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Gabriola is known as "Isle of the Arts" for excellent reason. It's home to possibly the highest concentration of artists in Canada, covering almost every discipline: glassworks, blacksmithing, painting, photography, pottery, jewellery, woodcarving, literature and music. Galleries and private studios scattered around the island welcome visitors. Works of art are often left out, the kiosk unattended. To purchase something, just leave cash or cheque, take the masterpiece and travel onwards. How easy can it be.

Dogoda Wooden Creations
www.dogodawoodencreations.com/index.html
Agnieszka and Peter Blanchard
865 Brydie AveGabriola Island, BC V0R 1X3
Phone: 250 325 2502
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At Dogoda Wooden Creations everything is handmade right here on beautiful Gabriola Island. We are a new woodworking shop, with a small store front attached, that was built in February 2011. Also we are still fairly new to the island, we are a married couple Agnieszka and Peter Blanchard. We moved here from Edmonton almost 2 years ago. Coming here was a big change, from the climate, to our jobs and our life style. Woodworking just came to us one day. Peter comes from a family of woodworkers so it came to him naturally. We both love working in our shop making everything together. We started with cutting boards, then we moved to spoons and other wooden utensils. We also make wooden dollhouses, which were shown to us how to make by Peter’s dad. We have many more ideas to create in our shop so make sure to check us out regularly to see what is new.

We try to source as much local wood as possible but we do use some exotic species. The exotic woods we use are not endangered species. We only use non toxic glues and natural beeswax mixture finish. “Dogoda” is a mythological Polish spirit of the west wind, associated with love and gentleness. Look for our OPEN sign at the corner of North Road and Brydie and stop in and say hello! Look for us at The Farmer’s Market at AGI Hall starting May long weekend.

Earth Garden Photography
www.mickeyudal.com
Mickey Udal
1340 Cresta Roca
250 247 7161
Artist Statement: It is the essential spirit within and of nature that I seek to capture and reveal throughout my work.“ In the dictionary it states that art among other things is skill acquired by experience, study, observation and creative imagination in the production of aesthetic objects. Our natural world speaks. Both inner and outer realms are revealed and we are released if only briefly from the manmade reality of modern existence. It is the unspoken that speaks so well and so naturally. It is the beautiful, the path of the beautiful that is important to me. This is what I want my art to speak, to say and to transport the viewer to. To remember the experience of the natural world and be again close to the mysterious.

Slice of Life Gallery & Little Bites Studio
www.maartenperera.com
Maarten Perera and Mark Whalen
#9-510 North Road at Madrona Marketplace
250 247 7994
Slice of Life is a great place to start your artisan tour. With around 15 artisans' work on display you'll get a good sense of how talented our artisans are.

Karen Curry Studio
www.karencurry.ca
2895 South Road
Gabriola Island, BC   V0R 1X7
Phone: 250 741 7780/250 247 7464
OPEN BY APPOINTMENT PLEASE CALL FIRST
Karen Curry is a visual artist working in the mediums of painting, photography and printmaking.  Toronto based for 20 years her painting studio has been located on Degnen Bay, Gabriola since 2010. This is a working studio with many projects on the go , so please call if you would like to visit. There is work available in a variety of mediums, sizes and price ranges.

Three Herons Studio & Gallery
Jill and Tony Adamson
1090 Sansom Drive
250 247 7925
Visit 3 Herons for fused glass and painted glass for domestic and architectural uses.

Illuminati Glassworks
www.illuminatiglassworks.ca
Dan Bergeron and Jim Heeks
1135 Pat Burns Ave.
250 247 2005
Visit Illuminati Glassworks for all sorts of great gift items from garden stakes to fabulous jewelery. They are now open every Saturday from Noon - 4. Look for their yellow sign at the crossroads of Dirksen and South Roads, next to the RCMP detachment. If the sign is out, they are OPEN.

Sheila Norgate
www.sheilanorgate.com
Sheila Norgate
2531 Tyee Drive
250 247 7308
Sheila Norgate never fails to amaze with her small on large works on paper and canvas.

Glassworks and Anvil Art
Jane & Roger Ferland
940 Tansy Road
250 247 9642
Glassworks and Anvil Art is a great place to shop for stained glass windows, lamps and gift items, both large and small in all price ranges. Traditional blacksmithing techniques are used to produce gates, hardware and some very unique items not found anywhere else.

Earth Fire and Tears Pottery
Howard Houle
1070 North Road
250 247 8250
Earth Fire and Tears Pottery is a joy to shop at. We dare you to walk away without buying a lamp or dish of some sort. Howard Houle a student of 5th generation potter Noboro Kubu who teaches at the university of Alberta. He was also Rick Green's apprentice at Cold North Studio in Edmonton. While visiting fiends in1978 he and his wife found Gabriola island. Affordable housing, quiet country living, a community plan that supported home based business was a dream come true. So they moved and set up shop as Earth Fire & Tears Ppottery. Their open stock dinnerware comes in a variety of hand decorated patterns and colour .Every piece is oven and microwave proof and dishwasher safe. Customers say "it's functional stoneware at it's best." Stop and shop at their self-serve booth all year, around from 8 am - 4:30 pm or find them (most of the time) at the Farmer's Market every Saturday from 10 am - noon, running May longweekend to Thanksgiving. 

Stones-throw Studio & Gallery
1975 Stalker Road
Gabriola Island, BC   V0R 1X7
250 247 9392
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http://www.stones-throw.ca/karencain.html

Stones-throw Studio & Gallery is open all year - by appointment at 250-247-9392
Only original works in a variety of sizes, also cards for sale.

The Practise of Painting
Stones-throw Studio and Gallery was established on Gabriola Island seventeen years ago by artist & educator Karen Cain. She shares this spacious studio with her husband, woodworker, Verne Smith. When you visit the studio you are welcome to stroll in the garden that she is continually creating that is the inspiration for her paintings.

Cain has worked as an art educator, teaching all age levels at the University of Calgary Demonstration School and lecturing in the USA with Childhood Education International and at Tamagawa University in Tokyo. She was educated at the University of Calgary, Emily Carr University and in private study. Cain has a background with many different mediums and techniques of art making but focussed on the practise of painting 20 years ago.

Cains' paintings have been exhibited on Gabriola Island at Artworks and in Vancouver and Calgary. They have been collected in Canada, USA and England and Japan.

 Karen enjoys meeting her collectors, work can be viewed in a comfortable environment and is affordably priced. The gallery features NEW WORK for sale. The studio has work underway and a selection of RETROSPECTIVE WORKS that are sale priced. Commissions are welcomed. Layaways and shipping can be arranged. Karen encourages 'trying out' in the home before making a final decision, she wants you to be as happy with the work as she was creating it.

Tied Up And Dyed
Scott Shane
http://www.tiedupanddyed.com/index.html
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
633 Wildwood Crescent
Gabriola Island, BC   V0R 1X4
250 247 9803

Our Tied up & Dyed tie dye studio is located on Gabriola Island, BC near Vancouver Island, Canada. Tie dye is a big part of our culture here.

For 10 years I’ve been developing my art form and creating quality tie dye clothing and tapestries at my studio on Gabriola Island. All our tie dyes are made by local artists who are passionate about creating quality psychedelic tie dye. We create some of the finest, most unique psychedelic tie dye clothing and tapestries on the west coast. Our tie dye is wearable art and each piece is a one-of-a-kind. This IS the real thing. At Tied up & Dyed we pay close attention to every detail from choosing high quality dyes and textiles to the technical tie dye wash out. All of our tie dyes are ready to wear and will not run, bleed or fade. We ship our tie dyes worldwide. We offer custom tie dye work, tie dye team/school and corporate tie dye orders.

Our studio is open year round by appointment. 250-247-9803.

Indian Summer Leather Design
www.indiansummerleather.com
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Anita Jackel-Deggan, Designer
2680 Islands View Drive
250 247 9817; Fax: 250 247 9807
Gabriola's Newest Studio NOW OPEN

Anita studied fashion design at the well known Fachhochschule fuer Gestaltung in Pforzheim, Germany. Later she apprenticed with a designer in Berlin for high-end leather apparel.

In 1994 Anita moved to Canada and in the spring of 1995 she brought out her first collection of fine leather bags. Over the following years Indian Summer Leather Design has built a solid reputation for strikingly unusual but functional design and excellent quality.

While all the other famous designers seem to be trampling one another on well worn and crowded paths, Indian Summer Leather Design has developed her own look, combining a European sense of design with West Coast sensibility and a very German penchant for solid quality. Currently Anita designs and creates her quality leather bags and accessories in her studio on beautiful Gabriola Island. She is committed to offering the highest possible standards in design and craftmanship and guarantee all her work.

Gera Benoit Studio
Gera Benoit
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
751 Chelwood Road
Gabriola Island, BC   V0R 1X1
250 247 7551

Gera Benoit is on a mission to occupy herself!
Write up courtesy of Kathy McIntyre, GAC
With a “hair straight back” 30 year counselling career under her belt she was feeling burnt out and in need of a little healing - a way to reclaim some of the energy she so freely gave to her work.

About sixteen years ago, as she unpacked moving boxes in Cowichan Bay, she stumbled upon a little easel and some paints she had bought for her son. She just sat down and started to paint. She was amazed! She couldn’t draw, but she could paint! And painting brought out what Gera calls her “full aliveness.”

She adores “in your face” colour and has a deep love not only of nature, but being close to the soul of the earth. For Gera painting is about creating with spirit and letting that spirit paint through her. She might start with simply covering the canvas with paint and will keep layering until something emerges. If she brings an idea of her own to the canvas she says it can quickly feel stale and won’t move. For Gera “movement (with big color) is the bridge that outwardly expresses the aliveness and heart that is present as [she] paints.” These luscious paintings have become Gera’s meditation and the process helps to make her feel whole.

And so…she is creating new space in her life to spend as much time as possible painting. She is inspired daily by her beautiful studio and this community that has so much heart it sometimes brings tears to her eyes. Gera is ready, in her life, to break loose and can’t imagine a better way to do it than to occupy herself.