Tara Sprickerhoff
Tribune Staff Writer
The Cariboo Art Society kicked off its 69th show at the Station House Gallery last week in which artists explored the theme Facescapes.
The beautiful and sometimes eclectic pieces were displayed around the art gallery, featuring faces of all shapes and types, sometimes found in a frozen creek bed, sometimes through the wrinkly head of a basset hound and other times in the simplicity of a sunflower.
The society chose the theme ‘Facescapes’ in September and experimented with it in different mediums throughout the year.
“We discovered the idea of pareidolia, the hard-wiring of the human brain to want to make order out of chaos, especially seeing faces where they were unintended,” said Cat Prevette, the president of the Cariboo Art Society.
“We explored the idea of faces in landscapes, clouds and machines.”
The society has 32 members in total, of which 16 showed their work at the gallery.
“I’m in it just to have fun and meet people and learn new techniques,” said Yvette Rogers, the treasurer of the society and an artist who showed her work at the event.
The art society produced 131 pieces for the yearly show, which Prevette said was “record setting.”
Of that number, 74 pieces are on display at the gallery.
During the official opening, artists mingled with spectators looking at the different works, which ranged from detailed photographs to intricate portraits to watercolours and bright acrylics while Angie Holdal, 15, set the atmosphere by played the ghuzheng, a Chinese stringed instrument.
At one point Prevette even knelt down on one knee to give her husband Gordon his first wedding ring. It was their anniversary.
“Lots of our members were new and had never been to an art show before,” said Prevette. “We were thrilled.”