Local visual artist Richelle Osborne wanted to diverge from the usual styles of art found here on the west coast, so she looked deeper into her wood and acrylic rod materials. The result is her current show, Wood, Copper & Steel.
“I find that on the west coast there’s a lot of artists who are absolutely wonderful but the subject matter is often very similar, either be it west coast landscapes or Arbutus trees, or the flora and fauna that people love from this area, and then if you put my stuff next to that it tends to stick out like a sore thumb, and it’s really great for conversation, I think,” she says. “It’s definitely something that draws people in and has people looking and talking, and, yeah, I think that’s kind of another motivation for me, is to keep pushing the envelope of what I consider wall sculptures.”
While many artists imbue their work with deep emotional nuances and symbolic inspiration, Osborne says that there is nothing like this in her work—she just wants to create beautiful pieces.
“I think there’s some artists that are infusing their work with symbolism or meaning, and I’m not,” she admits. “I am what I am, and it’s not meant to be anything more than aesthetically pleasing. If someone was analyzing what my intentions were, they’re not going to find the answer to the question. It’s just me trying to make something that’s beautiful and interesting and fluid. I want people to see somebody just being creative. There is no hidden meaning in what I’m doing, but a lot of times it is very soothing and almost like a meditation if you sort of get the right light, and changing light on my work, it can kind of make you lose the hectic world around you, and you can just be quiet and calm with it.”
Osborne says that she likes to use form and perspective to bring her art into the third dimension, which creates a new viewing experience from every angle at which it is viewed.
“With two-dimensional works, you have one point of view,” she says. “With my stuff, if you’re looking at something straight on you get one point of view, but as you move past it, or as you look at it from different angles, it changes the point of view, and I’m exploring that more and more.”
Osborne started her art career after spending 18 years displaying others’ art on the walls of her restaurant, and desiring to create something that fit the aesthetic better. In 2020, just before the pandemic hit, she sold her bistro and moved into creating art full time. Osborne says that this has been an unusual journey as an artist, because she has not had any formal training, and she’s just winging it.
“I’ve lived the evolution of something that was a surprise to me, because I have no training. I’m just a one-man band with a band saw and a bench sander and I’m constantly trying to push the envelope of what I’ve started. The journey started in a surprising way, and I’ve been driving the bus without a map,” she says. “I think it’s a unique story, and inspiring perhaps to people that don’t feel that they’re creative, because I never would have guessed 15 years ago that I would be doing this today. If I hadn’t just taken the plunge and given it a try, who knows what I’d be doing.”
Wood, Copper & Steel
Until Friday, October 28
Fortune Gallery
fortunegallery.ca