Classification Crisis – A retrospective of Sonja Ahlers’ work

Zines, poetry, installations, excerpts from her personal archive and a decade-plus worth of as yet unseen works are what awaits visitors at Sonja Ahlers’ Classification Crisis exhibition. For the past 30 years, Ahlers has been an influential voice for generations of feminists through her D.I.Y. approach to collage art, poetry, zines, mail art and other publications. Classification Crisis will…

Hands-on, family friendly and accessible art making for all

Eastside Arts Society calls all artists and creatives to participate in their two-day summer art making event CREATE! Arts Festival, a youth-friendly space for learning, discovering and creating. “I’m so thrilled that there is an art-making festival that happens outside and in the summer. It provides many people who are unable to get out of…

Parviz Tanavoli – a retrospective

Heritage and progress: national artistic identity or heavily influenced by Westernization. Parviz Tanavoli, recognized as the only Iranian artist to fully capture the duality and interplay of Iran’s pre-Islam and Islamic cultural identities, showcases his six decade-long career at The Vancouver Art Gallery, July 1–Nov 19. Parviz Tanavoli: Poets, Locks, Cages is the first major Canadian…

MOTHLIKE/silvery-blue – Celebrating nature with artist Amy-Claire Huestis

Protecting biodiversity in ecological areas currently under threat, due to human development and expansion, is an important focus for artist Amy-Claire Huestis and her collaborators. Huestis displays MOTHLIKE/silvery-blue at the Richmond Gallery, June 29–Aug 20. The exhibit draws particular attention to the proposed expansion of the Roberts Bank Terminal in Delta, B.C., adjacent to Brunswick…

A travelling exhibition of beast and other creatures

People have been telling stories about mythical beings for thousands of years. These legends, sometimes inspired by oral legends, fossils or living animals, withstand the test of time and continue to intrigue to this day. Opening at the Museum of Surrey on May 11, 2023, Giants, Dragons & Unicorns: The World of Mythic Creatures traces the natural…

The hybrid spaces of Fashion Fictions

Fashion Fictions, an innovative exhibition, explores the liminal spaces between oppositional, and at times, contradictory ideas. Running from May 27 to Oct. 9 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) the exhibition showcases works from well-known designers such as Comme des Garçons and Iris van Herpen as well as new artists. On display are various fashion…

Childhood dreams, Pekingese dogs, feng shui and property development

Guest curated by Su-Ying Lee, the exhibition, A Small but Comfy House and Maybe a Dog, is Amy Ching-Yan Lam’s first major solo show and features sculptures made in collaboration with HaeAhn Woo Kwon in addition to objects from the collections of the Gallery and the neighbouring Richmond Public Library. “The title of this exhibition comes…

Wild in the city: an artistic spotlight on urban scenes of nature

In times of hardship, it is crucial to simply exist in the beautiful world we live in. Maxine Wolodko illuminates the unnoticed beauty found in nature all around us in her vividly illustrated painting exhibition Maxine Wolodko: Wild in the City. “These creatures offer us the opportunity to slow down and see their magic – to…

The visual life-journey of a South Asian artist

Creativity is part of building an identity and coping with mental struggle, says Faria Firoz about her current exhibit The Shape of Our Memories. Firoz explores globalization, cultural diaspora, displacement, and adjustment to new cultures. The Shape of Our Memories starts Feb. 25, 2023 and is presented by Coquitlam Heritage. “Expressing who we really are, without using words,”…

Leaning into the nighttime

Dreams connect us to the past and to the future, says Emily Dundas Oke. Oke, curator for the Burnaby Art Gallery, says dreaming can be a collective and powerful pursuit, giving us insights into the collective psyches of our communities and connecting us with our ancestors. Dream Marrow, the exhibit currently at the Burnaby Art Gallery,…

Japanese women of change

Women of Change, an exhibition hosted by the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) and the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre (NNMCC), aims to highlight the vibrant narratives of six Japanese-Canadian women, to hear the voices of those in underrepresented communities and to draw attention to past injustices. Lisa Uyeda, collections manager at the NNMCC,…

Puns, poems and humour

Death Rides a Unicorn Events is putting on another night of funny people and hilarious poems for their witty literary and spoken word performance, Famous Last Words, Season 1 Episode 2. The event welcomes back returning champions Dina Del Bucchia, RC Weslowski, Lucia Misch, Johnny Trinh and a mystery player, whose name will be unveiled…

Keeping the song alive

Potlatch: music and food. The importance of re-connecting to an ancestral past to heal was not an experience lost on ethnomusicologist Ida Halpern (1910–1987). Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art – developed in collaboration with the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC – presents the Canadian premiere exhibition of Keeping the Song Alive from Nov. 2,…