MASAKO ARAKI, April 30-May 10, 2006, Gala Gallery, West Vancouver

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MASAKO ARAKI

Gala Gallery, West Vancouver

April 30-May 10, 2006

By Beverly Cramp

Born into an artistic family in Tokyo (her father created traditional kimono patterns), Masako Araki turned to art making herself. She graduated from Japan’s Kuwasawa Design Institute but it wasn’t until she moved to Vancouver in 1989 that she found her true métier: pastel painting. It was a chance meeting with a pastel artist whose work immediately caught Araki’s attention that set her on her pastel odyssey. “The directness of the medium appealed to me. You just grab the pastel chalk and apply it to paper. No paint brushes to deal with, no canvases to prepare. The colour of pastels also appealed; it’s intense and pure.” Araki stays true to the purity of pastel colour by never blending. “I put the colours side by side.” Araki paints landscapes because Canadian geography fascinates her. “In Tokyo there is a lack of nature. I am so happy to be close to nature in Canada.” Araki sold the first painting she ever exhibited at the Harmony Art Festival in West Vancouver in 1998. Her show at Gala Gallery includes 15 new works.

Represented by: Gala Gallery, West Vancouver.