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Art exhibit opening

Artist pays homage to legacy of sculpturist Peter Soehn
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The opening reception for a new exhibit celebrating the works of sculpturist Peter Soehn will be held Friday, July 14, 6 to 8 p.m., at the Lake Country Art Gallery.

The exhibit runs July 14 to Aug. 26.

You wonÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™t find much about Soehn on the Internet, aside from the occasional credit on a roadside attractions website, or as the creator of some bizarre Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥œworldÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s largest sculptureÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥œ in Western Canada.

In a time before digital posts occupied our lives, we spent time outside, visiting petting zoos, waterslides, theme parks and fruit stands.

In Furbish: Remnant Themes of Post-Amusement, artist Scott August explores what little remains of SoehnÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s unrecognized legacy, from unearthing a buried 1970s Billboard, to posthumously documenting the artistÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s mind-boggling studio.

All that remains of SoehnÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s efforts are fading family photographs, unfinished sculptures and dust-covered memories.

Born in Saskatchewan in 1933, Soehn not only created characters of rural life, he himself was exactly that.

Soehn worked as a television prop builder and on-camera painting instructor in Alberta and in Kelowna at CHBC during the 1960s and Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™70s.

In the Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™80s, his family created ambitious folk-art sculptures and theme-parks for the amusement of others, from the demolished Kelowna Zoo to the redeveloped Old MacDonaldÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s Farm. But today, very little remains of his work in the Okanagan.

August is a Kelowna-born artist working between the Okanagan and Vancouver, he has been actively photographing and collecting what remains of the SoehnÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s attractions.

August has previously exhibited at the Kelowna Art Gallery, the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, VictoriaÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s 50/50 Gallery, VancouverÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s Interurban Gallery, and abroad at Pop Montreal Arts Festival and ChicagoÏã½¶ÊÓÆµÖ±²¥™s Three Walls Gallery.



Barry Gerding

About the Author: Barry Gerding

Senior regional reporter for Black Press Media in the Okanagan. I have been a journalist in the B.C. community newspaper field for 37 years...
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