A celebration of two artists' differing styles and their relationship comes to Parkside Art Gallery this July.
Titled Pampered Pencil Art and the Magic of Paper, the show features the works of husband and wife duo Bryan Austerberry and Siana Kelly. The Sulphurous Lake couple have been together for close to two decades, but this marks the first time they've done an art show together. Austerberry noted he has organized several art shows this year and originally planned to do a solo show at Parkside.
"I had already proposed basically to do a show this year, which I haven't done (in 100 Mile House) for a number of years. I said to Siana 'why don't you put some of your work in there too?'" Austerberry explained. "We talked about it for a little while and then I phoned Parkside and said we'd like to do it together. She deserves to be there."
When he first came to her with the idea, Kelly said she was reluctant at first, in part because of how long it takes to do quilling, her chosen art form. She explained he kept encouraging her and eventually she agreed to give it a try.
"I'm always with him, whether I'm showing or not, no matter what he's doing," Kelly said. "I'm always part of the show, so this is going to be even more joined. It's going to be interesting because it's not a competition. Our work is different, similar because it's very detailed, but it's different. It's going to be a lot of fun."
Austerberry is a graphite pencil artist by trade from Hamilton, Ontario, who spent most of his professional life honing his art skills, designing ads for newspapers, logos for businesses and art for billboards. He credits his parents for supporting and encouraging his artistic ambitions from a young age. Even after decades of drawing by hand, Austerberry said it's still something he loves to do every day.
"It's like meditating, you know, it brings you down a few notches," Austerberry remarked.
Kelly, meanwhile, is originally from Montreal and has dabbled in arts and crafts as a hobby for most of her life. She said that she began to get into art more seriously after moving to Vancouver Island in 2001, where she learned the art of Saori weaving from her neighbour, Kim Cowley Adams. After only a few months, her work was included in an exhibition at the Nanaimo Art Gallery.
Fibre arts tends to be Kelly's main focus, but she noted she enjoys experimenting with different art forms as she discovers them. One of her chosen crafts is hand-embroidering cards for family and friends, which she undertook after receiving one herself.
"I'm in technicolour and Bryan is in black and white. I do fibre arts and quilling," Kelly said. "I've been doing quilling for two years and the rest of the stuff all my life. My dad was an ink artist, so I sort of picked that up. I'm the only one in the family that got into art."
The couple first met via an online dating website in 2006. Austerberry said that after the death of his first wife, he was looking for companionship and came across Kelly's profile. He sent her a message, and Kelly saw it as she happene to be online to close her account.
With a smile, Kelly said she chose to respond to him because she thought he was going to get "eaten alive" online because he was just too honest on his profile. She told him she was looking for someone on Vancouver Island, but Austerberry, who was living in Lower Mainland at the time, told her he wasn't a world away and just "across the pond."
Austerberry said for their first date, he took her up to Sulphurous Lake and they had a great weekend together. They kept visiting for several weeks until, in 2007, they moved in together full time and later married. As fellow artists, Austerberry said they support one another but also give each other the space to work on their respective projects.
"It works out perfectly because she's in her area and I'm in my area. We don't argue much," Austerberry chuckled. "Then we see each other at dinner."
For the show, Austerberry is bringing 27 different pieces of his signature pencil art, all in black and white. By contrast, Kelly is bringing 12 examples of her colourful and vibrant quilling pieces. Quilling is an art form where the artist cuts and rolls pieces of coloured paper and glues them together into an intricate design. Kelly said quilling has been one of her main focuses as an artist over the last two years.
"There will be pieces of the quilling in my show that haven't been seen before. I've kept them hidden just for the show," Kelly remarked. "I think what's sort of unique about this show is we're a couple and we're both artists in our own way. People will realize, this can happen. It can be magical."
Austerberry noted he thinks their two art styles will contrast quite nicely together.
"It's going to be wonderful. Her stuff is so beautiful and vibrant in colour it's going to make mine look pretty sad," Austerberry laughed.
Pampered Pencil Art and the Magic of Paper is on display from Friday, June 27, to Thursday, July 19, during the gallery's regular business hours. There will be an opening on Saturday, June 28, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that Austerberry and Kelly will be present for.
