JCC-Cultural Arts

in the image of g-d

Paintings by Sharalee Regehr
Opening Reception
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 • 7 to 9 pm
Artist in attendance • Free Admission
Exhibit runs until Sunday, March 21

March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day when we honour the accomplishments of women. Sharalee Regehr presents an exhibition of her art focusing on the contributions of historical women from early beginnings to today. The exhibition, “In the Image of G-d”, portrays remarkable Jewish women in unconventional ways, using rich colours, text and textures, reminiscent of medieval manuscripts and tapestries. Sharalee’s art addresses current issues and challenges accepted ideas in a way that is fluid and conversational. As a storyteller, she has found ways of relaying historical and personal stories, while providing an insight into the process. The storytelling is very much an element of her pioneering heritage, growing up on the prairies.

Sharalee Regehr currently lives in Langley where she taught art for ten years at Trinity Western University. Her art can be found around the world in private as well as public collections. Sharalee has exhibited extensively and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work as an artist.

exploring the elements

Paintings, Glass and Metal Art by
Amit Cohen, Miran Elbakyan and Aurel Stan
Opening Reception
Thur March 25 • 7 to 9 pm
Artists in attendance • Free Admission
Exhibit runs until Sunday April 11, 2010

Amit Cohen, Miran Elbakyan and Aurel Stan share a passion to create art. All three have lived in Israel and have created art there: Amit, as a painter and sculptor; Miran, as a metal sculptor and Aurel, as a painter and glass artist. Exploring the elements goes beyond the materials they use to create their art; it speaks to their common interest in the exploration of nature, culture and humankind.

Amit Cohen is challenged by the elements and is compelled to explore them in life and in art. He wants people to see the beauty of perspective. Using strong colours to convey his passion and emotion, he is always looking for new elements to fall in love with and experience. "Life is an illusion...it depends on what you want to see and what you don't. If you know the thrill and energy of being in the pocket of a wave of water and seeing how it feels, you will understand the tension, the power, the raw emotion it creates inside you and be able to taste the sweetness of desire and experience the passion I put into my art. If you listen from your heart you can feel my passion.” Amit was born in Nahariya, Israel. His art is in private collections in Vancouver, New York, Italy, Israel and San Francisco.

Miran Elbakyan was born in Armenia and moved to Israel where he studied the art of metal sculpture. He moved to Vancouver in 2005. Miran’s abstract metal sculptures are figurative metaphors or personal feelings. While a musician pours lamenting notes on the viewers, exuberant birds celebrate their freedom, weaving aerial waltzes around each other. Music, nature, travel and emotion are elements Miran explores in his art. The lines in his sculpture are always in motion, always striving to fly, to dance, to express emotion and explore life's moments with a sense of humor and whimsy. His art is in private collections in Israel, Armenia, California, Toronto and Vancouver.

When Romanian born Aurel Stan moved to Israel, he was immediately drawn to the antiquity of the country and its religious significance. Now living in Canada, his training in contemporary visual art has added a whole new dimension to his art. He takes broken or recycled elements like glass, rich with light and illusions, to create religious Jewish symbols that are fundamental to the history and future of Israel. His recent focus on painting has led to his exploration of other elements of nature, people, colours, shapes and figures. He uses colour and space to evoke a particular feeling as in his painting, Tribe. The images have a paradoxical quality; they convey a sense of permanence as well as an ephemeral element. Aurel’s glass art is in public and private collections in Vancouver and Israel.

alley ways

Mixed Media Paintings by
Norm Chodirker and Jeanne Krabbendam
Opening Reception
Thur April 15 • 7 to 9 pm
Artists in attendance • Free Admission
Exhibit runs until Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Norm studied art in Canada, Jeanne in The Netherlands and France. The two artists met in 2004 in the art room at Coast Resource Centre in downtown Vancouver, where Norm paints as a member of Coast Mental Health and Jeanne weekly participates as an artist/volunteer. They got to know one another, started appreciating each other’s artwork and had fun creating their art in each other’s company. They travel to exhibit openings of mixed media art in town, share ideas and inspiration. They both like to work with textures and unusual (often found) materials. The Alley Ways exhibit is a great example of their combined interest. Jeanne created a series based on back alleys, walls, the hidden places of the city, while Norm creates much of his art with what he finds in the alleys.
Born on different continents and influenced by different cultures, these two artists found connection, respect and inspiration through each other’s artwork. Alley Ways is an exhibit that tells this story.

“The conversation between the accidental and the intentional creates my art. I listen carefully to what my intuition tells me. I will use anything that fits my composition.” Norm Chodirker

“I work on a painterly level, tactile, heavy textured, looking at the world surrounding me as a composition in form, line and colour. At the same time I approach my work more abstractly, based on emotions and feelings.” Jeanne Krabbendam

colours of kauai

Mixed Media Paintings by Elaine Campbell
Opening Reception
Thur May 13 • 7 to 9 pm
Artist in attendance • Free Admission
Exhibit runs until Wednesday, June 2, 2010

The setting for the paintings in this exhibit is the island of Kauai, where Winnipeg born graphic and interior architectural designer and artist, Elaine Campbell spends her winters. Inspired by her surroundings, she expresses her reactions to her environment through elements of line, colour and texture. Early in life Elaine discovered the magical force of spontaneous expression. “It is so deep a passion that I cannot imagine life without making art. I live in an ever changing laboratory…the Prairies, Whistler, Kauai, Europe and Israel. All of these places have influenced my painting. I make art wherever I am and produce a diversity of styles and mediums ‘on-site’. Painting is my way of ‘keeping my story alive’.” Elaine Campbell

Elaine graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Architecture/Department of Interior Design. She studied ceramics, drawing and composition at Winnipeg Art School and at Syracuse University, took courses in printmaking in Italy, and studied weaving and painting in Portland, Oregon. Elaine holds a Graphic Design Degree from Douglas College in Vancouver. She has taught children’s art classes in Richmond and has had art exhibits at the Gateway Gallery, Sinclair Centre Gallery and Richmond Art Gallery. Her art is in corporate and private collections in Canada, USA, Hawaii, Mexico and Israel.

child out of time

Digital Paintings by Janet Strayer
Opening Reception
Wed June 9 • 7 to 9 pm
Artist in attendance • Free Admission
Exhibit runs until Sunday, June 27, 2010

Child Out of Time emanates from the concept of childhood as enduring beyond time and place: as embodied memory, reverie, yearning, and hope. Keeping to a monochromatic palette conveys a sense of timelessness while also emphasizing the subtleties and strengths of tone: the distinctiveness and drama of evocative images rendered solely in terms of shapes, forms, and light.

“My artwork is inspired by life around and within us, its celebration and contradictions, its glory and grit, by love of art, literature, and our impossible humanity.”—Janet Strayer

Janet’s life and work reflect multicultural and marked historical influences. Her family emigrated from post WW II Germany to New York City, where she grew up as a first-generation American, graduated from Columbia University, and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for international study. Moving to Canada, she obtained a PhD in psychology, becoming a dual citizen and a full Professor at Simon Fraser University. While teaching and contributing to research and publications throughout her career, she also trained as an artist in classical drawing, etching, and painting, as well as contemporary mixed media and digital tools. The scientist-artist mix is compatible with Janet’s personal alchemy. Her goal is to connect our imaginations in a work of art.

The gallery space has been rented for July and August
Paintings by Luis Guincher and sculpture in obsidian by Samuel Frid will be exhibited during the first part of July.
paintings by George Vamos will be on exhibit during the second part of July.
The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia will be exhibiting “A Joyful Harvest” in August.