There are hearts and heartaches, ethnic idols and backlash, philosophical dreams and fallen angels.
Their artwork represents the best of this year’s graduation class and, until Feb. 18, will be on show at Coquitlam’s Art Gallery at Evergreen as a statement of their inner thoughts and outward projections.
Six of the young artists whose pieces were picked by a jury to be in Emerging Talent 21 met The Tri-City News at the facility to talk about the inspiration behind their designs and their materials used.
And each student — no matter how dark the subject matter — gave a message of excitement for their future but also a want for change in society, a hope for more compassion and acceptance to move on.
Gleneagle secondary student Joshua Louie's paper and acrylic piece, White Mask, underlines that sentiment.
His school project under fine arts teacher Robyn Croft, who organized this year’s Emerging Talent, resulted in two heads — composed of celebrity face cut-outs — and placed over a yellow canvas.
“The entire time I was flipping through magazines, I only found two people of colour,” Louie said. “What does that say about us? Why do we continue to idealize faces with white skin? It’s very superficial.”
Port Moody secondary’s Zhanghen Yin, who has applied to UBC to undertake a fine arts and philosophy degree with the aim to be a full-time studio artist, used Greek mythology for his acrylic installation while Brittany Lin of Centennial secondary, who’s already been accepted to Emily Carr University of Art + Design, employed paint left-overs to create an edge to her work, I’m Immersed But I’m Not Drowning.
For Lin, her subject is overwhelmed with what adults are demanding of her but she’s staying afloat. “I was using art to show… things that I was dealing with in life but I want a positive outcome,” she said.
Jessica Liu of Gleneagle secondary captured her raw emotions from a bad breakup in her watercolour piece Frustration. She painted a fluffy creature peeling out of its skin to reveal despair and sadness. The canvas, she said, “is my friend. It’s therapy and it’s a good way for me to articulate my thoughts.”
The chance to exhibit their art in a public venue sets a new course for their creative ambitions, said Bryanna Gibson, 17, of Centennial, who plans to study in the makeup program at Vancouver Film School.
“I look around me and I see so much variety,” added Tan-ta Siriporn Na Rajassima, an international student from Bangkok, Thailand, who has applied to University of Toronto, UBC and SFU to study architecture. “I think, ‘Wow. Look what students my age are doing and saying about our lives.’”
• The Art Gallery at Evergreen (1205 Pinetree Way) is open Wednesday to Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Voting is now open for the People’s Choice award, which will see the winner have his or her art used in gallery marketing materials for Emerging Talent 22 next year.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
