Lynn Kenneth Pecknold’s new exhibit, which opened last week in the Leonore Peyton Salon at Coquitlam’s Place des Arts, will be an homage of sorts.
Now a Port Alberni resident, Pecknold used to teach art at Como Lake middle, Centennial secondary and George Pearkes junior high school — and was School District 43’s art supervisor — in the 1960s and 70s. “I was fairly involved in the arts scene when I was in Coquitlam for 12 years,” he said, “and I have some very fond memories of my time there. I had neat kids and neat staff. There were some very dedicated teachers that I worked with.”
Pecknold’s show, titled Memories Revisited — A Teacher’s Return, is comprised of 45 multi-media, multi-coloured abstract pieces. The exhibit includes a digital design series called Reflections, which he worked on with his one of his past senior students to interpret the roots of stumps washed up on beaches.
Lately, twisted rope, strings and knots have been a source of fascination and Pecknold shows them in 11 of his recent paintings.
“When I’m on the BC Ferries and I see the ropes just lying there, I have to photograph them and think about that,” the septuagenarian said, adding, ‘I’m often looking for subliminal imagery when I work, images that are hidden within something else. I don’t start with a lot of preconceived ideas. I just like the randomness of it... then I let the images pop in.”
Place des Arts is located at 1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam.
JANIS WARREN/ Black Press