The Kelowna Museums Society is opening a new exhibition on June 2, 2017, featuring a series of paintings and new media works by artist Heather Cline. Quiet Stories from Canadian Places is a national touring exhibition created in response to Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration.
Cline’s work shifts the traditional role that painting has played in documenting history through official portraiture and pivotal historical moments, to documenting Canadian places that are significant to everyday people and simple moments. Over the past 10 years, Cline has been quietly gathering stories from communities across Canada, including Kelowna, collecting personal and regional histories. Using the experiences of everyday people as her inspiration, Cline documents Canadian places through sight, sound and memory, creating a “multiplicity of experience.”
Last fall the artist interviewed Kelowna residents, including Mayor Colin Basran, who shared personal memories of their homes and the community. Cline was inspired to paint some of the locations, connecting with the subject matter through other people’s reminiscences and experiences of place. The recollections featured in the exhibition are from a range of everyday people, from fruit pickers to school children.
The resulting exhibition, installed at the Okanagan Heritage Museum, features fifty paintings interspersed with audio stories that create a dynamic narrative space filled with images and soundscapes.
Quiet Stories from Canadian Places runs from June 2nd, 2017 to September 4th, 2017 at the Okanagan Heritage Museum
For more information contact:
Amanda Snyder
Curatorial Manager
250.763.2417 ext. 29
asnyder@kelownamuseums.ca
About the Artist:
Heather Cline is a painter and mixed media artist living and working in Regina, Saskatchewan. Since completing her MFA at the University of Saskatchewan in 2001, Cline has been exploring narratives around place and personal history. She is fascinated by how personal history intersects with human geography; currently, this involves merging collage soundscapes with lush intricate paintings of everyday places.
Contact:
306.530.3452
hmcline@sasktel.net
For more information visit quietstories.heathercline.ca.
Heather Cline will be in Kelowna May 29th to June 3rd, 2017.
The Quiet Stories from Canadian Places opening event takes place June 2nd, 2017, from 5pm to 7pm at the Okanagan Heritage Museum.