Gorge Entrance (14")

“Gorge Entrance” celebrates the exhilaration of taking a kayak out on a perfect spring day, after a long season of wild winter gales on British Columbia’s west coast. In the painting we join kayakers at the entrance to The Gorge, on Cortes Island’s west side. It is a powerful place: strong tidal flows carry boaters through the narrow entrance into The Gorge’s inner waters. On one side of the entrance, towering granite cliffs bear petroglyphs left by the people that originally inhabited the area. On the other side are their burial caves. According to Lee, “It’s about the interplay of where land meets water. It’s such a different experience to see an island from the water, rather than seeing the island from within the island. It’s a piece of land surrounded by water that’s deeply forested. You only see as far as the next tree when you’re living in the forest and you only see the sky through the openings in the trees. When you get out on the water you can look back at the forested cocoon of the island."