Lorene Runham will be the featured artist at the Olds Art Club's semi-annual show and sale, taking place on November 2 and 3.
Runham will collaborate on the show, entitled CottonwoodSky, with Theresa Potter. The pair of artists teamed up in the spring, with Potter being the featured artist and Runham playing a supportive role. This time however, both artists will feature pieces the public has yet to see. Runham said the two artists complement each other well, each taking inspiration from the rural Alberta landscape.
“Our goal and our hope is that this show will travel rural Alberta in the next few years,” she said.
While Runham creates art in a variety of media such as pastel, watercolour and acrylic, her favourite medium is collage.
“I think because paper is very tactile and I love the feel of it. I basically paint with paper. I really have a love for the paper, cutting it and tearing it,” she said.
Runham creates many of her pieces by painting different types of paper and then crumpling or tearing it and gluing it to the canvas, sometimes adding more paper onto an existing piece she's already started.
“The beauty of it and the reason I like it so much is that I can just physically place the papers (on the canvas) and if one of them doesn't work I can just remove it. I haven't committed to any paint, glue or anything, whereas when you're painting if you put a brush to it, now you've committed,” she said.
Runham has always been influenced by the Impressionists. While on a trip a few years ago in Europe, she saw original works by Vincent van Gogh and was struck by their texture.
“You see pictures of van Gogh's work all over and you can see there's thick paint on there, but until you see the original, how thick that paint is and how deep the grooves are in the paint, it's just amazing. Every stroke is beautiful,” she said.
Runham's art has evolved over the years since she graduated from the art and design program at Red Deer College in 1976. At that time, her art was about black and white realism. Now her art is filled with bold, vibrant colours with impressionistic overtones.
She has been a member of the Olds Art Club for 18 years.
The show will take place at the Bell e-Learning Centre from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 2 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 3.
