Exhibition Archives

 

NATURE SONGS

October 14th – November 6th

Artists Biographies

Annie Chong

Annie was born in 1959 and raised in Malaysia with a Chinese cultural background. She states that her passion for art stemmed from a young age, where she was often found making crafts and drawing. Having completed her art program in Taiwan, Annie has worked with many local B.C. artists since immigrating to Canada in the early 1980s. Calling Vancouver her home for the past three decades, she continues to find inspiration and perspective from the scenic wonders this city has to offer.

Lauraine Russell

Lauraine Russell states her talent was awakened as a result of a 1994 accident. Shortly after she was released from hospital she felt moved to “pick up a paint brush” seeing it as a means to shift the focus away from the constant pain. Russell’s paintings are vibrant and colourful, emitting an aura of happiness. In 1995, Lauraine Russell was accepted as a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Russell has exhibited her paintings at a variety of Galleries in BC, and has buyers as far away as Sweden and Japan.

 

Artists Statements

Annie Chong

Inquired by the beauty of nature and a realist at heart, Annie’s paintings depict scenes of nature and life through the depth and texture of her chosen mediums – watercolour, oil, and acrylic. Her passion for art stemmed from a young age and emerged from her inquisitive and creative dispositions.

Lauraine Russell

Although her medium is acrylic paint, Russell’s work is often mistaken for water colour. Her techniques of using the paint create the impressions. Among other subjects, she delights in painting landscapes, boats and flowers. She accepts commissions for portraits of animals, houses and even vintage cars. Her commissions also include large murals. Recently, she painted a mural for Asia pacific Economic Conference (APEC) that was held in Vancouver.

 

Article in Burnaby Newsleader

 

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Creative Connections: A Hands on Approach to Community Art by Diane Moran

September 16th – October 8th, 2011

Opening Reception September 17th 2pm – 4pm

Artist’s Statement

Creative expression has long been a powerful element of the social, economic and political landscape of society. Broadly defined, community art is a collaborative creative process between a professional practicing artist and a community.

This exhibit by visual artist Diane Moran features community arts initiatives dating from 1999 to the present. The work crosses borders and encompasses powerful projects that Diane has had the pleasure engaging and inspiring others, but most importantly making connections within communities through art. As part of Culture Days, gallery visitors will be encouraged to create a collage, poem, or drawing that will be displayed alongside Diane Moran’s work. Using a hands-on approach to express and interpret your thoughts Diane and the Burnaby Arts Council would like you to lend a hand. Trace your hand and decorate the inside of its shape and share what you can do to be a good global and local citizen. Being a good global and local citizen is in your hands. What in your world can you do to help others?

Artist Bio

Diane Moran is a visual artist, and long-time Burnaby resident now residing in Port Coquitlam. A past member of Fort Langley Artists Group and has been an Artist in Residence throughout Metro Vancouver, as well as an Artist Resource for the Burnaby School District for many years. Diane’s latest artistic passions include photography, painting, and facilitating art workshops coupled with her humanitarian efforts.

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ELEMENT by Mary Hall & Svetlana Sloan

August 19th – September 10th , 2011

Opening Reception: October 20th 2- 4pm

 

Artist Bios

Mary Rosamond Hall

Vancouverite Mary Hall was educated at Emily Carr University and U.B.C. She taught art in Vancouver and North Vancouver. She has exhibited in various group exhibits, and her solo exhibit was curated by the Richmond Art Gallery and installed at the Gateway Theatre in 2009-2010.

Hall’s current installation provides an important means for the viewer to assess and contemplate the current state of B.C.’s bodies of water and how they are profoundly affected by humans. As weather patterns grow increasingly erratic, the flow, volume, and boundaries of waterways are in flux.

Svetlana Sloan

I was raised in Moldova (a former republic of Soviet Union) and immigrated to Canada in 1980. In 2008 I graduated from the Fine Arts program at Langara College and after trying various mediums I settled on sculpture. My favorite materials are stone and wood.

Here are some photos from their exhibit

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…And We Call It Home By Juan Contreras

July 22 – August 13, 2011

Opening Reception July 21st, 6-9 pm

Artist Statement

Working for a developer in Vancouver, I come into constant contact with representations of the city in the form of development plans and diagrams. I am fascinated with aerial photography, CAD drawings, vehicular circulation maps, parking plans, and site plans outlining the location of current, past, and future developments. I am amazed that all of these diagrams and the processes that they represent eventually give people great homes to live in, neighbourhoods that promote a better quality of life, and green spaces. I am interested in  translating this close observation of the utilitarian artefacts of the urban development process into an artistic exploration of forms, colours, and symbols.

I do this by taking the development plans and site plans and further exploring the forms I see in them. I shape and redesign the plans, highlighting the beauty of the cartography, using colours and forms that reflect my own preferences. But my reshaping is also guided by personal experience with urban centres, a sense of history, and a concern over disappearing forests and arable lands. I look at urban centres in my own way, as the construction of “a new nature”: I take into consideration some historic cases where the forest has disappeared with the introduction of new settlements; my brush strokes and bright colours represent how cities usually grow on and displace arable land.

My work also highlights the similarities between cities’ aerial maps and aboriginal motifs. My incorporation of aboriginal graphics into the landscape is a way to represent the indigenous peoples’ concept of belonging to the land, a concept that is shared by indigenous people throughout the American continent, from the southern most point of Tierra de Fuegos to Alaska. This concept contrasts sharply with the idea brought by the Europeans to the “New World,” which claims that land belongs to the people who have written rights over the claimed parcel.

My paintings explore the many factors that play a role in defining the final shape of a city. Are topography and government plans the main players that give form to urban development? What about patterns built from the beginning, from the first few streets in a new town? What factors account for the form of slums, and why is it that even in their unplanned nature, slums end up having a similar aesthetic in cities around the world?

Urban planners, developers, the construction industry, business people, and other professionals shape urban development and manage environmental issues. And as population grows, urban centres grow scarce of land. At some point, the land that was initially designated for agriculture, industrial activity, or the protection of forests is converted to urban use. In cases where urban centres run out of land for new development, urban growth strains the current infrastructure and results in high density construction, which impacts sustainability and places in peril heritage buildings and community identity.

By translating urban development plans into art, I draw out the aesthetics of these diagrammatic representations of the city, I bring to light the political decisions that inform their creation, and I draw attention to the on-the-ground realities that result from those plans. It is easy to overlook the many intricate steps that shape the formation of the urban spaces, which in turn affect the development, interaction and functioning of the societies that inhabit them. With this body of works and this exhibition I aim to look at the landscape we inhabit through as many points of view as possible and give anyone who sees these paintings the possibility of reflecting and exploring their place in this vast and complex landscape that is constant flux.

Artist Bio

Juan Contreras is a Canadian and Colombian-born painter. He developed his own artistic vocabulary and completed his formal art education at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Juan’s had his first solo Exhibition supporting the Anti bullying Café event organized by The Latin American Professional Mental Health Workers Network of Vancouver (APLASM). He also participated in a group exhibition, Awards Reception Psychology Art Show.  Juan was awarded a solo show in 2011 by the Deer Lake Gallery in Burnaby as part of the Group Exhibition, Celebration of Spring on the theme of “Rebirth and Renewal” in 2010.

As part of the current show at the Deer Lake Gallery, Juan was interviewed by CBC Radio Canada International, in the program Canadá en las Americas (Canada in the Americas). He discussed the theme of urban expansion and how a city that runs out of land can continue to build and grow.

Juan is member of the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver, Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery and the Deer Lake Gallery.

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June 24 – July 16, 2011

Reception June 23, 7-9 pm

 

Artist Bio: Joseph von Burthe

Burnaby Frottage Series

The Frottage Series is a continuous art project begun in 2003, in which the artist Joseph von Burthe employs the technique of frottage, a method that uses wax crayon on paper to create a brass rubbing, in an attempt to document every brass memorial plaque placed upon a park bench within a particular area. The latest part of this project, completed during the year 2010 – 2011, documents the City of Burnaby.

Joseph von Burthe is an artist who studied art in the United Kingdom at the University of Bristol. He now lives and works in Vancouver.

Artist Bio: Ron Simmer

Recycled Sculpture

Ron Simmer is a sculptor working with found and recycled materials.  As well as recycled objects he incorporates organic matter  – stone and wood – to express concerns about the fragility of our environment.

He recycles materials from our consumer culture – skis, snowboards, fire extinguishers, car parts, musical instruments, fishing floats, driftwood and scrap metal – to create fanciful and sometimes humorous commentary on modern society.

His inspiration comes from his working background – commercial fisherman, steel fabricator, construction worker, boat builder, librarian – and his contact with nature through fly fishing, sea kayaking, sailing, skiing and hiking.

Ron has always loved the power and chaos of the sea, whether surf kayaking or beachcombing. He derives his inspiration from the contrast of beauty and harshness

of west coast beaches; much of his working material comes from the flotsam and jetsam of consumer society cast up on the sands.

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