On Oct 12th, 2014 at 12 noon, the Okanagan Art Review, an online magazine that covers the arts from a new point of view – from the artists themselves – will go live.

The Okanagan Art Review is the latest project by artist, curator and art consultant  Katie Brennan, based in Lake Country. 

Ever since oook.ca – an arts and culture event listing and magazine website she co-created in 2011 (and left in 2012 to pursue other projects) her mind has never been far away from ways of raising awareness about art in the Okanagan.

“I had been dreaming up different business models, calls to action and formats for a number of months – researching, scheming, writing it all down, but not sure what, or if, I was going to do anything with it”, she says.

It wasn’t until a conversation with fellow Lake Country artist Wanda Lock, that Brennan was galvanized into action and the Okanagan Art Review was born.  

“Wanda was telling me about how a friend of hers in West Kelowna had a big farm and had been hosting artist residencies there over the summer. I was astounded, first of all, that I hadn’t heard anything about it before this. And second, that there was no place where others could have heard about this either”, explains Brennan. 

She began writing what would be become the Okanagan Art Review the very next day. 

The focus of the Okanagan Art Review is “Great Art. Right Here. Right Now. In the Okanagan.” It’s dedicated to putting all the hidden gems of Okanagan art in one place. It connects all the isolated pockets of amazing art action and activity that you have to know so-and-so, or be part of such-and-such group to have access to or knowledge of. It is a place for celebration, contemplation and connection for artists and art lovers. 

And you’re invited to be a part of it. The next step in becoming involved in this exciting new venture is to visit the website –okanaganartreview.com – and sign up for the email updates – this is the only way to receive further updates about what is coming next and become involved in that. 

When asked why she is doing this, Brennan replied “I LOVE sharing what is going on with others and connecting them to all the great things I know are going on in art in the Okanagan. It’s too good not to share and raise a ruckus about”.