection of paintings that are not for sale and a special set of four large murals that the artists hope a generous philanthropist will purchase for TRU.

The show opened in the TRU Library Thursday, June 9 with a welcome by campus director Dr. Ray Saunders and talks by some of the artists, along with snacks and and a juice bowl filled with fresh local strawberries from one of the artist’s gardens.

The Four Seasons of the Cariboo murals were produced by members of the art society and some members of the public during a mural workshop sponsored by the art society in 2015 and taught by lakecity muralist and art society member Dwayne Davis, Cariboo Art Society president Sharon (Cat) Prevette explains.

The murals are valued at $2,500 a piece for a total value of $10,000, but Prevette says the society doesn’t want to see the collection split up.

The Cariboo Arts Society has loaned the murals to the TRU Library until such time as a buyer can be found for them, says librarian Melissa Svendsen.

“The TRU Library loves the murals and thinks that they are perfect hanging in our space, but in this time of tight budgets we do not have the $10,000 to spend on art,”  Svendsen says.

“For this reason we are looking for a public spirited donor to purchase the murals from the art society and then turn them around and donate them to the library.”

She says the purchase would benefit the Cariboo Art Society by providing them with much needed funds and it would benefit TRU by allowing the library to add the murals to its permanent collection.

Because the donor would be making a gift to TRU worth $10,000, the TRU Foundation would give the donor a tax receipt for $10,000, Svendsen explains.

“In this three-way exchange, the art society would get $10,000, the TRU Library would keep the murals and the donor would get a tax receipt and knowledge that he or she had served as a benefactor to both the art society and the library.”

Prevette notes funds raised by the sale of the murals will help the art society to fund future projects, workshops and purchase materials.

The art society is actively involved in community art projects and hosting art exploration workshops for children and adults.

The artists participate in various community events such as the annual Children’s Festival in Boitanio Park, and bringing community members together to paint colourful multicultural themed mandalas on the stage and walkways at Boitanio Park.

Whoever purchases The Seasons of the Cariboo murals will have a plaque mounted with the paintings acknowledging their contribution, Prevette says.

“The purchase of the murals comes with lots of honour,” Prevette says.

The Legacies exhibition includes about 10 paintings by individual art society members that are for sale and will be rotated out and replaced with other paintings by various members as the paintings are sold.

There are also 21 paintings on exhibition that are not for sale titled Songs of the Psyche: A Journey of Recovery.

Prevette produced these paintings over a two year period in the late 1960s as a way to examine a lifelong struggle with early sexual abuse.

“This was a painful story and a painful recovery,” Prevette says.