One creates large digital composites, or collages, showing the natural world juxtaposed against the human-created world.
The other captures life in all its natural glory.
The work of local photographers Michael Sturdy and Leila Ward are about to be shown in living colour at Gallery Vertigo.
Based in Armstrong, Sturdy specializes in digital composite murals and will exhibit eight murals and 10 large framed photographs in Vertigo’s main gallery space.
Featured will be the backlit mural, Solstice 1, at the entrance of the exhibit.
Much like Jeff Wall, a well known Vancouver photographer of the same generation, Sturdy has tried to convey the emotional attraction of the immediate moment in his mural photography using large gicleé prints.
“Digital composite imagery is the currently modern form of the juxtaposition and layering of objects, allowing the artist to combine elements at the microscopic level of pointillist pixels, which can be rendered in a variety of ways,” explained Sturdy about his work on his website, sturdyart.com.
Ward, whose work will be shown in Vertigo’s Gallery 2 space, is a retired teacher who has been photographing the area, both landscape and still life, for many years.
Born in the flood country of Winnipeg, Ward moved to B.C. – Powell River, Vancouver, Mission Cherryville, then Vernon in 1985, where she remains – because “when it rains or floods here, there is always some higher place to escape to.”
After attaining a fine arts diploma in 1992, she completed her master’s in fine arts education from Simon Fraser University in 2000.
“Always, I have made time to photograph, draw and paint,” said Ward, whose photo cards are available at various outlets in Vernon. “My Facebook page is where I share photos; my purpose being to find beauty and share it.
“I am curious about materials and methods in the production of painting and am exploring what’s new in making art. I find great delight and inspiration viewing art displays.”
Both exhibitions open with an artists’ reception Thursday, May 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Gallery Vertigo is located at #1-3001 31st St. (upstairs in the Winnipeg Union Bank building, downtown Vernon).