A graduate of Parksville's Ballenas Secondary School is off to Chianciano, Italy for his second international art show.

Spencer Zaborniak's portrait was selected to be displayed with works by artists from 40 countries at the Biennale Chianciano 2024 this month.

"It felt like an honour to be one of the 150," Zaborbiak said. 鈥淭hey select from, sometimes, thousands of artists."

His entry, titled 'Into The Light', depicts a young woman standing among glistening green leaves with shadows falling across her face. It was the last in a series that experimented and showcased female beauty in nature, according to Zaborniak.

"I feel like that piece really stood out to me as kind of representing that theme that we are a part of nature," said Zaborniak, who now lives in Vancouver and is an artist with the Empty Wall art gallery.

He met with the model, named Nicole, at Queen Elizabeth Park for a photo shoot. 

鈥淪he鈥檚 a very talented model, so we connected very well. It came very naturally," he said.

Zaborniak arrived early to plan out the perfect spot for a photo, but by the time he and Nicole met, the sun had moved and the lighting had changed, so he had to improvise with a new location.

鈥淚 kind of caught a moment where there was partial shade going into her eye, but also sunlight going into her eye," he said. 鈥淚 really fell in love with the image and it really spoke to me."

He's excited to travel to Italy for the first time and plans to explore Florence and Rome with his girlfriend.

"It feels like a really big step in my career, especially Italy being such a foundation for the arts and for painting," Zaborniak said. "I鈥檓 really looking forward to it."

This will be his second international show, after he exhibited at the London Art Biennale 2023.

His entry for that show was called 鈥楬ow Much Does A Dollar Cost? Pt. 2鈥� and showed a young Ukrainian woman holding a burning U.S. dollar bill and represents the destructive power economic greed can wreak on a society.

He has always loved visual art, but for a long time time Zaborniak was more interested in drawing cartoons than painting.

"That was a big focus as a kid. I painted a little bit, but for a huge part of my life, up until I was 16, I never really thought that I would paint or try to capture people in a realistic way," he said. 鈥淎t the same time it also felt like a challenge that kind of scared me a little bit and I always had a little bit of curiosity towards it. I always felt like it was something I couldn鈥檛 do, I couldn鈥檛 achieve it."

Zaborniak and two other artists at the Empty Wall art gallery recently hosted a joint portrait show. He enjoyed the opportunity to introduce himself on the microphone and speak about his interest in painting and how it continues to evolve.

鈥淚 felt like I was really able to connect with so many people in such a deep level and people had so many questions for my art and for the process," he said. 

Zaborniak grew up in the Parksville and Nanoose areas and graduated from Ballenas in 2016. He relocated to Vancouver in 2021 to pursue his art career.

He said he plans to keep looking for opportunities to showcase his artwork in international shows.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a really exciting journey.鈥�

Zaborniak paints commissions and the best way to reach him is via email at spencerzaborniak@gmail.com. You can check out more of his work on his Instagram page and the .

The Biennale is a museum level award exhibition curated by the International Confederation of Art Critics, the Chianciano Art Museum and Gagliardi Gallery.