Deb Chaney: 68 Reasons To Celebrate Creativity
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Gabriola Island 6-480 North Road, Gabriola, British Columbia V0R 1X0
Deb Cheney, "The Moon at Night," 2022
The Gabriola Island Library will present the work of abstract painter Deb Chaney. This show entitled 68 Reasons To Celebrate Creativity is a celebration of two decades of painting and being creative.
Showing twenty small framed 9” x 12” mixed media abstract paintings on paper and several 23” x 30” mixed media paintings on 300 cold press paper mounted on wood panel will be on display in conjunction with her recently published card deck: The 68 Secrets of an Illuminated Artist: How to Stay In Your Creative Flow Despite Any Obstacle. All of the paintings in this exhibit were used as backgrounds for for the inspirational card pack.
This art installation is unique as it is interactive involves the viewer with a Treasure Hunt based on the story of a young girl named Anna who comes to visit the library with her Dad in search of creative inspiration for her school painting project. The Treasure Hunt story leads participants on a journey to connect the exhibited artwork to the short descriptions in the card pack and fill them into the supplied handout. Visitors will gain a deeper understanding of the artwork and enjoy getting creatively inspired with the stories’ heroin Anna.
The 68 Secrets of an Illuminated Artist cards was created over a ten year period that despite going through many personal challenges the artist continued to make art consistently. Curious about how and what had propelled her to continue her creativity, despite these challenges, Deb went back through ten years of her journals and found notes, ideas an inspirations that had pulled her through her those tough times and supported her to persevere with her creative dream. With the editorial help of a retired English teacher, together they culled the best personal insights from her journals and the original card pack was created. This year, the artist took the pack to the next level and digitally placed an original piece of her artwork in the background of all sixty eight cards.