Comox Valley Photographic Society鈥檚 (CVPS) Showcase runs at the Pearl Ellis Gallery on March 4-27 with 38 prints on display.
The 2020 exhibit was closed four days after opening by the lockdown and the prints hung for two months with no viewers. CVPS photographers are hopeful that the 2021 exhibit will make up for the loss. CVPS members have been meeting virtually all year with no group-organized photo shoots. Many have spent the time cleaning out their digital libraries, finding images they hadn鈥檛 edited and shot solo assignments, sharing the images online.
Working on a print requires more attention than making a file that鈥檚 shared digitally. Printing is a slow process, and forces the maker to look both at the details in the image and think critically about the results. Printing is also an expensive process and more attention is paid to what makes the cut.
This year鈥檚 exhibition features nature themes, cityscapes, abstracts and street shots in colour, and black and white. Mixed throughout the exhibit are six oversized prints on metal and canvas.
鈥淎 print is sometimes confrontational, but in a good way,鈥� said exhibit organizer Norm Prince. 鈥淚t grabs your attention and forces you to look closer.鈥�
One of those prints is a 36x18鈥� image of a grizzly bear in the water, by local photographer Viktor Davare. Like many, he recognizes that this lockdown has affected some families in a hard way. As a gesture, he鈥檚 donating the proceeds of the sale of the print to the Salvation Army to assist a family in need. The gallery has also agreed to forgo its commission, and other CVPS members have indicated that they would donate their share of any sales to the fund. Details will be available at the gallery during the exhibit.
The Pearl Ellis Art Gallery is located at 1729 Comox Ave. in Comox.
The gallery is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. 颅- 2 p.m. with COVID protocols in place.
Gallery capacity is limited to six people at a time.
For more information about the gallery, and to see a virtual display of the exhibition, visit www.pearlellisgallery.com.
For more information about the Comox Valley Photographic Society, visit or contact Prince at n_prince@telus.net
