The Quesnel Art Gallery is filled with sculptures and paintings as Casey Fisher's "An Exploration of Geography Through Colour and Abstraction" exhibit kicked off Feb. 6.
Fisher's work features topographical paintings, blending geography and art. The exhibit, her first solo show and a culmination of her work from Emily Carr University, also has sculptures including some showing the way water moves and swirls.
"They all kind of spurred from one project where I did an abstract piece based off a topographical map. So I started combining my interest with geography and topographical maps with abstraction and organic forms and colour," she said. "I base a lot them (paintings) off of lakes and islands around the regions where I live and then some of my other paintings are more abstracted forms that aren't based on a real life place."
To create a painting, she starts by finding the lake, island or shape she's basing the piece off of. She then creates a digital design to scale the piece and then uses a grid system to translate it onto the canvas to ensure it's to scale. After that she creates the "inner arms" of the painting freehand, which means no two paintings of the same lake or landmass are quite the same. She then picks a colour palette and uses up to 13 shades in the piece.
"I use an ice cube tray to mix all my colours," she said. The ice cube tray helps her keep each colour separate and helps her see what the gradient looks like before it goes on the canvas. "I can see how they look, how they work against each other and if I need to make any adjustments, I do it then instead of when it's already on the canvas."
She layers on the paint, embracing all of the thickness and texture to create a painting with depth.
Her sculpture work is less planned out and more free form.
"They kind of just take you wherever the project is going to take you and it's about kind of rolling with what's going on," she said. "Things rarely turn out the way you think they're going to in art, but that's why I like it."
One of the large sculptures in the exhibit is made from metal that she welded and then wrapped in a combination of plastic and fabric, using a stiffener to create different forms on the surface of the piece.
As Fisher prepares to graduate from Emily Carr in May, she said she started taking art more seriously in Grade 9 thanks to some fantastic art teachers at Correlieu.
"I've been creative, at least for probably my whole life," she said.
One of the pieces with a deep story to it is titled "Sumas Reclaimed." Fisher first moved to the coast to go to Emily Carr around the time flooding happened around Chilliwack and Abbotsford in 2021.
"It was a really pivotal moment in my life because I had just moved to Vancouver and the flooding essentially trapped me in Vancouver," she said. "I kind of fixated on that event because it was a little bit scary for me and I started doing more research into it and I discovered that the exact area that flooded used to be a lake."
She explained that the lake was drained in the 1920s and she wanted to create a piece that represented the different phases of Sumas Prairie and Sumas Lake.
"I made this piece that represents it as a lake with layer one, layer two is the lake drained, layer three is the city of Abbotsford being built over top of it," she said. That third layer was one of her first reference to maps, using the road and highways where Sumas is to help guide the piece. "And then the fourth layer is the flood reclaiming that spot. The fifth and final layer, which you can see on the canvas, is the outline of the lake kind of imposed back over top of this flooded area, like the lake is reclaiming itself."
Fisher said being able to share her work in a solo show in Quesnel feels incredible, she has strong connections to the gallery and was a summer student helping to put on the exhibits at one point.
"It's very surreal to see all my work displayed in one place," she said.
She has done group shows at Emily Carr but this is her first time filling a space with her own work, saying it's been almost overwhelming to have her work exhibited in her home community for a whole month.
Fisher also does commissions.
"If you come to my show and you see a lake that's not your lake, there's a form on my website and I wold love to make a lake or an island or another landmark that you love and help bring it to life and make of piece of art for your home."
Fisher's website is studiokc.ca.
The exhibit will be at the Quesnel Art Gallery at 500 North Star Road until March 6.
