Martines Guest Artists
Sunday evening is our music night showcasing the acoustic side of local musical talent. As an added feature, Martine's also displays a distinctive selection of art by well known local artists.
Visual Fine Art
Introducing visual artists Deidre Marok and Rob Freeman now showing in our Bistro. Come on in and treat yourself to a great meal, great company and great art.
Deidre Marok
Deidre Marok has been watercolour painting for fifteen years. She graduated from York University, Toronto where she studied Painting, Printmaking and Art History.
Deidre has taken part in several group shows in Montreal where she sold many drawings and oil paintings. She has also exhibited in Vancouver in group shows. Painting portraits on commission were a result of the group shows.
The works presented by Deidre at Martine’s Bar and Grill are recent works of 
scenes created on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
They describe the mystery of foggy mornings in local apple orchards as well as the serenity of island views. Within these works, Marok displays expertise in choosing subject matter that lends itself to moods and colour accents in keeping with nature, combining the material with the immaterial, the specific with the random, letting the unpredictability of this medium take over when necessary.
Deidre has lived in BC for twenty years and has enjoyed life in the valley for seven years. This is her first public exhibit on Vancouver Island.
Rob Freeman
Rob Freeman has been dabbling in the arts from as early as memory serves. As a teenager he began painting with a local portrait painter in Hudson, Quebec. That, and a desire to capture on canvas the farm field and far horizon that he’d experienced for 18 years of his life, eventually led him down the art path.
He worked for several years in the Yukon and Northwest Territories and recorded life as he saw it in oil paintings and by camera in the mid to late seventies, punctuated with trips to South America and Europe. Later attended University of Alberta and received a BFA in sculpture and painting. Summer jobs were scarce but after landing a tree-planting 
job in B.C. he soon realized that Vancouver was the hub from which he would work and travel for many years.
Apart from the lucre, tree planting afforded an opportunity to observe the immensity of British Columbia. From where he stood on the edge of a clear-cut he could see the pristine wilderness beyond.
Landscape has been a central theme in his compositions with many works started and finished in “plein-air”. The paintings in Martine’s reflect a concerted effort to be a participant in the changes and beauty of the Comox Valley, and a conscious effort to reduce the stature of man so that he blends into the environment.
The musical themed paintings are more of an attempt at figurative abstraction and pays homage to the musician who fulfills the function of providing joyous refrain to the world at large. Music has increasingly become an important hobby, the pursuit of which is never-ending. The influence of jazz and blues caught his attention long ago. The Comox Valley has a great wealth of musicians which further underlines why the valley is so vital to everyone living here.
Commissions
Both Deidre and Rob would like to offer portrait painting, landscape or house paintings by commission.
ABOUT SOME OF OUR LOCAL MUSICIANS
Jeff Drummond
Jeff is a new arrival to Vancouver Island, coming from Calgary where he has been a fixture on the jazz scene. He has played across Canada with numerous groups, most notably with his trio, Sinistrio (www.sinistrio.com).
Larry Ayre
Larry Ayre draws on all his experience with a "Bach to the Blues" approach. From Spanish Romance to Georgia on My Mind with the Girl From Ipanema in between. You can hear several examples of his music by visiting www.larryayreguitarist.com. While you're there check out some of the other musical things that he does (weddings, guitar lessons etc.)
http://www.larryayreguitarist.com/receptions
Anela Kahiamoe
Anela Kahiamoe, the Comox Valley’s transplanted Hawaiian, is also a well rounded guitarist and singer. He has an uncanny ability to engage the audience with his stories and captivating personality.
