Celebrating Community Creativity! - Nanaimo Arts Council

Patricia Mansell
Patricia took up
painting in 1994
and was drawn to
painting wildlife.
Learning and developing
her style
has taken her
across N orth
America to find
new subjects to
paint. She brings
depth and detail to
her acrylic paintings,
and enjoys
the process of
mixing from a very
limited palette of
four main colours.
SEPTEMBER’S
FEATURE ARTIST
She has a special interest in painting endangered
wildlife. Often something unique about the animal will inspire
a painting. She develops her paintings from research and
photographing animals in the wild and enjoys bringing out
each animal’s character.
Patricia was Ducks Unlimited Sponsor Print Artist for
Alberta in 2011 and is a Signature Member of Artists for Conservation.
“One of the strengths of wildlife art is its ability tell
stories. In my paintings I try to bring out the individuality of
each animal as it goes about its everyday life. I portray many
endangered animals, hoping that bringing them to life in my
art will raise awareness of how close we are to losing them.”
Patricia and her husband, Paul, moved to Edmonton,
Alberta from England in 1981. They raised their two daughters
there and in 1990 moved to Leduc, Alberta (just South of
Edmonton). They stayed there until October 2011 when they
moved to Nanaimo. They have always enjoyed visiting Vancouver
Island and when the opportunity came up for her husband
to move here with his job they jumped at the
chance. Patricia likes the relaxed Island lifestyle here and
being back by the ocean, as she has not had this since leaving
England. “Nanaimo is a great mix of city convenience along
with amazing parks and trails and, of course, the wonderful
ocean and harbour life – it has a lot to offer. “
Patricia joined Nanaimo Arts Council as soon as she
moved here and signed up to be a volunteer. “As a NAC member
I have been able to meet many other artists with interests
similar to mine. I have appreciated the opportunity of being
able to show works in venues around Nanaimo such as the
Port Theatre and Lighthouse Bistro. Organizations such as the
NAC are invaluable in their support of all forms of art and culture.”
http://patriciamansell.ca/
4
CULTURE DAYS 2012
Culture Days is a collaborative Canada-wide volunteer
movement to raise the awareness, accessibility,
participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts
and cultural life of their communities. This is the third year
for this rapidly growing event and NAC is pleased to partner
with the Nanaimo African Heritage Society in hosting a
Culture Days event this year.
The 2012 Culture Days Weekend is taking place
September 28, 29, 30 across Canada and Nanaimo’s
“Artes de Carnavale” will be taking place on Sunday, September
30 in Diana Krall Plaza from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm
This coincides with a large cruise ship being in town -
bonus!
The Carnavale theme is one of opulence and the
French Renaissance. There will be period costumes and
an amazing fashion show as well as live music, food,
dance performances, street performers, face painting,
artisans and this is where NAC comes in - a Visual Art Exhibition
and artists working on site. This is a wonderful opportunity
to promote the arts, NAC and our members to an
audience that we don’t ordinarily reach.
NAC members are invited to exhibit their visual
art with a west coast theme for sale (space is limited so
size and number of pieces will be limited) and we are hoping
that many of our members will take the opportunity to
create on site. Entry forms are available in the Gallery or
online and if you wish to create on site, please let the
Manager know as soon as possible so she can schedule
people throughout the day.
NAC will also be hosting a “People’s Paint In”
where the public is invited to paint their own creation to
take home.
NAC is also coordinating all of the visual art exhibits
so if you are a group or an individual who would like to
book a spot , please contact NAC.
If you are an entertainer, musician, dancer, artisan,
street performer or artist of the non-visual kind and
would like to participate contact Shalema Gantt at 250-
729-9332 or info@nanaimoafricanheritagesociety.com.
If you would like to help organize this event and/
or help on the day, please contact the Manager at 250-
729- 3 9 4 7 o r