Meet the Artists - Part 8

Sonia Urquhart

Born in Toronto, Ontario to Harry and Sophie Marak in 1949. She grew up in Toronto until her family moved to Scarborough Ontario when she was nine years old. As a young child, she was always fascinated by her mother and uncle always sketching things, which led to her love of drawing. She was very artistsic as a young child, which allowed her to draw backdrops for school plays when she was in elementary school. After grade school, she enrolled in visual arts as her major in highschool. Because of her love for art, she decided that she wanted to become an art teacher. As a result, she attended Ontario Art College after highschool.

Upon completing her education, she did some free lance work as an artist until she met her husband, Carl Urquhart. She then got married and began a family. She had two beautiful girls, Wendygale and Melinda Ann, whom she adores. As the girls got older, she was able to do some more free lance work (ads, blue prints, etc.) from home for those wanting help with designing their houses or businesses. After the girls left home, she was able to travel with her husband as he worked as a long haul truck driver; driving all over North America.

While travelling with her husband, she enjoyed sketching other drivers and places they saw. Her and her husband have now settled in Victoria, and she now has the time and ability to get back into her love of art. She enjoys working with all kinds of materials (watercolours, acrylic, oil paints, etc). She joined the Esquimalt Painters Group and was the co-ordinator of this group until she had to focus more of her time to care for her husband. Although she has once again regained time to focus on her art, she has decided to be a member of the painters group and she is not interested in involving too much of her time away from family. She says that her mother always wished that she would go back to art and she knows in her heart that if her parents were still alive, they would be proud of her!

Sonia has continued to strive in her artistic prowless and has become a successful artist in the Victoria BC area, with the ability to state that numerous works of her's are in private collections across North America.  She is now an associate member with the Coast Collective Gallery in Victoria.  She also has numerous pieces on display in various businesses across the city.  We are pleased to have her works available for sale through Griffin Gallery!

Meet the Artists - Part 7

Richard (Rick) Smith

Artist Richard Smith has had an artistic temperament since a young age. In 1972 he enrolled in the arts programme at the University of Victoria and graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, majoring in sculpture. In 1979 he moved to Vancouver to work in broadcasting, advertising, theatre and other related industries. In 1993 he returned to Victoria to resume a vocation in sculpture, with the help of friend and fellow sculptor, Derek Rowe.

Richard is currently producing work in bronze and in glass. Wishing to be closely involved with the process as well as the product, he casts his own bronzes and does his own kiln cast glasswork.

His bronzes are mostly statuette size figurative work and his glasswork incorporates his love of the clarity of glass and the brilliance that can be achieved with color.

He has been a member of the Vancouver Island Sculptors Guild since 1994 and enjoys being a supporter of public art in the Victoria region.

Meet the Artists - Part 6

Brenda Scott

Brenda Scott grew up in a small town Saskatchewan, Canada farming community. Her early days were spent on a farm with cows, dogs, cats, pigs, chickens and a horse. This upbringing has instilled in her a great love of the land, nature, wide open spaces and animals.

Brenda was drawing before she even started going to Grade school. She didn't start painting until she was 21 years old and received her first acrylic paint set as a gift. She learned to paint with acrylics by adapting the oil painting techniques taught on a PBS TV show called "The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross". She painted for 15 years with acrylics completing mostly landscape paintings until taking her first watercolor lesson 3 years ago. Since then she has painted a variety of subjects in acrylic, watercolor and mixed media. In addition to painting full size paintings Brenda also paints miniature paintings called ACEOs ( Art Cards, Editions and Originals) which are original works of art that are 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches in size or approximately the size of a sports card.

Brenda also has a blog http://365daysofart.blogspot.com in which she is creating an ACEO a day for 365 days. In the blog, she is not just painting subjects that she is familiar with but also challenging herself to paint subjects that she has difficulty painting. She is writing about her experience of creating and all the fears, sorrows and joys that come with being an artist in hopes of inspiring other artists to live their dream even when they don't think they can.
 
She has become an amazing addition to Griffin Gallery!  Proving to be a well rounded artist who is willing to try working with numerous mediums and styles.  Not one to focus on maintaining a comfort zone, with her challenge of creating an ACEO once a day for 365 days.  She has stretched her limits by attempting styles which she thought were never possible.  A pleasure to meet, she not only shows her ambition through her works, but in everything else she does.