December 15, 2011 Volume 10 • Number 50 50¢ Newsstand Price
downtown
INSIDe
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Give the gift of perpituity – page 2
also
Baking into the New Year – page 5
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From back alley art to Christmas scenes For the last few weeks Kamloops painter and artist Ken Wells could be found throughout the city, hard at work, painting little green elves and big old Santas on store windows. Helping merchants to spread a little holiday joy, Ken happily uses his talents to create festive winter scenes to entice shoppers and make kids smile with anticipation for the big day. The thing about Ken is he’s more than elves and Santas, Ken is one of the most interesting artists in our city and one of the most modest ones. He is definitely one of a kind. “I’ve always been a painter,� explains Ken. “I come from a family of artists. My mom and granddad were both artists. I earned my journeyman painter ticket from the London City and Guilds.� This is where his modesty comes into play. Ken is definitely not just a painter, he is an artist. When he is not painting store windows he is creating – creating art. He is the artist responsible for the three new murals in the alley of the 200 block of Victoria Street. His rendition of the Italian Villa on the outside back wall of 257 Victoria gets acclaim from each and every person who walks past it. And when he is not in the midst
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Ken Wells working on some happy penguins at Kamloops Insurance in Lansdowne Village recently.
of a mural project he can usually be found helping his lovely wife Shirley with her plant and flower business at home on their river property, where they built by hand their sustainable straw bail rancher. “We built the house six years ago ourselves,� continues Ken. “But if I hear one more joke about
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the three little pigs‌� And when he is not at his sustainable self-built house or painting murals he can usually be found in Vancouver or other locales working as a scenic artist on the set of some big name movie. Ken has worked in the movie industry for over two decades with his latest work being
on the biggest box office draw of the year; the Twilight Series: Breaking Dawn. “I always had to try and figure out what the TSBD on my cheques stood for,� laughs Ken. “I never could remember what the series was called. I’ve never seen any of the movies. I was a scenic artist for them in Vancouver. I painted a big fake rock face to look like the Chief [in Squamish] that they could use when one of the characters was hanging off it. It had to look exact as it was placed in a lot with the Chief behind it so they needed to look like the same rock face.� In addition to Twilight, Ken has worked for more than 50 feature films such as the Scary Movie series and Jumanji as well as at least 50 movies for TV. When living in the fast lane became a drag, Ken and his wife Shirley packed up and finally settled their life here in Kamloops. That’s Ken Wells and he is the epitome of what it means to be a Kamloops artist. He is hardworking, creative and chose to live in Kamloops because it is the kind of community that he can call home! Ken Wells can be reached at www.mercuryminc. net or 250-574-7112. Tanya Orozco, freelance
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