Cultus Lake artist’s work adds colour to walls in downtown Chilliwack gallery

A Cultus Lake artist currently has her work on display at a small downtown gallery in Chilliwack.

Anita Symonds is the featured artist at Cornerstone Custom Picture Framing on Mill Street until March 31.

Cornerstone opened its bare, white wall space to local artists back in November as a way to add colour to the store and exposure for the artists.

READ MORE: Artists collaborate with Chilliwack store to bring new gallery to downtown

The landscape paintings displayed in the current exhibition are inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds us and showcase Symonds’ love of brilliant colour.

She is a self-taught artist who has been painting for 50 years. While bringing up two children as a single parent and working full-time, what little spare time Symonds did have was spent painting.

She remarried in 1989, and with her husband’s encouragement, Symonds acquired a studio and made lithographs from her original paintings to sell them in shops and galleries throughout Bermuda where she and her husband lived. While in Bermuda, many of her paintings were sold locally and around the world.

She moved back to B.C. in 2004 and in 2015, two of her pieces were selected to travel in the Hands Across the Pacific group exhibition.

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Anita Symonds’ artwork is on display at Cornerstone Custom Picture Framing at 9369-A Mill St. from Feb. 1 to March 31. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.