Hello Dreamers!
Another few shifts at ArtStarts and 4 more days before opening night on Saturday, October 7!
ArtStarts is the only gallery in Canada dedicated to art made by young people. As a charitable organization, ArtStarts values the engagement and education of art in young peoples lives. We have the amazing opportunity to display artwork made by students from schools across Canada! I had a blast working with the Gallery Manager and Gallery Coordinator, helping with some of the special pieces of this exhibition. It was a time intensive project and was quite an experience.
The symbolism of the Musqueam house post is very meaningful for the "Beyond Words: Stories of Our Time" exhibition. It was created in collaboration with artist Brent Sparrow Jr. and students from Burnaby Central Secondary. We used flour and water to wheat-paste the print on the front side of our pillar to recreate the post in the gallery. The post is intended to greet visitors and the public into the exhibition - the same way it does in its permanent home at the high school - as a messenger to guide them along their journey. Since it was a tricky and messy project, it took patience and a whole lot of paste. There were some tricky circumstances, but nothing that a good old paste, crayon and pencil crayon can't fix.
Over the course of two weeks, we have assembled fixtures and artworks to represent our exhibition. I gave a hand with painting fixtures such as our unique shelves to display handcrafted bentwood boxes accordingly, as well as put up vellum sheets to give our LED lights the proper dim effect behind the 5 banners; provided by amazing student, teacher and artist collaborators from schools across British Columbia. I arranged the vinyl on the wall, our final addition to the gallery space. There has been a lot of measuring and re-measuring to ensure that the words and shelves align to our own eyes' satisfaction. I admit it was a bit stressful as the rest of the gallery was looking perfect and pristine. Overall, the space is shaping up and looking almost ready to go!
I'm excited to see the exhibition come to life, are you?
The "Beyond Words: Stories of Our Time" exhibition is open on September 30 - April 7, 2017. Come to our opening night this Saturday, October 7 from 3 - 6pm! I hope to see you guys there!
Look forward to more updates on my next blog post.