21 October 2022 – 13 January 2023
Victoria International Airport
1640 Electra Boulevard, Sidney BC, V8L 5V4
Daily, 3:30am – 1:30am
The venue at the Victoria International Airport is the café area before security.
The birth of “Green Earth Art Studio”
Art has been a favorite subject of mine since high school, but it was not my only passion. The lure of other knowledge and other activities, the desire to see what was over the next horizon, was irresistible and captured my imagination for many years.
After graduation from the University of Alberta Medical School in 1960, at age twenty two, my multi-faceted career had kept me too busy to engage in what had always been one of my favorite activities. What kept me busy all that time was: Forty five years a family physician/GP Surgeon, twelve years MP for Athabasca, forty five years real estate development and construction. During my teen years and early twenties I worked as a farmer and Cowboy herding cattle, as well as land surveyor, mostly on highway construction. While at U of A, I was active in wrestling and held the western Canadian intercollegiate middle weight championship for four years, which earned me membership in the U of A’s Athletic Block A club..
On retirement from medical practice in 1999, the door was flung open to pursue art, one of the most creatively satisfying activities ever invented. I knew I could not compete with the great masters; so I decided to invent a new style of art that, to the best of my knowledge, no one else is doing. Rightly or wrongly, I deliberately avoided art school so as not to suppress innate creative instinct, if any existed.. Instead I chose the school of hard knocks, and apprenticed from there!
The art is 3 dimensional, in a rustic motif and made entirely of recycled materials such as: plywood, door parts, hard board, saw dust, sander dust, house paint and any flat materials. Picture frames are made from lumber from crates, palettes, fence boards etc. Before use the material is cleaned and re-milled as necessary. All of these materials would normally end up in a land fill, but instead are recycled into fine Art. Hence the name “Green Earth Art Studio.”
When I start a piece, I usually have no idea what it will be, but as the paint begins to flow and the scene begins to take shape. I have to admit though, that sometimes when it’s finished, I still have no idea what it is, but that doesn’t happen very often..
The Art reflects the prairies, the Alberta foothills, the mountains of BC and the west coast. Usually a memory of somewhere I’ve been or someplace I’ve seen, along the highway of life, becomes the finished work.
Initially the purpose of the art was to decorate our family home, but now there are about 400 pieces and no more wall space. So now I’ve decided to share it with other folks and hope that others can enjoy viewing the works as much as I enjoyed painting them.
– Paul Yewchuk
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Biography
Paul Yewchuk is the son of immigrant pioneer Alberta homesteaders. One of his careers was residential construction which, on retirement, resulted in a mass of left-over materials. Naturally, in his current occupation as an Artist, his work consists primarily of paintings depicting a “Rustic Rural” reflection of where he grew up and lived.
The paintings are composed entirely of recycled left-over construction materials. Indoor and outdoor house paint and stains are processed and applied to a variety of flat materials. Various woods are re-milled for onsite manufacture and installation of picture frames.
Paul has developed a unique, non-traditional style of Art that presents dramatic three dimensional depictions of Western Canada’s prairies, mountain regions and the west coast.
He is a member of the Alberta Gallery of Art and has joined the Victoria Coast collective in 2014!
Painting and woodworking have been his prime occupation for the passed 3 years. The work is ongoing, but to-date about 400 works have been produced and are available to the public.
Contact: Paul Yewchuk at pauly@shaw.ca
