the story of The Ou
Located on gorgeous Vancouver Island on the West Coast of Canada, The Ou-Telier is located in a 100 year-old boat-building workshop in the Quwut’sun Valley (also called the Warmland) and overlooks a year-round creek fed from Mount Swuq’us.
In the 1930’s, Aubrey Ash milled the timber from the land and built the ‘Ash Boatworks,’ his boatbuilding and repairs shop. We’ve kept the original beams and steel pulleys, and the wide-planked fir floors shine with remnants of their lengthy creative history.
Located along a year-round creek fed from Swuq’us (Mount Prevost), ‘Bings’ creek was an important thoroughfare for hwulmuhw (indigenous people) as they travelled between the base of Mount Swuq’us and S’amunu village (now called the Somenos marsh) and is now frequented by avid fisherfolk like the Great Blue Heron, Kingfishers, Eagles, Water Dippers and even the local peacock, Steven.
The Ou (like, oooh, nice) was officially founded in 2017 when Barclay and Donovan Rose fell in love with the building and began cleaning and restoring it from top to bottom: turning it into the gorgeous space you see today. With help from their wonderful friends and family, they created The Ou to satisfy their dreams to inhabit and share beautiful and gentle creative spaces, to be surrounded by contemporary art, and to bring artists from around the world to a place where they can feel at home, relaxed and inspired.
We are uninvited guests on the lands where live and create, and we humbly acknowledge that these lands are part of the traditional Coast Salish territory of the Quw’utsun and the Hul’qumin’num Treaty Group and the unceded (stolen) territory of the Snuneymuxw nation.
our team
Donovan + Barclay
Co-Founders
Barclay started learning about art from her mom on the kitchen floor with oil pastels. From there she tried out a year at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, and ended up with an MA in Media and International Development. Her passion for travel, art and community engagement has taken her around the world as a student, artist and volunteer. Find her sporadically on Insta at bmmr.ose
Donovan is an oil painter and bird lover, whose lust for life sprouted as an adventurous child spending summers at the Shuswap. His work and life is inspired by an ever evolving palette of Leonard Cohen and Henri Matisse. He is currently represented by Ashdale Gallery in North Vancouver.
Find his artwork at donovanrose.caand check out his footwear company at pelagofootwear.com
Chantey Dayal
Artist Residency Manager
Chantey gratefully lives, and makes art in Quw’utsun’ mustimuhw Territory. As a first generation Canadian of Indian and Middle Eastern descent, Chantey's art strikes the viewer through a bold use of colour, shape, and contrast. She is often steeped in poetry, mythology, rhythm, ritual, and the fables of faraway places. This ignites and compels her towards all that is deeply feminine and life-giving. Her process has abstract beginnings, which then gives way to recognizable forms themed on women, nature, and patterns.
Find her beautiful work at www.chanteydayal.com