Creature Comforts presents a curated collection of Vancouver Island artists, seven from right here in the Comox Valley: Jacques De Backer, Penny Eder, Ian Fry, David Heath, John Janzen, Josephine Olivier, Ina-Griet Raatz von Hirschhausen and Karen Segee.

The exhibit, at Artful : The Gallery ( 526 Cumberland Rd., Courtenay) runs until April 18.

Creature Comforts examines our complex, and often contradictory, relationships with the animals we share this planet with.

From pets and farm animals to wild animals in the forests and seas, the creative expression of these artists is as varied as the ways we humans interact with them.

The exhibition features a broad range of styles and mediums from mixed media collage and sculpture, through watercolour, acrylic and oil paintings.

The artworks run the gamut from realism to the comical, majestic to cuddly. Creature Comforts includes artists across career span as well, with three of the artists (David Heath, Josephine Olivier and Karen Segee) showing in a gallery for the first time, while longtime Comox Valley favourites such as Jacques de Backer and Ian Fry are familiar to many.

Follow Artful : The Gallery on Instagram at @artfulthegallery or visit .