Viewpoints brings together two distinctly different approaches to abstraction. Carla Weaver looks inward, using painting to explore ideas, emotions and personal experience, while Barbra Sundquist looks outward, finding inspiration in colour, simplified form and the suggestion of the natural world. Both leave room for a third viewpoint—that of the viewer.
Weaver’s paintings are conceptual and expressive, drawing on thoughts and feelings, spirituality, critical thinking and personal growth. Energetic marks, colour and form give visual expression to an inner world, while inviting viewers to find their own meanings and associations.
Sundquist’s paintings use colour and simplified shapes to suggest rather than describe. Landscape, water, gardens and other elements of the natural world may be glimpsed, but rarely defined. She deliberately leaves the imagery open, enjoying the different and sometimes unexpected things viewers discover in her work.
Together, the two bodies of work offer contrasting viewpoints—one looking inward and one looking outward—while sharing a belief that the final interpretation belongs to the viewer.
Artist Statements
Carla Weaver, BA, MA
Colour is the driving force behind my art. It is both my language and my guide, allowing me to express ideas, emotions, and experiences that often exist beyond words. Working in abstract forms, I use vibrant layers of acrylic paint, ink, collage, and mixed media to explore the relationship between intuition, energy, and personal transformation.
My work is not intended to represent the visible world. Instead, it emerges from abstract concepts, spiritual reflection, and an ongoing dialogue with my creative spirit. Each piece develops organically through a process of discovery, where mark-making, movement, texture, and colour interact to reveal unexpected connections and meanings. I embrace spontaneity and allow the work to unfold naturally, trusting instinct as an essential part of the creative journey.
Through bold compositions and expressive surfaces, I seek to create spaces for contemplation, curiosity, and emotional resonance. Colour becomes a vehicle for communication, inviting viewers to engage with their own interpretations and inner experiences. My paintings are expressions of energy and possibility, reflecting a belief that creativity is a powerful form of connection to ourselves, to others, and to something greater than the material world.
At its core, my practice celebrates freedom, intuition, and the transformative power of artistic expression.
Barbra Sundquist
Barbra Sundquist is a mixed-media artist who has called Nanoose Bay home for the past 40 years. She works primarily with acrylic paint, collage and hand-painted papers to create colourful, semi-abstract paintings.
Surrounded daily by ocean, trees and the changing landscape of Vancouver Island, Barbra finds that these elements naturally make their way into her work, even when she doesn’t set out to paint them. She is drawn to the shapes, colours and rhythms of nature rather than trying to reproduce a scene exactly.
Her studio is also home to foster kittens, who have become a regular and much-loved part of her creative life.