A small sign painted on the front window of Rosemary Wallace’s Freedom Arts Collective gallery reads “Creativity, Care and Community.”
For Wallace, an artist, Langley board of education trustee and mother of seven grown children these are words to live by.
“Art is for everybody,” she says, removing a pair of small paintings from the seats of two chairs, opening up a place to sit and chat inside her crowded gallery.
“We’re vessels. Art comes through us and we share it.”
For two years, Wallace managed the Langley Arts Council gallery when it was located on the Fraser Highway one-way, but the painter realized her dream of running her own gallery last August, when she took over the space formerly occupied by ABC Fine Arts.
Since then, she has filled the small gallery with an eclectic mix of canvases, clay, glass and wood, photos and jewelry — all of it created by Wallace and other (mostly) local artists. And all of it is available for the public to appreciate as part of her current exhibit, titled Earth, Wind and Water.
She chose the title for the show, which is comprised of about 100 separate pieces by 28 artists, to reflect the overriding themes of the pieces in the display.
Many of the paintings depict various elements of nature — whether through representative or impressionistic styles.
“You can see the wind,” says Wallace, pointing to one painting of a meadow, its tall blades of grass bending against an invisible force.
“And water is such an essential part to nurturing everything — it makes everything grow.”
Although her gallery is still in its infancy, there are a handful of artists whose work always hangs on the walls or covers the shelves.
Wallace is hoping to develop the space into a true collective, where artists can nurture one another’s creativity.
In fact, the next exhibit will be titled Women and Nurturing.
“The exhibit will showcase women in their capacity for showing compassion, understanding and giving through the nurturing of other (people) animals and the world in which they work and live,” said Wallace.
The Earth, Wind and Water exhibit will be on display until Friday, May 1.
An artists reception will be held on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Freedom Arts Collective is located at 20573 Fraser Hwy.