EXHIBIT
Maggie Cole: A Retrospective
Where: Metchosin Art Gallery, 4495 Happy Valley Rd., Metchosin
When: Today until Aug. 26, open Thursday to Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
It's fitting that a retrospective on the work of Maggie Cole is the Metchosin Art Gallery's first exhibition.
After all, the Victoria painter has close ties to the bucolic burg and its new 1,000-square-foot non-profit art space, located in the library of a former elementary school.
"It's quite meaningful for me because I used to live in Metchosin," Cole says. "We had a farm there. My entrance into art was really through textiles because of the sheep we had.
"I learned how to spin the wool and dye it. In that process, some of the people I came into contact with really strongly suggested that I go to art school, that I probably [should become] a painter."
In 1989, after nine years in Metchosin, Cole moved to Victoria, where she began her art career in earnest.
"I'm an abstract painter almost exclusively," she says of the style she's honed. "Some of my work has very vague references to what you'd call realism."
Though she resides in Victoria, Cole has remained involved in Metchosin's art community.
Between 2009 and 2011, she rented studio space from the Metchosin Arts and Cultural Centre Association, which set up shop in the old school in 2007.
She also sat on the association's steering committee to create the new fine-art gallery.
The building now houses five artist studios in addition to the exhibition space.
As a retrospective, Cole's show will highlight how her approach to painting has evolved, including her shift from using oil-based paint to acrylics.
A mixed-media artist, she employs found objects to give her paintings added texture and visual interest - no doubt inspired by her rural former digs.
"Over the years, I developed more and more of an interest in other materials," she explains.
"There's lots of gauze, oak, nails, tape and that sort of thing."
"It's great to have Maggie's work as our first show because she was part of our group to begin with," says Mary Gidney, MACCA's president and co-founder.
Gidney says she hopes the complex will become a hub for local creative types and make Metchosin a destination for art-loving out-of-towners.
"We want to eventually host talks, show art, obviously, and create a space for the community to gather."
