Merritt News
March 4, 2011
Robin Poon
News Reporter
Although they became art lovers independently, the ladies of PRISM (Painting Really Inspires Something Magical) find that painting is at its most inspiring when they are together.
PRISM is an artist collective made up of Merritt women Wendy Eeckhout, Jean Kiegerl, and Shirley Reynolds. The group’s first exhibition together opens at the Olde Courthouse Arts Centre Friday and runs until the end of the month.
PRISM’s members say that painting together has greatly improved the quality and quantity of their work.
“Our relationship is synergistic. Two of us is good. Three of us is terrific. The energy level goes way up,” says Kiegerl.
PRISM started meeting in November 2009. Its members get together to paint at least once a week and often more frequently than that, Kiegerl explains.
“Tuesdays are PRISM days. We jab and paint all afternoon and into the evening.”
Each of the group’s artists hosts the others at her home on a rotating basis on Tuesdays, which the members keep open for painting as much as possible. Kiegerl says the members’ husbands, having seen their passion and ability grow since starting PRISM, do their best to stay out of the way when the women paint.
“They are very supportive about making sure they don’t interrupt the Tuesdays.”
Having a set day and painting companions keeps the artists both motivated and organized, says Kiegerl. “You kind of have to have your reference materials together.”
Any other chances to meet are seized upon as well, Kiegerl adds. She recalls house sitting at a home on the B.C. coast with Eeckhout and Reynolds and painting throughout their weeklong stay. “We get a lot done that way. When the three of us get together, we’re completely different people.”
Asked if PRISM’s painters have influenced the others’ styles, Kiegerl says, “We thought that it might happen, but we have our individual styles and where we help each other more…is in artistic technicalities.”
Eeckhout agrees. She notes that Reynolds’s work is often very colourful and that Reynolds often takes a more abstract approach to subjects. “Jean, I think, enjoys something more realistic, and I think I’m somewhere in between,” says Eeckhout.
Nevertheless, she says that Reynolds and Kiegerl have been helpful in critiquing her work and giving advice on techniques, especially since Eeckhout only recently returned to painting as a pastime.
“There’s a lot of transferable stuff that we can share.”
Kiegerl says topics of discussion frequently include the use of colours and the composition of paintings.
For the last few weeks, PRISM has worked to prepare between 75 and 100 paintings for their first exhibition. Much of the excitement comes from seeing work framed and lit for the first time, says Eeckhout.
Reynolds says the group hoped to provide a viewing experience similar to what one would find at a major art exhibit.
“We wanted to bring the gallery to a whole new level.”
With that in mind, PRISM looks forward to participating in the Lake Country ArtWalk, a massive outdoor art show in the Okanagan, this August.
