when art is life: process and passage
february 14 - march 16, 2025
project room gallery
When Art is Life: Process and Passage
A Memorial Exhibition Honouring Carol Munro (1943–2024)
“There is a persistent whisper of things not-quite-seen, but powerful - forces and presences which are oddly familiar at some deep animal level within us. It is this sense of cycles - of movement, recurrence and belonging that I work to record when I put my mark on the paper or the canvas.” ~ Carol Munro
For Carol, art was a language, a way of life, a teacher, an outlet, an enigma and a responsibility. The creative process was both a philosophical exploration and an engine that would guide her throughout her life. Writer, broadcaster, painter, textile designer... Across varied disciplines and media, she translated the world around her into new forms. This exhibition is not only a celebration of her incredible legacy its also an installation documenting the influences and process of a creator as illustrated through the ephemera that inspires, the drive to create and play.
This exhibition is the embodiment of a life lived, an archaeological survey documenting the people, places and things which inspired, motivated and fuelled her insatiable need for creative and personal exploration. This unique installation invites you into the artist’s private world, offering a rare glimpse into the artifacts collected over a lifetime and the threads that wove together the fabric of her creative practice and family life. In doing so, you may discover something that resonates deeply with you, or perhaps even inspires you to embark on your own creative journey.
Carol Munro was born April 26, 1943, in Vancouver, the younger daughter of Hubert and Peggy Clarke. Carol was deeply creative her entire life, and that creativity was rooted in the poetry of childhood landscapes populated with vibrant family characters and stories, from the forested slopes of North Vancouver to the small interior town of Hedley where she visited her grandparents.
Ever willing to learn new things, Carol’s professional career followed several arcs: teaching, writing, broadcasting, and art.
Carol completed her Master's degree in Children’s Literature (UBC) and in 1970 was invited to join the inaugural faculty at Cariboo College (now Thompson Rivers University) where she taught for several years. Over her career as an educator, she also taught for BCIT, SFU, UVIC and UBC. She undertook several overseas contracts with Cuso International, which took her to Bolivia and Armenia for several weeks at a time.
Her career in radio broadcasting began in the 1960s with her first announcer gig at CHQM-FM in Vancouver. She briefly worked in television in the early eighties, famously holding “contract #1” with Knowledge Network for a series of station identification segments. Most of her broadcasting work was with CBC Radio in Vancouver. She produced a number of independent freelance pieces for the program ‘Ideas.’ Her freelance documentary broadcast work brought her into the lives of many fascinating figures, from missionary pilots in the Amazon, to the famous belly dancer, Little Egypt and how she was connected to Buffalo Bill Cody. Carol travelled to Vienna to interview the son of Wilhelm Reich, a radical psychoanalyst of the early 20th century. Later, she was the regular guest host of the well-loved national daily music show ‘Disc Drive,’ standing in for long-time friend, Jurgen Gothe
During this time, Carol and her family lived on an 8-acre property in the rural community of Whonnock, where they managed a fulfilling and often surprising hobby of raising sheep, chickens, and assorted other livestock. Carol delighted in the unusual blend of feeding chickens or delivering lambs in the morning, then hopping on the Greyhound to Vancouver to host 3-hours of ‘Disc Drive,’ live in the afternoon. These intersections of seemingly unrelated realities brought her much joy and she often sought them out.
Perhaps rooted in the experiences of her childhood, ‘place’ always had a compelling influence on Carol. Over the years she and Don travelled to many countries and relished the pleasures of those fresh experiences. Shortly after Carol and Don fell in love and married in 1982, the family of three relocated to Lima, Peru for a two-year contract. In Lima, they had the opportunity to visit the Amazon Rainforest, Machu Picchu, and the Galapagos Islands. Carol became fluent in Spanish and immersed herself in the daily life of this fascinating land.
In the mid-nineties, Carol and Don built a home on a peach and apricot orchard in Naramata, where they relocated for retirement. Both became actively involved in the local community (Naramata Heritage Museum, Naramata Choir, Naramata Woodwackers, and Emergency Preparedness). They planted 4 acres of Pinot Noir grapes and began a new adventure in the wine industry. Foxtrot Vineyards provided contract grape growing services to Kettle Valley Vineyards for nearly 12 years until Carol and Don relocated to McLean Creek Valley for another decade before finally shifting into Penticton to their most recent home.
Carol turned to her art full-time in the early 2000s. The foundation of her artistic practice was her training with Chinese Master Painter, Chin Shek Lam (1922 - 1990). With him, she undertook many hours of work in calligraphy and ink. From those beginnings, Carol stretched her art in varied directions. She could make art on any surface and in any medium-- painting, sketching, colouring vintage portraits in watercolour, or working digitally. Thanks to many joyful workshops with Thea Haubrich (1952 - 2013), she began a long love for the encaustic medium that eventually led to a line of wearable art fashion. She was a proud member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, and her work was presented in many exhibitions throughout the Okanagan and Vancouver. Her works hang on walls around the world. Carol was the definition of an artist and a philosopher. She has filled our world with beauty and with images of her perceptive and often wry take on the human condition. Her artist website explains "Each painting is the result of a vigorous negotiation between the hand and the brush, the paint and the surface"
Carol’s creative energy never waned. In the spring of 2024, she took the stage at Tempest Theatre in Penticton, portraying Carmen Miranda in a short play by Kate Twa. Until the very end, she pursued a creative life, constantly pushing the boundaries of her comfort zones, artistic practice, and personal explorations. Sadly, Carol passed away shortly after, on August 11, 2024, at age 81. Her legacy lives on through the impressive body of work she created and the countless lives she touched, serving as a lasting testament to her remarkable journey and inspiring spirit.
