John Lawrence

Born in New Westminster, BC in 1947, and raised in Maple Ridge and Campbell River, John moved in the mid 1960’s to Chilliwack, BC. He attended the Vancouver School of Art (Emily Carr) in the early 70’s and began exhibiting as early as 1974 with two exhibits at the BAU-XI Gallery in Vancouver and at the Alberta College of Art, Calgary. Since then, he has exhibited at group and one man shows in the Okanagan, Vancouver and throughout BC, as well as Europe. Many of his pieces are included in private collections throughout Canada, USA, England and Australia.

When we asked John to provide statements about his work for this exhibit, he offered the following thoughts.

“Most things do come out of shadows. Light comes out of darkness, and that’s what you’re dealing with, light on form producing colour. I’ve always felt that representational art holds a strong attraction for viewers. If it is conveyed with enough intensity, it will come across to the viewer. Something has to click, resonate, and if it doesn’t it’s just a bad piece.”

“I tend to work rather slowly sometimes I’ll start a piece; put it away and then pull it out later and resume working on it. Some attempts end up in the garbage can, particularly if they aren’t “clicking”. It’s a gut reaction, knowing when to leave a work alone. “

“This exhibit is a collection of works from the 1960’s to-date that includes mediums ranging from oil & acrylic, watercolour, charcoal, graphite & conte to mixed media. The works are varied images and abstractions that come from an amalgamation of existing and imagined elements representative of time periods and approaches to the pieces. Sometimes I use source photos as inspiration, other times it’s based on a real person or a process of putting paint down and seeing what emerges. Either way it’s painstaking work. Each piece has a different area of feelings and thoughts while being created. Myself, I’ve always been eclectic in my work habits, to some it would seem scattered, but it’s just the most natural way for me to have proceeded.”

We invite you to come and meet John in person on June 4, 2026 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. where you can view his work more closely.