Uninterrupted Under The Cambie Bridge

August 30, 2017

Uninterrupted is a stunning video installation that has been playing under the Yaletown side of the Cambie Street Bridge all summer, in Cooper’s Park. I saw it for the second time last night with friends.

The 25 minute video is mapped to the pillars and underside of the bridge, and follows the migration of Pacific Salmon from beginning until their sad end. The image above shows the projector doing a mapping test before the performance started, which was pretty interesting.

I shot a few stills during the performance but mostly I wanted to enjoy it without a camera in the way. The imagery begins and ends in a cityscape but is mostly water and salmon at different stages of their lives. It’s awe inspiring and magical.

Performances of Uninterrupted continue until September 24th, and the start time is currently at 9pm. This may shift as it gets later in the year and the sunsets earlier. I recommend taking a blanket and small pillow because it’s best viewed while lying down.

Regeneratus at Seymour Art Gallery

August 16, 2017

I thought I’d share a few photos of the work by Michelle Sirois Silver and Katherine Soucie in their show Regeneratus at Seymour Gallery in Deep Cove. My friend Amanda and I visited on Sunday, and also listened in on a panel discussion about the work.

Regeneratus: works by Michelle Sirois Silver and Katherine Soucie

Work by Michelle Sirois Silver

Innovation and the transformation of waste materials are at the core of this exhibition, which includes five hand-hooked art pieces and two installations: Raisons D’etres, a series of wrapped sewing machines and Hosiery Wall, a site specific installation using 150 lbs of hand-dyed waste hosiery. The works all incorporate discarded materials from the manufacturing process of Soucie’s clothing line. Bound by a shared passion for fibre as a medium, the artists also share a philosophy that challenges our notions about garbage.

Installation by Katherine Soucie

This Sunday, Michelle will be in the gallery demonstrating her craft from 11am to 2pm. The exhibition closes on Saturday August 26th, so don’t miss out.

Scenes From Vancouver Mural Festival 2017

August 14, 2017

Year two of Vancouver Mural Festival wrapped up this past weekend with the addition to the city of fifty plus new murals around town. Boris and I spent a bit of time on Saturday visiting the new mural alley that runs parallel to Main Street and is the location of most of the new work. Despite the lack of people in my photos there were huge crowds everywhere, and they mostly seemed to want photos of themselves in front of the art.

Check out the festival map to find locations of murals from 2016 and 2017. We were able to see everything on Saturday so I’ll definitely be wander Mount Pleasant again to see the ones I missed.

The Art of Kristian Adam

July 19, 2017

My friends and I stopped in to see a show of Kristian Adam’s work in Penticton when we were in the Okanagan a few weeks ago. I love the new series of paintings with ladybugs, especially the ones uses geometric shapes and bright colours. I want to buy them all.

View more work on Kristian Adam’s website.

Tierney Milne’s Happy Cuts

July 10, 2017

I went to the opening of Tierney Milne’s solo show at Kafka’s Coffee last week, and had a fun time. These are a small selection of two of her paper assemblages, along with two of her laser cut wood pieces. I love how her recognizable style translates so well between materials. Her work makes me long for more colour and layers incorporated into my own.

Visit the show at Kafka’s Coffee and Tea located at 2525 Main Street.

Means of Production at Cityscape Gallery

June 12, 2017

Means of Production opened at Cityscape Community Art Space in North Vancouver last week. It is a show featuring the work of five textile artists working in weaving, rug hooking, and stitching while exploring the value, meaning, and metaphorical possibilities of of making work by hand in a digital age of increasingly rapid advancement.

The show features beautiful and meaningful pieces by Amanda Wood, Michelle Sirois Silver, Stephanie Symns, Lucky Poskitt, and Amanda McCavour.

Amanda Wood at Cityscape Gallery - Means of Production

Installation by Amanda Wood

Installation detail by Amanda Wood

By Amanda Wood

Michelle Sirois Silver at Cityscape Gallery - Means of Production

Rug hooking detail by Michelle Sirois Silver

Lucy Poskitt at Cityscape Gallery - Means of Production

Weaving by Lucy Poskitt

Detail of Weaving by Lucy Poskitt

Weavings by Lucy Poskitt

Stephanie Symns at Cityscape Gallery - Means of Production

Weaving by Stephanie Symns

Amanda McCavour at Cityscape Gallery - Means of Production

Installation by Amanda McCavour

Installation detail by Amanda McCavour

Means of Production continues until July 15, 2017. Visit Cityscape Community Art Space website for details.

Spindle Whorl, The Work of Susan Point

May 17, 2017

A selection of some of the beautiful work by Susan Point in her exhibition, Spindle Whorl, at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Her design sense is incredible, as is her mastery of many materials and process. The show is a retrospective including many screen prints, and sculptures carved and cast in wood and glass. She is a master at whatever she applies herself to.

I love her repeated use of circles throughout the decades in all of her work. Lately I’ve been feeling like I should try not to make circular pieces, but observing how much she has used this shape throughout her career, made it okay for me again. (I can’t explain why I decided it wasn’t okay…)

I’ve mostly included a selection of her carved sculptures here, with the exception of the above print, because they photographed better. All of the work is incredible.

Read more about the exhibition, Spindle Whorl, on the Vancouver Art Gallery’s website. The show ends May 28th, 2017.

Viveka, An Exhibition by Samantha Dickie

May 1, 2017

Samantha Dickie is a Victoria-based artist creating large scale installations from ceramics, and I recently saw her lovely show Viveka at Seymour Gallery in Deep Cove. The exhibition is now closed but I wanted to share the work because I found it inspiring, and think it is a striking example of contemporary ceramic work that I don’t see often in Vancouver.

The exhibition included a series of installations with a desire to engage the viewer in contemplation and silence. The one below is made up of more than 150 abstracted soda-fired porcelain forms spread across a wall. The installation above with the black tubes included an audio element created by water dripping on metal pipes, similar to wind chimes.

The grouping of rounded ceramic forms carved with circles reminded me strongly of my own cut paper work. I am contemplating how to make something similar out of paper.

This was an excellent follow up to the Janet Macpherson show I saw in Toronto a few weeks ago. I can’t get enough of ceramics on a large scale.

Vancouver Timeraiser 150

April 21, 2017

My work will be part of the Timeraiser150 Vancouver happening on Thursday April 27th. I love this event because the work is first purchased from the participating artists and is then auctioned off to potential volunteers in exchange for their time. This year’s series of events are being held across the country in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

Timeraiser is a party for social good, supporting artists and nonprofits. Here’s your chance to kickstart your art collection by giving back to your community. Bid volunteer time, not dollars, for original art by emerging Canadian artists. Bidding starts at 20 hours and maxes out at 150 hours. If a piece you love reaches 150 hours, anyone can match that bid and we’ll draw a winner at random from the max bids once the auction ends.

If you win, you have one year to finish volunteer hours and claim your piece of art. The best part? Volunteer with any nonprofit(s) you choose!

Get your tickets here through eventbrite »

Timeraiser150 Vancouver
Date: Thursday April 27th, 2017
Time: 8pm to 12pm
Locaton: The Permanent, 330 West Pender Street
Tickets: $21.50

Finding Rainbows on Granville Street

March 16, 2017

Boris and I were over on South Granville earlier this week in a rare moment between rain showers when the sun was out. I needed that break in the rain because the constant state of grey has been bringing me down (please do not read that as depressed). It was the perfect time to visit the kaleidoscopic mural on the side of Ian Tan Gallery painted by Milan Basic (photos here of the entire mural) and do a quick photo shoot.

The mural, the appearance of sunshine, and taking these photos of Boris and I, totally made the day better.

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life

Category: Vancouver art