ALORA GRIFFIN
A recently retired architect, Alora was born in Tofino, raised in Ucluelet and used to spend summers on Cortes Island, where her great-grandparents homesteaded over a century ago. Since Alora was always the best ar+st in her classes she decided to attend UBC, where she obtained a degree in Fine Arts History. She also enrolled in studio courses, including a drawing course with B.C. Binning and a printmaking course with Tony Only.
Alora then transferred to Art Education where she studied painting with Ian Thomas and ceramics with Jean Weakland. After teaching high school art in New Zealand and Vancouver, Alora applied to the School of Architecture and obtained a degree in architecture in 1986. She pursued her new career in Toronto, on Salt Spring Island and in Prince Rupert before returning to the island to retire in Comox.
In 2023 Alora exhibited her watercolour paintings, featuring shorelines, in a solo show at the Pearl Ellis Gallery, where she also volunteers and teaches drawing and painting classes. She has also exhibited her work at the ARTWRX Studio Gallery as well as Arful the Gallery. Alora recently became a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and is looking forward to attending the annual en plein air retreats.
Having grown up on the wild and wet West Coast of Vancouver Island, I have an affinity for water and have always loved colour so watercolour is a perfect medium for me. It’s also challenging – I like the accidental effects water creates on paper and try to incorporate them into my paintings. In recent years I have developed a limited pallet of transparent colours which I blend and layer to create new colours on the paper. While I generally paint from my photographs, recently I have been painting ‘en plein air’ which is even more challenging!
I’m trying to capture the beauty and spirit of the earth while it still exists as a place to enjoy and explore. In particular, shorelines are now rapidly declining around the world, becoming more threatened and threatening as floods increase and droughts dry up rivers and streams. During the heat dome of 2021, young salmon fry were frying in streams while shellfish cooked right on the beach! In my new series, I am focusing on the earth as seen from above, contrasting the original lush land with the burnt and flooded land.
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