Street Art

Alysha Clark

Alysha Clarke is a BCRMT, mother, wife and painter. She has lived in the Elk Valley for the last 28 years. During that time, she has pursued her hobby as a painter. She loved to take classes at the Arts Station when they were offered, but mostly just painted at home for her own enjoyment.

Alysha has dedicated a majority of her time over the past 17 years to growing her massage therapy clinic and raising three daughters. She recently decided to spend more time painting again, which has resulted in a few art shows at local galleries, allowing her to present her work to the community. Alysha enjoys working with acrylic, oil and alcohol inks.

Ashley Decker

Ashley Decker is a self-taught artist, who has been creating since day one. Her love of painting with acrylics was explored at the age of seventeen – when she really began her journey of self-healing.  

Seventeen years later, her work has grown along with her. Acrylic paints, mediums, dried wild flowers, drift wood and anything she can get her hands on in nature expresses her whimsical, and soulful style which share some of the adventures had in her own back yard – Sparwood, British Columbia.

You will find delicious landscapes, curious foxes and wildlife, personalized pet portraits, and anything her heart composes.

Sue Hanlon

My name is Sue Hanlon and I’m a local Artist from Sparwood BC.  I have lived in and been inspired by the elk valley for the last 30 years.
My formal art training came through the university of Lethbridge followed by and education degree from the university of Calgary. Upon moving to Sparwood, I taught art at the local high school as well as evening and weekend workshops for those aspiring to create their own art. I took time off to raise three kids with my husband Bill. I moved into mural painting and have been given some great opportunities to paint murals in the valley at schools, public meeting places and private homes.

Creating art became a social event in the cities so I recognized the opportunity to bring “paint nights” to the valley. These are fun, social evenings where people come out with their friends and are lead step by step through a two hour beginner painting – A great way to encourage new painters to try out their creative bends!

The best is still coming though as I wind down my teaching career and start to concentrate on my personal art career. I so look forward to taking my art to a new level and just “enjoying the process” as I tell my new artists!
So when I saw the banner program I hopped right in and am so thankful to the district of Sparwood for providing such an opportunity and backdrop for local artists/art.

Karen MacDonald

Karen MacDonald is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist, who strives to stretch creative boundaries by applying mixed media combinations and discover what they will do together.

Originally from Regina, Saskatchewan, Karen has always been creative. It wasn’t until moving to Fernie that she was able to explore her artistic side. Whether working on her own, or with the Fernie Visual Artists, she has been able to continue to experiment and develop her style.

Online learning has increased her curiosity and the need to explore.

Karen is driven to create whimsical, offbeat imagery, with a quirky, playful sense of humour that adds a sense of delight and joy in her pieces.

Follow her process @imagingsbykaren on Instagram.

Jolene Miner

Jolene Miner creates with delicious candy colors, vibrant patterns and rich textures, and her work tends to have a playful dreamlike quality. A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan’s Fine Arts program, Jolene creates in her home studio using a variety of mediums. She finds pleasure in painting and drawing but favors creating whimsical collages with handmade and Japanese papers. Each piece is an exploration of simplicity, playfulness and freehand cutting. She finds inspiration in nature, music and the colorful world inside her head.

Grace Von Matt

Grace von Matt, born in Nelson BC, has been a resident of Sparwood B.C. for almost 50 years. Counting herself lucky to have been raised in the beautiful Elk Valley, she met her husband and raised their daughter here. She dabbled in many artistic forms – starting with pencil sketching at an early age to trying different mediums in high school art, then, as an adult became interested in painting with acrylics. This led the self guided artist to try her hand at stained glass for a time.  Later she became challenged by a new medium when invited to join a watercolour art group of exceptional ladies from Sparwood! Through mentorship, constructive critiques, failed attempts and many a laugh she found a love for the beautiful intricacies of watercolour. Still learning and growing in the art form, she has recently added soft pastel paintings to her repertoire and occasionally mixes the two. Always learning and loving to create, she illustrated a children’s book

 “Finding the Griz” for a local author. At this time, Grace is feeling more confident about her creations and has started sharing her artwork to the delight of family, friends and strangers alike.