Maple Ridge artist Maureen Wong presents a retrospective of her work this weekend to raise funds for the Gogos for African Grandmothers.
An artist for 45 years, the exhibition will features paintings from the late 1960s to work that includes collage and her more recent forays into fibre art.
“It’s a real broad show for one artist,” says Wong, who estimates there’ll be at least 50 painting on display as well as jewelry and canvas and denim weaving.
Wong’s work is primarily abstract. She’s a strong colourist in terms of all her painting.
A founding member of the Maple Ridge Art Gallery, Wong has also been dabbling in weaving. Her work as a member of the Whonnock Weavers guild, though, is far from traditional. Her pieces feature woven canvas and recycled denim jeans.
“Geometry has always been a recurring theme in my art,” says Wong. “I rarely do a landscape painting. I absorb the images in nature and then my paintings come from within.”
Gogo is a Zulu word meaning “grandmother.” Greater Van Gogos are grandmothers and ‘grandothers’ working in groups to support African grandmothers raising a generation of children orphaned by AIDS. This network of grandmothers groups in south western B.C. is dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign, run by the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
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The Gogos art benefit takes place at 2-22268 116th Avenue in Maple Ridge on Friday, Oct. 25 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to Sunday, Oct. 27 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.