BY LANA MICHELIN
ADVOCATE STAFF
The Force is strong at The Hub on Ross, where two local artists are showing their inventive, Out Of This World drawings.
The collaborative art show by Jason Chapman and Michael Ward features different styles of art that revolve around extra-terrestrial themes.
Chapman’s representational colour pencil and pastel pieces are based on the imagined planet of Upah Syranah, which he decided exists in a second universe, not ours. “I got the idea from a computer game,” said Chapman, who came up with visions of jungles, islands and deserts.
The strange rock formations are mushroom-shaped in his artwork Tri Peak Hoodoos, while tall-stocked trees grow around the Ceana Cliffs.
His displayed images, including Rockland Desert and Early Evening in the East, are only a small portion of Chapman’s imagines landscapes, which involve plant and animal life and continental maps.
The 36-year-old, who has audited visual arts classes at Red Deer College, has been drawing since childhood and has had a few works purchased by the City of Red Deer for display in the Culture Services building.
The artist with cognitive disabilities also attends the MAG Sparks art programs once a week at the Red Deer museum, said his community inclusion co-ordinator Sherry Albrecht.
“I like expressing my ideas through art,” said Chapman, who’s held several solo shows in the Corridor Gallery downstairs in the Red Deer Recreation Centre.
Fellow exhibitor, Ward, creates geometric abstract drawings in graphite.
Ward skillfully captured the distinguishing characteristics of some Star Wars heroes in abstracts titled C-3PO, R2-D2 and The Force Be With You.
Sound Waves features a fine profusion of lines that create texture, while X-Men, God’s Gift— The Baby, and several other works, radiate designs from a central shape.
Ward, who’s also 36, and has Down Syndrome, started making pictures in art class at Hunting Hills High School. He began sketching abstractions about five years ago — and pencil has remained his favoured medium.
His dad, Doug Ward, recalled that a set of pencil crayons he bought Michael “is still sitting on the dresser.”
Yet Ward’s designs appear all the bolder for their limited palette. This is his first show.
Bev Randers, community development officer for The Hub, said the gallery has been open since 2009 to all artists “who want to help build the community through visual and performing arts.” Work by out-of-town artists is sometimes featured, but the space usually holds exhibits for area residents.
The Hub also hosts free art classes for the community on Wednesdays from 10-11 a.m. and 4-6 p.m.
The Out of this World exhibit goes to Nov. 2.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com