Internationally acclaimed artist Kwi Am Choi lived and painted in Port Moody and was actively involved in the local arts scene before he died in a tragic hiking accident on a North Shore mountain in 2006.
Now, a retrospective tribute to the Korean-born artist — entitled Finding Harmony: A Reflection on a Lifetime of Observation Through Kwi Am Choi — is at the Port Moody Arts Centre, until June 2.
A year following his death, Choi’s family started an endowment fund that provides support to young artists by covering the costs to put on a solo art exhibit at PMAC; proceeds from paintings sold at this exhibition go into the scholarship fund.
Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society selected the exhibit as of its explorASIAN events and also exhibited some of Choi’s work.
And running in conjunction with Finding Harmony are two solo exhibitions from the recipients of the 2015 Kwi Am Choi Scholarship: Amy Duval a third-year BFA student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Alanna Reyse, a fourth-year visual arts student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Gallery manager Janice Cotter said the scholarships offer an important opportunity for emerging artists to have a solo exhibit “which is important for their resume,” she said.
Cotter said the exhibit’s opening, which included members of Choi’s family, attract more than 200. “It was just an amazing night. His work is stunning,” she said.
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