Facing a small board on an easel behind a box of pastels neatly grouped into colour families, Sharon Bamber was the picture of an artist-in-residence at Nakusp’s Selkirk College. The little blocks of oranges, blues, and earth tones occupying the wooden box was her plein-air set, the colours Bamber take with her out into the field (and valley and mountains) when sketching landscape, which is why the hues were more muted than those used for her animal portraits. But pastels aren’t always so subdued.
“A lot of people think pastels are wishy-washy but they’re not,” Bamber said. Although the word ‘pastel’ is frequently used to denote lighter, softer tones, the artist’s chalk pastels themselves can be very bright, and the medium retains its colour better over time than oil paint. Because the pastels are made directly from pigments, held together with a small amount of some kind of binding substance, they don’t fade.
Some pastel artists wear gloves when they work because some of the pigments can be toxic, such as the cadmiums that give warm yellows, oranges and reds. Bamber said she doesn’t like working with gloves and prefers to wield the pigments bare-handed to feel more connected with the process.
“They’re like a box of bonbons,” she exclaimed, smiling down at the colours tucked in their box. But not the kinds you eat, of course. Still, they are lovely. And what’s not to love? They even have names. Some are Winsor Newtons, and others Terry Ludwigs, a brand know for its dark and dramatic colours. Bamber has over a thousand of the “little sweeties” that she uses in her painting.
Visitors to the Nakusp campus will be able to see not only the box of rainbow delights but also discover more about the process behind creating a pastel painting. Bamber brings some of her Burton show From Concept to Creation to Selkirk. On several display boards, the different steps behind material preparation, composition and painting are illustrated for visitors. And of course there are the pastel paintings themselves adorning the walls.
Two out-of-town visitors and one Nakuspian came to take in the show while I was there, one of whom was an illustrator. Although he didn’t bring in his work, Bamber said that is another aspect of the residency: helping artists who might need a hand with their work.
People are welcome to bring their art if they want a critique or some help, said Bamber. “It doesn’t have to be pastels,” she added, as much of the theory and concept behind most painting is the same.
Sharon will be at Selkirk College Aug. 23, 28, and 30 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and you can see her art during regular hours until the end of the month.