Malé události: Small events
at Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art and History

October 4^th to November 30^th, 2008

Featuring the work of Slocan Valley resident and painter, Peter Velisek, this exhibition presents a selection of paintings from the artist’s prolific body of work of the past fifteen years. Working primarily in oil on canvas, Peter draws inspiration from daily occurrences, capturing the small details that add up to our larger experience of life. Sketching in charcoal, Velisek works from models, photographs, his surroundings or the land itself, then transfers the imagery into paintings. Landscapes, figures and animals permit glimpses into places, relationships or events witnessed or experienced by Velisek in his rural environment or during travels abroad. His delicately drawn lines and saturated colours convey the emotional or psychological mood of the moment and suffuse the work with a humanistic, universal quality.

Peter Velisek was born in Czechoslovakia in 1948. He studied at the Institute of Technology from 1963-1967 and served two years of compulsory military service from 1967- 1969.  After an unsuccessful exam at the School of Fine Arts in Prague, he left the country at age twenty-three and emigrated to Canada.  In the thirty years since his arrival, he has resided in the Slocan Valley, living off the land as a largely self-sufficient sustenance farmer.

Primarily self-taught, Velisek supplemented his investigations and exercises in emulating the styles of the Masters (attracted to the Expressionists, his stylistic approach evokes Chagall and Kandinsky) with art classes. He studied sculpture and painting at the Kootenay School of the Arts in 1971-72, continuing his inquiries though workshops with David Alexander, John Cooper, Richard Reid and Alf Crossley since. Velisek has had several solo exhibitions in the Kootenays, most recently at the Grand Forks Gallery, and participated in a number of group shows. In 2000, an exhibition of his work was featured at the Prachenske Museum in the Czech Republic.

Artist’s Talk to be announced. For information call 250.352.9813.

You can also view more information of this exhibit at this link:
http://www.touchstonesnelson.ca/exhibitions/