Penticton, BC – Artist and former Penticton Mayor Dorothy Tinning is donating her artistic talent to protect critical habitat in the South Okanagan. Her feature piece, a large landscape called Springtime, Mahoney Lake will be up for auction at The Nature Trust of BC fundraiser in Kelowna on Saturday, June 20.
“My work is often a celebration of nature as I enjoy the outdoors immensely,” says Tinning. “This acrylic on canvas painting, Springtime, Mahoney Lake has a strong visual impact and expresses my appreciation of light due to my use of colour to highlight the intense beauty of the arrowleaf balsamroot flower.”
The inspiration for Tinning’s painting was a springtime hike she took along the southwest shore of Mahoney Lake, where the balsamroot can be found in abundance growing on the hillside. Mahoney Lake, accessible via Green Lake Road six kilometers south of Okanagan Falls or three kilometers west of Oliver, is a saline lake fed only by precipitation, so it has been used as a research and teaching site for over 30 years.
Tinning’s work is just one of three stunning pieces donated by prominent Okanagan artists, including Kelowna artists Rod Charlesworth and Alex Fong.
Fong has been along time supporter of the Earth Wind Fire fundraiser, now in us seventh year. The evening features 14 top chefs from the Okanagan and Vancouver BC, a bubbles and butterflies reception hosted by Summerhill Pyramid Winery, jazz music by Anna Jacyszyn, a live and silent auction and an evening dance with band Cover-2-Cover.
Funds raised during the auction will be used to acquire critical habitat in the Antelope Brush Conservation Area near Vaseux Lake.
The region is recognized as one of the four areas with the most endangered natural ecosystems in Canada and has one of the highest concentrations of species at risk.
Vaseux Lake is the focus of Charlesworth’s donated work, a landscape entitled, Vaseux Vista. Engaged with the extensive history of Canadian landscape painting, Charlesworth is committed to providing his viewers with a refreshing, often celebratory approach to the landscape. His work consciously comments on beauty and the ephemeral within the landscape, done so in a manner of mark making which is unique to his visual vocabulary.
Fong’s donated work entitled Who Can Say reflects a delightfully fresh and youthful outlook. “A child views the world with optimism and wonder. That is what I hope to accomplish with my art. Joy, splendor and whimsy, sprinkled with a few unusual surprises.”
Other auction items include a tour and dinner for eight at the award-winning Culmina Family Estate Winery, a Wildcat helicopter trip, a day on a biodiversity ranch, a trip to the Duncanby Fishing Lodge, a romance package and more. Tickets are still available for the event: $175 per person. Call toll free 1-866-288-7878 or visit www.naturetrust.bc.ca.
The Nature Trust of BC is a leading non-profit land conservation organization. A leader in protecting BC’s natural diversity of plants and wildlife, The Nature Trust acquires and conserves critical habitats and other areas of ecological significance with a focus on the Okanagan.
Photos L to R: Top Left- Dorothy Tinning, Middle Right- Rod Charlesworth (source: The Llody Gallery), Bottom Left- Alex Fong
