The new art show at City Hall is actually several art shows. Each painting, photo and mixed-media piece by Cher French is in fact layers of visuals.
There's a close-up squirrel photo that looks like an everyday animal in the wild until you close in and see it has imbedded ghostly scenes, the traces of other Cottonwood Island Park scenes where the little guy was photographed.
There is a mashed-up double photo of the CN Rail bridge and a speedskater on the Outdoor Ice Oval, which is impossible enough, but a close inspection also reveals a bustle of visual action in the subliminal spaces.
No piece of French's art is ever just as is. She labours over depth of meaning and agonizes over details.
A large contingent of the city's population and a sizable stream of visitors from afar come to the fifth floor of City Hall where the mayor's office and several key departments are located. Two years ago, in partnership with the Community Arts Council, the fifth floor was also turned into an all-local art gallery. Two artists have had their works displayed in the hallways and meeting rooms and offices of that civic facility, and this week the changeover occurred to welcome the third.
For the next year, French will be the artist in the municipal spotlight.
"We are so grateful the city is supporting local artists in this meaningful way," said Lisa Redpath, the art council's event and project manager. "It shows our city leaders have a connection to the arts that's meaningful and keeps it front of mind. When people come to that place in City Hall, it's for a lot of different reasons, and they can't help but see what our local artists are capable of thanks to these displays."
French said she felt surprised to be the City Hall artist this year, even after Redpath told her she'd been selected.
"I thought I would be sharing the space with other artists but I realized eventually that it was all me," French said.
It took a significant amount of time and effort to prepare for the exhibition. French has a home studio where a nine-foot table on wheels is the central creation surface. It was there she worked with photos, paint, wood, canvas, metal components and other materials to generate about 25 works of art in various sizes that are now installed on the walls of City Hall's fifth floor.
She also infused digital technology, some steam-punk themes, and the collaborative expertise of both the arts council and Ridge View Art.
One of the resonant factors in French's art is her unabashed use of Prince George in all these pieces. The skater in the bridge mashup is not a generic photo from a magazine or website, it is an actual competitor at the Canada Winter Games.
The image of a white arch bridge depicts the foot crossing at Paddlewheel Park and it has a built-in image of the actual BX Sternwheeler that docked there back in the early 20th century.
"I like things that have weathered the storm of time," said French. "I remember I took my driver's test over the CN Rail bridge. A lot of Prince George people don't even know that it used to be how vehicles crossed, too. When we moved up to P.G. when I was young, the very first Prince George thing I laid eyes on was that bridge. At four in the morning, we stopped and looked at it and my mom wondered if we were even in the right place, was this safe to cross? But then this man came out of nowhere and said 'hey, could you give me a ride over the bridge? You don't even have to let me into the car, I can ride on the front' and that was it, we gunned it over and into this new life."
Even when the image seems open-ended in its subject matter, it is still made out of Prince George ingredients. She has four "zentangle" works of art, each one a maple leaf on a background of seemingly abstract colours and shapes. She indicated how each one was definitively local: one background was forest fire smoke, one was river ice, etc.
"Her mixed-media is interesting to the eye, but it all gets really fascinating when combined with historic and iconic visuals of our community," said Redpath. "When I shared her portfolio with Mayor (Lyn) Hall he spotted that right away, too."
French's show will hang on display until next March.
