A UNIQUE pen pal exchange between students here and in Canada, will culminate with a tiny showcase of their work ? courtesy of Masterworks' current artist in residence, Lynda Shalagan.

A teacher at a private girls' school in Nova Scotia, it was her idea to encourage an exchange of their artwork with pupils at BHS. Their efforts are now to be featured as part of Ms Shalagan's own exhibition of oils, on display in Masterworks' West Gallery, December 8 through 15.

"I'm a part-time junior high teacher in Halifax. I teach at a private, all-girls school and thought I would do an exchange project between my students and girls at a private school here of approximately the same age, sort of like art pen pals. My students in Halifax made small art cards ? kind of small, trading cards based on their own interests. I brought them over and did something similar here and sent them back to Halifax. My students there made another response and now we are making another one here, in response to those. It's been a fun little project. At the end there should be (about 140) little cards and I'll include them in my exhibition."

Originally from Vancouver, Ms Shalagan has been painting for approximately 30 years. She learned of Masterworks' artist-in-residence programme while on a visit to the island two years ago and was eager to participate.

"It attracted me for several reasons," she said. "Obviously there was the opportunity to travel and create in a new environment. There are totally different forms and colours here which, from a creative perspective, I find really invigorating. Because it's a totally different environment, it presents the opportunity to do and try things that I hadn't thought of at home. And, of course, being here means that I have two months of solid working time, whereas at home I teach 50 per cent of the time, I publish the Halifax Art Map ? a map of artists in Halifax ? and I try to do my own work. So between family things and so on, I obviously don't get very much time to work. It's a real opportunity to concentrate, to be able to work without distraction."

The artist said the exhibit will showcase a range of her work, completed during her two-month stay on the island. Her hope is to give a small preview next Friday, during the annual Christmas walkabout in St. George's."I'll probably have close to 20 small studies which are in pastel. Some of them are actually cut paper, studies for the paintings, some of which I then turned into paintings and other ones I didn't. Those are all quite small. And then there'll be anywhere between 13 and 15 oil paintings, the largest of which is about 40 by 40 inches."Her work is the result of her travels throughout the island, although much of her inspiration was found in the vicinity of her St. George's base.

"I've been taking buses and ferries around the island and taking lots of pictures. I don't really like to work outside on the spot ? with the weather and people passing by, I find it too distracting. So I take photographs and then use bits and pieces of those or put them together, change them and work from those. It seems that I've concentrated on St. George's. I didn't plan that but there was just so much to look at there, that I just never quite got past that."

The experience has been a positive one, Ms Shalagan believes.

"I would have liked to have had more time," she admitted. "I generally can take anywhere up to a couple of months to do a painting ? leaving it for a while, going back to it and so on and layering ? but of course I don't have the opportunity to do that here due to the time constraint. I haven't got enough distance from (my work) yet to know whether or not it's something that I will be really happy with in the long term, but I'm hoping I will. I'm fairly happy with them at this point."

Ms Shalagan's oils on canvas will exhibit in the West Gallery at Masterworks, December 8 through 15. For more information telephone 236-2950.