Virtual Gallery: Local artist Claudia Punter features animals in solo show at The Art Gallery Osoyoos

Osoyoos artist Claudia Punter has opened a solo exhibition at The Art Gallery Osoyoos featuring her paintings and carvings of animals and birds. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Osoyoos area artist Claudia Punter has loved animals ever since as a little girl in Zug, Switzerland, she smuggled her first pets — a bug and a worm — into her room and hid them from her mother who forbade pets.

Her mother eventually gave in and let her keep a bird, a mouse and a lizard, but her father drew the line at a rooster she raised from a hatchling that started crowing in the morning.

As an adult, she pursued a career as a veterinarian. A teacher squelched her childhood artistic creativity, and only after coming to Canada did she start to dabble with soapstone carving.

A workshop with Keremeos painter Bonny Roberts in 2013 rekindled her joy in painting, and animals became her primary subject. Punter admits she’s lost when trying to do portraits of people, though she’s obviously a close observer of the quirks of animals and birds. Often her work hints at her keen sense of humour.

Her show, The Beauty of Creation, runs from Thursday, Sept. 9 to Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021 at The Art Gallery Osoyoos. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Covid precautions are in effect.

The gallery is located at 8713 Main St. in Osoyoos, B.C., just west of Town Hall.

Click on thumbnail images below to see in Virtual Gallery. Use arrow keys to flip through images. Click on images to see title at top.

Titled “Threatening,” this painting of a bull by Claudia Punter also shows a threatening sky. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Paintings by Claudia Punter show a variety of birds and a pony in a corner of the back room at The Art Gallery Osoyoos. (Richard McGuire Photo)
At left are three smaller paintings by Claudia Punter of California quails, and at right is a bald eagle titled “Great Spirit.” (Richard McGuire Photo)
Paintings by Claudia Punter of birds and landscapes adorn the back wall of the back room at The Art Gallery Osoyoos. (Richard McGuire Photo)
A fox feigns innocence as it prowls around farm buildings in this acrylic painting on masonite by Claudia Punter titled “Innocent.” (Richard McGuire Photo)
Clockwise from top left: Young Black Bear, Not Too Close, and Yellow-Bellied Marmot are three acrylic paintings featuring mammals by Claudia Punter. (Richard McGuire Photo)
From left: Study of a Prairie Scene, We All Belong Together, Feeding Frenzy, and Nuthatch are works by Claudia Punter at The Art Gallery Osoyoos. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Artist Claudia Punter used acrylic on canvas paper for a series of landscapes. The horses and barred owl are giclee on canvas. There’s also a Brazilian soapstone carving. (Richard McGuire Photo)
This giclee on canvas by Claudia Punter is titled “Barred Owl.” (Richard McGuire Photo)
Two acrylic paintings, Study of an Old Building, and Two Directions, are found in a corner of the back room at The Art Gallery Osoyoos. (Richard McGuire Photo)
A mother mallard duck leads her babies on a swim near the Osoyoos marina in this acrylic on deep cradle board by local artist Claudia Punter. (Richard McGuire Photo)
A bald eagle perches on a branch in this acrylic on masonite by Claudia Punter titled “Great Spirit.” (Richard McGuire Photo)
Birds — both exotic and local — are a theme in Claudia Punter’s paintings, but here she also shows a crab. (Richard McGuire Photo)
This group of acrylics by Claudia Punter features birds and flowers. (Richard McGuire Photo)
A larger acrylic painting of crows on a rail fence is positioned next to two giclees of chickadees. (Richard McGuire Photo)
This acrylic on masonite by Claudia Punter features a black bear wading into a stream to fish. (Richard McGuire Photo)
A beaver munches on reeds in this acrylic on masonite by Claudia Punter. (Richard McGuire Photo)
This acrylic on birch plywood by Claudia Punter shows a merganser and its baby. (Richard McGuire Photo)
Bats, moths and other small animals also find their way into acrylic paintings by local artist Claudia Punter. (Richard McGuire Photo)
“Courtship” and “After the Hunt” are acrylic on deep cradle board paintings of birds by Claudia Punter. (Richard McGuire Photo)
A crocodile lunges from the water with full fangs in this oil painting with wood and marble on deep cradle board by Claudia Punter. (Richard McGuire Photo)

Author: Richard McGuire

Richard McGuire is an Osoyoos photographer who worked at the Osoyoos Times between 2012 and 2018, first as reporter and then as editor. He has a long career in journalism as well as research, communication and management at the House of Commons in Ottawa and in the federal government.