Gallery Alpha's fall group exhibition brought together twelve Vancouver artists to explore the shapes and emotions surrounding the
        very foundation of our being, the creation and growth of life itself. Curator/artist, Gregg Simpson, who also exhibited his work, stated:
        The theme of Fertility Rites evolved from my preoccupation with the sensuous lines and patterns generated from a nucleus, or
        embryonic shape, in some of my abstract work. I was interested to see if the work of other artists also reflected an interest in depicting
        the life force.

        The sculptural clefts, orifices, and wombs of Sonja Bunes, Marta Pan and Carol Dukowski reflect
        a woman's perspective which is balanced by the allegories of pregnancy and birth presented in the
        figurative works of Joy Zemel Long and Thomas Anfield. The spiritual overtones associated with
        the theme are reflected by the fertility goddesses of Pnina Granirer's Venus and Kundalini friezes
        and the ancient horned dietics invoked by Carole Driver's enigmatic sculptures.