SURREY — “Check out my art at Danieltibbits.com,” Daniel Tibbits said to me via email. I did. I love his work. It has so many elements that it would be difficult to categorize his style. We could call him an emerging contemporary artist, and he might agree to that, but he also likes to think he is more traditional in approach. No digital, cyberspace or multimedia layers. Tibbits works in oils.
Raised in Surrey and now living in Langley, he has had his share of gallery showings, including at Surrey Art Gallery. Back in his high school days, living the “classic suburban lifestyle in Surrey,” Tibbits considered himself to be a loner and focused on his art. After high school, he continued pursuing his art while learning how to fake being an adult. These are his words, not mine. He does thank his parents for supporting his art and his ambitions. Their Surrey home was a virtual gallery of his early works.
That’s where I first became aware of Tibbits as an artist. I have always found a fascination for his creations, from the architectural, mythic, fantasy, impressionist, and now a more “meditative” reflection. He admits that even after 20 years of giving his life to his art, “I have never been without an idea to paint”.
Of course, we expect any artist to be creative. I mean, isn’t that what art is all about? It’s putting ideas into something real. It just takes some maturity to learn how to edit your art, and Tibbits’ latest efforts focus on saying more by doing less.
“You don’t need to do a lot to say a lot,” he told me as he explained that his current project focuses on clouds.
Honestly, I had expected to see fluffy clouds of all description. Nuh-uh. The true Tibbits style is there, and these are clouds as we have not imagined them before. His most recent works are not yet posted on his website, but do go check it out. That’s why I put it at the very beginning of this column, so you didn’t get lost in all the words.
Then, your next appointment in discovering Tibbits’ work is at the Surrey Skill Share Fair on Saturday, Oct. 3, held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Surrey Nature Centre, 14225 Green Timbers Way. The event is open to the public and admission is free. There were a lot of workshops at this fair last year, and it did seem to me to be an odd place for an artist to set up shop, so to speak. “I want to introduce my world to new people,” Tibbits explained.
This may be an unexpected place, but that is the point, perhaps. Tibbits does sell his work in galleries and, oddly enough, Gallery 8 on Salt Spring Island has been the most successful in selling his art to the world.
So, take a chance. Try something different at Surrey Skill Share Fair. For more details, visit Skill-share.ca or email info@skill-share.ca.
Meanwhile, Surrey Little Theatre is putting the call out for a volunteer to step up to fill the final director’s spot to direct a scene for its upcoming comedy, “A Funny Little Thing Called Love,” by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten.
The full-length play consists of several scenes which are each a play on their own, the common elements being a full moon and love. Helen Embury, an award-winning community theatre director, will mentor four new directors during this new initiative. Does this appeal to you? Contact production manager at Brigitte.seib@surreylittletheatre.com.
Auditions – open to all amateur actors – will take place Monday, Oct. 26 and Tuesday, Oct. 27, 7 p.m. nightly. The show runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 27, 2016. For details, visit Surreylittletheatre.com or call 604-888-0719.
The first SLT production this season is “Calendar Girls,” by Tim Firth, opening Oct. 23. I will be giving you more insider information about this production next month; I have a small role in this wonderful play. See? Sometimes I do take my own advice and take that first step forward to get involved with art. The beginning is easy. The rest takes more work. It’s just another part we play in the main stage of life.