Co.Lab Gallery presents

Crystal Sohlman & Rachael Rosenvard

SHARING STORIES

OPENING SATURDAY MAY 6TH, 2023 11-1 PM

EXHIBITION CLOSES MAY 23RD

Sharing Stories reflects on memories of play. Both artists work simultaneously and jointly to represent and recreate memories of childhood play. Specifically, experiences of outside adventures and imagination. The magic and wonder of a child's imagination is the focal point of SHARING STORIES. The hope in exhibiting the work is to encourage viewers to pause and reflect on their own childhood memories, and share stories of their own.

Rachael and Crystal met in person for the first time in the Fall of 2023 with the purpose of coming together to create the exhibit that became “Sharing Stories”. They met with each other over the course of several months and told stories of their childhood and of raising their own children. Through these meetings they brainstormed ideas, images and methods that could connect their mediums together to create collaborative pieces. These pieces reflect their memories of playing outside as kids.

Rachael is a self-taught artist. Her primary focus is colourful, stylized portraits inspired by people she has met, life experiences, Old Hollywood and vintage photography. Coming from a family of creatives, she has always been an artistic person-  moving from one creative outlet to the next and back again; however, she fell in love with painting, and in 2017 she began focusing on developing her artistic style. Rachael works mainly in Acrylics, on both canvas and paper, including bright colours in her creations with brushes and fingerpainting. More recently she began incorporating digital art into her practice, which has allowed her to be more experimental with her work by testing out new ideas and techniques before applying them to traditional media. Experimentation and self-expression are important elements of Rachael's practice, and allowing herself the freedom to explore has enabled her to develop a style that is recognizably her own.

Crystal’s work in clay began with a clay class in Devon, Alberta in 2008. Shortly after, she relocated back to North Western Ontario and set up her own studio where she has worked for the past 15 years. She has taken classes from local potters, attended visiting artist workshops, taken courses at Lakehead University, and participated in Fusion events, raku and woodfiring workshops. Community is important to Crystal, she acknowledges that there is value in being able to come together to support one another and strives to create an environment where artists feel welcome and encouraged.  Crystal’s pieces include work built from slabs, extrusions and a potter’s wheel.