home  <back  next>      The Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria's BC Women Artists

Peggy Walton-Packard
born 1914 in Victoria BC - resides in Victoria BC
Peggy Walton Packard still lives in the barn, now converted into her home and studio, that was on the family farm where she was born in 1914. The original family home is now an apartment block on Lansdowne Ave, across from Camosun College. Peggy is still active teaching sculpting, working on commissions and being involved in community events and groups such as The Victoria Conservatory of Music, the Dead Poet Society, the Horticultural Society, the Art gallery of Victoria and International Folk Dancers. She is not only a celebrated artist but is an accomplished musician as well; her grand piano was a gift from life-long friend Myfanwy Pavelic. Peggy has sung in concerts, oratorios, musicals, operattas and plays. As a visual artist, Peggy studied with Ina D.D. Unthoff in Victoria and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. "In New York and Philidelphia she was swamped with portrait commissions at prices in three figures. In Victoria she asks a fraction of this" (1955, from 'About Victoria'). Peggy packard was presented to the Queen during the Commonwealth Games in 1994 for her work, especially the bust of the Queen commissioned by the City of Victoria BC. Her portrait of a younger Queen Victoria was presented to the City of New Westminster by private donors and her portrait of Katherine Maltwood is at the University of Victoria BC. Throughout her life she has shared her music, donated her art work, conducted tours of her garden and shared endless hours helping her students, many of whom have gone on to successful artistic careers themselves.
See Robert Amos' book "Artists In their Studios": http://www.bcbooks.com/artists_studios.html
http://www.beaconhillparkhistory.org/articles/107_Queen%27s_bust.htm
http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/features/150/story.html?id=3279a63b-be05-4e58-96ee-553c48b1add7
http://www.beaconhillparkhistory.org/contents/chapter13.htm


Shannon Belkin
born in Vancouver BC - resides in
Shannon Belkin graduated from the Emily Carr College (now Institute) of Art and Design in 1992. She was first known for her bold, yet sensitive portraits which captured the inner life of her subject. These portraits, particularly of children, friends and corporate and government luminaries, hang in corporate, private and institutional collections across the United States and Canada. In her first solo exhibition, Nature's Prozac (2001), she portrayed sensuous, highly detailed flowers and berries in large-scale format. These paintings, which symbolized the intricate interaction between human and nature, were described by Douglas Coupland in his essay. In 2003, Belkin began to bring another passion to the extreme foreground of her larger-than-life oil paintings: the vivid cacophony of the domestic barnyard. Taking a macro view of forelocks, beaks and feathers in her images of horses, roosters, cattle and llamas. Her portraiture background enables her to capture their personalities and spirit with memorable élan. The 2004 exhibit featured a stunning series of large-scale portraits of horses. When Horses Were Gods was inspired by equine mythologies around the globe - from the Arabian, Etruscan and Babylonian to Finnish and Chinese.
http://www.dianefarrisgallery.com/artist/belkin/index.html
http://www.martiniboys.com/Vancouver/gallery-2599.html
http://www.orcasinthecity.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vancouver.galaauction&info=live
 

Victoria Harper
born 1979 in Vancouver BC- resides in Vancouver BC
Vikki Harper was a New Year’s baby, the third child born to Charles and Carol Harper. Victoria's artistic ancestry an be traced back to the North West Coast, to the Dawson and Wadhams family on her mother's side, originally from the Mamalililala prople of Village Island. Her family comes from the Kwakiutl nation of Alert Bay. Growing up in a family full of artists - Lloyd Wadhams, her father Charles Harper, Dennis Matilpi, Glen Harper, Doug Harper, Cheryl Wadhams and Paddy Seaweed - has been a major influence in her life and work. Victoria apprenticed with her father Charles Harper in jewellery and also received training from Kwakwaka'wakw artist, Patrick Seaweed. With her father, she helped with a large commission of three totem poles for his nation. Today they stand at the Stoney Creek Reserve. Specializing in gold and silver combinations, Victoria is one of the few female artists known for her exceptional focus to detail and quality. In the last few years, she has taken the teachings of her family and made a niche for herself in the local and international markets. Her works can be found in such places as the Silver Gallery on Robson Street in Vancouver, Raven and The Bear on Granville Island, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, and art galleries in Whistler. Vikki specializes in gold and silver with each piece having its own story and design. She creates many sterling silver works with gold overlay. Victoria holds Kulus, or Baby Thunderbird, as her family crest.
http://www.xaytem.ca/artistInfo.php
http://www.canoepass.com/artists.html
http://www.lattimergallery.com/gallery.php
http://www.yvr.ca/authority/airmail/archive_details.asp?id=815


Nancy Dawson
born 1954 Alert Bay BC- resides on Vancouver Island BC
Nancy Dawson is an accomplished jeweler, designer/producer and wood carver. Her mother, Catherine Beans, was from the Mamaleleqwala-que-qua-sot-enox Nation on Village Island. Her father, Don Gesinhaus, was of German descent. Nancy credits her family for her success as an artist. Her father was a talented wood and metal worker; her mother raised Nancy in the “potlatch circle”, which contributed greatly to Nancy’s sound understanding of her culture. However, it was through Nancy’s efforts to develop her son’s interest and understanding of Kwakwaka’wakw art that she became inspired to begin designing. She has been carving poles and masks since 1980. Her work is sought by private collectors, museums and galleries throughout North America. She participated in the carving of the world’s largest totem pole which graced the 1994 Commonwaelth Games in Victoria BC. Always open to new challenges, Nancy expanded her portfolio in 1990 to include designing and producing gold and silver jewelry.
http://www.canoepass.com/artists.html
http://www.alcheringa-gallery.com/artists.html/v1/view/v3/344/v2/2/
http://www.ihosgallery.com/gallery/artist.php?artist=Nancy%20Dawson
http://www.nativeonline.com/gather.html
http://www.rubytuesdayaccessories.com/index.php?action=jewelry&Category=390&cat=designers&sub=Nancy+Dawson+-+First+nations+jewellery&PHPSESSID=8261ae7a10a891725fd65b2236c34ca7


Anne Popperwell
resides on Saturna Island BC
Anne Popperwell has been exhibiting her work in both public and private galleries for over twenty years. Her work in watercolour on paper and acrylic on canvas is included in private, corporate and public collections in Canada and in private collections in the USA and Europe. Her primary inspiration and fascination as an artist has always been the natural world. She moved to Saturna Island, Canada to paint the particular landscape of the eroded sandstone shoreline and over the next several years traveled the West Coast discovering and painting variations of the sinuous, waveworn stone. A series of flowers, inspired by her own garden, followed. Her show "Why Don't you Just Leave?", commisioned by BCYSTH, toured BC from 1995 to 1998. The goal of this tour was to educate and raise awareness on the issue of violence against women and their children. "Art serves a soul function: it is the artist's job to explore and make the deeper world visible. That's what culture is -- understanding our common experience ... When they finally speak out, women who have been abused by their partners use the same language to describe their relationships, even though they've been isolated and have kept the abuse secret from their families, friends, and communities." The exhibit reveals and demystifies the secrecy surrounding the abuse of women by their intimate partners. Anne Popperwell has exhibited all over the world, including Seoul Korea, Germany, Paris France, Mexico, Seattle USA, Vancouver BC, Manitoba and Toronto Ontario. In Victoria she showed regularly at the Fran Willis Gallery, as well as the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. She is in the public collections of Esso Resources Canada Ltd., Calgary Alberta, the City of Vancouver, the British Columbia Art Collection and the Canada Council Art Bank in Ottawa Ontario.
http://www.annepopperwell.com/
http://www.bcysth.ca/artgallery.html
http://www.casadahlia.com/
http://www.out-there.com/bc00cl.htm
http://isbndb.com/d/publisher/art_gallery_of_greater_victori.html
http://www.canartscene.com/artistsdetail.asp?record=1788&start=0&count=3 


Carole Thomson

"Painting for me is a journey which reveals new realities."
Carole Thompson is a visual artist, primarily a painter of large and smaller works who lives on Vancouver Island. Her work is informed by dreams, memories, photography, metaphysical interests and symbology. A recent series, "From the Beginning" explores Sacred Geometry and the five associated elements. Current works, inspired by an Australian residency, involve themes of Earth Connections evoked through geometric forms and personal symbolic languages. One intent in both series is to create and support unity conscious in viewers. Carole is the recipient of Canada Council Awards and a Honours graduate of Vancouver School of Art (ECCAD). Her work is found in many private and corporate collections, nationally and internationally including Art Bank-Ottawa. She has taught privately, at Arts Umbrella-Vancouver, Art Gallery Greater Victoria and Quadra Arts Centre-Victoria. Carole was represented by Fran Willis Gallery in Victoria until its closure.
http://www.vca.ca

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