Three major art centres in the Tri-Cities have joined forces to commission work on a common theme.
The first annual Arts in the Tri-Cities: Crossing Boundaries exhibit launches tomorrow (Thursday) with the Port Moody Arts Centre (PMAC) displaying pieces by Robi Smith in her new collection for the A View from the Water's Edge series. Her craft can be seen in the facility's Cabinet of Curiosity until Sept. 30.
Next month, also following the waterways concept, Port Coquitlam's Leigh Square Community Arts Village will present a show by artists Colin James Craig, Skai Fowler, Heidi Lambert, Ranjan Sen and Gerry Thompson; the opening reception will be held Sept. 29 and the show runs until Oct. 30.
And the following day, Sept. 30, Coquitlam's Evergreen Cultural Centre (ECC) will have an installation up in its main lobby by Sylvie Roussel-Janssens, titled How Deep Is Your Lake? Her sculptural work - a series of suspended wire and fabric pieces - can be seen until Nov. 3.
The three inaugural exhibits, which coincide with Culture Days, Sept. 28 to 30, a national arts and culture celebration, are a result of last year's ArtsConnect summit when artists, musicians and cultural leaders converged at the Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam to find ways to promote the local arts scene.
Afterwards, PMAC's Susan Jessop met with Yvonne Chui, PoCo's art and culture co-ordinator, and ECC visual arts manager Astrid Heyerdahl to brainstorm.
"We wanted to connect the three organizations somehow," Jessop said, adding, "It helps all of us when we work more closely together.... We don't see it as competiting for the same audience."
The waterways theme was a perfect fit to link for the three cities and symbolizes the art centres' new partnership, Jessop said.
"Evergreen Cultural Centre is thrilled to reach across municipal boundaries and to work with such fantastic arts organizations in Port Moody and Port Coquitlam," Heyerdahl said. "Culture Days is a national celebration of arts and culture and what better way to celebrate than to allow for the arts to break barriers of all kinds and to join communities together."
Meanwhile, Mother Earth is also featured predominately in new exhibits that open this week in Port Moody and Port Coquitlam.
Besides the Smith show, PMAC hosts an opening reception tomorrow (Thursday) at 6 p.m. for displays from Rosie James (Crowd Cloud: Drawings in Space); Shari Pratt (portraits collected via Facebook); and Amang Mardokhy (Returning to Nature).
As well, on Saturday at 2 p.m., Leigh Square Community Arts Village in Port Coquitlam will have an opening reception at 2 p.m. for its Coming Up For Air, Rocks, Trees and H20 display. The mixed media show is by Pender Harbour artists Pat Jobb, June Malaka, Fran Sevier and Wendy Simmonds.
