Gallery #1
Drew Makepeace: Super-Valu Redux (an evocation of the edifice)

Artist Statement:
We shopped there a hundred times, but how often did we stop to admire the artistic form of this now-demolished architectural icon? Bright colours from SuperValu’s translucent façade played upon us in the check-out line, and the beams arching overhead followed us and our carts to the parking lot where they swept downward and gently met the earth.
Now that SuperValu has been demolished physically, we can begin to deconstruct it aesthetically.  SuperValu Redux is an attempt to raise our awareness (perhaps too late) of the elegance of everyday structures built in the Mid-century modern style.  Old enough to be seen as obsolete, but too young to have historical value, designs and design elements of the 50s and 60s are becoming increasingly rare.  Their summary demolition contrasts starkly with the spirit in which they were constructed: as symbols of pride and of the optimism of the time. 

SuperValu, by the time it was torn down, had become a structure we took for granted as merely a place to buy groceries.  We can now look back on it through images of the design and its destruction, a design ironically made more poignant by the process of being torn down.   By contemplating these images perhaps we can appreciate what we failed to notice for the last 42 years: that it was a fine example of urban architecture married with aesthetic principles.  (Drew Makepeace)

The SuperValu Redux exhibit is comprised of two parallel and complementary artistic tracks: photographic  work and installation. The photographic track consists of framed photographs  which are selected images, culled from nearly 2000 photos, depicting various design elements of the SuperValu grocery store in Penticton as they were lost to demolition. The installation track is comprised of pieces of the actual SuperValu structure obtained from the demolition site.   

Gallery #2
Dorian Kohl: A Sustainable Model - The Artistry of Dorian Kohl

Very often, one’s life story ends up in a trunk in the attic; a collection of photographs,  journals, treasures and memorabilia.  As the memories fade, along with the significance, we often forget the value of our own life’s story.

For Dorian Kohl, the photographs were so numerous, the journals so vast in number, they spilled forth out of trunks, into boxes and into a huge scrap book containing the published work of her career as an international high fashion/haute couture model and performing artist. These materials have become the elements of this exhibition. 

Photographs, editorials, advertising, reflect Kohl's personal professional history, and document the evolution of her career as a model and as a stage and television actress from the early 1960’s to the present.

This creative retrospective illustrates the evolution of a personal journey (to recognition) in a highly competitive field.

NOAA Members Wall Gallery: Robin McDonald: Recent Work

Robin McDonald has been living in Vernon since 200l.  She has been working in assemblage, painting and has taken a recent sojourn into ceramics, which she is incorporating into some assemblage work.  She has participated in numerous group shows in the Okanagan area and had solo shows in Victoria, Vancouver, Armstrong and Vernon.  She is a current member the NOAA and works with the Vernon Community Art Centre.

Artist Statement:
I have been working with assemblage and mixed media for that last 10 years.  Recently I have been working with clay and have started to incorporate the clay works into some assemblage pieces.  The pieces here are the result of a raku firing that was done at the Vernon Community Art Centre.  Once they came out of the fire the translation into mixed media began, one of my favorite parts, because it is always like finding the conclusion to the story, and who the characters are.  I find that working with the ceramic element adds a personal aspect to the piece as it has emerged from the artist’s hand, which incorporates a different kind of hallmark in the finished work. (Robin McDonald)

Vertigo Window Gallery: It's a Sign!
You may have noticed that our usual gallery space in the window on 30th Avenue is now sporting a new Gallery Vertigo sign. Signage has always been needed and funds never seemed to allow for the installation of expensive signage on the outside of our building. That fact, combined with infrequent access to the window space led us to come up with this solution. Let us know how you like it.

Recollections: Recent work by Gale Woodhouse
(The current exhibition can be viewed during college hours from now until September 15th. )

About Gale Woodhouse:
Trained as an art and design teacher and apprenticed as a production potter, Gale Woodhouse now has a studio in Vernon, British Columbia.
Formally educated at Nene University College and Leicester University, Woodhouse taught art and design in England for 4 years before entering Herefordshire School of Art to study Studio Ceramics. Following apprenticeships with two of England’s leading potters, Gale opened her own studio in 1981. After years of experimentation and exploration, teaching and learning, many exhibitions and shows, Woodhouse is accomplished in the applied art of pottery. She works her chosen medium with ease and dexterity and still finds joy and passion in the making of clay forms.
The artist’s work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions both in England and Canada.
Woodhouse is currently working as Artist in Residence at the Vernon Community Arts Centre.

Artist Statement
The work displayed here represents a small selection of a larger body of work produced during my tenure as Artist in Residence at Vernon Community Arts Centre.
I use clay panels as pages from a sketch book. I draw and sketch my experiences of landscapes directly onto the clay and then play with texture and colour to represent what I recall of places I have visited. I become acquainted with my scenery using this method. I recall and translate the ground beneath my feet, the forms on the horizon and details of changes bought about by weather and seasons. The panels are not only about how and what I remember, they are also about how and what I felt.
Pat McKay and I had known each other for several years before she asked me to join her in the project. We had never worked together and at the beginning struggled with how our very different materials and styles of work would come together.
It became evident very early on that the things we had in common, not our differences, needed to be explored for the sustainability of the project.
We both had a love of all things natural – hence why we both chose to work with natural materials, clay and wool. We both had a fascination for stone structures and the history they contained. Our research led us to the stories and myths surrounding the stone monoliths and walls of the ancient Celtic world and back to each of our heritages in rural England. The working title, "walls and stone structures," was set and the project took on a life of its own.
My chosen work, entitled Cellular Memory, developed following many visits to the stone circles and ancient burial sites in England. I have a particular affinity and fondness for The Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire, England, a site I have known since I was a child. The encased energy harnessed within the standing stones became the motivating spirit for the clay forms exhibited at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre.
Surrounded by mythology and legend the Standing Stones hold the cellular memory of our ancestors. Within the ancient stone structures exists the emotional and spiritual heritage of ancient peoples, locked inside forever, a true time capsule. (Gale Woodhouse)

KALAMALKA VERTIGO
All are invited to view the works at Kalamalka Vertigo, located at Vernon's Kalamalka Campus of Okanagan College. The gallery is located just past the college lecture theatre in the main building adjacent to the college office.
"Kalamalka Vertigo" , located at the Kalamalka campus of Okanagan College, represents a joint venture between Gallery Vertigo and Okanagan College. This is the newest incarnation of the ongoing partnership between the two institutions. 

Exhibition Proposals: Please print a copy of our form and send it off to us with the information requested.
A selection committee reviews proposals once a year, usually in the spring.
Contact us for more information.
info@galleryvertigo.com
proposal form and information for exhibitions in gallery #1 and gallery #2
members wall application
window display

Previous Exhibitions:
2010:

Almost Famous Auction and Studio Artists - August 10 to 21st
Amber Powell and Sylvia Vandekerkhove - June 22to July31
Katie Belcher and Joanne Pringle - May 26 to June 12
Still Here: NOAA juried exhibition - Apr.13 to May 16
Susan Bizecki and Kevin Michael Witzke - Mar.9 to Apr.1
UBC Okanagan Students: Architecture Digress - Feb. 9 to Mar.4
School District 22: Incognito - Jan.12 to Feb.5
2009:
Headshots, Wheeltown: Noel Bullock - Oct.15 to Nov.7
Philomena Caroll, Margarita Alejandre, Sookinshoot - Sep.10 to Oct.3
Almost Famous Auction - August 22
Microbial Tales - Arthur Desmarteax and Allison Moore - July 2 to July 25th
Pfannschmidt, Newell and Mace - May 26 to June 23
Heidi Thompson and Stephan Bircher - Apr.21 to May 15
Lucky Number 7: NOAA juried exhibition - Mar.17 to Apr. 9
Social Spectrum: A Group Exhibition by UBC Okanagan Photograpy Students - Feb.10 to Mar.7
Fusion: Fourth Annual High School Exhibition - Jan 13 to Feb 17
2008:
Picasso's Cupboard/ Book Fair - Nov.25 to Dec.13th
not with a Bang, but with and SUV - The 7th Annual NOAA Members Open Exhibition - Oct.7 to Nov.1
the coming night - Jorden and David Doody / Typoportraits - kevin mcpherson eckhoff
Almost Famous Auction - August 17
Ten - Studio Artists - Current Work - July 29 to August 9 / Joanne Sale-Hook:Introduced Species - July 29 to August 17
Katie Brennan - Stasis Strategy / Floribunda - June 23 to July 19
Space (re)Constructed - Miranda Aschenbrenner / Memory/Recall - Suzanne Phillips - May 27 to June 21
March to May - Faith Moosang/Candies - Sabrina Ovesen
Sixth Annual NOAA Members Juried Exhibition - March 18 to April 12
Drawing Conclusions - UBC Okanagan Student Exhibition - Feb.12 to March8
The Wheel: School District #22 High School Students - Jan.15 to Feb.2
2007:
Picasso's Cupboard and Even Dozen
Mellow Yellow - The 6th Annual NOAA Members Open Exhibition - Oct.16 to Nov.10
Look What we Have Done.. Carolina Sanchez de Bustamante / Mutation - Howard Brown - September 11 to October 5
Almost Famous - Ken Jeanotte - August 7 to August 24
Zotz Collective - Kurt Hutterli - July 3 to July 28
Flesh nor Meat - Ila Crawford /All our Ancestors - Tanya Dubick - May 29 to June 23
Spectacles of Intimacy - curated by Lora Carroll - April 24 to May 18
Green - The Fifth Annual NOAA members juried exhibition - March 20 to April 14
Pressing Engagements - UBC Okanagan Printmaking Students - Feb.13 to March 16
Bugs - School District #22 High School Students - Jan.16 to Feb.3
2006:
Picasso's Cupboard, Studio Artists - Nov.21 to Dec.9
Fall Forward - Oct.21 to Nov.10
Helm, Seward, Began - Sept.8 to Oct.6