On June 2, the Kelowna Museums Society is opening a new exhibition featuring a series of paintings and new media works by artist Heather Cline. This new attraction, entitled Quiet Stories from Canadian Places, is a national touring exhibition created in response to Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration.

Cline’s work shifts the traditional role that painting has played in documenting history through official portraiture and pivotal historical moments, to documenting Canadian places that are significant to everyday people and simple moments. Over the past 10 years, Cline has been quietly gathering stories from communities across Canada, including Kelowna, collecting personal and regional histories. Using the experiences of everyday people as her inspiration, Cline documents Canadian places through sight, sound and memory, creating a “multiplicity of experience.”

Last fall the artist interviewed Kelowna residents, including Mayor Colin Basran, who shared personal memories of their homes and the community. Cline was inspired to paint some of the locations, connecting with the subject matter through other people’s reminiscences and experiences of place. The recollections featured in the exhibition are from a range of everyday people, from fruit pickers to school children.

The resulting exhibition, installed at the Okanagan Heritage Museum, features fifty paintings interspersed with audio stories that create a dynamic narrative space filled with images and soundscapes.

Quiet Stories from Canadian Places runs from June 2 to September 4 at the Okanagan Heritage Museum, 470 Queensway Ave, Kelowna, BC.

For more information visit www.heathercline.ca/projects/quiet-stories.