Natural inspiration from JAG

Jasper Artists’ Guild member Lisa Zbinden will have an interesting and slightly different display of artwork, incorporating the natural elements of mica, a mineral, in the Brushfire Galley from March 20 to 22.

Originally from Switzerland, Zbinden has lived in Valemount for the last seven years and has a real appreciation for the natural environment. “I like the outdoors very much, every time I go on a hike I bring something home and mica was one of the things I bring home. I find it very inspirational,” she said.

Zbinden said she hopes to “inspire” people with the natural environment by translating different elements into an artist piece. “I like to show the whole spectrum of knowledge I can get out of it to try and show the public,” she explained.

The Valemount artist stumbled across mica, which is mined in the hills near Valemount, nearly four years ago and instantly knew that she was “going to do something more specific with it” and began incorporating it into her work slowly until 2008 when she embarked on a full study of the mineral.

“I was very fascinated about it, so I knew I was going to do something more specific with it,” she said.

 For her, mica is a fascinating and special part of the environment because of its contradictory nature. “It looks fragile but you can’t at all break it.”

The work on display in Jasper will include sculptures, an installation piece and mixed media paintings that all introduce mica to the public and highlight the various elements of the mineral, such as its mirror-like qualities.

The layers within mica are highlighted in her installation piece, where she separates the layers to try and “form a curtain with it” while her other pieces show mica as “a regular rock” and “in comparison to another matter or materials.”

The opening of Zbinden’s show commences at the Bushfire Gallery on Friday March 20 at 7 p.m.