by Ronda Payne
As part of her upcoming exhibit at the Fort Gallery, Langley artist, Nikol Haskova is planning to involve the community in raising much needed funds for Langley Fine Arts School.
Her son attends the local school and last year, during the teachers’ strike, she wondered what she could do to help raise funds for the school.
“They [the school] just do so much for the community,” Haskova said.
She sold limited edition canvases at $10 each and bought speakers, stencils, a brain model, and cognitive puzzles for different classrooms.
It got her thinking of larger projects.
“If I can do that, what can I do that would be huge?” She asked. “Since I have a three week show, why not do something for the community?”
The three week show is called Destination Right Here and it runs at the Fort Gallery until Sept. 13. The name of the exhibit is about Haskova wanting to spend time in her community and work here after having art shows across North America during the past 10 years.
It’s her first show in Langley and to give back to her community she has a number of events planned including the opening reception on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m., a private yoga event, and the big canvas.
Taking a cue from the limited edition canvases she sold last year, visitors to the Fort Gallery on Sunday, Sept. 6 can donate to apply their own paint strokes to the large canvas.
“Hopefully if the weather holds up, we’ll set it outside with buckets of paint,” Haskova said.
Haskova plans to auction the painting off, after she adds to it to bring the work together in one cohesive piece.
She asked the principal at Langley Fine Arts what was needed and found that the Mary Pratt Gallery at the school will need lighting once other repairs are made. The hope is that through auctioning off the painting donations will cover the costs.
The Fort Gallery is open Wednesdays to Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. at 9048 Glover Rd.