GFA is pleased to be exhibiting an inspirational new body of work from BC-based artist Kentree Speirs. “My art has been a deeply personal, spiritual, emotional process," says Kentree, "but it’s also an environmental statement. But I don’t want to hit people over the head with that. Inspiring people to be aware of our environment from a place of beauty is really my approach.”
Kentree, an avid climber, backcountry skier and student of all things natural, says his studies in geology have greatly influenced his work. "Knowing how mountains are formed informs how I paint intuitively and from memory. This helps me depict a realized sense of place. Many of my paintings show geological stratification in the mountains, for example—and I have made specific tools to help create this effect.”
Indeed, when you visit his art, you will see brush strokes, but you will also see the etchings of squeegees and shapers. You will bear witness to oil paints pushed and pulled across the painting surface akin to the manner that glaciers once moved the rock. Such is the deep natural connection that defines this new collection.
Kentree and his family reside in Kaslo, British Columbia, and he is a full-time studio artist.