Stephen Cole Fine Art

Christmas is a lot of things to a lot of people, from deeply religious to woohoo Santa’s coming or a word not to be said. A day of extreme joy and sorrow. For me I see a day that brings peace to nations, friends and families together and friendly greetings to strangers. I watch my adult children with my grand kids and remember Christmas with my parents. I remember the love and excitement in the eyes of Mom and Dad when my sister and I would open our gifts from Santa. Whatever Christmas is to you, I hope it brings love, peace, joy and inspiration to you all. I know I have never felt more connected to people around the world than I have this year. Bring on the magic. Merry Christmas

My sculpture Eclipse was accepted as part of the Bella show and is currently at the Federation Gallery in Vancouver. It opened on the 17th and is on till the 29th and its about the celebration of beauty and the beauty of all things. We can certainly use some beauty right now. If you can’t get to the gallery, there is an online version of the show. https://federationgallery.com/show/bella/0

As I sit here looking at a large empty plinth, I feel the loss of a joyful presence that the resident of that plinth brought to our gallery. Playmates (two seals) has started their long journey to a new home in Australia. Playmates has graced our gallery with their presence for a while now. They brought a lot of joy and great memories especially seeing my granddaughter pet them every time she visited. The wonderful part of selling from your studio is that sense of connection ...that grows quickly between myself and the collector of the piece. Now I look at that empty plinth and see the thoughtful faces, recall hands gently sliding over the piece as they are getting to know it. Big smiles and happiness. All kinds of comments, some playful some more serious. One of my favourite when I buy art I feel like a grownup . All this leaves me feeling blessed to be an artist. It is such an honour for me to have something that I have created be given a place in an other persons life.

Last week of the Mindscapes show at Ladysmith Art Council Online Gallery https://www.ladysmitharts.ca/online-gallery-2.

The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) has juried sculptures as well as paintings in this month’s Shape and Form show. My sculpture Phoenix, is part of the online gallery and it runs Oct 19-Nov 1. They have a physical exhibition at their Vancouver Gallery. Explore the Exhibition with the link below. https://federationgallery.com/show/shape_form

Saturday at the Rising Stone studio. We are open 10-5 today and 10-3 tomorrow. Open by appointment Monday. Hope to see you and have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

The studio will be open 10-5 Saturday and 10-3 Sunday this weekend. If you would like to come by Thanksgiving Monday or have a private viewing at another time, please send a message and we can make it happen. Only a few people at a time in the studio but there will be art outside too. Please wear a mask while inside the studio. Stay safe and happy this Thanksgiving.