After the 2006 snow storm that damaged 3,000 trees in Stanley Park, Vancouver artist Alison Keenan decided to document the devastation and capture how people behaved to - and around - it.
She painted and drew the extreme weather, the root masses and the bundled-up walkers, some of whom made their way around the chaos with cell phones planted firmly to their ears.
The English native submitted the pieces as part of her 2008 graduate project for Emily Carr University of Art and Design and the series gained considerable attention as it was interpreted as showing the effects of global warming.
That artwork was the beginning of Keenan's First Impressions collection, which has since been expanded to include images of pedestrians on well-used Vancouver streets.
Keenan captures them in popular locations, communicating how they move around and get to their destinations. In her observations, she finds "people have very intense body language. They have hunched shoulders, an immediate response to electronic mobile devices and push through crowds as if it's their own space," she said. "They're quite self-absorbed."
Keenan secretly takes their photos with a small digital camera -- "never of children and not of people with physical challenges," she said - and transcribes her voyeuristic, anonymous images of the young and old with archival ink and indigo blue, "to give an old-world feel to it but, of course, the subject is quite contemporary."
She added, "I think about what my role is as an artist when I document these things. I suppose it would be accurate to call me a historian."
Keenan's 12 pieces in her new Port Moody Arts Centre (PMAC) exhibit, titled Street Dance, A Record of Public Performances, complements photographer Phyllis Schwartz's display, which PMAC hung last month. The two paired up on the theme while both were students at Emily Carr, Keenan said.
Meanwhile, PMAC will also show this month the artwork of Langley's Marilyn Hunt (Magnified Simplicity, acrylic paintings) and of the Blackberry Artists' Society, which is hosting its Christmas marketplace. As well, the annual 6x6 artwork auction is on until Dec. 22.
The opening reception for the exhibitions takes place on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. with the artists in attendance. Admission is free. Call 604-931-2008.
