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New art gallery is needed

The new exhibit, Cultivate, by Tara Nicholson at the Vernon Public Art Gallery is a wonderful example of why we need art galleries.
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The new exhibit, Cultivate, by Tara Nicholson at the Vernon Public Art Gallery is a wonderful example of why we need art galleries.

Artists reveal our world.

When we see what they bring us, it enriches not only our visual perspective, but also our emotional and intellectual life. This, in turn, enriches our community.

Nicholson’s Cultivate brought me inside the marijuana grow industry to see what has been hidden for many years but now is on the verge of becoming mainstream.

Standing in the gallery space lit with grow lights and surrounded by these images of cannabis cultivation is at once unsettling and comforting — reflecting how we may feel as we undergo this cultural and economic shift with the ending of the long prohibition of this plant.

The other exhibits at the gallery are no less transformational.

Sheldon Lewis’ Ancestors of the Columbia provides a stark and cutting insight into our abuse of our river systems and indigenous people/history/culture. Destanne Norris’ Long Way Home ignites our wonder and awe of the vast universe and the commanding, joyful force of light filling the void. Ann Willsie’s 21 Days of Light lets us revision the beauty and vibrant power of the Kalamalka lakeshore.

Thanks to Dauna Kennedy-Grant and all of the staff at our public art gallery for providing us with such great exhibits.

I hope that some day soon, we can build a new and proper space for our civic art gallery because art exhibits like these are too important and wonderful to be presented in the bottom of a parkade.

Marv Machura

Vernon