My journey in creative arts education began in 1999. After graduating from Moscow College of Architecture and Building Arts in 2005, I completed the Batchelor's Degree from Moscow Architectural Institute. I was focusing on minimalist architecture. I worked as an architect for 7 years thereafter. Since 2013 I have traveled extensively throughout most of Europe as well as Canada and then made my home in Vernon, BC in 2015.

In my portraits, I strive to paint not only physical appearance but to study the essential truths about a person within. I work mainly in a realistic style for my commission work, but I also enjoy experimenting with abstraction in my art practice. To challenge myself, I try different pigments, techniques, and surfaces, such as Aquaboard, watercolor grounds, Yupo paper, etc. These investigations into abstraction inspire my capacity to follow the material flow and formal possibilities.

In 2019 I started to work on creating baby animal paintings and then in 2020, I published a children's book “My First Friends” based on the illustrations I made.

Currently, I am teaching watercolor classes and sharing my love of the medium as well as I am also a member of FCA, IWS, and Ali Cavanaugh’s Community of watercolor artists.

Originating from the Peace River country, Bruce and Wanda moved their family to Vernon, British Columbia in 2002 to pursue a life surrounded by mountains, clear streams, pine forests, beautiful lakes, and that dreamy BC sunshine!
There’s no denying Wanda has a keen eye for colours, art, and decorating, so, naturally, this paired eloquently with Bruce’s passion for design and woodwork. Needless to say, Bruce and Wanda, both share a love for all things natural and handcrafted so it didn’t take long before Crawford Creek Designs was born. What started off as a hobby has beautifully snowballed into so much more.
Bruce and Wanda are known for handcrafting heirloom serving and cutting boards that will be passed down from generation to generation. These handmade boards and kitchen tools are made with the intention to bring families closer together. To encourage those fireside chats, family dinners, re-living the good ‘ol days, and ultimately give you the feeling that you’re "headin’ home".

Cathy Toll is a clay artist. From early mud pie making, to going gloveless in the garden, she has always loved getting her hands dirty. After taking a class at the Vernon Communith Arts Centre, it became a natural choice for her to express her creativity with pottery. She has a lifelong affinity to plants and flowers and her work showcases that. Cathy’s pottery combines functionality with art and she thoroughly enjoys adding special little touches to her creations.

Cindy works with a number of different mediums but felt making has been her predominant focus for several years now. Needle felting is used to create whimsical characters such as mice, gnomes, and mushrooms. Wet felting to create hard wearing clothing and accessories, and Nuno felting, which has a high silk content is used in making ethereal and elegant wearables. Many of her original art works have be reproduced on greeting cards and functional items such as bags and books. Cindy also does eco printing with leaves that are locally sourced, a bit of book making and photography.

Donna Brayshaw is a wife, mother, grandmother and artist. She was taught the ancient art of pine weaving by an Indigenous Elder. Her weavings are made of the Ponderosa Pine needles so plentiful in the Okanagan. She lashes them together with imitation sinew and embellishes the designs with natural elements such as rocks, driftwood, horse hair, leather and fossils. Her designs incorporate both traditional and modern techniques. She combines her different artistic methods of glass blowing and pottery within her weavings.

Emily Fraser is a photographer, fibre artist and beachcomber in search of the perfect combination of light, lines, texture and colour. Each piece an exploration of how those elements interact and settle together to create a worthy photograph, scene or sculpture.
Emily uses new and found fibres from ties, saris and fabric, paper, yarn, embellishments and roving in her fibre art. Many pieces are finished in found and refurbished frames. Sculptures grow from beachcombed treasures. Photographs capture Vernon, the Coast and Flora at it’s finest. Each medium inspires the others and keeps her searching for another perspective of the world around us.

All my pottery is handmade by myself in my small private studio in our home located in Lumby BC. I love to make functional and non functional work that is inspired by our beautiful outdoors. Each piece of functional pottery is oven, microwave and dishwasher safe.

A graduate of Emily Carr University, Gabrielle’s practice is split between painting, ceramics, and public art. Originally from the coast, she draws inspiration from dramatic overcast skies and coastal scenes, which reoccur throughout her practice. Following graduation, she dove into a six-month Artist Residency at the Vernon Community Arts Centre through the Caetani Centre’s CeramAiR Program, which ultimately led her to make the Okanagan her home permanently. In 2017 she was awarded a major public art commission by the City of Vernon and the Downtown Vernon Association to create a participatory public work of art commemorating Canada’s 150th birthday. At over 150 feet long, "Mosaic River" was successfully installed in Cenotaph Park the following year. Her paintings are represented by the brand new Ashdale Gallery in North Vancouver, Gallery Merrick in Victoria and through the American online gallery, PXP Contemporary.

Woodhouse by Design launched at Artsolutely 2022. This new business venture is a collaboration between established artist, Gale Woodhouse, and emerging artist, Hannah Woodhouse. Woodhouse by Design aims to introduce a range of high-quality mixed media craft and artwork for both domestic and decorative use. The work consists primarily of clay items and includes Hannah’s fabric creations. All works are fresh and contemporary, honouring the traditions and craftmanship of the past.

Helen Kovacs is a graduate with honors of the Alberta College of Art and Design and has been working with glass and teaching in BC and Alberta for over 30 years. Helen owns and operates Red Dog Glass Studio in Cherryville BC where she offers glass workshops and welcomes custom orders. Helen's artwork ranges from fused glass sculptures and garden art, to vessels and lampworked glass beads. Helen also creates one of a kind memorial glass art incorporating a loved one's ashes in between the layers of glass.

Jacquie Sharpe has worked in the Craft/Artisan space for most of her life. She attended Okanagan University where she studied Fine Arts. For over 20 years, she was a supplier of Handknit Toques to Mountain Equipment Co-op. Jacquie enjoys “mixing it up,” from painting, fibre arts, and clay work to a variety of leather goods.

Jasper established her business, Jewels by Jasper, in 2007. She became a silversmith and enjoyed this art form for 7 years. Jasper took a break from jewellery making and spent a few years studying representational painting in oils and watercolours. She also delved into the fine art of nuno felting, and later, into resin art incorporating natural elements. Coming full circle, Jasper is now back at jewellery making and teaching at the Vernon Community Arts Centre. As well as working with silver, aluminum has caught Jasper's eye. Let's see what she does with that!

Jessica Hannah is a visual artist and owns a horse farm in Enderby BC. She has been involved with art her entire life. Though soapstone carving is relatively new she found a connection to the stone and the local animals that typically come out. Local bears, quail and other birds are the main creatures expressed. Exploring different shapes as well as stone, Brazilian Soapstone, African Wonderstone and Alabaster. The work is all primarily by hand, files, rasps and sanding blocks with some dremel work.

As an artist and art guide, Jill Meredith creates art as a response to, and meditation upon, the experience of life, living and its twists and turns. All aspects of her work are a reflection of the interconnectedness of our universe. It aims to be peaceful activism and the works in their finished state are aimed to invoke high positive vibrations.
This year’s body of work has continued the exploration and rumination of the title “Being Human”.

Jill has always had a creative outlet in her life. Wanting to learn something new, she began to explore the art of bookbinding in 2019. After starting to journal to get through a challenging time in her life, Jill wanted to hand bind her own journals.
Self-taught by reading books, watching videos and joining the Canadian Bookbinders and Book Artists Guild (CBBAG), Jill has learned many different binding methods such as Coptic and case binding. In 2021, Jill completed the CBBAG Bookbinding 1 Course, and will continue to take formal bookbinding education.
Jill has been focusing on binding journals, sketch and art books, and uses a variety of materials including hand marbled paper, collograph printing, Japanese paper and cork fabric.

Jolene Mackie is an artist living and working in Kelowna BC. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Emily Carr University in 2009, Jolene has pursued art making professionally with a focus on the medium of oil painting. Jolene has exhibited her work widely throughout the Okanagan Valley and British Columbia, and has work in private collections around the world. Jolene finds inspiration in simple, fleeting moments: a unique quality of light, the shape of shadows, and the living palettes that colour our daily existence. Her work blends fascination with the world around us and the whimsy of human imagination into wholly unique visual experiences.

Kalamalka Weavers and Spinners Guild is a group with cumulatively over 200 years of experience in fibre arts. KWS creates unique hand made items that are both beautiful and practical, for the home or to be worn. All are made to be used, loved and cherished be it a favorite hand towel, scarf, runner, placemat, blanket or rug.

The Okanagan linens story has humble beginnings. Meet Karen. Karen grew up in a family of very talented sewers; her Dad was a tailor and her Mom a seamstress. She took what she learned and made her own clothes and those of her children.

In 2003 she began making birth record blankets for family and friends. This created a following which blossomed into a home-based business called Bababean. Bababean made not only custom-embroidered birth record blankets, but other products, such as diaper bags and stroller blankets.

Karen heard great things about linen tea towels and linen bath towels and wanted to make some for herself. She instantly fell in love with linen, and began selling them at local farmers markets.

After multiple requests from customers for reusable produce bags, she started making those, as well. The response has been amazing, and they’re now a top seller. People love that linen keeps their produce and bread fresh longer than any other material, even cotton.

Lowell is a potter, poet & musician who got his start in ceramics at the Vernon Community Arts Centre almost a decade ago. He has since built his own studio, Spiral Garden Ceramics in Salmon Arm, where he now works and resides. Lowell is inspired both by the teachers who have gone before him and by the cyclical patterns of nature. Seeking to balance aesthetic beauty with functionality in his work, he strives to find a natural setting for his pieces to live. Pottery often acts as the introspective and grounding fulcrum to the more outgoing and chaotic nature of his music, the two are substantially different yet fully intertwined.

Marla Giles attended Okanagan College Fine Arts Program. She has worked as a graphic designer in the sign industry for over 20 years and has been recognized with many international sign design awards.

Marla takes inspiration from her surroundings and is an animal lover and outdoor enthusiast. When she is not in her studio making and creating, she is often on a lake or in the mountains exploring with her family and two dogs.

She is very grateful to work from home living on a lake in the beautiful Okanagan Valley in Vernon, BC, Canada.

Melissa Dinwoodie is a portrait and figurative artist who grew up in Armstrong BC, and is currently living in Kelowna BC. She graduated from UBCO in 2001 with her BFA. Melissa uses her art to connect with others, while aiming to provoke conversations while also spreading joy. Her style is vibrant and expressive and her paintings are most certainly statement pieces.

Michelle and Trevor create jewelry and housewares from wood, gemstones, and clay, most of the wood used is remnant wood from Kronbauer Guitars.

Mitch Milgram is an artist and teacher living in Salmon Arm. His interest in art and crafts dates to childhood and over the years he has pursued it in various forms including printmaking, drawing, painting, art metal, and woodworking. Mitch has worked in stained glass for the past 15 years, and he finds stained glass to be a good fit for him, blending both artistic and technical considerations. He works in a variety of styles, both traditional and contemporary, drawing upon the natural world around him for inspiration. Mitch works to balance design, light and colour within the technical demands and physical limitations of the glass medium. His work is displayed in various outlets and art fairs throughout the North Okanagan.

Art on paper and canvas only became a part of Nancy Vince’s life about ten years ago but before moving to the Okanagan, she created an award-winning garden on the coast which she likes to call her first artistic endeavor. After retiring here, she planned on taking some art courses but it took a few years before that became a reality. It finally happened when Nancy became a caregiver to her mom and needed some “me time”. Ten years ago she took her first lesson using acrylics on canvas but after a health scare a few years later she attended a class on “Zen” doodling and discovered a whole new world of meditative art. Her first drawings were black and white but the love of color soon took over. She creates what she calls “Happy Art” and as one piece is completed, she is already planning the next one.

Nicole is a creative entrepreneur that knits, crochets and sews hats & accessories. She uses only the most beautiful fibres in the most vibrant colours. Her style, attention to detail, and originality provides on trend and timeless items made to keep everyone cozy for years to come.

Since 2006, Nikki has been a full time artist based in Kelowna, BC. Her business has been built upon a foundation of pure love for creation, expression, and sharing it with others. Over the past years she has taken on a variety of commission projects, participated in multiple art exhibits across Canada and throughout BC, as well as worked closely with a variety of charity organizations all while focusing on her continued dream as an artist. Her art ranges in a variety of sizes from large scale diptychs and triptychs to miniature works on watercolour paper and canvas. Her passion is large scale painting with miniature scale a close runner up. Painting small demands a different kind of attention, mini brushes, mini details, and fine marks - whereas large scale gives her more space to push her paint around and explore.

Nikki Marshall has lived in Vernon her whole life. Growing up in one of the most beautiful places in the world has inspired her to play with colour and be inspired by her surroundings. Nikki started felting and moved on to dyeing yarn as her main focus. She still teaches felting classes throughout the Okanagan and does a little wet felting and needle felting. Nikki also loves to weave and knit toques and wearable items.

Patricia Doyle is a visual artist residing on the Bella Vista Hillside in Vernon, BC. While her primary medium is glass she also works in metal, acrylics, clay, silk, videography and photography. Doyle’s works are usually centered on both her love and awe of nature and her quirky sense of humor. She uses art to convey her vision of the world being a more harmonious and beautiful place. Doyle teaches fused glass and glass bead-making classes at the Vernon Community Arts Centre. She also teaches one-week intensive glass bead making courses at Red Deer Polytechnic’s Summer Series of the Arts in Alberta. Her work is available for sale in a number of stores and gallery shops in Western Canada

Rebecca Shepherd is a self taught artist, living in British Columbia, Canada. She has a strong connection to the natural world which is very apparent in her creative work. Rebecca paints in a loose painterly style, using bold strokes of rich colour, applied with brush or palette knife. Painting intuitively with no agenda, the results are always rich in colour, depth and texture.

Svetlana is a Russian-born, Vernon-based visual artist specializing in photography and expanding her interests to ceramics, printmaking and painting.

Trained as a linguist and an English teacher, Svetlana has always been drawn to visual arts. She was first introduced to photography as a child in her father’s home-set darkroom - the experience that stayed with her forever and inspired her to continue exploring this medium.

After moving to Canada in 2004, Svetlana widened her artistic interests to other mediums and took courses in photography and film making in Halifax, drawing in Quebec, and painting, pottery and printmaking in Vernon. She continues perfecting her skills in different art forms and enjoys the experimental process of blurring the line between them which opens exciting opportunities in her artistic explorations.

Translating her educator’s degree to art, Svetlana loves sharing her knowledge through teaching art classes to youth and adults at the Vernon Community Arts Centre and giving occasional talks on the art of photography at the Vernon Photography Club.

Terryn & Graeme Corbett are the nature-based artists of OM NATURALE, a Farmcrafted, Sustainable, Bath & Body Care Company. Made with organic ingredients, handcrafted on their family farm and packaged as sustainably as possible, their products are Earth Friendly, Eco-conscious & Zero Waste. Terryn & Graeme are proud to be Farmers, Creators and Earth Champions.
This year along with VCAC, Om Naturale has partnered with: ONE TREE PLANTED, WATER FIRST & the YOGA OUTREACH Society to help with reforestation, clean water and helping those in need.

For more information about Om Naturale please visit www.omnaturale.ca.

Tyler has been a full time professional chainsaw carver since August 2021. He has competed in two competitions; one in Hope BC where he placed 2nd and won People's Choice in the Carver Class, the second being the Canadian Chainsaw Competition in Orillia, Ontario where he placed 5th out of 16.
Tyler has commissioned pieces from coast to coast including the Vancouver Convention Center as well as a large public art bench commissioned by the RDNO (Regional District of the North Okanagan) and installed at Cools Pond in Vernon. Tyler has participated in roughly 40 events/sales where he is often does live carving, including Artsolutely and the IPE.

Vicki lives and creates in the North Okanagan, in a rural setting which provides endless inspiration and interest, having been born with a deep and abiding interest in the flora, fauna, insect life, and the landscape of the natural world.
Recently retired from her long term day job, Vicki finds more time to maintain creativity in a number of crafts and arts. She works at the 'kitchen table studio' working in ceramics, fibres, textiles, and in traditional crafts such as spun cotton work, wire work, card and paper maché, creating both decorative and functional pieces.
Vicki attended Art School in London, UK, as young student, many many moons ago, and has always felt that the practical and theory education in the arts has 'held up' and proved invaluable over the years of family raising and careers.
Vicki derives huge satisfaction from the process of learning new different arts techniques, exploring new ideas, and also delving into past history of both ceramics and household crafts.

Yael was born 1962 in Israel. She has a BA in fine arts (Bezalel, Jerusalem), and has been a jewellery designer for over 25 years, turned soap maker. "I like to think I make useable art, that most people can afford and relate to." Yael started making soap in 2015, using the cold process method. She uses organic oils, herbs, spices and clays for color, and pure essential oils.