About the Artist
A native of the Peace River country in Alberta, my interest in art began while growing up in Grande Prairie. Having spent my life within the beauty of western Canada plays a large part in the influence of my work and travels have only enhanced it.
Although oils were my training ground medium, I expanded to include acrylics and watercolors with instructors such as Tom Lynch and workshops in Sedona, Arizona. I’ve worked on location with Les Graff and Penticton’s Glen Clark. The FCA has provided instructors like Ken Gillespie and Robert Genn and my latest workshops have been with Robyn Lake and Kindrie Grove.
I’ve earned awards in all 3 mediums and have been shown in a published edition of “Contemporary B.C. Artists”. I was accepted into a Federation of Canadian Artists juried show at the Leighton Centre in Calgary and also commissioned for originals and limited edition prints for the Radium Hot Springs Prestige Inn.
My art education has expanded over several years of courses and workshops and I’ve been a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists since 1992. A move to Penticton led me to serve 2 years as Co-president and I have also become a member of the “Brushstrokes of the South Okanagan”.
Personal Viewpoint:
My painting has always been a matter of interest, entered into for personal enjoyment. It was originally the classic ‘hobby’, but has evolved into a way of life, knitting its way into my world - to change the very way I looked at it and believed it to be.
Now my frequent rush of excitement is balanced by the knowledge that some kind of order must step in to choose subject matter and then be directed to focus on a plan to carry it out.
The goal: to turn the feeling into a picture, to explain the vision in my mind’s eye to the viewer, with colours and lines, to interpret what I feel.
Since change is the ‘constant’, we never run out of ideas as it becomes a vision in process, and diversity, it seems, is my order of the day.
L. MARLENE AIKINS
Born: Grande Prairie, Alberta
Medium: Oil - Acrylic - Watercolour
ART EDUCATION & INSTRUCTORS
- Workshops with Bonny Roberts, Colour and Abstract
-Workshops in Oils and Course on Perspective
- College of the Rockies Courses - Sketching & Acrylics With Ron Parker
- Watercolour workshops in Sedona, Alex Fong thru OSSA, Kelowna with Tom Lynch and in Calgary with FCA
- On location workshops with Les Graff and Glen Clark
- FCA Workshops with Robert Genn and Ken Gillespie
- Acrylics and Oils with Robyn Lake and Kindrie Grove to mention a few.
EXHIBITIONS
- Images From Her Easel - Kimberley & Creston
- Centre 64 -Kimberley / Key City Theatre - Cranbrook
- Walker House Gallery - Cranbrook
- Pynelogs - Invermere / Leighton Centre - Calgary
- Colours from the Light - Calgary
- Webster Gallery - Calgary
- Guelph Arboretum Art Auction - Guelph, Ontario
- S. S. Sicamous - Penticton
- Hillside Estate Winery and Red Rooster Winery - Naramata
- Art Galleries in: Summerland, Oliver, Osooyos, Penticton
- Federation Gallery in Vancouver including “Painting on the Edge”
AWARDS
- 2002 - Juror’s Choice Award, FCA Juried, Osooyos
- 2001 - Juror’s Choice Award, FCA Juried, Summerland
- 1998 - Peoples Choice Award - E.K.-Col. Juried Artsaround
- 1997 - Finalist, East Kootenay-Columbia Juried Artsaround
- 1993 - Honourable Mention, E.K.-Columbia Juried Artsaround
- 1992 - Finalist, East Kootenay-Columbia Juried Artsaround
CONTACTING THE ARTIST
Marlene Aikins
By e-mail: marart@telus.net