The Okotoks Art Galley hosted an art exhibit opening this past weekend for two new exhibits.
On Saturday, March 15, artists Ricardo Copado and David Kitler were in attendance for the opening of their exhibits at the Art Gallery, which be open for people to check out until May 2.
Ricardo Copado's exhibit 'In Between: Yearning for Home' is about the different places Copado has been over the past ten years.
"But it is also about, like the title says, yearning for home," Copado explains.
He is originally from Mexico but has lived in Canada for 17 years, and his artwork is filled with visual symbols of Mexico and Canada, such as landscapes and geographical locations.
When he creates his work, he recreates those places in a surreal or whimsical way.
"And also, I love colour. You can see this in my show that I use a lot of contrast with colours and I like the movement, too."
In his art, there are items, such as houses, floating and wandering about.
Primarily, Copado works with oil paints, but some of his pieces are also mixed media.
He has been an artist since he finished his bachelor's degree in fine arts twenty years ago but has been creating art since he was a child in Mexico and credits his parents for influencing him to get into art, especially his mother.
"She was very artistic as well, not professionally," Copado says. "She would take me to museum galleries and book fairs in Mexico, and I guess I got all that experience."
Since then, he hasn't stopped creating art.
His work is filled with bright colours and whimsy.
One of the pieces in the exhibit is a custom piece he created for former Calgary Flames player, Spencer Foo, which showcases Foo's journey from growing up in rural Alberta to the different places he has been, including his time playing for the Kunlun Red Star team in the Kontinental Hockey League in China.
David Kitler's exhibit, 'A Closer Look', showcases the natural beauty that is found around us.
"What you'll notice is there's kind of an emphasis on birds in general, and to be honest, I really do like the raptors, the birds of prey," Kitler explains.
Most of the pieces that are part of this exhibit actually include these birds of prey.
Kitler says his exhibit has an educational emphasis to it, as there are pieces in the exhibit that are works in progress, primary sketches, and slideshows that show the progress of the pieces.
His inspiration for his pieces comes from Romans 1, Verse 20 from the bible.
"So, I believe there is a creator and I'm just trying my best job to show the world what he's created."
Kitler says he travels so he can get references for his artwork, which he gathers on site, and have hands-on experience with his subjects.
"I really love the painting process, but it has to be, kind of, from an inside experience."
His work is primarily done using acrylic paint on Baltic birch plywood.
Like Copado, Kilter has been creating art since he was young.
To learn more about both exhibits, head over to the Town of Okotoks website.