Artist Bio
Born in a BC mountain town, Bralorne (1952) Yvonne Maximchuk has lived almost forty years on an off-grid water-access-only homestead. Her art journey began in 1978 in White Rock BC where she simultaneously raised her two children as a single mom and worked hard to establish herself as an artist. She and her two children moved in 1986 with fisherman Albert Munro to Echo Bay on Gilford Island. This tiny community 425 km northwest of Vancouver and 40 km east of Vancouver Island had a population of forty, a small school, and unlimited scenery.
Re-establishing herself in this new environment took some effort but many opportunities offered adventure and painting material. Voyaging to Cape Scott, and Haida Gwai’i as a deckhand on neighbor Bill Proctor’s salmon fishing boat broadened her horizons, and teaching art workshops, learning and painting the maze of inlets and island in her speedboat, and building a studio/gallery occupied much of the rest of her time.
Entering art shows from this distance takes complicated travel arrangements, but her work has been juried into many prestigious exhibitions over the years; Vancouver’s Artropolis, Surrey Art Gallery Juried shows, Sooke Fine Arts Show, and Sidney Fine Arts show. Yvonne received an Honourable Mention for her entry in The Circle Foundation for the Arts online exhibition in Lyon, France.