The community pARTners gallery in the Yorkton Regional Library has reopened, and the first artist in the space is Guy Collette with Wood You Believe. Collette is exhibiting an assortment of wood carvings painted to look like three dimensional oil paintings.
Collette says he arrived at the style by necessity, as he needed to redecorate his home in Moncton, NB after a flood in 1999. When the art he had didn't match the decor, and new pieces were overly expensive, Collette started working on something different and in his own style.
"I decided to try making something myself to put on the walls in our house, and that's what gave birth to that style of wood carving," he says.
The carvings themselves have strong lines and a complex, distinct appearance, something that Collette explains derives from his own tastes, and the nature of the work itself.
"The one thing I was never a fan of is when you have artwork that just kind of blends into the walls, that's why I try to have something bold."
"Since it is wood carving, it's kind of a different process from drawing, you have to analyze and figure out what parts stay up and what parts go down. So trying to be subtle is actually quite difficult, so that's why it usually has quite a striking visual appearance to it."
Collette says that one of the big advantages to the style is the three dimensional look to the pieces, something which he says people need to get up close to appreciate.
"Each piece has about five coats of varnish on it, and the reason is that I encourage people to not just stand back 20 feet and look at it, but to get closer and closer and put their hands on it to realize it's a three dimensional piece, not simply a flat oil painting," he details.
Each piece takes a long time to execute, Collette says, taking anywhere from 25 to over 100 hours to compete, depending on how large and complex each individual piece is.
It's the first time the art is really going out to the public in Yorkton, The artist says, and he hopes to see some good feedback. There will be a meet the artist session at the library on February 12.
