Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
“Wong’s mastery of the video camera is unparalleled in Vancouver art, making him to video what Emily Carr and Jack Shadbolt were to painting…”
-Michael Turner (essay for V/tape, 2008)
A pioneer of video art in Canada, Wong’s command of the medium has influenced generations of artists. As one of the first in Canada to use video to examine his own identity, he uses the camera to explore performance, conceptual video, experimental narrative and documentary. Through his work, Wong has created a voice for non-exclusive video practices that distinctly put ordinary people behind and in front of the camera. Intentionally rejecting mainstream cinematic tropes, Wong’s new video work includes revealing titles such as SALLY, CHELSEA HOTEL ROOM 207 and PERFECT DAY.
He has had major solo exhibitions such as On Becoming A Man, National Gallery (1995), numerous exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Life/Live, and at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris 1996. In 2010 he produced his site-specific installation opus “5” – a City of Vancouver commission for the 2010 Olympic Games.
He was awarded The Bell Canada Award in Video Art in 1992, was the first recipient of the Transforming Art Award from the Asian Heritage Foundation in 2002 and won the inaugural NFB/CHUM Trailblazer Expressions Award in 2003. He received The Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2005. He was the Canadian Spotlight Artist at the 2008 Reel Asian International Film Festival in Toronto, where his video Perfect Day was awarded Best Canadian Film or Video.
He is the founding director of Vancouver artist-run centres Video In/VIVO (Satellite Video Exchange Society 1973) and On Main (On The Cutting Edge Productions Society 1985).
paulwongprojects.com
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Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
E.D. Blackwell was born in Edmonton, Alberta where he grew up speaking both English and French. In 2006 he was accepted to the Bachelor of Arts program at the University of Alberta to study French literature at Campus St. Jean but after enjoying the art and design options he had taken, he decided to apply for the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program instead. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Design with a concentration in painting and printmaking in the spring of 2011.
Shortly thereafter, he was awarded a Student Scholarship at the Malaspina Printmakers Society and relocated to Vancouver, BC to work at Malaspina. Most recently, he received an Individual Artists Project Grant from the
Alberta Foundation for the Arts. He currently resides in Vancouver, BC.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
My adolescent identity was conflicted by the stigma attached to my budding homosexuality in the 1960′s. To make matters worse I denied my passion for art and studied architecture. At 21 I suffered anxiety attacks. I escaped my misery by traveling overland across the Middle East to India. I met a young Dalai Lama. In Nepal I trekked solo to the pristine glacier in the cradle of Mt. Everest and read stories of Buddhist saints in a Tibetan monastery in it’s shadow. Living was cheap and I stayed for a year of exploration.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Suzy Stroet is an artist and a librarian whose work focuses on people and how they interact with, and inhabit the spaces they create.
Photo: Maju Tavera
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Visual and performance artist Kate Price integrates both absurdity and feminism in her art. Her first project was to form the Stilettos & Strap-ons Burlesque Troup in 2005, with whom she giddily performed burlesque and drag until 2009.
She co-hosted the radio show Fruitsalad!, and made several short films before finding her home in illustration. She currently resides in Squamish, BC with her partner Jean and fuzzy extended family, Avi and Blair. She splits her time between rock climbing, studying, and creating graphic novels.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Laiwan is an artist with a wide-ranging practice that follows her interest in cross-disciplinary projects. She is also a writer, educator, curator and activist. She founded the Or Gallery in Vancouver in 1983 and initiated the First
Vancouver Lesbian Film Festival in 1988. Recipient of the 2008 Vancouver Queer Media Artist Award, she teaches at Goddard College in Washington State in the MFA Interdisciplinary Arts Program.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
As a kid I always drew, so it was only natural for me to go to art school. In the late 80′s I attended Emily Carr where I studied film and animation. In the 90′s I was a bohemian, tree planting in the summer and working on diverse artistic projects for little or no money.
Things took a more serious note through the 2000′s as I began a serious career in the animation “industry’ starting out as a production assistant, and working my way up to technical directer, and now editing animation animatics. I’ve always enjoyed photographing live events and during the 2010 Winter Olympics I documented performers and artists. These days I’m concentrating on some personal projects that I finally have time for including taking portraits and subjects that involve dance.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Angelina Cantada is a visual storyteller. She uses photography and filmmaking to tell stories that are thoughtful, inspiring, and always, personal. Her first film in Canada was “Let’s Play Boccia!” a documentary short film on the Canadian Paralympic Boccia Team. It premiered at the Vancouver Short Film Festival and won the WIFTV Best Female Director award in October 2009. Angelina was also one of 6 winners in the Crazy 8s Filmmaking Competition in 2010. She wrote and directed “Sikat,” a poignant story about a Filipino nanny living in Canada.
Her latest short film “Josh” won first place at the My Hero International Film Festival in 2011. All films have screened at various festivals in North America. Angelina started her career in television in the Philippines, working as a producer, director, writer and editor of broadcast documentaries and reality-based TV programs. She also co-owned and operated a video production company in Manila for 8 years producing corporate, educational and training videos. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts in Manila (1993) and a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts major in Photography at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco (2007).
With almost 20 years experience in the art of image-making, Angelina knows she will always tell her stories in pictures.
angelinacantada.com
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
i am a child of the prairies who grew up on the coast, leaving me with a fierce love of contradictions and contrasts. i combine art and craft to create pieces that illustrate my experiences as a queer and genderqueer person with disabilities, the beliefs and political views that guide my life, and the experiences of people around me.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated exhibition July 31 – August 18, and performing in Boulez Contra Cage, August 12.
Mark Takeshi McGregor is a Vancouver-based flutist. But when he’s not performing with groups such as the Redshift Music Society, the Aventa Ensemble, or the Tiresias Duo, chances are he’s painting.
Mark learned to draw and paint from his mother, Aya, long before he ever thought about tooting the flute. Since then, painting has become a vital part of his creative life, and his works have recently been exhibited at the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival and the Japanese Canadian Heritage Museum.
takeshimcgregor.com
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dzee now lives and works in Vancouver. She completed her BFA at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, followed by a B.Ed. from Simon Fraser University. She uses a variety of mediums including drawing, painting and installation and focuses her investigations on the subtleties of the body and human experience.
Dzee has an interest in health and questions how we are constructed and how we create ourselves, particularly through the embodiment of our experiences. She often thinks about how our thoughts, actions and reactions are translated into the biology, physiology and psychology of our being.
Referencing both the internal and external worlds, she creates spaces that slowly reveal their subjects and are not quickly recognizable. At first glance the images appear abstract and random, but given a little time, more is revealed. Her intention is always to have the viewer slow down, spend some time with the piece, and continue to see new things. Most importantly, she wants the viewer to remember the presence of everything subtle and not immediately seen or sensed.
dzee.ca
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
kimberley french is a photographer who occasionally dabbles in paint. Born in Gander, Newfoundland, she grew up in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. Her passion for photography was ignited at the age of seven when her grandmother gave her a Kodak camera and her grandfather introduced her to National Geographic books.
kimberley’s first and second exhibitions of ethereal photographs, surface and surface revisted, opened in 2006 and 2008 at Stonefish Gallery and AXIS Contemporary Art respectively. She also exhibited four photographs at the 2011 Queer Arts Festival.
kimberley is best known for her iconic movie still photographs and posters. Brokeback Mountain and The Assassination of Jesse are among her film credits.
kimberleyfrench.com
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Born in Vancouver, jono received a Graphic Design Diploma from the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson and followed up with a BFA from the University of Victoria, MFA from the University of Cincinnati, an Art Therapist Degree from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute and a B.Ed from the University of British Columbia.
Patricia AtchisonExhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Classically trained in 2D animation, at Capilano College in her hometown of Vancouver, Patricia’s career in the industry spans over a decade. Her experience as a designer, storyboard artist and artistic director allows her to bring versatility to her work in the industry accompanied by great integrity. With a recent win at the 2009 Elan awards, for Best Art Direction in an Animated Series for “Zeke’s Pad” (YTV Spring 2010), Patricia continues to push the limits in her field.
Outside of an accelerating animation career, Patricia has transformed her experience and style to become a self-taught realist painter. Her renderings of realism, using the fluidity of oil paint on canvas, are most commonly critiqued as “a story or scene you could walk right into”. Initially capturing her subjects by way of photography, Patricia creates elegant yet edgy images down to their finest details. Incorporating a voyeuristic view for the outside world into her work, Patricia reveals the unabashed elegance of the female form untied with her signature seductive style.
Currently, Patricia is working on a new series focusing on women’s issues and misconceptions.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
With a background in dance and music and formal training in engineering, my art practice is informed by my diverse life experiences. I completed the diploma program in Studio Art at Capilano University in North Vancouver in April 2011 and am currently enrolled in the BFA program at Emily Carr University of Art and Design where I am studying painting and sculpture.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Wendy Sexsmith is a Vancouver-based artist who is known for her transgressive oil paintings of performers who push gender boundaries and traditionalist notions of beauty and success.
She graduated from Emily Carr on full scholarship in 2004, including one semester as a transfer student at The Cooper Union in NYC. Her work has been published by Art In Motion and Canadian Living. Recently, she received a grant from the Vancouver Foundation.
In 2010 she appeared on the cover of Xtra West Vancouver in which there was an article featuring her work. Her paintings have also appeared in The Vancouver Sun and The Georgia Straight and were showcased on posters and bus shelters advertising the 2010 Queer Arts Festival. She has appeared in group shows at Centre A (June, 2010) and The Ayden Gallery (Oct, 2010) and also had a piece featured in Art for Life, which took place in November, 2010.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
If you’re born in the Himalayas and schooled in Paris, France, how could you not grow up to be a photographer of cowboys and kink?
Apart from being one of the hottest projects to come out of Vancouver, Norbury’s first book, Behind the Chutes: The Mystique of the Rodeo Cowboy, was nominated for the ALA/YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. She’s won the Canadian Country Music Award for Patricia Conroy’s Bad Day for Trains, Vancouver’s Vancouver first prize for colour photography, and had work in such reputable magazines as Saturday Night and MacLeans.
Rosamond Norbury shoots production stills for documentary and reality shows for the National Film Board of Canada, Paperny Films, Weird Homes, including Crash Test Mommy and Better than Chocolate. Rosamond has photographed Canadian legends, from k.d. lang to Jack Shadbolt, as well as a stadium’s worth of rodeo cowboys, Harley drivers, the stars of the hit TV series Kink, and drag queen legends of Vancouver.
A self-styled flâneur, Rosamond is at home with her feet in her boots and a camera in hand. She has documented life on the streets of Cuba, France, Portugal and her home-base of Vancouver.
rosamondnorbury.com
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Born and raised locally in a blue-collar family. Returned to school to get my BFA, and have always been gifted/cursed with inspiration and ideas that cannot be resisted. I work in any media and medium that I encounter, and often overlap my projects. Met a great man 13 years ago, and married to him for 8. The days fly by.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Therese Buchmiller received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She was a member of the studio art faculty at the University of Minnesota, Morris from 2002-2008.
Solo exhibition venues include Rock|DeMent Visual Art Space, Seattle, WA, Bobbit Visual Arts Center, Albion, MI, and 364 Hayes Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA. In 2008 Buchmiller was granted a residency at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. Her artwork is included in the permanent collections at the University of Minnesota, Morris, and the Walker Art Center, Library Archive, Minneapolis and the Brooklyn Art Library, NY.
Recent exhibition highlights include the 2011 shows, QueerMe: Art and Gender Politics at The Center, NY, and Objectivity at The Main Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle. Upcoming 2012 exhibitions include Shared Differences at Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, and Residue at the Kirkland Art Center, Kirkland, WA. She has been a guest lecturer at Western Washington University, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and Carlton College, MN. Buchmiller is an adjunct pool faculty member at Western Washington University and lives in Seattle.
tbuchmiller.com
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Canadian artist, Mico Mancuso was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in 1960. He began drawing at a very early age. His mother would tell him that as a small child he would crawl into large cardboard boxes with his pencil and scribble on the inside walls for hours.
In the early 80s Mico went onto study art at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. After receiving the Elizabeth Greenshields of Canada Award and the Professional Art Dealers of Canada Scholarship in his graduate year, he went to Florence, Italy to study the works of the great Italian masters and travel south to explore his Italian roots.
In 1985 Mico moved to the West Coast of Canada and fell in love with the city of Vancouver. He was greatly influenced by the work of the West Coast Native people which would forever change his artistic style. Mico has called Vancouver his home since but his life growing up in a small town in Northern Ontario still influences his work.
micoart.weebly.com
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Suzo Hickey is a painter and multidisciplinary artist living in Vancouver, BC. Born in 1959, she migrated from coast (Prince Rupert) to desert (Kamloops) before settling in Vancouver in 1991. She graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1994, and has exhibited around BC and the US on themes of urban landscapes, queer mothering, namecalling, narrative and death in the family.
For this year’s Queer Arts Festival she will be collaborating with her partner Emma Kivisild. The two have worked together many times creating art on bus benches (FUCNRDTHSMSG, Don’t Take Your Guns to Town Son), in store windows (And I am Made Entirely of Wood), magazines (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Time), gallery installations (You Fucking Fruit) and Artopolis (Are You My Mother?). After years of being aware of CARFAC, she finally became a member in 2011.
suzohickey.ca
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
I have always loved to make things! Having been engaged in the DIY queer craft scene since moving to Vancouver in 2000, I was one of the founding collective members of Seamrippers Craft Collective. I also organized the ‘I Heart Crafts Bazaar’ for several years. Currently, I am working as a Education Assistant in a wonderful inner city school where, among other things, I get to teach art to 6 and 7 year olds.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Emma Kivisild is a lesbian writer and artist who finally returned to school to get a PhD at the age of 48, after co-parenting 2 children and learning to deal with Multiple Sclerosis. She has written and performed extensively about sexual representation, censorship and Armageddon.
Under the pseudonym Lizard Jones, she was a member of the lesbian multi-media/performance/writing collective Kiss & Tell. She was the co-author of the Lambda award winning “Her Tongue on My Theory” and the author of the novel “Two Ends of Sleep”.
Emma’s recent art work has been about disability (Message in a Bottle, Waiting Room, Silk Purse / Sow’s Ear). After a hiatus she is glad to be working again with Suzo Hickey.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Over the last ten years they have been working side-by-side on topics ranging from domestic motifs to immigration and identity politics. Their work primarily uses hundreds of vintage photographs found in thrift stores and antique shops as well as personal snapshots that have been collected for the past 25 years.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Synthesis is a collaboration between visual artist Afuwa and digital media artist/filmmaker Aerlyn.
Afuwa is a visual artist, writer and youth facilitator who was born in South America and studied art in Guyana, Jamaica, and Canada; her artwork is in private collections from Sydney, Australia to the San Francisco Bay Area. She brings a spirit of curiosity to everything she does, and uses her work to continually question assumptions, identity and stereotypes.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
American-born Queer Canadian Painter, Shelley Stefan, hails from the Fraser Valley, BC. Her works involve a vibrance of colour, utilizing thought-provoking juxtapositions, iconic imagery, and the appropriation of heraldic armour to talk about notions of (in)security, bravado, and butch sexuality.
Stefan was born in the Chicago area in 1974, received her BFA from Notre Dame in ’96, and her MFA from MECA in ’06. Stefan has been making art about queer subjectivity since the mid-90’s and now is a full-time Faculty member at UFV in Abbotsford, BC.
Her text entitled “Lesbian Family Heraldry: An Achievement of Arms” was published in 2006 by Moth Press. Related and subsequent bodies of work including “The Lesbian Effigies”(2006) and “B is for Butch”(2010) exhibit Stefan’s LGBTQ conceptual track, as well as her technical experience in the media of oil, ink, and acrylic painting, graphite, charcoal, and ink drawing, lost-wax bronze sculpture, and monoprinting. This is her first time exhibiting as part of the Queer Arts Festival.
Exhibiting in Random Acts of Queerness curated art show July 31-August 18
Stephen is a perfectionist who strives to excel at whatever he attempts.
As well as attending the Banff School of Fine Arts, he has a BA from the University of Guelph where he majored in drama with minors in fine art and psychology. His formal art training and early work was focused primarily on black and white portraits and figure drawing using charcoal, pencil and ink mediums.
