Sunshine Coast Canada
Arts, Heritage + Culture
Non-profit Society Network

Art Exhibition: GPAG – MEHRAN MODARRES-SADEGHI | Safar (A Journey)

to Nov 24th. Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi’s exhibition Safar (A Journey) in the Main Gallery explores Iranian identity in a globalized world through four separate but linked series of work featuring drawings and sculptures. Modarres-Sadeghi’s works are autoethnographic, reflecting her lived experiences in Iran and Canada. Through her work she investigates the socio-cultural implications of hybridity as they relate to interethnic exchange and the globalizing process of travel and translation.

Join us for the opening reception of this exhibition on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, 2pm – 4pm; and for an artist talk with Mehran on Saturday, Nov. 9th, 2pm – 3pm. All are welcome to both events!

Art Exhibition: GPAG – SUSAN HARMAN | From the Belly of the Whale

to Nov 24th. A series of digital paintings by Susan Harman in the Eve Smart Gallery that visually express the movement of transitional change using symbols and icons of the West Coast. Inspiration for the exhibition came at a point in time when Harman was surfacing from troubled waters, transitioning from a period of grief and learning how to navigate more freely in the world with sorrow as a new companion. Susan Harman is a photographer, writer, and painter living on the Sunshine Coast. Her style is a mix of abstraction and realism painted with a digital brush and her intention is to make art that has meaning, to write a visual story that might intertwine with the stories of others.

Join us for the opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

GPAG: Opening Receptions | MEHRAN MODARRES-SADEGHI & SUSAN HARMAN

Join us for the Opening Receptions of two different exhibitions by Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi in the Main Gallery and Susan Harman in the Eve Smart Gallery. on Saturday, Nov. 2nd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi is an Iranian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC who explores Iranian identity in a globalized world through four separate but linked series of work featuring drawings and sculptures. Susan Harman is a photographer, writer, and painter living on the Sunshine Coast who uses digital painting and symbols of the West Coast to express her transition from a period of grief to learning how to navigate more freely in the world with sorrow as a new companion.

GPAG: Meet the Artist | MEHRAN MODARRES-SADEGHI

Join us for an Artist Talk with Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi on Saturday, November 9th, 2pm – 3pm. All are welcome to join us!

Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi’s exhibition Safar (A Journey) in the Main Gallery explores Iranian identity in a globalized world through four separate but linked series of work. Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi is an Iranian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC. Her current practice mainly engages with drawing and textile sculpture, although she has worked in various media such as photography, painting, and installation. Through her work she investigates the socio-cultural implications of hybridity as they relate to interethnic exchange and the globalizing process of travel and translation.

Art Exhibition: Joe’s Lounge – ELLEN HEALE & HAZEL MAXWELL | Catching the Light

Our newest exhibition in Joe’s Lounge Catching the Light features mixed media collage pieces by Ellen Heale and wet felting by Hazel Maxwell. Heale’s mixed media pieces, using primarily paper, collage elements, and paint, are layered to showcase design and texture. Maxwell’s wet felting process combines wool roving, silk, beads and other fibres to produce vibrant dimensional art. Reminiscent of a forest walk, or a hike along coastal paths, the art featured in their exhibition Catching the Light will take you on a delightful journey.

This exhibition is on display until October 27th. Both artists will be in attendance to meet and answer any questions you might have about their work during the upcoming Art Crawl, October 18 – 20.

SCAC: Art Exhibition Reception & Artist Talk: Colleen Brown, States of Mind at Different Times

Please join us to celebrate the opening of States of Mind at Different Times with Colleen Brown.
“Brown uses her base figure to consider individual expressions of cultural forces. Brown’s work is an inside look at how children born twenty years apart collectively remember their mother. It demonstrates how we construct stories about each other, focused on one of the most critical relationships in our lives, our relationship with our mothers.”
In the visual artworks, Brown takes a very different approach to memory, focusing on the richness of texture and colour of some experiences seen in the rearview mirror of memory.

SCAC: Exhibition Reception & Artist Talk: Nurturing Growth with Nell Burns

Please join us to celebrate the opening of Nurturing Growth with Nell Burns.
Nurturing Growth is pod and cocoon inspired artwork that celebrates the intricate and fascinating structures that nature creates to protect and nourish life within them. From the hard shells of seed pods, acorns, and pine cones to the soft and silky cocoons of insects, these structures are not only functional, but also beautiful and inspirational.

“I essentially draw and paint with thread, using the needle as my pencil, and the fabric as my canvas. My artwork has always had sculptural elements, using fabrics and stabilizers to create 3D art. Currently I employ techniques to sculpt using only stitched thread.”

GPAG: Art Exhibition – Echo from the Ancestral Land – Past and Present | JESSICA SILVEY & MIYUKI SHINKAI

to Oct 27th. Echo from the Ancestral Land – Past and Present in the Eve Smart Gallery focuses on meaningful encounters and being part of a learning opportunity for viewers. Shinkai and Silvey aim to intrigue viewers, encouraging them to engage and take a moment to think about the past and modernization of the world, what we lost and what we became, how we got here, and what we left behind. These artists conscientiously walk the path to truth and reconciliation to create unity in the community. Both feel that they are in a strong position to take a leadership role in passing their Indigenous/traditional cultural perspectives and wisdom from ancestral knowledge to the next generations.

Join us to meet the artists at the Opening Reception on Saturday, Sept. 28th, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

GPAG: Meet the Artists | JESSICA SILVEY & MIYUKI SHINKAI

Join us for the Opening Reception of Jessica Silvey & Miyuki Shinkai’s exhibition Echo from the Ancestral Land- Past and Present on Saturday, Sept. 28th, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

Echo from the Ancestral Land – past and present focuses on meaningful encounters and being part of a learning opportunity for viewers. Shinkai and Silvey aim to intrigue viewers, encouraging them to engage and take a moment to think about the past and modernization of the world, what we lost and what we became, how we got here, and what we left behind. Both artists take on a leadership role in passing their Indigenous/traditional cultural perspectives and wisdom from ancestral knowledge to the next generations.

GPAG: Meet the Artist | DAVID MARTINELLO

Join us for the Opening Reception of David Martinello’s exhibition Conversing Gestures on Saturday, Sept. 28th, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

Featuring abstract wood sculptures and prints combined with gestural markings, David Martinello’s exhibition in the Main Gallery highlights the beauty of wood, its intrinsic characteristics, and its role as a connective node to the environment. David Martinello is an artist from Mill Bay, Vancouver Island, who works with a variety of different techniques and mediums. Working with a multi-disciplinary approach along with conventional manipulations of wood Martinello discerns insights into the essence of the material. He explores its intrinsic properties, highlighting aspects of the medium that are often taken for granted or overlooked.

GPAG: Art Exhibition – DAVID MARTINELLO | Conversing Gestures

to Oct 27th. Featuring abstract wood sculptures and prints combined with gestural markings, this exhibition by David Martinello in the Main Gallery highlights the beauty of wood, its intrinsic characteristics, and its role as a connective node to the environment. The contemplation of wood as an artistic material, and the engagement with the unique and whimsical aspects of its character, allows us to naturally develop an increased appreciation for the world around us and for what it provides.

If you would like to learn more about Martinello’s woodblock printing process, join us on September 26th for a hands-on workshop from 2pm – 3pm. Entry by donation, no preregistration required.

Join us for the Opening Reception of this exhibition on Saturday, September 28th, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

GPAG: Natural Woodblock Printing Workshop with David Martinello

Entry to this event is by donation and it is open to all, no preregistration required. Join us for this fun, hands on workshop with exhibiting artist David Martinello!

Inspired by the prints in his exhibition Conversing Gestures, participants will make rubbings of a woodblock with raised grain, which will be the foundation for a gestural response. The exercise will be framed with an assessment of the cedar, to discuss its importance to Indigenous peoples and ask participants to consider the legacy of the wood by describing the path taken for the woodblock to be in their hands. We’ll engage with the nature of wood to create art and connections to the landscape.

SCAC: Art Exhibition: Deirdre Hofer – No

to Oct 5th. The exhibition “No” is an experimental commentary on work and what it means in our society, using a slow-paced video of a woman typing, as well as displaying props from the video, to invite viewers to reflect on their own relationship with work.

SCAC: Art Exhibition – Carefully Gathered

to Oct 5th. The exhibition “Carefully Gathered” brings together artists on the Sunshine Coast and asks them to respond to the themes of gathering and care with their work. This work is then combined with mixed media fieldnotes and academic research, and aims to share knowledge in untraditional ways.

GPAG: MAURICE SPIRA | M. Spira Portraits (mixed media)

to Sept 22nd. An impressive collection of painted and drawn portraits by Maurice Spira spanning more than 40 years, many of which will be exhibited to the public for the first time. Spira conducts his portrait sessions live with no camera mediation used, and his hope with this particular exhibition is that it will inspire young artists to draw directly from life. His considerable archive of portraits often depicts local people in our community, some now deceased, but most very much alive. Spira goes one step further than replication of what the eye sees and undertakes an expressive examination of each subject. His portraits represent a balance between this expressive examination, reality, and truth.

Join us for the opening reception Saturday, Aug. 31st, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

GPAG: Meet the Artist | MAURICE SPIRA

Join us on Saturday, August 31st, 2pm – 4pm to meet the artist Maurice Spira at the opening reception of his exhibition M. Spira Portraits. All are welcome to join us to learn more about this exhibition!

This exhibition features an impressive collection of painted and drawn portraits by Maurice Spira spanning more than 40 years, many featuring local members of the community exhibited to the public for the first time. Born in Kent, England, Spira came to Montreal in 1966, where he describes the psychoactive enriched counter-cultural milieu as having transformed him utterly. After painting in Mexico in the mid-seventies he moved to Vancouver and then to the Sunshine Coast in the early 1980’s. More than thirty years later he continues to paint and print in his Roberts Creek Studio.

Art Exhibition: SUZAN MARCZAK | Watershed

Watershed explores the primal landscapes of high mountain passes and headwaters, illustrating the awe inspiring yet fragile nature of these water towers and emphasizing the need to protect and preserve them. As life giving water falls as rain or snow it slowly accumulates in mountaintops as glaciers, gathering on the passes to flow as rivers, or collecting in alpine basins to feed small tarns and rills. Through acrylic paintings and 3D models Marczak finds a beauty and poetry in these small beginnings where life giving water falls and life starts, and calls for action to protect these vital resources in the face of climate change.

Join us for the Opening Reception on Saturday, August 3rd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome!

JEFF WILSON | Meet the Artist

Join us for the opening reception of North By Northwest by Jeff Wilson on Saturday, August 3rd, 2pm – 4pm. All are welcome to attend!

Illustrating narratives around the history and life cycles of the North coast of BC, Jeff Wilson’s exhibition is inspired by his time spent immersed in the landscapes of BC’s coast observing the particular and unique history and effects of boom and bust economics. Originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, Jeff Wilson trained as a structural geologist and worked in mineral exploration before settling in Vancouver. Working as a full-time artist since 2013, Wilson has exhibited his work in solo exhibitions throughout BC, Alberta, and Washington State, and in group exhibitions in BC, Washington State, and Italy.

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