Featured Artist: Ken Kirkby

Ken Kirkby spent five years living in the Canadian Arctic where he became enthralled by the uncompromising beauty and unrelenting harshness of the north. This painting speaks of a kind of enduring joy that pulled the artist into an intensely spiritual relationship that illuminated his work.

“Inukshuk” means “in the shape of a person”. These silent sentinels reflect the complexity of the Inuit and provided for Kirkby powerful inspiration for his work. His crowning achievement is a massive work entitled “Isumataq.” Measuring 152 feet by 12 feet, it was unveiled in the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa in 1992. The artist is now dedicated to the Nile Creek Enhancement Society and lives in Bowser, BC on Vancouver Island.

“Words cannot convey the serenity of a summer night on the tundra. Throughout July, when the sun dips briefly below the horizon, the enormous sky is set aglow with colour. Immutable and silent, the Inukshuk is a symbol of man’s survival in an ever-changing world. All my paintings are portraits of paradise.”

- Ken Kirkby

The Far Shore, by
Ken Kirkby, 24” x 60”, Oil on Canvas
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