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Andrew McCredie Layne Christensen

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SUNT I ee ee

NLIKE MANY young Canadian

artists, Cameron Bird would rather

stand waist-deep in a cold running
stream than spend an evening rubbing
padded shoulders with the wanna-bes,
never-bes and probably-won’t-bes that
haunt the Vancouver art scene.

By Andrew McCredie
News Reporter

Indeed, the 23-year-old West Vancouver painter
shunned an Emily Carr Art College education — a
must on the resume of any self-styled tortured artist —
to enroll in graphics courses at Capilano College and a
professional sign painting course at B.C.1.T. He cur-
rently drives a truck for the Ministry of Highways.

“After my first week at the college (Emily Carr), 1
knew I had made a mistake.” says Bird of his one-year
term at the Granville Island school. “It was all a little
too artsy for me.”

But four years after he came to that fateful conclu-
sion amid the espresso-soaked milieu, Bird has seen
his painting career flourish. Beginning with oils at the
age of 10 (“My father’s also a painter and | started
painting with him."), he has since taken to watercolors,
though he still works in oil when the subject matter
suits it. He has also dabbled in ink caricatures, creating
a set of 20 for the Nerth Shore News two years ago.

Working out of his bedroom in his parent's West
Vancouver home, Bird is quickly making a name for
himself. The Art Gallery, a shop in Whistler, has been
carrying his paintings for about a year now and his
works have become favorites with American visitors.

“One of my most influential mentors (Qualicum
Beach artist Keith Smith) has discovered a real demand

for his works in the American South-West,” says Bird,

“ NEWS photo Cindy Goodman
WEST VANCOUVER painter Cameron Bird, 23, has found recent
success seiling his olls and watercolors "through The Art
Gallery, an upscale shop in Whistler. Bird's landscape-inspired
works t have > Proven popular with visitors to the alpine resort.

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Wednesday, March 8, 1995 - Norin Shore News - 15

Eksthicottd

PEE

adding that his future plans _,
include setting up gallery =
contacts in Wyoming and
Arizona.
Bird's strongest works
— and so far, most popu-
lar — reveal his attraction
to the rugged Canadian
landscape. This is no coinci-
dence.
“I take my camera with me
everywhere and J never
seem to run out of ideas
for paintings,” the affable
fly-fisherman says.
At just 23, Cameron
Bird is one local, inspired BIRD'S TAKE on n Mayor
painter to keep an eye on. Jack Loucks.

Photo submitted

TYPICAL OF Cameron Bird’s subject matter
are rural Canadian scenes.

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