Selected Works

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Redemption

2009

Acrylic on masonite, 20" x 30 "

Represented by WhiteRock Gallery


The artist's daughter, Olivia Jean Walker at age 5

It seems paradoxical that old growth stands in British Columbia are only protected in designated parks peppered all over the province and yet they are mere products to the lumber industry outside of those boundries.

On one side, modern forestry practices, based on computer-generated models of optimal growth, dictate that forests must be harvested as soon as tree growth begins to taper off.
On the other side, environmentalists point to species loss, diminishing biological-diversity, and degraded water quality that do not show up on the loggers' computer screen. But as the arguments drone on, so does the rumble of log-laden trucks, carrying out the felled giants from their ancient hiding places.

"Redemption" was composed to emphasize the grandeur of the old growth stand in this case a centuries old Douglas Fir. Included in the composition is a woman whose pose was to reflect the collective conscience of most peoples' view on an industry which serves and destroys.

The Western Trillium was placed in the painting as a catalyst of reflection as to why this species is protected by the Endangered Species Act and yet there are no diameter or age restrictions in place to protect old growth stands. The Western Flowering Dogwood and Rhododendron are also protected by this law. These giant trees of a dwindling wilderness in some cases stood when the the early Spanish tall ships first sailed into Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island back in 1785. They are now but a part of a backdrop to commerce.

One can only hope that it is not too late to create a law to protect these mammoth icons of true wilderness where logging practices continue.

Christopher Walker

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