KPMG presents
ART@KCT Exhibition Reception
ft. Connor Charlesworth and Clea Haugo

Kelowna Community Theatre is set to unveil two new exhibitions as part of the recently launched Art@KCT presented by KPMG. Featuring the work of artists Connor Charlesworth and Clea Haugo, this newest edition of the Art@KCT program highlights the work of two emerging Okanagan painters.

Above: Connor Charlesworth's The Distance of the Sun, on display through Art@KCT until April 16, 2023.

In the Rise exhibition space, Connor Charlesworth’s The Distance of the Sun consists of a series of diptychs. The work was conceived after a summer art residency in Los Angeles in which the artist observed the height and stability of thin, spindly trees. On his return to Kelowna, utilising remnants of paint pots dried from the summer heat, Charlesworth harvested circular colourful paint-skin disks and applied them to these panels in the place of the sun. Charlesworth sees the work less as representations of trees, but more so as diagrams of the atmosphere, axis mundis, or abstract colour field zips.

Above: Clea Haugo's Welcome to the Neighbourhood (detail), on display through Art@KCT until April 16, 2023.

In the Cube exhibition space, Clea Haugo presents Welcome to the Neighbourhood. This series of cityscapes depicts local and familiar scenes such as a forgotten downtown hotel, the demolition of single-family home, or a nostalgic Okanagan landmark. These places are not only large-scale monuments in their vacant state but are also the tired shells and remnants of lives lived. The small-scale paintings prompt us to consider the evolution of our community, and the current day building trend to “modernize” or to apply a facelift so that the previous structure is unrecognizable or rendered obsolete.

Please join us for a public reception on February 1, 5-7pm. The artists will be in attendance. Refreshments will be served.

The Distance of the Sun and Welcome to the Neighbourhood are on view from January 19 – April 16, 2023, in the lobby of the Kelowna Community Theatre.