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The YWCA has released the inspiring nominees for the Women of Distinction Awards and will announce the winners on June 7 at their virtual gala. One of this year’s nominees, Leena Manro, truly embodies the essence of the Arts, Culture and Design category, by making a corporate and social difference through her media endeavours and…
It has been more than 25 years since Iranian-Canadian artist Farahnaz Samari began painting. She has showcased her art in more than 80 solo and group exhibitions in both Iran and Canada. Having participated in several ‘art battles’ alongside other artists, she won the ‘Battle of the Brush’ position at two of such art competitions.…
Plastic orchid factory is a place for artists to support each other and advocate for art works that are “pluralistic in practice and in form,” says dance artist James Gnam. Gnam and dance artist Natalie LeFebvre Gnam, who have been collaborating since 2003, established plastic orchid factory (PoF) in 2008, as a non-profit society. The…
Navarana Tretina Igloliorte, a filmmaker and artist completing a residency at Griffin Arts Project in Vancouver, draws her primary artistic inspiration from caribou, and her concern for their dwindling population. “We can learn from how everything is interconnected in nature,” she says. Igloliorte’s journey — from her hometown of Baker Lake, Nunavut to Sheshatshiu, Labrador…
The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) is offering a two-part online workshop by local artist, maker and educator Janey Chang about fish skin tanning on Feb. 20 and Feb. 27. Fish skin tanning is a process of turning raw fish skins into beautiful and durable textiles that can be used to make anything one would use…
The late Mi’kmaq artist Mike MacDonald (1941–2006) planted a number of butterfly gardens across Canada to bring awareness to people about habitat destruction and the impacts on wildlife and medicinal plants. Many of his pieces focused on his surroundings, especially nature, and one of his main projects was the series Butterfly Gardens. He drew inspiration for…
The Richmond Art Gallery’s upcoming exhibition, Inaction by Brendan Fernandes, features the Canadian premiere of the two-channel video Free Fall: for Camera that was created in response to tragic events at the Pulse nightclub in Florida in 2016. Co-produced with the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University, Inaction runs from February 12–April 3.…
Born and raised in Shanghai, China, Claire Huang moved to Vancouver with her husband in 1999. Previously an architectural designer in both Shanghai and Vancouver, Huang switched careers and decided to pursue her love for the arts. In 2005, Huang graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design with a Bachelor of Fine…
Catch a look at the faces in the time of our pandemic from the Surrey Art Gallery exhibition Facing Time (Jan. 23–Mar. 27), examining a collection of paintings, photographs, and performances based on the subject of portraiture. “As an immigrant, my work as an artist has always dealt with my experience assimilating and trying to fit in…
Get the value from art while also enjoying it says Ghislain Brown-Kossi, a Vancouver-based French artist who explores loneliness, division and the good and bad sides of technology in his exhibit Are We Still Together (Jan.14–Feb. 15) at PoMoArts. “I don’t want to sell something just to sell something, I want my art to mean something,” says…
Miradas Alternas, an exhibition running at the Polygon gallery until Feb. 7, explores alternative approaches to the photographic representation of violence against women in contemporary Mexico. Curated by Andrea Sánchez Ibarrola, the exhibition showcases the work of five Mexican artists: Juliana Alvarado, Alejandra Aragón, Koral Carballo, Mariceu Erthal and Sonia Madrigal. Ibarrola immigrated to Vancouver…
“Things happening around me, experiences of daily life, are my main inspirations and somehow those expressions come out in my sculptures,” says Ratna Gandhi, Port Coquitlam’s new Artist in Residence. Gandhi has been pursuing art for 20 years. In this time she has taught in schools, curated shows and displayed her art in national exhibitions.…
The Polygon Gallery opens a new exhibition by artists Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes and Maya Beaudry, where photography is used to discuss the present era of visual information overload. In the exhibition Everything Leaks the artists take familiar, everyday images and render them mysteriously. The mixed media exhibition uses stickers, watercolor and mixed media to discuss the present…
