George Traicheff: Diversity
MAY 16 - June 7, 2025
Toni Onley Gallery
Meadowlark Festival Featured Artist 2025
The South Okanagan and Lower Similkameen valleys are among Canada's most unique and beautiful regions. Known for their breathtaking landscapes, abundant wildlife, outdoor recreation opportunities, and thriving agricultural industry, this area is biologically rich. It is home to diverse wildlife, many species at risk, and is recognized as one of Canada’s most endangered natural systems.
For over 20 years, the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance (OSCA) has provided opportunities for people of all ages to experience, discover, and protect this extraordinary natural environment. Through a variety of programs and outdoor events offered year-round, OSCA connects the community with nature, including the annual Meadowlark Nature Festival and Ecostudies outdoor education programs for schools and home learners.
Since 1998, the Meadowlark Nature Festival has celebrated the region’s natural beauty each May long weekend. Featuring a wide range of interactive, multi-disciplinary events, the festival showcases the Okanagan Similkameen’s landscapes—from desert valleys to alpine meadows. By engaging participants in hands-on activities, the festival fosters a deeper connection with nature and inspires efforts to protect the region’s unique habitats and wildlife.
Part of this yearly celebration has been selecting a local artist to feature. Creating an original piece highlighting the beauty of the valley, the art is featured on festival marketing, and later headlines the Meadowlark fundraising auction. This year, long time festival supporter George Traicheff has stepped up to the plate.
George has lived from Atlantic to Pacific coasts. He is an artist who works in various mediums & subject matter and prefers to work “en plein air” as much as possible and use field sketches as well as his photography to complete larger studio works.
Titled Essence of the Meadowland, his featured piece was created in the ancient medium of egg tempera which is made from egg yolk and natural pigments. It is one of the most ecologically friendly paints in existence, thus keeping with the Meadowlark Nature Festival ideals of enjoying and preserving the wild lands and its inhabitants. The frame is an extension of the work, handcrafted by George from an old fence post recovered from Meadowlark territory.
"It is a real honour to be chosen as the featured artist this year, as the Festival follows along the lines of my values and life aspirations."
The Gallery is delighted to be part of the Festival, showcasing more of George's work. He has studied at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montreal and the Arts Students League in New York. Upon moving west to British Columbia as a member of the RCMP, he was fortunate to meet and be taken in under the tutelage of late great artists: Clarence Tillenius and Robert Lougheed, who both have had a vast influence on George’s life and work. He has also studied and painted with other well-known artists, including, Robert Bateman, John Clymer, Harley Brown and others. He has taught painting & drawing at a number of venues in both Canada and the USA.
His paintings and original prints are collected worldwide and have been published in a number of journals, magazines & books and can be found in private and corporate collections including, Michele Obama the former first lady of the United States, the Royal Collection, England, The National Gallery of Canada, the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts New York and the RCMP Museum, Regina, Sask.
Thank you once again to Lyse Deselliers, along with Shauna Sprules, Paul Lockington, and the entire Meadowlark organizing committee, for all of your hard work and dedication in bringing this annual event to life. We deeply appreciate your continued commitment to featuring a new artist each year on the festival’s poster and branding. It’s a tradition that enriches the festival and highlights the talent within our community. We are thrilled to continue this wonderful partnership and are excited to showcase the work of George Traicheff, who now joins a long and distinguished list of talented artists who have graced the festival poster over the past 27 years.
