Toni Onley Exhibition Opening Sunday, May 20, 7 pm

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Contact: Julie Fowler
Toll Free: 1-800-442-ARTS (2787)
Tel: 250-994-3466   Fax: 250-994-3433
Email: media@imarts.com

ISLAND MOUNTAIN ARTS PRESENTS A RARE EXHIBITION AND SALE OF ARTWORKS BY RENOWNED BC PAINTER, TONI ONLEY (1928 – 2004)

OPENING RECEPTION AND CURATOR TALK 7:00 PM, SUNDAY, MAY 20TH, 2007

WELLS, BC, May 16, 2007…The Island Mountain Arts Public Gallery in Wells, BC is pleased to present "In the Studio", a rare exhibition and sale of artworks by renowned British Columbian painter, Toni Onley (1928 – 2004) from May 20 to June 18, with an opening reception and talk with guest curator from the Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Paul Crawford at 7pm on Sunday, May 20th.

Joan Richardson, writing for the Winchester Gallery in Victoria says, "Toni Onley is one of the most widely known and admired painters of British Columbia. He combined a traditional British watercolour technique with modernist abstract form and oriental brush painting to invent a unique vision of landscape. Onley’s theme was solitude in nature. He sought remote and desolate locations by plane and boat and astonished many with his ability to quickly capture a scene in precise and spontaneous strokes of the Chinese goat hair brush he favoured."

Richardson goes on to say that; "Onley’s work has been widely represented and collected throughout his career, beginning with the purchase of Polar I, in 1963 by the Tate Gallery, London. He had his first solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1958, followed by a second show twenty years later. In 1980 he made headlines with the purchase of over 600 of his paintings by a single collector for a record-breaking sum.” In recognition of his contributions to Canadian art he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Artists and was made an officer of the Order of Canada.

Featured in the exhibition are prints that have been generously donated to the Island Mountain Arts Society from the Toni Onley Estate in order to help raise funds towards a legacy fund in his name. The fund will help to provide scholarships to emerging and professional visual artists to attend the newly re-named Toni Onley Artists’ Project (formerly the Wells Artists’ Project), which is an eight-day artist mentorship program. Down the road plans are in place to expand this program into an eight-month artist-in-residence program in Wells called the Toni Onley School for Professional and Emerging Artists. Also featured in the exhibition and sale are a number of Onley’s signature watercolours.

A unique aspect of this exhibition will be the installation of the 7’ x 12’ painting wall from Onley’s studio. The wall, with its many layers of paint, provides a rare insight into the artist’s creative process. Along with the wall there is a collection of his brushes, palette and a painting board he used for his watercolours. Combined theses items provide the name and back drop for this important exhibition - "In the Studio". These special pieces appear courtesy of the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of the South Okanagan in Penticton.

Though Toni never made it to Wells, he had discussed with Paul Crawford his desire to fly his LA4 Buccaneer amphibious plane up to paint in and around Wells, Barkerville and the Bowron Lakes. Sadly his life tragically ended on February 29th, 2004 when he had a heart attack while flying his plane and crashed into the Fraser River.

With a great respect for the life and work of this remarkable BC painter, Island Mountain Arts is honoured to have the use of his name for the legacy fund and school. “Toni Onley very much embodied the spirit of this project, as he had a great passion for going into remote areas in order to gain inspiration and paint, he also was very savvy in the business of being a successful Canadian artist. With the Toni Onley School in Wells we hope to honour and celebrate these aspects of Toni and create a program that will help artists to develop their studio practice, as well as their knowledge of the business side of art,” explains Island Mountain Arts’ president, Dennis Bogle.

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we welcome you to view the work of this celebrated Canadian artist in one of the only exhibitions and sales of his work to take place in Northern BC. A limited number of historic Toni Onley exhibition posters will also be for sale. For more information about the exhibition or about this summer’s Toni Onley Artists’ Project please call 1-800-442-2787, email info@imarts.com or visit www.imarts.com.

– 30 –