Artist Bios
Maria Acuna | @phenomena.sculpture
Mapi Acuna is a Colombian self-taught sculptor based in East Vancouver and an instructor of Hand Eye Ceramics Studio. Her artistic journey began in media arts before shifting to the culinary world, where she first sculpted with modelling chocolate. What started as a playful experiment soon became a passion, leading her to ceramics by the end of 2023—a medium that gave her work permanence and depth. Acuna’s sculptures exist between realism and the surreal, where meticulously sculpted facial features merge subtle distortions and enigmatic details. Her work explores themes of transformation, ritual, and the porous nature of identity, through perforated forms, raw textures, or natural elements. She embraces clay’s unpredictability, letting its organic qualities guide her process. For Acuna, the human form is more than anatomy—it is a vessel for memory, emotion, and the unseen forces that shape our existence.
Sylvie Alexandris | @sylviealexandris2022
Sylvie Alexandris started drawing and painting florals early last year, and roses quickly became one of her favorite subjects. Painting them is both meditative and expressive, allowing her to explore movement, texture, and emotion. Whether abstract or detailed, each rose Alexandris paints captures a moment in her evolving artistic journey—always changing, just like the flowers themselves. Each bloom tells a story of growth, beauty, and imperfection—things that deeply draw her in. Through painting roses, she explores contrasts: softness against bold strokes, light against shadow, and chaos within structure.
Joanne Armour | @joannearmourart
Joanne Armour is an artist living and working in North Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her diploma from Capilano College and her degree from York University. Armour’s work explores the boundaries between realism and abstraction, and seeks to crystallize a moment or mood in a particular place and time. She takes inspiration from the dramatic landscapes and primeval forests of the West Coast, which she routinely immerses herself in, but she’s also attracted to the more traditional subject matter of still-life floral arrangements; she happily shifts focus from the panoramic to the miniature, from the wild to the domestic, in order to create work that faithfully reflects her view of the world.
Susie Benes | http://www.susiebenes.com | @postmodernequestrian
Susie is a contemporary sculptor whose art is driven by a deep passion for horses. Originally from Toronto, Susie has lived in the Czech Republic and England, where she completed an MA in the history of art from the University of Oxford. While her academic training provides a strong theoretical foundation, she is largely self-taught in sculpting techniques, having developed her distinctive style over many years. Susie sculpts works with ceramic, air dry clay, and paper, —often in combination— taking advantage of each medium’s strengths. Her quiet, yet gestural sculptures are richly layered with contrasting shapes and textures, often with hidden elements for the curious observer to discover. Through her work, she aims to challenge traditional material boundaries while creating art that engages and delights viewers. She lives in Squamish, BC.
Marnie Boullard | https://nsartists.ca/marnieboullard | @marnieboullard
Marnie Boullard has been an artist since she was a child and throughout her life has experimented in many genres including printmaking, painting, clay, and many textile genres. She has training at the Vancouver School of Art and a Masters degree in Art Education. Boullard shows and sells her art in many galleries, shops and markets in the lower mainland. Her concept is art is about human rights.
Ella Culajevic |@myprettyprintables
Ella studied Printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts / University of Sarajevo, in her native Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was then that she fell in love with linocut, her favourite printmaking technique. In 1992 her studies were cut short by the war. She spent the next few years in Denmark and eventually moved to Canada. In her search for a possible employment, she discovered that her skills were transferable to Animation. Over the next 20+ years, she worked on many animation projects as a layout artist, background painter and designer at various studios in Toronto and Vancouver. In 2018 she bought a small etching press and decided to start making linocuts again as an antidote to long hours spent in front of the screen. Her practice as a printmaker is primarily focused on reduction linocut. In this technique multiple colours are carved and printed sequentially from the same linoleum block. After the linoleum block is carved away the edition is complete, therefore no additional prints can be made from it. Ella currently lives in Vancouver, where she finds inspiration in both nature and urban landscapes. She is an Associate member of Dundarave Print Workshop on Granville Island.
Sophia Coller | @kairosclerosis_art
Sophie Coller’s artistic journey as a teen artist spans various mediums, including ink, painting, ceramics, and digital media. Her work explores identity, mythology, biology, and childhood nostalgia, aiming to foster reflection and connection. Growing up mixed heritage, Coller often grappled with cultural identity, which deeply influences her art. Chinese traditions and ancestral stories shape her understanding of belonging and self-expression. Coller draws inspiration from literature, history, anthropology, and the natural world, exploring how art and nature intersect. Her process is intuitive and emotion-driven—she creates spontaneously and later uncovers meaning. Experimentation is key in her artistic process, whether combining mediums or embracing new materials.
Alana Evans | http://www.alanaevansart.ca | @alana_evans_art
Alana Evans is a contemporary artist whose evocative oil paintings bridge the gap between emotion and memory. Evans masterfully employs bold, fauvist-inspired colour palettes and expressive brushwork to create immersive compositions. Her signature style blends transparent layers of colour, with expressive, bold textural marks. This thoughtful nod to the artist’s hand adds a personal narrative to each piece, leaving a trace of the artist’s presence. Evans’ attention to building visually striking compositions invites the viewer to step into a world where colour, texture, and light converge to tell a story. Alana is a graduate from Emily Carr University of Art and Design with a BFA in Visual Arts. Evans’s passion for art and creative expression started as a child growing up in the Okanagan Valley of BC. She moved to the Vancouver area as a teenager and is currently a Langley BC resident. She is passionate about encouraging the further development of the artistic community in the Fraser Valley of the Greater Vancouver.
Georgia Fitton | @the.clay.fae
Georgia Fitton is a ceramic artist from a sleepy, seaside suburb in South Surrey, BC. She combines wheel throwing, handbuilding, and illustration to make whimsical and spirited pottery. Her passion for art ignited at an early age, and during grade school, she devoted most of her free time to drawing. After studying animation at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, she taught drawing, painting, and clay classes at a children’s art studio. It was here where her fascination with ceramics began to blossom. In 2023, Georgia was selected to be the Ceramic Artist in Residence at PoMoArts; she unveiled her first solo show, titled “Sculpted Eden” in 2024. Currently she works as a ceramics instructor.
Deanna Fligg | http://www.deannafligg.com | @deannafliggart
Deanna Fligg is a creator who uses a variety of mediums that focus on the subject matter of pollinators. Her background involves fine art, interior design and floral design. The majority of her inspirations are derived from the living organisms that have an impact on us on a daily basis. Memories of her innocent childhood play, and the more serious topics of conservation and reality are formed together in her work. This deep connection between Mother Earth and how human activities are clashing came later in life but are now fully a part of her art practice. Deanna advocates for and promotes the importance of all pollinators. She feels that every living thing has a story, and she strives to share their tale as well as their beauty through her artwork. Deanna hopes her work can spark conversations to move forward and support this planet’s life for a better future.
Lynda Fownes: | http://lyndajfownes.com | @lyndafownesartist
As a longtime resident of the North Shore, Lynda Fownes finds rejuvenation in the natural world. Now an apartment dweller, she is grateful for public gardens. Even a few floors up, there is still the enjoyment of waiting for birds to visit the feeders on the deck. Her paintings juxtapose the rigid lines of the built environment with the uncontrolled vibrancy of wild environments. From her beginnings in Art Education at UBC, Fownes has explored a variety of media–ceramics, textiles, painting and graphics. Her interest has been to incorporate what she has discovered in each medium into my paintings. Her early work focused on soft sculpture and fibre art, and she has for several years now, returned to the idea of exploring patterns and textures—in both choice of subject and use of media.
Teresa Frolek
This project had its beginnings when Teresa Frolek acquired a number of vintage nurses uniforms, and the idea evolved in conversation with her Aunt Betty, RN, about how nurses dealt with the stressful conditions of their jobs. She began pursuing the idea of an imaginary life, and by dyeing, printing and embellishing the uniforms with vintage buttons, trims and stenciled text, they became the wardrobe for that imaginary life. For “A Walk in the Garden”, Frolek has used leaves from her North Vancouver garden to print this uniform, and then embellished it with stenciled text from a popular song.
Claire Huang | http://clairehuang.ca
Born in Shanghai, China, Claire ( Chun Ping) Huang received her BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2005. She currently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Vancouver and abroad. In 2010, two of her urbanscape painting City of glass series were selected for presentation in the Canadian Pavilion of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China. She has recently returned to painting and continued her artistic exploration. Her works are collected by several private and commercial institution across the country and USA.
Kit Mei Hung | http://www.seeyu.art | @mitchell_seeyu
Her artist’s name, Mitchell Seeyu, embodies spontaneity and precision. Born and raised in Hong Kong, and now based in Vancouver, B.C., she graduated from Chung Chi College, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and later received a Master of Visual Arts from Baptist University of Hong Kong. Her work explores natural beauty through the boneless technique of Chinese painting (cursive stroke), she applies colors and inks with humility and respect. She aspires to lead those who appreciate her art to a dazzling horizon of small plants. For Seeyu, birds and flowers hold poetic resonance that connects to her upbringing and aesthetic sensibilities. She aspires to transform these feelings into the essence of her art, offering viewers a fresh perspective. She is also captivated by the beauty of plants and aims to celebrate their vitality and vibrancy through her brushwork, using negative space to highlight their natural beauty.
Eri Ishii | http://eriishii.com | @eri_ishii_painter
Eri Ishii was born in Japan and now lives in Vancouver working mostly in oil painting. Her work stems from her love of oil paint, as its buttery texture and depth of colours provide an ideal medium to explore the visual language of painting. She has studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver Life Drawing Society, and under the guidance of her late mentor, Norman Yates. A winner of several awards, Eri has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally including Campbell River & District Public Art Gallery in BC, Halde Galerie in Switzerland, and Taiwan National Art Museum in Taichung City, Taiwan. Her work has been featured in various media outlets such as CBC On the Coast with Gloria Macarenko, Vancouver Sun, Globe & Mail, and the Province. Eri is currently represented by Ian Tan Gallery in Vancouver.
Priyanka Jadhav | @wellboggledmind
Priyanka (aka. Wellboggledmind) is an artist, storyteller, and illustrator based between Tokyo and Vancouver. Her work reflects a deep affection for small moments, quiet spaces, and the emotional textures of cities, forests, and fictions. Using hand-cut colored paper, recycled bits, and found materials, she creates layered scenes that feel like memory and dream stitched together. With a love for soft nostalgia, whimsy, and rooted calm, her pieces often explore the places where joy quietly grows. “I Dreamt of Sunflowers” is a gentle imagining of that space—part memory, part hope, blooming in warm yellows and soil-tones.
Shelley James
Shelley James began painting with acrylics two decades ago. She has no formal art education, but has gained valuable experience through local artists and workshops offered on the North Shore. After living in rural areas for many years she prefers painting land-, sea- and sky-scapes. James is a member of the North Shore Artists Guild. She has exhibited and sold paintings at Guild shows, Harmony Arts Festival, Cityscape Community Art Space, Silk Purse and Ferry Building Galleries.
Maya Kamachi | http://mayakamachi.ca | @mayakamceram
Maya Kamachi is a Yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese Canadian) exploring what it means to be living on the West coast coming from a formerly uprooted Japanese Canadian family during WWII. Her collection of ceramic works explores themes of Japanese diaspora, shared Canadian history, grief, identity, and forgiveness through the use of thematically rich floral motifs. She uses this imagery to connect herself back to the land that her material comes from, and uses it as a basis for exploring how water is a giver of life and a source of power. She materializes these ideas into figurative ceramic works as a lover of the flora and fauna we have in our backyards in the Lower Mainland.
Stella Kent | http://Stellabellaartwork.com
Stella Kent is a North Vancouver watercolor artist who studied Art at the University of Regina and took further classes at Langara College. She loves to capture the beauty of her Lower Lonsdale neighborhood and much-loved places from her travels around the world, transforming them into watercolor paintings, greeting cards and prints.
Donna Konstantinovic | https://donnakonstantinart.com | @donnakonstantinart
Donna Konstantinovic is an artist with many years of experience who opened up with her work in recent years. She has exhibited her work locally in few group and solo exhibitions. She has been an Exhibiting Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists since October 2022, a member of Burnaby Artists Guild since October 2021 and a member of New West Artists, North Van Arts, Coquitlam Art Club and few others. Konstantinovic lives in Burnaby, BC. The vast and colourful heritage of her old European homeland gave her the basis of who she is today and living in North America has enriched her vision. Every corner of this bountiful West Coast and its vivid nature inspires her daily.
Marion Maxwell | @Marion’s.paintings
Born in Toronto and raised in Oakville Ontario. Marion moved to BC in 1972. Later in life, with a group of sorority sisters a painting group was formed called Prosecco and Pearls. Marion has had no formal art training but under the guidance of Judy Frigon received some instruction. Her art has been displayed at the Silk Purse, Seymour Art Gallery, North Van Arts and North Shore Artist Guild. Marion art hangs in Metro Vancouver, Calgary, Ontario and the UK. Marion has 2 girls and 4 grandsons which keep her busy now that she has retired from being an Insurance Adjuster. Her work tends to be mostly nature. Living in Howe, sound and being surrounded by trees, mountains and oceans is where her studio is located.
Julie McIntyre | http://www.juliemcintyre.org | @juliemcprints
Julie is a print and paper-based artist who studied at the Banff Centre, Alberta in 1986 and received her BFA from Queen’s University with a major in printmaking. She has gratefully made her home for the past thirty years on the unceded Coast Salish shared lands of xwməθkwəyəm (Musqueam), Skxwú7mesh (Squamish) & səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), (Vancouver, BC). She has had solo shows in over 22 public galleries in Canada and participated in well over 40 juried exhibitions, including 23 international credits. Julie has taught workshops across Canada for over 35 years and has been a popular Artist in Residence with the Vancouver School Board and ArtStarts for over a decade. Currently, she is Artist in Residence with Tecumseh Elementary, Vancouver where she is assisting the entire student body with creating legacy banners funded in part by Heritage BC.
Cindy Melendres | @cinlmh
Born in Peru and now making her home in North Vancouver, Cindy is an artist with a passion for nature, and the creatures of the natural world. With interests in a variety of different artistic media, her works follow themes of wonder, beauty, spirituality, appreciation, and gratitude.
Lucia Milosavljevic | http://luciamiloart.com | @luciamiloart
Lucia Milosavljevic is a registered nurse who enjoys painting in her spare time. She paints a variety of subject matter and is primarily a self-taught artist. Her inspirations arise from a desire to capture emotions of awe, wonder, and beauty. Consequently, she is always searching for the unexpected beauty that surrounds her, both in nature and in the mundane moments of daily life. Living in the lower mainland has allowed her to find inspiration in her backyard as she regularly explores her local area through kayaking, hiking, and photographing the landscape or painting en plein air.
Lauren Morris| http://lmdesignsstudio.com | @laurenmoriss123
As an Artist, Lauren Morris is captivated by the vibrant beauty and intricate details found within the realm of flowers. Her artistic journey is fuelled by a deep passion for colors and their ability to evoke emotions and create visual harmony. Through her work, she aims to capture the essence of these natural wonders and invite viewers into a world of botanical enchantment. The medium of acrylics allows her to explore and experiment with a wide range of colors, bringing her floral compositions to life with vividness and vitality. She believes that color is a language of its own, capable of transcending barriers and stirring deep emotions within the viewer. Morris hopes to inspire a renewed appreciation for the beauty that surrounds us and to encourage a deeper connection with nature. Ultimately, her goal as an artist is to create an emotional and sensory experience forever captured on the canvas.
Linda Morris | @linda.l.morrisartist
As an artist, Linda Morris tries to capture the beauty of our natural environment, whether it’s flowers, landscapes or still life. The vibrant colours of nature resonate deeply within her soul, evoking feelings of peace, tranquility and happiness.
Vikram Naik | http://www.vikramnaik.com | @vikram14
Vikram Naik is a self-taught watercolor artist known for his delicate and captivating floral and animal paintings. With a deep love for nature, he brings to life vibrant flowers and expressive wildlife through his mastery of watercolor. His work blends the fluidity and vibrancy of watercolors with intricate details, capturing the essence and beauty of the natural world. Each piece reflects his unique perspective and a deep connection to nature. He has studied design in India and UK and participated in various art crawls and events in Vancouver.
Kristine Noble | https://krisnoble.weebly.com | @knoblestudio
Kristine Noble came to love flowers early in life thanks to her grandma who always grew pansies and violets specially for her. As an adult, she worked as a weaver and fabric stylist for Pendleton Woolen Mills and as a rug hooker and pattern designer for By Hook or Crook. In 2007, her painting journey began in response to an ad in the North Shore News soliciting volunteers for a mural painting project planned for the Dementia Unit of Capilano Care Centre in West Vancouver. After over 240 hours of painting a 4’ x 11’ expansive garden scene with a 1/4” brush, she knew she’d found her passion. Noble continues to focus on the world of flowers, albeit on a more intimate, up-close scale. she delights in her subjects’ idiosyncrasies, and she attempts to capture their personalities through pattern and colour.
Paige Quinton | @rookery.ceramics
Paige resides in East Vancouver, graduating from Emily Carr University in 2012 and for the last 10 years they have been working in the animation industry. Alongside animation they create comics, illustrate children’s books, and make pottery. Their pottery practise often involves using natural materials gathered from around home and combining them with functional ceramics. With a focus on using materials that are invasive or discarded by city maintenance. In their free time they can be found spending warm days with a cup of tea on their balcony, cycling, or walking and foraging through the north shore forests with their dog.
Jessica Salvador | https://jessicasalvador.com | @jessicasalvadorart
Jessica is a Vancouver-based artist working in acrylic paint, pen and ink and gouache, on paper or wood panel. The permanence of acrylic allows endless, undisturbed layering. Unconventional tools create unique textures to enrich each work. Responding to the environment directly by painting en plein air gives Jessica a chance to expand on her field studies in the studio.Jessica loves to garden, and this past summer was addicted to daily ocean swimming in the Pacific Ocean. The colours and textures of plant foliage, sunlight reflecting on the water’s surface, glorious gardens and their lovely heritage homes, plus landscapes where we relax and take in the view all feature in my latest body of work.
Maureen Savage | https://maureensavage.com/ | @msavage.art/
Maureen is an artist and illustrator from Vancouver, BC. Their work is inspired by their love of nature, literature, mythology, and worlds hidden below the surface. They enjoy going for walks around their neighbourhood and trying to understand the secret lives of the animals, plants, and insects they see around themselves.
Danielle Segur | http://nsartists.ca/daniellesegur | @daniellesegur.art
Danielle was born on the beautiful North Shore of Vancouver, BC, where she grew up among the lush forests, majestic mountains, and the oceans with ever-changing tides. She knew that she wanted a life as an artist and so attended Langara College and studied Fine Art , Advertising and Design. After leaving a career in Advertising, Danielle immersed herself in family life while she raised her 3 children and continued to practice art while exploring parenthood. She finds herself now most fortunate to be able to devote her time to sharing her gifts and showcasing the wonders of nature. Danielle has had exhibitions in Fort Langley, North Vancouver at the Centennial Theatre, West Vancouver Harmony Arts Festival, and the Silk Purse Gallery. She is a member of the North Vancouver Arts Council, West Vancouver Arts Council, Federation of Canadian Artists and the NS Artists Guild.
Elena Senatorova | https://www.elenasenatorova.com/ | @Senatorovaart
Elena is a full-time visual artist based in West Vancouver who works mostly with oil medium, in techniques from classical realism to contemporary impressionism, from fine glazing to heavy brush strokes, and palette knife work. “I love to paint stilllifes & flowers. I grow my little garden of flowers which I combine in the bouquets and paint from life. They tingle my color tastes and bring joy, especially during the wet and dark winter months” – says Elena.Elena is teaching oil painting classes at North Van Arts, Squamish Arts, and does private lessons at home. She is a guest speaker for the Professional Development Series for North Van Arts.
Mahin Sharilli | https://sites.google.com/view/mahinsharilliartca/home | @m.sharilliart
Mahin Sharilli is a Vancouver-based artist whose passion for art ignited early in her life. She pursued her dreams by earning a B.A. in Stage Design from the University of Art in Iran and went on to teach the fundamentals of visual art. Mahin’s paintings aim to capture the extraordinary beauty and harmony of nature, offering a universal appeal that goes beyond technical expertise. She is actively involved with the Federation of Canadian Artists and North Van Arts. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and has received considerable recognition and attention from art lovers who have purchased her artworks.
Anna Tiulkina | https://www.annafarba.com | @annafarba
Anna is an illustrator and botanical artist based in Port Coquitlam, BC. With over a decade of experience, she creates detailed watercolor paintings that explore the connection between plants, their healing uses, and hidden meanings. Inspired by the forests of the Pacific Northwest and the wildflowers she discovers while hiking, Anna’s work highlights the quiet beauty of nature through delicate details and rich color palettes. In addition to botanical art, she creates illustrations for books, packaging, and home decor, often weaving nature-inspired patterns into her designs. Her work blends scientific accuracy with artistic expression, as she partners with brands and publishers to share nature’s beauty with a wider audience.
Sande Waters | https://www.sandewaters.com | @sandewaters
Sande Waters received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she refined her skills and discovered her artistic voice. Following that transformative experience, she pursued her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at the San Francisco Art Institute in California, which deepened her understanding of contemporary art practices. Currently, she resides and creates in Deep Cove, North Vancouver, BC, a beautiful area that she considers home. Her artwork has been embraced by audiences in Canada, the USA, and Europe, where it has been both exhibited and collected, reflecting a commitment to creating pieces that resonate across diverse cultures.
Grant Wildi
Grant Wildi, a Canadian Artist based in North Vancouver, began his artistic journey in the 80’s as he captured everyday scenes in pen and ink while traveling in Pakistan and India. Currently Grant predominantly paints in watercolour and acrylics seeking to portray the beauty of the natural world, finding inspiration close to home. In his painting “Praise for the Pollinators; Mason Bee Cocoons and Their Garden Home”, Grant salutes the beginning, cocoon stage, of this backyard indigenous pollinator, and the symbiotic relationship with backyard “Mason Bee Keepers”. As a “Mason Bee Keeper” himself, Grant is captivated by the annual transformation from cocoon to pollinator. He constructed the “Bee Home” and prepares it each season to welcome this cycle of life.
Victoria Yahara | https://www.victoriayahara.ca/ | @victoriayaharastudio
Victoria is a self-taught relief printmaker inspired by the Language of Flowers. She grew up on Bowen Island and developed her creative skills through formal studies in art and design at Capilano University. She now resides in Lynn Valley with her husband and their two sons.Her relief prints blend her love for symmetry with the natural imperfections of hand-carving. Every print tells a story where flowers speak their own language through intricate patterns and thoughtful symbolism.