Three Bella Coola artists are participating in Williams Lake’s 2016 Art Walk and Sale.
Potter and clay sculptor Ernest Hall has his work on display at 3 Gen Cabinetry. Painter and multimedia artist Tahirih Goffic has her work on display at Sandtronic Business Systems Ltd. Landscape painter Ida Eriksen has her work on display at the Bank of Montreal.
Hall has been working in clay along with his wife, Jill, for nearly 40 years. Primarily self-taught through decades of experimenting, the Halls operate Creekside Studio Gallery in the Bella Coola Valley.
More than 63 artists from around the Cariboo Chilcotin and beyond are participating in the art walk which continues in Williams Lake until Sept. 10.
Art walkers who participate in the walk and have their art walk passports stamped at some or all of the participating businesses have a chance to win a beautiful carving by Spirit Carver Dean Ross of a bear he calls the Prosperity Bear.
Ernest attended high school in Bella Coola during the 1960s and is now retired there with his wife Jill.
Much of his work employs forms and images inspired by the natural environment of the B.C. West Coast and imagery suggested by Aboriginal art which he considers part of the global artistic tradition with its roots in the natural landscape.
Before retiring in 2010 from a career teaching foreign students at the University of British Columbia, Ernest was an instructor for the Delta Arts Council and a founding member of the North Delta Potters Guild.
He has participated in numerous shows, and has conducted workshops in raku firing and other techniques.
The Halls are both members of The Cariboo Potters’ Guild.
After a tumultuous past as a goat milker, laundress, fine art major, waitress and restaurant owner, Tahirih Goffic says she is now mostly a full time artist operating her own gallery/gift shop/cafe in what she calls the “fairy-tale village” of Bella Coola.
“I share my life with my charming musician husband, two amazingly creative children, and big black dog who loves his morning runs and chasing squirrels,” Goffic says.
“In my not so spare time I love to invent healthy whole food recipes, write YA fiction, play guitar, or curl up in my favourite chair with a great book and a gigantic mug of strong black coffee, all while daydreaming of living in Ireland…
Ida Eriksen started drawing as soon as she could hold a pencil, her biography states.
Painting came later and became so much a part of who she is that she earned a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Victoria, graduating with first class honours.
She has participated in a variety of group and solo shows in both Vancouver and Victoria.
While living in Victoria she worked for the student society as manager of their graphic arts department and ran her own clothing design business.
“Since I retired early, I decided to devote myself entirely to doing the thing I love most, which is painting,” Eriksen says.
“My favourite medium is oils on canvas. I painted many portraits of friends and family. I then branched out to developing some narrative in my work.
“Lately, I have been painting landscapes and trees. I have a great love of nature and living in beautiful Bella Coola is very inspiring.