The Silk Worm Club was founded in January 2000 by Vancouver Island silk painter Maureen Walker AFCA, of Pioneer Silk Studio. In 2017, to celebrate Canada’s 150th Birthday, the members of the club thought it was time to update the club’s name and image from the Silk Worms to the Vancouver Island Silk Painters. The Vancouver Island Silk Painters’ group currently has members from Campbell River, Comox, Whiskey Creek, Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Nanaimo and Sidney.

The Vancouver Island Silk Painters’ members are proficient and confident in the use of their chosen medium, dye on silk. They have a good grounding in traditional silk painting techniques such as outlining with resist, together with experience of more contemporary techniques like indirect painting and layering. Members also have a sound knowledge of design, composition and colour theory.

The group holds monthly meetings which include Show & Tell of recent paintings and a helpful critiquing session. This is a very active, enthusiastic and supportive art group, where the paintings of members are very diverse, both in subject matter and use of techniques. Each member has developed their own unique style of painting, which keeps all their work distinct, yet complementary, when on show to the public.

Silk painting is an ancient art that has existed for over 6000 years and is truly classified as a fine art form. Three members of the Vancouver Island Silk Painters have been accepted into the Federation of Canadian Artists and two of them achieved AFCA signature status with their silk paintings.

No other medium offers the versatility of using dye on silk while producing such vibrant colours. Each member of the Vancouver Island Silk Painters is constantly reaching to the next level of artistic mastery with their work. They enjoy sharing their findings of this challenging medium with each other at club meetings and look forward each year to showing their latest silk art to the public at the group’s annual show.

Enjoy a selection of silk paintings at: www.vancouverislandsilkpainters.com

The joy of silk painting is like no other.

Gallery is closed Mondays