2026 WildWings Nest Box Art Show & Auction
The WildWings Nature & Arts Festival’s art show and auction is entirely composed of artist-painted nest boxes. Each nest box is an entirely original piece of art by an incredible artist. Among this year’s artists are Robert Bateman, Luke Marston, as well as many, other very talented.
All proceeds from the nest box auction will go toward building Malcolm’s Place, and future maintenance of the Somenos Marsh Open Air Classroom.
The auction is open until October 24th at 5pm!
1 – Robert Bateman
Robert Bateman has been a keen artist and naturalist all his life. He has always painted wildlife and nature, beginning with a representational style, moving through impressionism and cubism to abstract expressionism. In his early thirties he moved back to realism as a more suitable way to express the particularity of the planet. It is this style that has made him one of the foremost artists depicting the world of nature.
Bateman’s art reflects his commitment to ecology and preservation. Since the early 1960’s, he has been an active member of naturalist and conservation organizations, now on a global scale. He has become a spokesman for many environmental and preservation issues and has used his artwork and limited edition prints in fund-raising efforts that have provided millions of dollars for these worthy causes. Books about his life and art have had sales of over 1,000,000 copies. His honours and awards are numerous, including Officer of the Order of Canada; he has been the subject of several films and television programs. At 96, he enjoys his home on Salt Spring Island which abounds with bird life including barn and violet green swallows.
“It’s quite a while since we stopped at Somenos Marsh to go birding. We were delighted to find such a special place relatively close to home.”
2 – Shirley Dickie
Bird Box Painting as a community involvement
Shirley hand-paints, small-scale objects—primarily wooden birdhouses and garden ornaments—that combine decorative painting with functional craft. Her work lives in porches, planters, and window sills, where painted surfaces meet the weather and the rhythms of outdoor life.
She is drawn to color, pattern, and the vocabulary of gardens: sunflowers, blossoms, vines and leaves become motifs she repeats and remixes. These pieces present a cheerful, domestic mode of nature that feels familiar and immediate. She works from the conviction that an ordinary corner of a home or yard can be made more attentive and warm through simple, sustained design.
She layers hand-applied paint, fine linework, and selective varnishes to create surface depth and durability. Pattern and scale are central decisions: motifs are simplified so they read from a distance, then detailed so they reward close inspection.
3 – Jeff Samin
Somenos Sunset
Jeff is an 81 year old retired schoolteacher and part time artist living in Kelowna BC. This is Jeff’s second year painting a birdhouse for the Society auction.
The inspiration for the work was a photograph taken by a good friend, who is a member of the Somenos Marsh Wildlife Society, and whose house backs onto the marsh. It shows a beautiful sunset over the marsh, and Jeff hopes that he has at least captured some of the essence of that wonderful vista. The maple leaf tradition started last year and will continue as a kind of trademark.
He is pleased to support SMWS and their incredible work to preserve the marsh for all to see and enjoy, a sanctuary for wildlife hopefully for many years to come.
4 – Pipi Tustian
Original Art for Everyday Living
Her love for fabric, texture, pattern and colour began at a young age. Influenced by her seamstress mother and their bus trips to Winnipeg’s downtown textile district, the sight of floor-to-ceiling bolts of fabric was like a candy store for her imagination leaving a lasting impression on her young spirit.
Self taught, she has explored various artistic mediums but her true passion will forever be in paint, fabric, & functional art. Everyday life and the natural world inspires her work, she paints to understand it.
Visit her at her oceanside studio in Cowichan Bay Village.
5 – Carol Evans
Carol Evans is a watercolour artist who has painted the coastal wilds of British Columbia’s shoreline for over 50 years. To paint a birdhouse for the Marshland fundraiser she has ventured into working with acrylic paint. (Turned out to be no easy task!)
This birdhouse is a painting of a nest of baby Pacific wrens. Two friends were swimming in Blackburn lake on Salt Spring Island and they found a tiny fledgling drowning. They saved it and searched out grubs to feed it, as their tiny feathered guest fought to survive. A few days later when it was dry and fluffy and bright-eyed, it began to fly around the house. They returned it to its siblings near the lake in the trees. This painting is an imagined scene of the Pacific Wren fledgling back in the wilds with its siblings!
The tenderness shown by these two caring souls will have a ripple effect in the world, because their feathered friend will likely grow to raise many fledglings of its own.
6 – Trish Lawton
Jewel
Resident of North Cowichan living in the scenic corridor of Maple Bay for 12 years. Alumni of the Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) in Victoria, holding a Certificate in Visual Art.
Trish has a fascination with colour and nature. Her style tends to be bright, abstract/stylized, whimsical, decorative and organic. The use of various mediums represents her vision and creativity. The mediums she loves to work with include: watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oil, pastels, ink & pencil, collage paper, gel printing, fibre and found objects.
7 – Victoria Blouin
Victoria Blouin is a mixed-media artist based in the Cowichan Valley, B.C. Her work is inspired by Vancouver Island’s natural landscape, and explores fantasy and folklore, as well as body diversity. This is her third year contributing a painted nest box for the Somenos Marsh Auction Fundraiser.
8 – Frances Westermann
Frances lives a life divided between the Cowichan Valley on the edge of the sea, and the mountain highlands of Michoacán, México. For the past fifteen years, like the mariposas, every six months she and her husband return to their second home. There we stay, immersed in its rich culture, and surrounded by love and respect for all types of artistic endeavour.
This painting is inspired by a calendar illustration by Estelí Meza, an artist from Mexico City.
9 – Jennifer Shepherd
Swallows take up to 1200 journeys to build a nest. Female tree swallows construct their nest with grass, feathers and 700-1500 thick saliva globs. Jennifer painted 1200 white dots on this nesting box to celebrate female tree swallows and honour their labour.
Jennifer’s art practice takes root in the social soil of community connections. Healing arises from the creative process and nurtures well-being. She works across disciplines, including: carving, weaving, basketry, songwriting, photography, poetry, percussion, and arts-based facilitation methods.
Sources:
www.livingwithbirds.com/tweetapedia/21-facts-on-swallow
www.birdful.org/how-long-does-it-take-a-swallow-to-build-a-nest/
10 – Katherine Phethean
“Birds Eye View” acrylic
With this nesting box, as with Katherine’s previous ones, she wanted to celebrate the wild natural beauty and diversity of the Quw’utsun Valley, this time from the stunning vantage point of Stoney Hill, a favourite spot to gain perspective, clarity, and inspiration.
Katherine Phethean trained as an artist in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has been creating on Vancouver Island since 2005.
11 – Teryl Mullock
Teryl’s mixed media art emerges from evolving open-ended processes, surrendering to intuition and intellect, embracing both chaos and precision, waiting for the work to reveal itself.
Although abstract, the work tends to reveal fragmentary resonances with the familiar- morphing landforms, changing skies, the movement of water, traces of animals, and the imprint of humanity.
His activity as a contemporary visual artist builds upon decades of architectural practice. He is also a songwriter, singer and musician, and lives in Gibsons BC, Canada
12 – Marie Whimbey
t’ets’ulp – Hardhack
Marie Whimbey is a Salt Spring Island based Artist and Outdoor Educator. This piece is inspired by the beautiful pink fuzzy plumes of Hardhack and Red-Breasted Nuthatches high-pitched toy trumpet sounding calls to one another. Marie is of English, Scottish, Irish and French ancestry. She was born breathing the salty air of the Salish Sea. She dedicates her time to the youth, mentoring Nature-based education. Most of her creative energy goes to wild crafting, carving, weaving, hide tanning and occasionally painting.
13 – Vanessa Parada and Inara Demich
Living close to the land with their family on Salt Spring Island, this homeschooling mother of three and her eldest teenage daughter share a deep love of nature, creativity, and community.
Together, mother and daughter brought their shared love of art and the living world to the painting of this birdhouse.
Inspired by the swallow’s graceful flight through grassy meadows at sunrise, this birdhouse celebrates the beauty and interconnectedness of the living world. Swallows return with the coming of spring and often build their nests close to people, offering a beautiful reminder of home, community, renewal, and our shared place with nature. A braid of grass winds around the base of the house, symbolizing the many living threads that connect us to one another, the land, and the generations before and after us.
14 – Luke Marston
Luke Marston (Ts’uts’umutl), a member of the Stz’uminus (Chemainus) First Nation, was born in 1976 on Vancouver Island to carvers Jane and David Marston. He learned Salish history and traditional stories from the late Coast Salish artist Simon Charlie, and honed his talents in form, design, carving, and detailed finishing from Haida/Nisga’a artist Wayne Young. Luke then worked for five years at Thunderbird Park at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, alongside Jonathan Henderson, Sean Whannock, Sean Karpes and his brother, John Marston.
Relentlessly working to broaden his horizons, Luke has explored stone carving, painting, jewelry and printmaking; however the majority of Luke’s work is created in wood. Marston’s style is characterized as bold and dramatic, combining a deep knowledge of Coast Salish heritage with his personal contemporary aesthetic. Luke aims to preserve his culture by sharing his art with the public.
His fine artworks grace many private collections and have been exhibited nationally and internationally — including exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Portugal. He has had major commissions from the Canadian Government, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, the Vancouver Airport, and much more.
15 – Laurel Hibbert
Laurel Hibbert is an award-winning Cowichan Valley artist. Her work can be found across Canada. Her paintings capture moments of joy and perfection in everyday life. Each image has a story to tell.
16 – Jan MacKirdy
In the heart of the Cowichan Valley, where verdant landscapes meet the rhythm of rural life, Janice MacKirdy has cultivated a unique artistic vision that mirrors the harmony between nature and human ingenuity. A self-taught creative and maker, Janice has spent nearly five decades nurturing her craft and her community, embodying a philosophy that celebrates recycling, up-cycling, and environmental sustainability. Janice’s journey as an artist began not with a formal education, but with a profound connection to the land. Growing up on a homestead and working as a farmer, she developed an intimate understanding of nature’s cycles and a deep appreciation for the value of resources. This background instilled in her a commitment to creating art that reflects her values and her environment. What others might overlook as waste, she transforms into works of art that are both visually stunning and rich in narrative. Her creations are a dialogue between past and present, an homage to the resources that have shaped her life and a statement on the potential for renewal. In the Cowichan Valley, Janice actively engages in local initiatives, sharing her knowledge and passion for up-cycling with others, and inspiring a collective movement towards a more mindful approach to art and life. Janice MacKirdy’s work is a celebration of the intersection between creativity and conservation.
17 – Martin van den Akker
Born in Holland, Martin came to Canada for my first job in 1999, where he initially took Dutch tourists on tours in the Rockies, Yukon and Alaska. After a few years, he felt a bit unsettled living out of a backpack. Figuring he wanted to live in the mountains, he settled down in Canmore in the Canadian Rockies in 2002 where he lived for almost fifteen years. He likes nature, adventure, freedom and diversity. Perhaps that’s why he has held a variety of careers in engineering, leadership development, sales and contracting.
In the Rockies Martin developed a keen interest in nature photography which he pursued for years (his photography website is Inspirit.ca). In 2016, he and his long term partner, Gina, moved back from the mountains to sea level and currently live in Mill Bay on Vancouver Island. Inspired by the wild West Coast and beachcombing, Martin started making sea glass art and beach-themed art which can be found on Seahoundstudio.com. He recently switched mediums and am currently exploring oil painting.
18 – Jennifer Hedge
Jennifer Hedge is a Vancouver Island artist and has worked professionally as a Head Scenic Artist for over 40 years, currently holding that position at Pacific Opera Victoria, and Chemainus Theatre. Theatre sets painted by Jennifer have been enjoyed by audiences throughout North America and Europe, and she has earned recognition as one of the best in her field.
Jennifer’s main inspiration comes from nature. The impact of humanity on wild places and the creatures which inhabit those places is a recurring theme throughout much of her artwork. She mainly paints dramatic sky and seascapes, and referential landscape scenes from her Coastal environment. She is influenced by the painters of the Romantic movement and their expression of personal ideas, visions and emotions; the imagination governing the creative act rather than convention. While she doesn’t have much time to paint outside of work due to a busy schedule, this is the fourth year Jennifer has painted a nest box for the Somenos March Society.
19 – Rebekah Bourdeau
Rebekah grew up in a small French town in rural Ontario. Behind their home was a field and beyond that was a marsh. She and her dad would often go on walk-abouts. They’d traverse the marsh, equipped in their rubber boots, and see all sorts of creatures, snapping turtles, rodents, amphibians and mysterious tracks in the mud. The sound of birds filled their ears, and among them, the Red-winged blackbird. In a nearby pond, she’d collect tadpoles and bring them home in a mason jar.
This ecosystem feels like home, its inhabitants bringing Rebekah comfort, which is why she chose both the Red-winged blackbird and the (Columbia Spotted) frog (which would likely have been the green frog in Ontario).
Rebekah is often inspired by nature, stories and dreams. Guided by intuition and often surprised by the outcome! Her first painting teacher was her Grandmother Barbara.
She also enjoyes working with watercolour, pencil crayon, pen + ink, and one day hopes to explore oils. To see some of her other work visit her instagram @rebekahsartwork.
20 – Gabriel Abney
Gabriel’s art education started early. His grandmother, Genevra Sloan, a professional artist and university art teacher, was teaching him colour wheels and figure drawing at the kitchen table as a child, and often had him tagging along to shows, galleries or to her studio. Although his focus in college was digital art and ‘new media’, Gabriel’s first love was painting and print-making. His paintings often contain bold contrasts and textures and heavy use of the palette knife. He works in silkscreen printing, and has painted on and off for his whole life – mostly in the abstract expressionist style favoured by his first art teacher.
21 – Quentin Harris
“The story. Well, I figured it’s a birdhouse – it should have birds on it. I remembered once I painted a birdhouse and I used red. The birds never came to use it. Was it the red? I don’t know. But I decided to go with a sketchy style with texture – artistic to us humans, perhaps a bit abstract like grass to the birds. I believe there is a hummingbird, a raven and an eagle on it. These birds have been important to us and the environment in the past, and they are STILL important to us and the earth for now and the future. Funnily enough, I’m not worried if people love the art on it – I really hope a bird is attracted to the design and has a nest inside it. That would make me happy. It’s official – my art is for the birds! Ha-ha!
I did a bit of grinding and sanding to add a little shape to the birdhouse. Make it less boxy, a little more organic. After I sketched it up. I hit it with two coats of Linseed Oil so it would last for years to come.”
Quentin is a practicing Indigenous Artist residing on Salt Spring Island. Ten months of the year he is busy going from class to class spreading Indigenous knowledge, culture and artistic endeavors with students of all grades. The secret of his success? Being a big kid himself! Refusing to grow up, Q finds time for silly laughter, the closeness of family & friends and ambitious dog walks up local mountains. If Q isn’t sketching ovoids and formlines, he’s snapping video on his trusty GoPro. Often putting together cinematic films of daily life that reflect the notion that the Creator’s beauty is all around us – if we just pause and look!
22 – Naomi Colvin
Naomi is a self taught artist with a deep love for the natural world and its creatures. In this painting she utilizes a sunflower motif as a striking and well-established symbol of hope, devotion, and resilience, which has also come to represent solidarity with Ukraine and its people. Less bright and bold than the golden sunflower, the sparrow bird—that drab and unassuming little tuft of brownish feathers—nonetheless carries its own significance. The sparrow is also a symbol of resilience, freedom, and hope—and is further associated with safety, refuge, and home. Whether in the protective cover of a wing, or the sheltering cradle of a nest, the sparrow calls to mind images of safety and sanctuary.
23 – Robin Feldman
Robin is an art therapist and avid gardener who has worked for more than 30 years using expressive art for healing and transformation. She has a special love for roses so she chose the wild roses of the Somonos Marsh to decorate this nesting box, and added the visiting hummingbirds as a symbols of joy, resilience, and the sweetness of being in natural spaces.
24 – Bev Thompson
The bird house Nepal temple bird house is bhudda scripts printed off of wood blocks onto Lokta paper. These were painted onto the box.
25 – Heather Loa
Heather has always been fascinated by the diversity of creative expression and the many ways to interpret a scene, an idea, or a feeling. The possibilities for this birdhouse seemed endless, and the project soon took on a life of its own. She hopes people enjoy the humour in her replica of the historic building that now houses the gallery.
26 – Catherine Fraser
Catherine has painted professionally since 1983 with art studios in Victoria and the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, BC Canada. She works in oils, acrylic, watercolour, graphite and pastels, photography and mixed media and is constantly exploring and experimenting with new artistic responses to the world around her. Catherine is an accomplished and award-winning artist having exhibited in over 25 one-woman shows, in Canada, US and Europe. Her artwork has been selected into juried shows and she has received many awards. She has BScN, University of Victoria, diploma Art Therapy BC School of Art Therapy and Certificate in Fine Art from Vancouver Island School Of Art and divides her time between careers as an artist and an art therapist.
