Samantha Dickie & Louisa Elkin
Present NOW at Fortune Gallery,
February 17 - March 24, 2022
Opening Thursday Feb 17, 5:00 - 8:00
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Best selling author Eckhart Tolle offers spiritual guidance on how to live a more balanced life. “All you really need to do is accept this moment fully,” says Tolle, “you are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”

​Both the artists in this two-person show at Fortune Gallery are attuned to the concept of “now”. Samantha Dickie’s spectacular ceramic sculptures are designed to pause the viewer and induce contemplation. Dickie’s 2021 exhibition A Moment in Time at the Victoria Arts Council expanded her explorations on the theme of impermanence. Louisa Elkin’s serene oil landscapes began as plein-air watercolour paintings on remote island beaches. She brings the light and textures of the west coast alive with her brush. Her intention is to show the total connection and oneness she feels in nature. “My paintings imbue the viewer with a feeling of tranquility,” she says.

Detail: Kiss the Joy as it Flies, porcelain, up to 500 components, site specific, 2021

Helliwell Park Beach, View #2, oil on canvas, 24x24 in, 2020

​As well as philosophical views, the two artists share conceptual skills. Their relationship evolved as they worked together designing the Elkins’ new home in South Fairfield. Dickie admired Elkin’s paintings and they began planning a two-person show at Fortune Gallery. “I’m happy to introduce Louisa's cohesive body of work,” says Dickie, “and support my colleague in her first gallery show in Victoria.” Similarities in their artworks include an earth-based palette and predominance of natural colours and textures. Elkin’s oils capture the sculptural elements found in sandstone shorelines and wave-tossed beaches.

Detail: Three carved stoneware pillars bound for resort in Kauai, Hawaii.

Samantha Dickie in home studio with Kauai Towers

Dickie’s professional practice spans over 20 years of artist residencies, exhibitions and commissions. In her spacious Fairfield studio, she designs, fires and finishes a vast array of ceramic sculptures. When I visited in January 2022, three carved stoneware pillars sat ready to be shipped to a high-end resort in Kauai, Hawaii. This prestigious commission followed one in 2019 from France luxury retailer Louis Vuitton. In Vuitton’s Boston location, two similar towers by Dickie are on permanent exhibit.

The Fortune Gallery is located in an historic building in China Town. “Fortune Gallery is a beautiful space to exhibit art,” says Dickie. The gallery features a red brick wall, 20 feet high, running down one side of the room. Dickie has created a site-specific installation for the wall titled Kiss the Joy as it Flies. This phrase comes from a poem by William Blake (1757-1827), and points out the fleeting nature of happiness. Dickie’s original design used folded origami cranes as a model for the in-flight forms. Each of the hundreds of porcelain ceramic cranes is unique and attached to a rod secured into the brick wall. Shadows cast by lighting give a dynamic quality to the flock of air-born creatures. “The title describes the lightness and movement within a joyful state of being,” she says. “Birds symbolize a freedom that we crave.”
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Detail: All We Can Do Is Keep Breathing, porcelain, star forms hung in an 8-foot diameter sphere, 2018

All We Can Do Is Keep Breathing, porcelain, 1350 components hung in an 8-foot diameter sphere, 2018

A Speck of Dust rearranges the star-shaped forms used for All We Can Do Is Keep Breathing (2018). Breathing… was an 8-foot diameter sphere comprised of 1350 star-shaped components installed at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo.
A Speck of Dust repurposes these lively dancing forms into a  9-foot diameter circle. “This site-specific installation at Fortune will be atmospheric,” promises Dickie, “shimmering with the lines of microfilament holding the stars in place.” Breezes from the doorway and people passing by will rustle the starry orbs.
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The Skin We're In, ceramic, 9 figures up to 36 inches, 2019. Cathie Ferguson photo.

The Skin We’re In is an assemblage of nine ceramic figures located in the window of Fortune Gallery. The cratered forms question current norms about the female body in our beauty-bound culture.​ This assemblage was part of a group exhibition in Vancouver in 2019 titled Malleable: Changing Notions of Women.

Louisa Elkin in studio with Aqua Exovuntur (water cycle).

​Louisa Elkin’s art and design practise spans over 30 years and includes group and solo exhibitions and commissions. Her original drawings adorn towels and t-shirts. Silk-screened onto organic cotton, her graphic designs become functional art pieces. Sales of her design wear support environmental causes and non-profit organizations. Over the years, many adults and children have benefitted from Elkin’s art instruction.
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Elkin completed a Summer Immersion Program at the Victoria College of Art, as well as courses in drawing, print-making and sculpture. Local instructors Bill Porteous and David Goatley helped refine her abstraction and portraiture skills.
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​Elkin has a home and studio on Hornby Island. For her, the importance of water conservation and protection is both a practical and philosophical concern. She’s shown several times at the Hornby Island Arts Council Gallery. Her most recent group show was titled: Water, Sweet Water. “This showcased my deep practice of honouring the precious and essential elements in nature,” she says. Following this theme is the painting Aqua Exovuntur (water cycle in Latin). When completed, Aqua Exovuntur reminded Elkin of a visual representation of the water cycle. The painting has merging bands of atmospheric colour. Textural gray shades anchor the painting’s base, moving up into aqua and mauve. Mid-painting, a dark band implies horizon. Above, a brilliant yellow burst moves into pastel shades of blue and chalky white. The nebulous cloud shapes may hide a distant island or mountain.

Helliwell Park Beach, View #1, oil on canvas, 24x24 in, 2020

Helliwell Park Beach, View #2, oil on canvas, 24x24 in, 2020

Elkin's oil paintings are various sizes, with the largest being 36 by 48 inches. The exhibition also features a grouping of eight framed watercolour paintings. These smaller paintings (about 5 by 7 inches) show Elkin’s plein-air process. They were completed on Hornby Island at remote beaches such as Helliwell Provincial Park, Whaling Station Bay and Tribune Bay. Each painting took about two hours to complete on a spring or summer day. There are three views from Helliwell Park beach, each oriented in a different direction. “I look long and carefully at the view,” she says, “all my senses attuned to the environment. I find the experience both meditative and energizing.” Once back in her studio, Elkin uses these subjects for her larger oil paintings.

Aqua Exovuntur (water cycle), oil on canvas, 30x30, 2021

Helliwell Park Beach, View #3, oil on canvas, 24x24 in, 2020

Then and Now, oil on canvas, 36x36, 2021

Ebb and Flow, oil on canvas, 36x48 in, 2021

Hornby Island has some remarkable beaches and park areas that feature sculpted sandstone formations. Some formations look like honey-combs and appear more malleable than mineral. Others flow like lava from another epoch across sandy beaches. In Then and Now, Elkin features flowing sandstone formations in the foreground. She moves the viewers eyes between the formations into sandy tidal zones and beyond into sea and sky. The dramatic curtain of mist hovering on the horizon adds a sense of mystery. “This painting evokes the ethereal qualities of west coast beaches,” says Elkin, “and leaves one feeling peaceful.”

This two-person show presents many gifts to viewers. Dickie’s vessels and installations offer a refined balance that honours the ability of order to arise out of chaos. In Elkin’s meditative oil paintings, we see a mindful quality and appreciation of life’s fleeting moments. Both artists communicate the healing and balance they receive from the natural world. Lucky locals can savour the artworks of this talented duo at the Fortune Gallery until March 24.

​Fortune Gallery, 537 Fisgard Street, Victoria, BC V8W 1R3
Hours are Tuesday to Sunday 12:00-5:00.  250 383-1552

Contact info for artists
Samantha Dickie: [email protected].   Website HERE
Louisa Elkin: [email protected]. Website HERE

​Artists will be on site at various times throughout the show.
Please contact them directly to set up an appointment.

The Opening of NOW brought many appreciative guests to the Fortune Gallery. The Times Colonist "Critic's Picks" section featured NOW in the Thursday Feb 17 Arts Section. (Mike Devlin) The installations and oil paintings are a joy to view.
Several of Louisa's paintings have sold already, with many visitors appreciating both artists.

​​​Web Design and Content by Kate Cino
Arts writer published in Focus on Victoria, Yam and Boulevard. 
History in Art degree and Public Relations certificate from 
​the University of Victoria
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