Board of Directors

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

President: Brian Daniel

Brian taught Fine Arts in Vancouver Secondary Schools for 32 years. His broad experiences in Performing and Visual Arts include: teaching Choral Music, Guitar, Piano, Photography, Graphic Arts, Drama, and Video Production. He enjoys playing jazz and piano and teaching graphics and photography. Brian is hands on and likes to see things happening. Striving for excellence is a process, he says, which helps people grow and enables art to flourish.

1st Vice President: Bill Thomson

Bill is a practicing visual artist who brings to the Arts Council a wide range of community development experiences gained through 20 + years of volunteer action with culture based projects in the lower mainland area of BC. He has numerous art exhibitions and installations to his credit and believes passionately in the object d’art. Bill views the artist as a cultural worker; to be supported with decent wages, safe working conditions and publicly celebrated as a person who contributes directly to the economic and social well being of our community.

2nd Vice President: Denise Jeffrey

Denise is a fairly new resident to Burnaby having made her way here from Nova Scotia when her husband was transferred. Denise was a member of the Nova Scotia Potters Guild and is currently a member of the Craft Council of BC and the British Columbia Potters Guild, as well as the Burnaby Arts Council. She is the owner operator of her own Pottery Studio and has shown and sold her works extensively. Denise received her BA in Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art, with a Major in Ceramics. She also holds her BA in Design and Environmental Planning.

Secretary: Wendy Cormack

Elected to the Board in 2001, Ms. Cormack has lived in Burnaby for over 25 years. She has volunteered as a docent at the Burnaby Art Gallery. For many years she has been the chairperson of the Polynesian section of the Pacific West Performing Arts Festival. She has also been the Polynesian chairperson for the Surrey Festival of Dance. She is a registered nurse and works part time at Vancouver General Hospital.

IPP/Treasurer : Harriet Tuey

Immediate Past Pesident, Harriet worked extensively on Membership, Board Development, Constitution & Policies, Finance, Scholarships, Grants, Gallery, Cavalcade/Stars of Tomorrow, Showcase, Katimavik, & Community events.  She coordinated & staged numerous productions while teaching PE, Eng. &  Comp. Sc.  in N.Van, Burnaby, & Coquitlam; retiring from SD#36 as Business Ed. Dept. Head, Career Programs Coordinator, & District Student Leadership Advisor.   Community work includes dance chairperson for BC Festival of the Arts & Surrey Festival of Dance, founder of BC’s only month-long, multi-ethnic competition-style festival (PacWest PA Society), co-chair of Burnaby’s Spirit Com. (pre & post Olympic events) & chair of Performing Arts BC’s 2008 Provincials.  Harriet is currently SD#36 Career Development/Leadership Dept. Head & Director of Ceremonies for the 2012 BC Sr. Games.

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Farhad Amini

Farhad is a painter and has had painting exhibitions in many countries. He has extensive experience teaching graduate and undergraduate students at well-established fine art universities, where he also conducted research. This experience taught him how to build strong relationships with his students and his co-workers.

He has also published many articles in visual art magazines and has published  three books that focus on learning how to draw. He has had the honour of being a judge for many in different visual art festivals. Farhad is also a member of the Scientific-Specialty Committee of Visual Arts International Kharazmy and a Member of Board of University Applied-Comprehensive University.

He is very concerned about expanding art through out Burnaby.

Hakam Bhaloo

Elected to the Board in 2002, Hakam’s background is in commerce, management, and photography.  He speaks English, Swahili, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, and Kutchi.  Hakam has received many awards as a citizen volunteer including the Canada 125 Award, Burnaby Centennial Award, and the Burnaby Local Hero Award. He served on the Burnaby Multicultural Society Board, AMSSA executive, and Burnaby Family Court and Youth Justice Committee. In 2005, Hakam exhibited his photography in the BAC Gallery. Hakam also contributed to the City of Burnaby’s Social Issues Committee and on the Advisory Board of Directors of the PNE.

Svjetlana (Lana) Djordan

Lana is a piano teacher (RMT, member of the BCRMTA) who holds a Master’s degree in Music Education, where her research interests included piano pedagogy and practicing, with some of her work being published and presented as well. Besides music, she also studied English during her undergraduate studies at UBC.

Lana also holds memberships with the Canadian Society for the Study of Education and the Golden Key International Honour Society and is a past member of the Young Alumni Network (UBC).

Susie Ewing

Susie is a project manager, part-time web designer and visual artist. She has a Degree in CIS and several certificates including Project Management, Web Design, Visual Design and a Certificate in Digital Animation from BCIT. She currently works at Metro Vancouver as a Project Manager in the IT department. As an artist she specializes in photo-realistic pencil drawings.

Susie brings experience in government and project management and a variety of multimedia skills in web, graphics, production and animation. She looks forward to having some fun and contributing to the success of the arts in Burnaby.

Rose Farina

Rose Farina was first elected to the Board in 1993, resigned from the Board for a few years, and returned in 2007. In her many years on the Board, Rose has served as President and Past President, and has been an active member of the Gallery Committee. In addition to the Burnaby Arts Council, Rose is involved in many community groups including the Burnaby Edmonds Lions Club. Rose is a retired Medical Social Worker.

Kim Heath

Kim holds a Juris Doctor of law, a B.Comm. in accounting and finance and is a designated Chartered Accountant.  She has over 15 years experience practicing in both the corporate legal and accounting fields.  Kim gained her education at the University of Saskatchewan in her home town of Saskatoon and worked in Johannesburg, South Africa and Calgary, Alberta before settling in Burnaby.

Kim has operated her own legal and accounting practice in Burnaby for the past 10 years and advises a wide range of businesses on all aspects of their legal and financial operations. She has a great interest in assisting the Burnaby Arts Council with board governance, policies and internal development as well as increasing the Council’s sponsorship reach through an elevated profile within the business community.  Kim shares the vision for a new Burnaby Art Gallery and is excited about contributing to that initiative.

Through her work with the Council, Kim seeks to contribute to the advancement of the arts in her community as well as provide positive role modeling and inspiration for her two sons.  Kim greatly enjoys hiking, photography, travel, writing and the inspiration and grounding of nature while spending time at her and her partner Peter’s cabin on Indian Arm with their family and friends.

Kim has a website at www.kimheath.ca

Tak Kawana

Tak is COO of Ballistic Arts Media Studios Inc., a full-service creative agency that specializes in visual communications and marketing campaigns.  He hopes to use his expertise in marketing / graphic design / website design and implementation to help the Burnaby Arts Council.  Tak became involved with the arts at a young age thanks to an active art community and it was those experiences that inspired him to want to join the Burnaby Arts Council where he believes that he can do something for the art community so that others can benefit, as he did, from the arts.

Irene McCutcheon

Irene grew up with a Finnish background of music, theatre, and dance that led to similar school activities.  She has a Grade 10 piano diploma, an Elementary Teaching Certificate specializing in music (Vancouver Normal School), a B.Ed. in Art Education (UBC), and an Honours in Painting Diploma and Merit Award in Painting from Emily Carr College of Art and Design.

She taught music and art in Vancouver schools, exhibited in many art shows, and at the Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver for 11 years.  She has juried shows, lectured in art, and successfully defended her intellectual property in a Federal copyright case.  She has served as a board member with Mountain Dance, CARFAC, Thomas & Josephine Lyons Scholarship, Burnaby Art Gallery, and as a founding member and president of Canadian Friends of Finland.

As an advocate for a new contemporary art gallery as proposed in 1987 at Burnaby’s Civic Square near Metrotown, she feels the city has an obligation and responsibility to its citizens to properly display and store its famed print and art collection, the third largest in B.C., as well as exhibit national and international art.

Tina Mercado

Tina Mercado: has been a Burnaby resident for over 20 years. Tina is proud to serve as member of the Board of the Burnaby Arts Council, and its various committees. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, has taken post-graduate courses in journalism, and has a certificate in Writing for Children and Teenagers. Tina considers herself a “weekend” painter, amateur photographer, and an occasional poet and writer. She exhibited her works, along with two other artists, at the Deer Lake Gallery in 2009. Tina takes great pleasure in being part of this eclectic community, and enjoys her volunteer work as a member of the BAC.

Steve Quattrocchi

Steve is a founding member and director of ‘Artists Helping Artists’ in Burnaby, an art co-operative dedicated to bringing together able-bodied and disabled artists in a collaborative workspace.  He is also an accomplished artist whose visual impairment gives him an unique set of challenges.  Nature is the primary inspiration for Steve’s art and he has spent his lifetime exploring and hiking the remote areas of British Columbia in order to bring the landscapes he sees back to the studio.  His works hang in private and corporate collections across North America.

Sophie St Pierre

Sophie St-Pierre is a local artist. She has a background in business and marketing and has recently left the corporate world to embrace her true passion of being a full-time artist.

Sophie’s talent for drawing and painting was recognized and encouraged at a young age. At 8 years old she had the privilege to study with master Picar, a famous pastels and oil artist in her home town of Sorel/Tracy, Quebec. She completed a college degree in art at John Abbott College in Montreal and continued on to study another 3 years of art at the prestigious Bishop’s University in Quebec.

Sophie loves learning and believes in increasing her horizons and skills. Therefore, she took additional painting classes all over Canada: at Sherbrooke University, Montreal college, University of Calgary, and University of British Colombia. Recently, Sophie has been taking acrylic studio classes and workshops, with different professional artists all over British Columbia such as famous pastelist Dianna Pointing, abstract acrylic artist Nihal Kececi.

For the past couple of years Sophie as been giving demos and workshops as well as teaching kids and adults her passion and knowledge of drawing and painting in many different mediums. Her work appears at various exhibits, galleries, and restaurants in the lower mainland and her on-line gallery at www.uniquelyoursart.com

Cindy Tang

Cindy holds a Bachelor of Arts degree major in Mass Communications.

She is currently General Manager of the Business Company of the New Westminster School District. Although based locally, she is mainly involved in the administration and marketing of educational programs offshore.  Cindy’s work experience has been extensive and varied, both in the government and private sectors. As an immigrant of more than 25 years from the Philippines of Chinese descent, she is multi-lingual, speaking fluently in two Filipino dialects, Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese. Her previous work as CIDA Coordinator with Airshow Canada made full use of her linguistic abilities bringing in delegates on buyers missions and establishing business relationships with Canadian aerospace and aviation industries. She has also lived in China and Japan with her family, and has travelled extensively for business in most parts of Asia.

As an avid supporter of the Arts, Cindy is also an active volunteer with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Ken Ueland

Ken was born and raised in Burnaby, and am married with two grown children.  I spent my career with Dairyland/Saputo. During my time with Saputo, I held various positions. I began in Home Delivery, moved into sales, became sales manager, was then promoted to  new business development manager and retired as General Manager, Landmark Dairy, and a subsidiary of Saputo

I believe that my business experience could be beneficial to the projects that the Burnaby Arts Council wishes to undertake.