Posts Tagged ‘Public Art’

‘Polar Bear: Native to Vancouver’ by Tony Pantages on Canada Line video screens

Polar Bear: Native to Vancouver by Tony Pantages launches December 5 and runs to December 18 on the Canada Line video screens. One of 15 public art projects commissioned by the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program for Vancouver 125, Polar Bear: Native to Vancouver is the seventh in the 10 Seconds series of commissioned works for the Canada Line video screens as part of a year-long project celebrating Vancouver 125.

Polar Bear: Native to Vancouver is a tribute to the annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim in Vancouver. Started by Peter Pantages in 1920 with ten members, this is the oldest and largest Polar Bear Swim and is the genesis of the worldwide Polar Bear Swim movement. Tony Pantages, a third-generation Vancouverite and a filmmaker, attaches a personal history to this public tradition. For half a century his grandfather, Peter, took his daily dip in English Bay 365 days a year through sun, rain, snow, sleet and hail. Polar Bear: Native to Vancouver pays homage to his grandfather Peter, father Tony Sr., and uncle Basil, who all appear in this 10-second film.

Tony Pantages is an extraordinary storyteller, avid Vancouver historian and award-winning commercial and music video director. A self described Viewsician, he also creates live visual mixes alongside the world’s best DJs and musicians at some of the biggest music festivals in the world. He recently performed at the DXB Festival in Dubai; Coachella in California; and the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. His short film Dovetale won Best in Category at the 2010 Toronto Urban Film Festival. He is currently shooting a feature film Three Days in Havana with co-director Gil Bellows.

Polar Bear: Native to Vancouver launches December 5 on the Canada Line subway video screens and on www.youtube.com/offonmain and Facebook. A new work is featured each month on the Canada Line through March 2012, playing every two minutes to an audience of over 100,000 commuters per day.

See previous projects Hippie Chick by Dana Claxton, Slash Forward by Michael Turner, One Percent by James Yan, Movement For Two Grannies by Laiwan, An Ode To Vancouver Hockey Fans by Jeff Chiba Stearns and Escape Velocity on YouTube or at www.onmaingallery.com.

10 Seconds is curated by Paul Wong and presented by On Main in partnership with InTransitBC. Commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program with the support of Vancouver 125 and the participation of the Government of Canada.

The 2011 Public Art Program focuses on opportunities for residents and visitors to enjoy unique images, objects and perspectives on Vancouver and British Columbia for the City’s anniversary year. Details about Vancouver’s Public Art Program can be found at vancouver.ca/publicart. The program has facilitated over a hundred projects in the past ten years, spanning large-scale permanent installations, design-team collaborations and artist-initiated artworks.

Posted on: December 6th, 2011 by Vancouver125
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Paragraph of Possibility

Date: Exhibition: November 5th – December 17th; Opening Reception: Saturday Nov. 5th, 4-7pm
Location: Access Gallery, 222 East Georgia Street
Website: www.accessgallery.ca

“I have a dream today!” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“And so the three possibilities I have mentioned have always stood before man whenever he has encountered an Other: he could choose war, he could fence himself in behind a wall, or he could start up a dialogue.” – Ryszard Kapuścinski

Access Gallery presents Paragraph of Possibility – a public art project by Vancouver-based artist Tonik Wojtyra.

Paragraph of Possibility takes intellectual shape as a collaborative writing exercise and public art sculpture. Wojtyra has worked to shape the project with the imaginations of the residents of Ross House, participants of a drop-in-art class at the Urban Native Youth Association (UNYA), Bombast Furniture, and the staff of Access Gallery. Weaving these strands of communities, Wojtyra’s exhibition is a milestone in a potentially never-ending narrative identifying our collective dreams.

Paragraph of Possibility was written primarily working with two disparate communities in Vancouver: the residents of Ross House and the Monday night drop-in-art class at the Urban Native Youth Association. Conversations around everyday activities such as dinners, classes and art-making were formed collaboratively into a text. The written work asserts the potential of love and dreams over the power of fear and politics; it will be distributed throughout Vancouver as a poster.

The installed exhibition at Access Gallery creates a further space for collaboration and represents the paragraph aesthetically. Wojtyra has produced a series of works in response to the text of the paragraph including a collaborative sculpture with UNYA and a round-table with Bombast’s Russell Baker. The table serves to extend the project’s dialogue to a wider audience via a series of round-table discussions developed with Access Gallery’s Director Shaun Dacey. The forum series aims to discuss the future of our global imaginary, public space, our youth, local community and Art. Oscillating between the intimately local and the publicly global, the round-tables will address the roles artists play in communities like the DTES.

Roundtables
Saturday, November 26th at 5pm
This roundtable ponders questions surrounding the concept of community.
What is a community? What isn’t? Why? Why not? How do we build it? What are the best tools? What’s most important?
Invited guests:
Charles Haynes / Landlord, Ross House
Sharon Belli / Assistant Director, Carnegie Centre
Andrew Pask / Community Planner, City of Vancouver

Friday, December 9th at 7pm
The next roundtable ponders questions surrounding art’s role in the gentrification of the DTES/Chinatown.
What is gentrification? What positive roles can artists and galleries play in the DTES/Chinatown community?
With invited guests:
Ivan Drury / Carnegie Community Action Project, Board Member of the DTES Neighbourhood Council
Cecily Nicholson / Writer
Russell Baker / Bombast Owner/Designer

The roundtables are focussed on our dreams, possibilities for our “community” and are collegial conversations open to all. With each roundtable, emerging artist Malika Montague will offer her Soup Kitchen project. Montague is preparing fresh vegetarian soup and snacks from scratch in the gallery and serving it free. Donations of food are greatly appreciated.

Amerikino screenings
Friday, November 25th at 10pm
Amerikino is a series of screenings examining the bankrupt American Dream through America’s own silver screen. The series starts with Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man (1995). On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange Indian named “Nobody” who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world. Popcorn and snacks will be served.

Monday, December 5th at 7pm
Amerikino continues with Don Argott’s Art Of The Steal (2009). A documentary following the struggle for control of art collector Albert C. Barnes’ 25 billion dollar collection of modern and post-impressionist art. Popcorn and snacks will be served.

Stay tuned for upcoming roundtables and screenings.

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Posted on: November 8th, 2011 by Vancouver125
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“Creative Content” Emily Carr University and the City of Vancouver together since 1925


Date: October 2011 onward
Location: Canada Line – Waterfront Station; Emily Carr University Theatre; Queen Elizabeth Theatre Mezzanine Gallery; www.ecuaa.ca
Website: www.byanyothername.ca and www.ecuad.ca/people/alumni

The Emily Carr University of Art + Design Alumni Association is celebrating Vancouver’s 125th anniversary. As the oldest post secondary institution in British Columbia (1925) we would like to draw attention to the significant contributions of our graduates to this city’s growth for 86 of its 125 year history and to commemorate the important role the arts play in the development, richness and identity building of our community of Vancouver. Emily Carr University of Art + Design encompass the Vancouver School of Art and Vancouver School of Applied and Decorative Arts.

By Any Other Name…
Commemorative Poster Exhibition Celebrating Vancouver’s 125 Year History
By Emily Carr Design graduates
October 2011 – March 2012
Public Art Exhibit – Canada Line – Waterfront Station

November 21, 2011 – January 23, 2012
Queen Elizabeth Theatre Mezzanine Gallery

A showcase of the Canada Line Poster Exhibition.
A look at Vancouver’s history through the eyes of Design graduates from different decades. This poster exhibition recognizes the pioneering role Emily Carr University played in the development of the cultural identity of Vancouver. In partnership with InTransit BC Public Art.

As symbols that represent time and place, names reflect the prevailing attitude of the culture in which they are given. While full of meaning, the attempt to capture complex traditions in a single word often neglects the numerous, conflicting characteristics of a city and its people.

Like many other cities, Vancouver’s diverse, multicultural background has given way to the creation of several alternate names. These names given in admiration, as matter-of-fact descriptors, or in jest observe the many facets of our local industry, culture and geography. Bestowed by both residents and visitors, they suggest the multitude of histories that collectively define Vancouver.

By Any Other Name considers the unique narratives hidden within some of these alternate names. The exhibition comprises seven Vancouver-based graphic designers, all graduates of Emily Carr University, who occupy an important role in shaping Vancouver’s visual culture. byanyothername.ca

Animated
A Small Splice of Emily Carr University Animation History
Saturday, November 19th, 2011
Emily Carr University Theatre (Room 301 South Building) Granville Island
$5 admission at the door

Hosted by: Rubén Möller and Martin Rose

Featuring Animated Films by Emily Carr Graduates: Anne Marie Fleming, Amanda Forbis, Pablo Gonzales, Jill Harris, Heui Won Jeong, Jody Kramer, Katherine Lee, Rubén Möller, Su An Ng, Gail Noonan, Martin Rose, Kunal Sen, Keith Slade, Wendy Tilby

Animated is part of Creative Content - a series of exhibitions and events celebrating the significant contributions of Emily Carr University of Art + Design and its graduates throughout 86 years of Vancouver’s 125 year history. Emily Carr has one of the most recognized university film and animation departments in Canada. This retrospective will reveal the contributions of our talented artists to the significant landscape of Vancouver film & animation and its international reputation.

Emily Carr, under its first incarnation as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts opened in 1925, and is one of the oldest post secondary institutions in British Columbia. The Vancouver School of Art Animation Department opened in 1968 and is one of the oldest animation schools in Canada. With that in mind we developed Animated, delving back as far as our current archives allowed: to the 1980s when the school changed its location to the newly developed Granville Island and changed its name to Emily Carr College of Art + Design. When Emily Carr opened its doors again, it included a new media department providing courses in animation and film. We have chosen to highlight our animation graduates in this edition of the series.
http://escene.ecuad.ca/news/animated-present-by-the-emily-carr-alumni-association

Creative Content
Online Catalogue
October 2011 (launch of site) and ongoing
www.ecuaa.ca

Profiles of all artists and partners involved with “Creative Content” and provides information about the artists and upcoming events.

With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada.

Posted on: November 1st, 2011 by Vancouver125
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