A Penticton artist's new exhibition is all about the birds big and small, from the long-legged heron to the hard-to-spot western wood peewee that make their home in the area.
Ron Gladish's Birds of the Course had its grand opening on March 14 and is made up of more than 30 different pieces of art, including a few that are still in progress.
"When I started I thought I'd have to paint about a dozen birds," said Gladish. "Then I started writing down how many bird species we have and I'm well over 30. I have a friend of mine who's a golfer and a birder and he helped me and did some of the write-ups on the birds, like where you'd find them on the golf course, and he added a few species I could hear but never saw."
Assembling the exhibition, which is on display at the Penticton Golf and Country Club, began in September 2024. Painting the individual pieces takes Gladish anywhere from 15 hours for the smaller ones, to 40 hours or longer for the larger pieces.
Each artwork is upcycled from scraps of metal and wood that Gladish finds while hiking or other people have given to him, and that includes the frames.
One of his larger pieces on display is that of a heron painted on a piece of metal he pulled from Trout Creek.
The upcycling of old discarded pieces of metal and wood is an important part of the art for Gladish, both in providing the materials for his work and giving him a challenge that becomes unique to each piece.
"It gets me outdoors and it lets me help recycle because I'm big on recycling. Everything at home we can recycle, we can," said Gladish. "The part of the artistic fun is finding which bird fits which piece of metal and in which position, so [with the heron] you get it so the bill kind of comes between those two rust holes, for example.
The art will remain on display until July, at which point all the pieces that have been sold can be collected by their new owners.
A portion of the proceeds from the sales will go to support the club's junior golfer program, which will support them with travelling to tournaments such as the British Columbia Championship.
"One of the neat things about golf, as a golfer, is it teaches a lot of people manners. And, it's really good for kids because you learn how to be respectful and considerate and all of those things," said Gladish.
Among the pieces are some larger works, which include a few particularly notable inhabitants of the course.
"That's Crank, he's a local crow, he roosts in the spruce trees here and he's a bit of a bully," said Gladish of one in-progress piece. "He chases every other bird away and there's a little bit here that's gonna [sic] be a french fry in his mouth because he's a real pro sitting out on the deck and waiting till somebody has turned around."
