JIM KALNIN TEN THOUSAND THINGS
TEN THOUSAND THINGS
JIM KALNIN
Vernon Public Art Gallery
MAY 25 - JULY 12, 2023
Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon, British Columbia, V1T 2H3, Canada May 25 - July 12, 2023
Production: Vernon Public Art Gallery
Editor: Lubos Culen
Layout and graphic design: Vernon Public Art Gallery
Front cover: Mexican Soliloquy, 2023, oil on canvas, 38 x 42 in Printing: Get Colour Copies, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada
ISBN 978-1-927407-78-3
Copyright © 2023 Vernon Public Art Gallery
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Requests for permission to use these images should be addressed in writing to the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3, Canada. Telephone: 250.545.3173 , website: www.vernonpublicartgallery.com
The Vernon Public Art Gallery is a registered not-for-profit society. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee/RDNO, the Province of BC’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, British Columbia Arts Council, the Government of Canada, corporate donors, sponsors, general donations and memberships. Charitable Organization # 108113358RR.
This exhibition is sponsored in part by:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Executive Director’s Foreword · Dauna Kennedy
3 Ten Thousand Things - Introduction · Lubos Culen
4 Jim Kalnin: Bio
5 Jim Kalnin: Artist Statement
7 Works in the Exhibition
36 Curriculum Vitae
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD
It is with great pleasure that we are presenting the exhibition Ten Thousand Things by wellknown Lake Country artist Jim Kalnin. This influential artist’s career highlights include a 30-year career teaching drawing and painting at the University of British Columbia while also sharing his talent with multiple other Okanagan-based artists. The focus of his work has been on the environment and protection of ecosystems as well as ontology and the human existence.
Thank you to Lubos Culen, Curator at the Vernon Public Art Gallery for his contributions to this publication and exhibition. I’d like to also thank our staff for their combined contributions and our funders the Province of BC, Regional District of the North Okanagan and the BC Arts Council whose support makes this all possible.
See you at the Gallery!
Dauna Kennedy Executive DirectorVernon Public Art Gallery
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JIM KALNIN: TEN THOUSAND THINGS - INTRODUCTION
Jim Kalnin’s artwork is both thought-provoking and visually captivating. He is using his artistic talent to convey important messages about the environment and humanity’s impact on it. By incorporating surrealist settings and other elements, he adds a layer of depth to his work. The works encourages the viewer to consider not only the physical world, but also the spiritual, metaphysical and philosophical implications of our and planet Earth’ existence.
Kalnin’s exhibition is grounded in a keen observation of reality, highlighting the disproportion between humanity and the world we inhabit. He is drawing attention to the pressing issues of climate change, deforestation, water pollution, and the extinction of species. By juxtaposing images of animals, fish, and humans in surreal places, he creates a vivid and compelling narrative that invites the viewer to contemplate the interconnectedness of all things.
The fluid and animated nature of his images suggests movement and change, echoing the dynamic nature of the environment and the urgent need for action. The suggested houselike structures that are often in motion may represent the fragility of our own homes and habitats and the need to protect them.
Jim Kalnin’s artwork is both aesthetically stunning and deeply meaningful, urging us to consider our place in the world and our responsibility to preserve and protect it.
Lubos Culen Curator Vernon Public Art Gallery3
JIM KALNIN BIO
Jim Kalnin was born in Pine Falls Manitoba in 1942, and spent his early years on a small farm near Lac du Bonnet, followed by several years in a company town (Point de Bois) on the Winnipeg River. The next stop was the end of a three day train ride in Victoria BC where his grade eight classroom held as many people as the town he and his family had just left.
Once the agony of high school passed, Jim enrolled in the Vancouver School of Art (later to become Emily Carr College of Art and Design.) His five years of art school opened many creative doors including film animation — mostly on inventive projects sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada. These led to teaching animation at the Vancouver School of Art and at Kingait, a.k.a. Cape Dorset NWT.
Travelling to new places soon became an addiction, with extended low-budget expeditions across Canada, to Central and South America and to Southeast Asia.
Wind blown, he settled first in his old haunt near Nanaimo and then in the Okanagan Valley. After living for several years in a tiny community above Okanagan Lake, Jim went back to teaching art at Okanagan College which ultimately turned into a full time position at UBCO.
His bachelorhood also changed into the joys of family life when he met Lois Huey-Heck and her son Bryan. They became a family and settled in Oyama in 1990.
Only after retiring from teaching did Jim’s ‘travel bug’ come back to life. He and Lois kicked off a freer and easier life with an extended tour of southern Mexico (which they laughingly referred to as their first ‘geezers with back packs adventure’). That led to a number of winter sojourns, mostly staying in the same 500 year old Casa in the same town, Patzcuaro in the highlands of Michoacan. These sojourns gave them both the opportunity to focus on their art for extended periods most years from 2010-2020.
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TEN THOUSAND THINGS - ARTIST STATEMENT
The paintings in this exhibition have all been made in the past three months. A phone call from Lubos Culen at that time, changed my life quite drastically.
The call came shortly after I had looked at my empty painting station and wondered if I was actually done as an artist. It turned out that I was not! Moments of worry, times of exhaustion swept by, as my physical and mental ‘painting gears’ got into shape again.
“I’m exhausted,” I would complain to my wife, Lois.
“You are more alive now than I’ve seen you in years,” she would answer.
And so I continued.
The title is borrowed from Chuang Tzu’s ancient Chinese description of the physical world. It was a useful metaphor long ago and can still apply today, despite the fact that we have managed to inflate the place of the human in the world out of all proportion.
This body of work is mainly based on various personal responses to the present state of the world. Losing much of the world’s forests, its fresh water, their inhabitant species, war, disparity, peace, tranquillity and other aspects of life, these things are in my mind daily. So they are also in my art. Yet despite the concerns I have for the world, these are also joyful paintings.
That’s because, in spite of it all, the world is still joyful for me.
The ten thousand joys and the ten thousand sorrows dance around each other.
Jim Kalnin Oyama, 1 May 20235
WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION
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Birds and Buildings, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Fish and Ladder, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Imballancing Act, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Las Ruinas, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Mas Ruinas, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Palace of Dreams, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Animals at Sacred Site, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Dharma Dream, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Drawn to Light, 2023, oil on canvas, 42 x 50 in
Forest Burning, 2023, oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in
Animals and Buildings, 2023, oil on canvas, 38 x 42 in
Cradle, 2017 - 2023, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in
Interesting Times, 2015 - 2023, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in
Mexican Soliloquy, 2023, oil on canvas, 38 x 42 in
JIM KALNIN - CURRICULUM VITAE
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022 We Meet Again, Lake Country Art Gallery, Lake Country BC
2017 (circa) Wild Men, Lake Country Art Gallery, Lake Country BC
2016 Farewell Show, Naramata Centre, Naramata BC
2013 Okanagan Artists in Their Studios, Penticton Art gallery, Penticton, BC
2012 Intrinsic Habitat, Solo Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
Personal Topographies, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
2011 Terroir, Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton BC
Pulse, Solo Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery Airport Satellite Gallery, Kelowna BC
Okanagan Eyes, Okanagan Wise, Okanagan-ise Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
2010 Not Far From the Tree, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
One Planet, Solo Exhibition, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon BC
2009 Boundaries, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
2006 Summer Exhibition, Headbones-The Drawers, Toronto, Ont
Hourglass Exchange UBCO Faculty Exhibit, Sydney Aus
2005 Inaugural Exhibit, Headbones-The Drawers, Toronto Ont
Oasis, Group Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
Inspired by the Land, Group Exhibit, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
2004 Landscape & Memory, Group Exhibit Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton BC
2003 Drawings, Group Exhibit, Art Ark Gallery, Kelowna BC
Landscape & Memory, Group Exhibit, Triangle Gallery, Calgary AB
Landscape & Memory, Group Exhibit, Art Ark Gallery, Kelowna BC
Old Guard, New Guard, Group Exhibit, Art Ark Gallery, Kelowna BC
Defining Abstraction, Group Exhibit, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
2002 Allegories of Transformation & Wonderment, Collaboration with Doug Biden, Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton BC
Dog Pond Dancing, Solo Exhibit, Grand Forks Art Gallery, Grand Forks BC
2001 Dog Pond Dancing, Solo Exhibit, School House Gallery, Qualicum BC
Stream, Solo Exhibition, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
Artropolis 2001, Group Exhibit, Vancouver BC
2000 Return of the Metaforest, Group Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
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1999 The Lake, Invitational Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
1998 Huey-Heck & Kalnin, 2-person Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
1997 New Paintings, Solo Exhibition, Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton BC
1996 Land Payssages, Group Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
Collaborations, Group Exhibit, SKOL Gallery, Montreal PQ
1995 Okanagan Series, Solo Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
Re-Creation, Collaborative Installation with Lois Huey-Heck & Byron Johnston, grunt gallery, Vancouver BC
1994 The Id, The Ego & The OAA, Group Exhibit, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna BC
1993 Artropolis 93, Group Exhibit, Vancouver BC
Earthlines, Deadlines, Lifelines, Group Touring Exhibit, Neutral Ground
Gallery, Regina SK
Sanctuary, Solo Exhibit, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
1992 Earthlines, Deadlines, Lifelines, Group Touring Exhibit, Redding California, USA
1991 Okanagan Open Juried Exhibition, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
Earthlines, Deadlines, Lifelines , Group Exhibi, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria BC
Pathin Tuit, 2-person Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
Drawers of Water, Juried Exhibit, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna BC
Out of the Closet & Into the Woods, Group Exhibit, OAA Gallery, Kelowna BC
National Drawing Competition, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
COLLECTIONS
Naramata Centre, Naramata, BC
Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
Grand Forks Art Gallery
Wood Lake Publishing, Lake Country, BC
AVCO Finance, Nanaimo BC
Private Collections in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia
EDUCATION
1964 - 1969 Vancouver School of Art
1968 Summer Student, National Film Board of Canada, Montreal QC
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TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2005 – 2009 Associate Professor, Faculty of Creative & Critical Studies, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna BC
1987 – 2005: Associate Professor, Fine Arts Faculty, Okanagan University College, Kelowna BC
1984 – 1987: Taught Drawing & Painting for Kelowna Art Gallery, & Artworks, Kelowna, BC
1974 – 1975: Taught Film Animation, Sikusilarmiut Film Workshop (NFB Sponsored), Cape Dorset, Baffin Island NWT
1972 – 1974: Taught Film Animation, Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University)
Vancouver BC
CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE
2009 – 2012 Volunteer Curator and Exhibition Committee chair, Lake Country Art Gallery, Lake Country BC
2005 – 2009 FINA Gallery Exhibition Committee chair, UBC Okanagan, Kelowna BC
2001 – 2005 FINA Gallery Exhibition Committee chair, Okanagan University College, Kelowna BC
1996 Curator (Catalogue) Stepping Stones – Works from the Permanent Collection. Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
1994 Curator Led Down the Garden Path Paintings and Installation by Sharon Culos, Kelowna Art Gallery Kelowna BC
1993 Curator 25 Years with My Head in an Oven Paintings by Sharon Culos, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna BC
1992 Curator Paintings by Murray Johnson – Alternator Gallery Kelowna BC
1989 Curator (Catalogue) Peep Show – Installation by Andre Petterson, Kelowna Art Gallery Kelowna BC
1988 Curator (Catalogue) Interior – Landscape Paintings by Vicky Marshall, Kelowna Art Gallery Kelowna BC
PUBLICATIONS
2005 “The Spirituality of Art” co-written by Jim Kalnin & Lois Huey-Heck, Published by Wood Lake Books, Northstone, Kelowna BC
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2008 “ The Spirituality of Nature” by Jim Kalnin, Published by Wood Lake Books, Kelowna, BC
Various art catalogue essays for Kelowna Art Gallery And Lake Country Art gallery
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2013 Okanagan Artists in Their Studios, essay by Patricia Ainslie
2012 Intrinsic Habitats, exhibition catalogue essay by Julie Oakes
2010 One Planet, exhibition catalogue essay by Lubos Culen
2001 Stream, exhibition catalogue essay, by Ehor Holubizky
1993 Article “Artropolis Entries Pose an Internal Question” by Maev Brennan, Kelowna Capital News, October 24
1993 Article “Art Makes Public Display of Itself” by Mike Roberts, Vancouver Province, October 22
1993 Article “Art Fervor in Oyama” by Ann-Charlotte Berglund, Okanagan Life Magazine, Summer Issue
1990 Article “Alternative Art Tough to Define” by Maev Brennan, Kelowna Capitol News, October 24
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VERNON PUBLIC ART GALLERY VERNON, BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA www.vernonpublicartgallery.com
