What is all the fighting about? The fighting is about space. How there is not enough space or that some have too much space. How to organize space: the value of shared spaces versus private spaces. How we move in that space: settled, nomadic, or migratory. How the ownership over space defines the cost of that space. For many of us space is a hot commodity, meaning most of us can`t afford it. So as artists we use kitchens, bedrooms and dining room tables for art. Finding space to paint makes the house a constant battle ground of negotiation. Who needs a table for eating on anyways? My kitchen table has always turned into a canvas to scratch out ideas, doodle and write information on. I would write on the walls but they`re not mine. So for some artists when presented with the space and the opportunity to go big, they do, despite their reservations and their fears. In 2009, Reasha Wolfe won the Penticton Re-Imagine Street Art Festival. The street festival presented her an opportunity to do a large scale project that apartment and shared living spaces didn’t provide. Terrified at the prospects of painting in public Reasha pushed through and was stunned when she heard her name announced as the winner. The money for the first place prize provided her with the money to buy more art supplies and continue working in larger scale.

Reasha Wolfe grew up in BC and Alberta. Her family settled in the Okanagan area at the end of high school. Returning to the area years later to work on a ski hill Reasha found that Apex ski resort had the qualities she was looking for, a down to earth environment. An avid snowboarder and forest activist Reasha also does design work for the Penticton & Area Women’s Centre website where she has been involved with projects and initiatives over the past ten years. Until the Street art festival in 2009 Reasha had not been compelled to do work for the public. With the support from people expressing how much they liked her work and new supplies she has continued to create work using a combination of stencils and tape with spray paint. Future projects include more elaborate stencils of local musicians and digital collage. You can find Reasha`s work at The Golo Art Project as well as in the Under $300 Exhibition & Sale at the Penticton Art Gallery.

For the month of December The Golo Art Project will be extending shopping hours to Mon-Thurs 11-5, Fridays continue as usual 10-8, Saturdays 11-5 and don’t miss the last chance to find us at the Penticton Lakeside Resort for their Community Christmas Markets: Sunday Dec 18 from 12-4. We are participating in the Downtown Penticton Shop, Stamp & Win starting November 28th. Select items at Golo are up for Silent Auction starting November 24th until December 17th.

Join our Face book group or e-mail goloartproject@live.com and receive updates on Life Drawing classes, Games Night, Stitch & Bitch and more to come in the Project Room. Or join me here at oook.ca for my weekly post “writings from the wall” as I introduce a Golo artist each week and intertwine their unhighwaylike path through their community and beyond.