Canada House Gallery in Banff opens "Roaming Wild" on Saturday, Oct. 3, from noon to 4 p.m., pairing 18 of Canmore photographer John E. Marriott's wildlife portraits with expressive painted reinterpretations by Susie Cipolla. Both artists will be on site at the grand opening to discuss the work and the conservation aims behind it.

The seed of the exhibition is a single small subject: a grizzly bear cub, caught on its back in the grass, stretching its paws toward the sky. "It basically looks like it's doing yoga," Marriott said. "It's doing all these different stretches and poses, laying on its back in the grass, and I have three great photographs of it." That cub anchors one of the show's centrepieces — a matched series of three works, one photographic print and two paintings, hung together.

Cipolla, who specializes in wildlife and landscape painting, did not treat the photographs as templates. "Susie has quite a unique style and … she's taken quite a bit of liberty with colours and added colour or changed colour and done all sorts of things," Marriott said. "Some of them look very similar and some of them look quite different, which is very interesting."

The two spent considerable time selecting which images would resonate most with local and visiting audiences, settling on some of the most iconic frames Marriott has captured in the wild. Roughly half of the exhibited photographs come from Banff and the Rocky Mountains; another six or seven come from the Great Bear Rainforest, the Yukon and scattered other locations.

Star power was not in short supply. Famous Bow Valley residents including The Boss, the region's best-known grizzly bear, and Delinda the wolf appear in the show, alongside animals familiar from the wraps of Roam transit buses — public vehicles that have carried Marriott's imagery on their sides and rears across the valley over the past year. His grey wolf photographs also recently appeared on a Canada Post stamp.

Each image and painting carries an accompanying story detailing how far Marriott traveled to make the photograph, which animal it depicts, and where the picture has appeared before — a magazine cover, or one of his photography books. The pairing of media reaches its most literal form in two split portraits: half of a grizzly's face and half of a lynx's face rendered as photographic print, the other half painted. Marriott said these diptych-like works demanded the pair's most careful attention to get right.

For Marriott, whose photography now leans heavily toward conservation work, the exhibition is a chance to look back at decades of fieldwork documenting animals in their natural environment. He frames the show's effect in direct terms. "When they go view my photographs and Susie's paintings, there's an emotional connection people can see in these animals, staring back at you, in these crisp, vivid photographs and these lovely paintings and art renderings," he said.

His expectations for visitors are modest and specific. "I think people will go in and just have a real appreciation for nature and the wildlife that's around us here in Banff and Canmore," Marriott said.

The exhibition's prints and artwork will be available for purchase, extending the collaboration's conservation-minded reach beyond the gallery walls.