Artists in Merritt BC – Bev Veale

Bev Veale, Local Artisan and Homesteader

Bev Veale, local artist and homesteader, and a creative and committed contributor to our Nicola Valley community for decades…

Artists in Merritt BC – Bev Veale. Bev has created art and supported other artists in the Nicola Valley for decades.

She was a part of the Valley Visual Artists Group and is an Honorary Member of the Nicola Valley Community Arts Council. Bev frequents the Arts Centre, participating in gallery shows and contributing art books, supplies and her experience. Bev has been painting the landscapes of the Nicola Valley for many years.

Artists in Merritt BC focus

Drawing and painting, especially with watercolours and water based oils, are Bev’s focuses. She also draws and sketches with pencil and watercolour pencil crayons. But over the years, Bev has immersed herself in trying different mediums, like wood carving. Her favourite subjects are our Nicola Valley landscapes, our flowers and wildlife – depicting the golden hills, meadows, mountains, streams and flowers around us. 

Artists in Merritt BC – Bev Veale has an impressive collection of art books and magazines, a lifelong passion. Bev continues to study art, draw and paint. Her latest Gallery show was at the Nicola Valley Arts Centre in April 2022, Bev Veale Reminiscences.

Bev Veale Reminiscences Art Show. Photo Credit Jano Howarth.

The Veale family here in the Nicola Valley since the early 1900’s.

The Veale family has lived in our Nicola Valley since the early 1900’s. Bev’s grandfather, John Veale, homesteaded at a property on Skuhun Creek, west of Merritt, while Bev’s family, parents Jack and Curly Veale and their five children, settled at Okanagan Landing near Vernon.

Bev’s story of art …

Bev specialized in art and aquatics during her school years and spent four years in the Air Cadets. That led to nine years with the Canadian Air Force as a Recreation Specialist. Bev spent time at bases in Canada, and then 3 years in Germany, during the 1^st Cold War.

After she left the military in the mid 60’s, Bev spent the next years in the Nicola Valley and at her family’s homestead, then at the University of Victoria, and worked as a Recreation Supervisor with the City of Vernon for seven years. In 1978, Bev came back to our valley and took over and managed the Veale homestead for over twenty years.

Bev as a girl, middle. Photo credit Bev Veale.

Bev’s Business, the Kinnikinic Homestead. Photo credit Bev Veale.

Kinnikinic Homestead

Most of Bev’s years there were spent setting up and running the Kinnikinic Homestead LTD, a business inviting people from all over BC and beyond, to experience homestead life in the Nicola Valley.

With help from family, friends and the people from the nearby Shackan Reserve, Bev ended up over time with a log lodge, a cottage, three cabins, a root cellar, a shop, and campsites, all around The Field, which was home to her own horses and horses arriving with Kinnikinic guests.

Photo credit Bev Veale.

Kinnikinic Cabin in winter. Photo credit Bev Veale.

Bev Veale, Merritt Resident and Artist

Bev, at times, helped to keep the Kinnikinic Homestead going with part time employment at Chataway Lakes and subbing as a teacher in the local schools. When the Homestead property passed out of her hands, Bev moved right into the town of Merritt, where she worked with the Merritt News until she retired.

Currently Artists in Merritt BC – Bev Veale has a family homestead and art display at the Nicola Valley Museum and Archives.

Bev’s homestead and art display. Photo Credit Nicola Valley Museum.

Bev Veale’s Museum Reception, Family and Friends

Bev’s Family at her Museum Reception. Photo Credit Jano Howarth.

Family and friends, at Bev Veale’s Homestead display. Photo Credit Jano Howarth.

Thanks Bev!

Be sure to visit the museum in Merritt. Lots to see…

It’s summer! Last year’s summer art shows at the Gallery.

Jano Howarth, Arts Gallery Curator and talent fan.’

Facebook and Instagram: Jano Howarth

Facebook: Creative Community 

Website: Meme Dreams 

Bev Veale with artist Shirley Reynolds. Photo credit Jano Howarth.

Nicola Valley Snake Fence, Private Collection. Photo credit Jano Howarth.

Bev’s Art Show Reception with friends and fans. Photo credit Jano Howarth.

Thanks to the Nicola Valley Museum and Archives for putting on this great display of Bev Veale’s art and homesteading history in the valley. 

And thanks to all of Bev’s supporters, recognizing her art and contributions to the valley.

Museum Manager, Cameron Bridge. Photo Credit Jano Howarth.

Bev with Suzanne, local patron of the arts, who acquired a Bev Veale painting years ago. Photo Credit Jano Howarth.

Artists in Merritt BC – Bev Veale

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