Don Cunningham and Madeleine Wood are showing art From the Ground Up this month at the Hub Cafe.

With contrasting approaches in response to their garden, Cunningham works with ambiguity in his layered steel paintings, while Wood zooms in boldly to embrace botanical details in oil. And yet, seen together, their work achieves a balance; the images do not overpower one another, rather they sit side by side in an uneasy equilibrium.

Garden imagery in art has a long history. For two people returning to rural life, the rediscovery of gardening provided an irresistible theme. They鈥檝e been building their garden from the ground up. And of course a garden is much more than a garden; it鈥檚 likely the oldest metaphor for birth, growth, harvest, decay, death, and then, rebirth. And this long history makes using the garden a difficult subject. Do we need another flower picture?

You decide. Come to the Hub bright and early for a cuppa and see for yourself. The Hub is downtown Courtenay at 545 Duncan and opens 8:30-3:30 Monday to Saturday. The collaborative exhibition ends June 30. The artists gratefully acknowledge business owner Nathalie Devereaux鈥檚 enthusiasm for art.