By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
For anyone with even an inkling of the local art scene, Claudia Punter’s name would surely ring a bell.
In fact she’s so familiar – both from her own artistic endeavours along with her stint as curator of The Art Gallery Osoyoos – that I’m stunned when she says she’s only been painting for about 10 years.
I’m also corrected when I suggest her focus is wildlife; it’s actually “animals” writ large – wildlife and domestic animals.
And to make it a hat trick I, perhaps foolishly, suggest that landscapes are possibly also part of her creative repertoire. To this she gives me a mischievous smile and says, “landscape is only part of the animal. If I make a landscape I have to put an animal in it,” she laughs.
While the whole purpose of our conversation is to talk about her new book – A Symphony of Art & Nature – I can’t help get caught up in the backstory, in large part because I still can’t wrap my head around the rather recent (it could be age, but I consider 10 years “recent”) entry into the creative realm.
Self-taught, Punter did get encouragement and advice from Keremeos-based artist Bonny Roberts and then later attended the occasional art retreat. One such retreat, offered by famed wildlife artist Robert Bateman (although not directly led by Bateman) on Cortes Island and another in Victoria are what really fired her interest in painting animals. “I just got inspired!” she says simply.
“Crow” by Claudia Punter.
Contributed photo
Interestingly enough she never knew that she had this intense creative impulse within her and in fact it was almost forever quashed by a misguided school teacher (we’ve all had one of those).
She relates a story of how, in Grade 3, her class was tasked with creating a sketch with coloured pencils. “I made a monkey in a tree and I thought it was really good, but the teacher didn’t think so and from then on I didn’t do anything,” she says bemusedly. And one can’t help but recognise the very early attraction to animals.
And just before returning to her new book, our conversation happened only the day before the Times Chronicle was due to go to press because she had only just returned from the coastal rainforest northeast of Prince Rupert in the heart of grizzly bear habitat in the famed Khutzeymateen Valley. Spoiler alert: there just might be some grizzly-inspired art coming soon.
So the natural question is why a book? It’s a question she’s been getting a lot lately, “and I really cannot say . . . It’s a lot of different things together.” In part, she adds, it’s from seeing a lot of books from other artists.
“I learned from them, and it just kind of felt like, why don’t I do that? Lots of people buy the art cards, they buy five cards, and the whole book would be the same price, so I thought, well, maybe that would be a help for other people to get that.”
“And the other thing is, it’s kind of a little bit of a challenge to try to do that and get it done, something off the bucket list,” she laughs.
“Great Blue Heron” by Claudia Punter.
Contributed photo
The book which is a perfect balance of images, white space and text includes her thoughts on the inspiration for each work or relates it to other aspects of life. It’s really far more than simply a book of art, although it could easily stand on its own in that regard.
One of the biggest challenges she notes, was getting photos because many of the pieces have long been sold and in the beginning she didn’t have the resources to take professional photos of her works, as she does now.
The book spans from the start of her career to the present (the grizzlies may require a reprise) and even includes her very first painting that she sold. “It’s not a good picture because, but it’s a painting I really have lots of memories from. I even cried when I sold it because it was kind of hard to let it go.”
Wayside Select Books & Art (8317 Main St Osoyoos) is featuring various events around Claudia Punter’s works. Wayside’s main gallery will present “Communion and Communication,” a wide retrospective of Claudia’s stunning nature images, from June 11 to Aug 1.
The official opening reception of the show, featuring artist Q&A and refreshments, will be at the First Friday Art Walk @ Main Street Osoyoos, Friday July 3, 4-7 pm. Many of the images are included in Claudia’s recently released book, A Symphony of Art & Nature. Wayside will be hosting a launch party and book signing with Punter in its Salon space on Wednesday July 17, 3-5 pm.
