27 Feb – 28 May 2024
GVPL sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay
385 Menzies Street, Victoria, BC
MTWThFS 10am-6pm
Marvellous was born in Chilliwack, BC, on January 12, 1941. She has been painting since 2019 and discovered acrylic painting at the beginning of the 2020 isolation, when she was 79 and forced to spend many long hours alone.
Her work premiered December 2019 as part of a Victoria Arts Council group show, with the painting title, Under the Influence of Sobriety, and sold promptly.
Her work has also been purchased by a number of private collectors. A poem and the painting, Spirits Must be Seen and Heard, depicting residential school children, is featured on the CreativeUnited.org community hub.
In her late forties she discovered by accident her own Native heritage while doing a practicum at an all Native treatment Centre in Williams Lake, BC.
Marvelous feels emotionally invested in painting Metis art – it is at the centre of her identity. Marvelous’ paintings are focused on her ancestral heritage, especially women, and particularly the red dress, signifying the Trail of Tears. She can still feel her mother’s cry to be seen and heard and accepted into society as an equal. She has compassion for the mistreatment of First Nations and Metis women by the churches and government, including the creation and operation of residential schools.
Marvelous’ artistic excitement also lies in finding other artists who discover their creative passion at an older age. Children’s art also inspired her because their talent is inborn – qualities that are part of one’s inner essential nature.
