Watermarks is an exhibition that will be held at the Deer Lake Art Gallery featuring the works of Amelia Alcock-White, Michael Abelman, & Graham Coulthard, and is hosted and organized by the Burnaby Arts Council. The exhibition will open Saturday, September 22, 2018 and will run until October 20, 2018.

Watermarks is a visually immersive experience of various perspectives of aquatic scenes of Coastal British Columbia. The exhibition serves as a positive platform for learning about the environment, engaging the community, and offers an empowering atmosphere to respect what we have and remind us of the need to protect it for future generations.

Michael Abelman’s impressionist inspired landscapes explore the incredible beauty of Vancouver’s mountains and sea. Abelman’s interest in particular are the various ships that arrive and depart daily in ever increasing numbers, from the large cruise ships that drive tourism, to the ferries that move us around the province, and the cargo ships that service our rapidly expanding population. I find the slow movement of the huge ships a fascinating juxtaposition to the lightning fast speed of modern technology.

Graham Coulthard’s paintings are inspired from an experience hiking the West Coast trail. The trail’s wild and protected 75 km spans is only accessed by hiking - therefore the beauty of this landscape is only seen by the very few. Which is why I wish to bring this coastlines' beauty to the general public. Coulthard’s works explore his fascination with painting from real-life and how it relates to his or her environment. The cohesive impressionistic theme of these paintings depict the west coast of Vancouver Island at low tide - how the sea carves out the land and leaves behind an immeasurable beauty.

Amelia Alcock-White’s work addresses the on-going debate surrounding the use of our coastal waterways. It explores how a single event can manifest multiple futures, some potentially destructive. What is beautiful and what is economically expedient are often two divergent paths. By highlighting the reflections and irregular ellipses of flattened colour, abstract patterns and highlighted surface reflections on a body of water Alcock-White attempts to evoke a reverence for the mystery and importance of water, our natural world, its fragility and precariousness.