The West End Gallery launches a golden debut in 2022 with a mixed media artist using metallic foil, enamels and resin.

David Graff’s circuitous but creative journey began with a budding career as a singer/songwriter, including a stint as a writer/recording artist in Los Angeles in the late 80s.

The urge to expand into the visual arts led to his own faux-finishing business in 1994 which found success with sought-after work on high-end residential and commercial projects in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Hong Kong and China. His work on the lobby of the Wilshire Grand in Los Angeles won an Interior Design Institute Award in 2001.

In 2002, Graff began his golden series of paintings and three-dimensional works applying many of the processes and techniques used for large-scale installations on walls, floors and ceilings on canvas and wood panels. The combination of metallic leaves, colored enamels and high-gloss resin allowed him to be quickly represented by numerous galleries in Canada and the United States. Graff’s work is held in private and corporate collections around the world and can be seen in films, TV shows and magazines. Find his work locally at the West End Gallery in Victoria.

Visit westendgalleryltd.com to learn more.

Madrona Gallery presents its fifth year of Pulp and Process this month.

The group exhibition features artists from across Canada working in drawing, watercolour, pastel, photography and collage to showcase the diversity of paper as a medium. Featured artists include Luke Ramsey, Meghan Hildebrand, David Ellingsen, Hashim Hannoon, Harry Stanbridge and Megan Dietrich.

For more exhibition details and times, visit madronagallery.com.

The Avenue Gallery kicks off the year with star artist Marianne Meyer until January 12.

Meyer’s work is constantly evolving, she says, which gives her the pleasure of experimenting and moving forward.

“I work and rework my paintings until I reach the point where I feel they express just the right amount of layering, structure and depth. The final color constellations invite the viewer to find their own personal experience of my pieces,” she said. “I believe that’s what art should do.”

An exhibition featuring Linda Wilder follows, from January 13 to 20.

With intuitive energy and the use of bold strokes, light and texture, Wilder strives to capture the mood and emotion of her surroundings. His paintings appear vividly representational, but on closer inspection one can see the intimate nuances and abstract tendencies that elevate and enrich his work.

Glassblower Lisa Samphire will also be on display.

Samphire has produced a diverse body of work over 35 years, including private and public, sculptural and functional pieces.

“Glass is the medium I have chosen to express and explore my interests in creating art. It is the resolution of interrelated aesthetic and technical issues that makes glass an exciting and challenging medium in which to work,” Samphire said. .

In 2008, she had four pieces acquired by the federal government of Canada for its visual arts collection. The following year, his work was selected to represent Canada at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea. Samphire has been recognized and applauded for her work, receiving numerous scholarships, teaching appointments and commissions.

Visit theavenuegallery.com for details.

The Chapel Gallery presents Once for a While, the works of Chrystal Phan, in its first solo exhibition from January 21 to February 6, with an artist talk scheduled for January 21 at 5:30 p.m.

Phan is a storyteller. Her paintings document aspects of the Canadian-Vietnamese immigration experience and the stories she tells through her work are based on versions heard by family and friends, embellished by her own imagination.

In this showcase, she arranges her cast of characters on canvases as large as six by eight feet. The actors are captured in everyday scenarios such as camping, biking, and sharing food.

Each of the paintings tells a bittersweet story about the challenges of assimilating into Canadian culture. The campsite, for example, recalls the story of a Vietnamese family taking a fryer on an adventure in the great outdoors.

Visit the Chapel Gallery, 600 Richmond Ave. or learn more online at artopenings.ca.

Provincial COVID-19 sanitary measures are in effect in all galleries.

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Artsoak bay Saanich