a

Who iS...

Edward

by Betty Barton

Edward Epp is a newcomer to
Terrace, a world traveller, an art
teacher, and an artist in his own
right. Epp is showing his paint-
ings for the first time in Terrace
in an exhibit at the Terrace
Public Art Gallery that will last
until Nov.29.

Epp’s paintings, in acrylics,
oils and water colours, were

done over a period of 10 years,

beginning in 1981 when he and
his wife Leanne first lived in
Liberia, Africa. Next, it was
back to the prairies in western
Canada and then another stint in
Africa, including Liberia and
Botswana. There are also a few
recent paintings from the Ter-
race area. Edward Epp has his
own studio ina converted garage
beside their home, another first,
he says. Epp describes his show
simply as "Two Hemispheres".
As members of the Baha’i
faith, Edward and Leanne Epp
left Prince George and the Col-
lege of New Caledonia to jour-
ney to Liberia with a sense of
adventure. To deal with
cultural changes, Edward
explains, "I really got into
(painting) landscape." Prior to
their journey to Africa, he had
worked mostly in the abstract.
Not surprising, he says, his carly
landscapes were very much
informed by the processes, tech-

Pe

the

Epp? |

niques and issues he had been
exploring in his non-representa-
tional work up to that time.
Scale, simplicity of forms,
invented colour were some

examples of these abstract
issues.
While in Liberia, Leanne

taught music, and Edward taught
art at Cuttington College for
three years. In 1988, he
returned, without the family, for
another semester at Cuttington.
Political problems ended his
stay.

The Epp family’s next African
experience was in Botswana.
Epp taught art at the senior
secondary level. He says the
country was much more devel-
oped, like an OPEC country.
There, he "painted like a fiend."
He describes the creative process
as a lot of learning, growth,
struggle. He adds, "My work is
important to maintain a view of
myself." He had four paintings
exhibited in a juried exhibition
in Botswana, one of which was
awarded a prize. That painting
will also be exhibited at the
Terrace Art Gallery.

The Epps have been back in
Canada for a year and a half,
during which time they have
lived in Saskatoon, Victoria, and
most recently, Denman Island.
Epp’s last exhibition was held
on Denman Island. On.a regular

Terrace Review —~ Wednesday, November 6, 1991 21

Edward Epp: | need some sort of reflection or stimulus to maintain a tension In my mind.

basis Edward sends photographs
of his work to galleries. If they
like what they see, he sends the

painting to them to exhibit and -

sell.

The Epps moved to Terrace for
Leanne to take a position as an
English instructor at Northwest
Community College. Edward
paints and looks after their two
children, Amelia, 8, and Nathan-
iel, 2. Both children were born
in Africa.

Epp has a collection of African
masks in his studio and stories

to tell about them all. He has.

displayed some of them as part

of his current exhibition at the
Terrace Public Art Gallery.

Edward Epp would like to
teach art again. He says he
misses it after 13 years teaching
art in colleges, "I need some sort
of reflection or stimulus to
maintain a tension in my mind.
With criticism, you grow." He
feels that art combines all the
disciplines, but he’s still work-
ing on some of them. He’s re-
learning the medium in a per-
sonal way through his acrylics,
oils and water colours. He says
water colours are his most com-

mercially successful works, but
he also likes the effects of the
other media. He usually stains
his canvases with acrylics and
then paints on top with acrylics
or oils to get the effect he wants.

In retrospect he sees in his
work a circle of influence and
integration from the study of
purely abstract issues to that of
subject matter, Someone recently
remarked to him that the current
work is beginning to look more
abstract and that within it a rich
interplay of complex visual

_exploration is growing.

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