Cultures blend like paint colours when they intermingle at the end of Carla Joseph's brush.
The Prince George painter is one of the region's leaders in aboriginal fusion art. Thursday night, she takes a further step in that ongoing emulsion.
Her reputation has already been cemented for combining modernism with aboriginalism, and realism with spiritual, ethereal additions. She usually infuses her images with the shapes and lines of B.C. First Nations art. When the curtain gets pulled back on her latest creations, it will all be different again.
"I am woodland Cree and so I wanted to try Cree art for the first time and get back to my roots," she said.
One of the obstacles she felt was the luminous influence of painter Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007) who became the genre's leading name. His work inspired but intimidated Joseph.
"He (Morrisseau) does so much more than I can do. I'm too shy to paint some of the stuff he does, but if you follow his lead and get into that style of painting you get to work with some really bold colours and exaggerate some of the images. That's built into that kind of painting style," Joseph said.
She got more than a dozen works completed to her own satisfaction and that of Community Arts Council curators. Joseph is the CAC's current artist-in-residence at their Studio 2880 arts complex. That is where Joseph will be the star of her own show starting Thursday night.
"It's actually my first show all by myself," said Joseph, which might strike her fan base as odd considering how prolific and commercially successful she has been over the years. This is the artist who won Prince George Art Battle 2016, was selected for the Citizen's 100th anniversary Alphabet Project, is the artist behind some of Prince George's highest profile murals (Native Friendship Centre, Salvation Army, Nusdeh Yoh elementary School), the painter of the drums given for completion of the Aboriginal Headstart Program and makes her living from her art.
Winning the keys to the artist-in-residence studio has allowed her to reach even deeper into her creative forces and establish her career all the more. This exhibition is further proof of that progress.
"I was extremely happy to see Carla challenging herself," said Lisa Redpath of the CAC. "We saw what she was doing almost on a daily basis (her studio is in the same building as the CAC offices) and we wanted to showcase what we were seeing. The public should get a look at this, and we wanted to thank her for all she's done for Studio 2880. Her year as artist-in-residence is coming to an end, so we wanted everyone to see her growth and the amazing new directions she's taken. And of course she is not leaving us, she is going to move into some of our in-house artist space, so she'll be there to help the next artist-in-residence and she'll keep her art going from a comfortable place."
"I've learned so much about art and about myself," Joseph said.
"I'm not afraid to teach anymore, I see new ways to connect my art to the community, I know different people than I'd have ever met on my own. This has been such an amazing experience for me. I'm not as shy anymore. Here I can display my artwork for people to just drop in and a lot of people do. It's a nice, cozy area. All it needs now is a coffee shop in the corner."
Her exhibition is called Norval in tribute to that great master she looked to for direction. And she need not be concerned about fears of copying or over-borrowing from his imagery. Joseph shines through these original works much more than the spirit of Morrisseau.
The public gets its first look on Thursday night at the Studio 2880 feature gallery (located at 2880 15th Ave.). Redpath said they expect a crowd.
"Carla has made a big impact on the community. She's done some things people have really responded to, so we know there will be a lot of support for her."
There will be an opening reception with refreshments, an artist's talk by Joseph, and time to look over all the paintings selected for the show.
The show runs until May 8.
