Gallery Exhibit

The Arts Council of New Westminster aims to have exhibitions that feature a variety of visual arts by a wide range of artists from the Metro Vancouver region. The exhibition program aims to reflect both the cultural and artistic diversity of contemporary art and serve as an educational forum for New Westminster and surrounding communities. This program is open to applications from both established and emerging artists.

As a general rule, monthly exhibitions open on the first Wednesday of each month and close on the last Sunday of the month. The time between closings and openings is used for exhibition installation and, in some occurrences, for five-day pop-up exhibitions.

Learn more about the Gallery at Queen’s Park, click here

“Travel into Subconscious” – Vladimir Kolosov, April12-30th, 2023

Exhibition Dates: April 12th – 30th, 2023

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

This exhibition reflects the artist’s way to observe, memorize, analyze, emphasize the most important and then, to visualize and deliver to a viewer the result. All goes through continuous interactions between the artist’s conscious and subconscious.

This exhibition is about the artist’s perception of the spaces we’re living in, and our knowledge about inner and outer worlds that surround us. It is an attempt to reflect on the Universe of our being and beyond, using the language of the visual art – a language that everyone can understand.

The artworks selected for this exhibition were inspired by various thoughts and events related to our past, present, and future, as well as our memories, feelings, beliefs, relationships, and so on – the endless sequence of elements that forms the truly infinite space of our dreams and reality that surrounds us.

ARTIST BIO

Vladimir Kolosov was born to create. His life has always been connected to art… mostly visual art and music. Art is his alter ego. It was a long journey from Vladimir’s study of classic fine art in the USSR in the late 70’s to what he is doing today – the art and writings that reflect the complex world in all its diversity. Vladimir is a polymath, he got education in fine arts, music, mathematics and physics, psychology, and business.

As an artist Vladimir is known as a colourist and for his ability to create works that make the viewer to think. He uses various media and during different periods worked in different styles developing the philosophy that is behind each of his artwork. His artwork is a space where different elements live and interact to each other. There is an environment, energy, movement, relationships, and feelings. Colours play one of the key roles in his art. Thus, the elements interactions expressing through colours as contradictions and contrasts in composition in his works. Vladimir considers that empathy is the foundation of creativity. He sees and understands the outer and inner world of his model, empathizing, and portray this model in all its integral diversity. According to Vladimir, empathy relates to memory and imagination both of which have the capacity to bring us back to the past or let us investigate the future.

Website: https://artofvk.com/ Email: vladimirk@artofvk.com

3rd Sunday at the Gallery

Event Date: April 16th, 2023 Event Hours: 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Join us at the Gallery in Queen’s Park, on Sunday April 16th, 2023, from 1:00pm – 3:00pm, for an Artist Talk by exhibiting artist, Vladimir Kolosov.

“The goal is to acquaint audience with philosophy behind of my art and to give a brief journey behind the scenes of an artwork creation. Each piece is created spontaneously and based on my experience from talks with audience – the viewer is interested in the process of creation, expecting the unfolding through links that lead from the starting point, i.e. initial idea which is not sketched or clearly described to the final result when an artwork starts to live its own life.” ~ Vladimir Kolosov

“Rock Paper Scissors” – Queen’s Park Preschool Annual Exhibition! Mar.29 – April 9th, 2023

Exhibition Dates: March 29th – April 9th, 2023

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

Queen’s Park Parent Participation preschool combines the exploration of a variety of creative mediums with experimentation of materials for their art exhibit ROCK PAPER SCISSORS. While open ended process is the foundation of our artistic learning, the result is an artful montage, an ode to spring, featuring works in acrylic, water color, mixed media, stone, paper and clay.

“Common Threads” – by Victoria Mitchell, Mar.1-26th, 2023

Exhibition Dates: Mar. 1st – 26th, 2023

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

‘Common Threads’ acknowledges the interconnections between a variety of entities, explored through art. In painting and illustrating, tangential relationships can reach each other visibly, in ways that might otherwise be undefined. I find that engaging the energies and networks that exist within ourselves and with the environment, is an important way to demonstrate the interdependence we have with the natural world. Revealing these concepts through artwork, is an avenue for acknowledgement of the impact and sensitivities with our surroundings. It’s a great pleasure for me as an artist, to share these ongoing explorations, through a variety of scales and mediums.

ARTIST BIO

Victoria Mitchell was born in 1971 and raised in Vancouver BC. As a quiet child who struggled with shyness, she found a comfortable way to relate with subjects and adults through art. Victoria’s formal studies began with classical still life in oil paint. Next she explored materials in a less structured way, and learned to incorporate anatomical movement and free expression in charcoal and other media. Over time Victoria found her own balance between realism and the abstract.

For many years since her 20’s, Victoria was predominantly focused on work as an RMT. The creation of a home art studio broadened and enriched her explorations in abstract/ representational mixed media. She began showing her paintings again from 2017.

Victoria is continually inspired by her past work in massage and teaching yoga; the visual representation of body tissues that underlie what we may take at face value is particularly intriguing to her. Earlier formal teachings stressing the critical importance of technique, material & realism were good foundations for her artistic endeavours. However, venturing from literal points of reference has been most important in discovering broader emotional and visceral impacts. As much as Victoria is inspired by intricacies of the body, she is also very much influenced by other natural elements, flora and landscapes globally, and environmental concerns.

3rd Sunday at The Gallery

Sunday March 19, 2023, from 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Join us at the Gallery in Queen’s Park, on Sunday Mar.19th, 2023, from 1:00pm – 3:00pm, for an Artist Talk by exhibiting artist, Victoria Mitchell. Victoria will be sharing about her “100 day environmental project that was completed last year. This project was an important venture, in finding ways to express environmental sensitivities through artwork. Many who followed my work through the project commented on how much they learned from the discussions around the visual creations. This inspires me greatly, to continue communicating, for all of our habitual awareness of our sensitive surroundings.” ~ Mitchell.

“Guilty As Skin” ~ by Crystal Noir, Feb.1-26th, 2023

Exhibition Dates: Feb.1st – 26th, 2023

Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm

EXHIBITION STATEMENT

The concept for “Guilty As Skin” was born from my own feelings of fear being a Black woman, as we continue to witness harrowing displays of police violence towards BIPOC communities throughout Turtle Island (North America). This exhibition is an Afro-surreal exploration on the effects colonialism and post-colonialism has on the disproportionate and inflated rates of BIPOC individuals wrongly targeted, charged and incarcerated within the criminal justice system. Specifically, it focuses on how this dichotomy presents itself differently in both the system vs media in relation to gender, class and sexual identities – guiding the viewer through various scenarios of racial oppression.

The usage of Afro-Surrealism was critical to the creation of this series as it is more than just an artistic expression, but a political one and a form of self-assertion. Each piece presents numerous double meanings which challenge the viewer to push past their first interaction with the work. From the deconstructed heads of each figure, custom metallic colors that illuminate in low-light conditions and impasto brushwork synchronized to the state of each subject’s psyche – every choice is as deliberate and intentional as the brutality in question.

Having one’s identity dismantled, marginalized and regulated to non-human status demands both awareness and action. This series was created as a personal call-to-action to end the unjust policing of minority and disenfranchised bodies, and state-sanctioned acts of violence used as a tool to oppress BIPOC communities.

ARTIST BIO

Crystal Noir is an emerging self-taught artist of Jamaican and Ukrainian descent from
Vancouver, B.C. – the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəyə̓ m
(Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and s ̱ əlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Her
work explores the intricate effects of ongoing colonial violence and the interplay
between mental health disparities within BIPOC communities. Seeking to dispel
stigmatization and redefine taboo cultural conversations, her work is often
autobiographical and is likewise concerned with the experiences of being multiracial,
and the unique encounters of exclusion, colorism, privilege and guilt that those of
multiethnic lineage face.
Inspired by the Afro-Surrealist movement, Crystal combines figurative portraiture with
conceptual scenes that draw both from historic and current experiences related to
racial inequality, discrimination and stereotypes. Seeking to make sense of the effects
of such aggressions to the psyche of the BIPOC community – she explores the human
figure in a way that is accessible to a broad audience by deconstructing the heads of
her subjects to include the usage of symbolic metaphors. Often filled with ambiguity
and hidden messages, her work invites audiences to find themselves within the context
and themes of the individual and collective work.
Crystal comes from the corporate fashion world with a professional background in
branding, and brings this knowledge into her daily artistic practice. Her own physical
and mental health battle guided her to painting as a form of self-care, and an outlet
where she could express herself freely without imposed corporate constraints. She
credits the majority of her healing journey to her artistic practice and now uses her
work to speak out against the stigma associated with mental health disorders while
pushing awareness and conversations around issues affecting the livelihood and
legacy of the BIPOC community.

3rd Sunday at the Gallery

Sunday Feb.19th, 2023, from 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Join us at the Gallery in Queen’s Park, on Sunday Feb.19th, 2023, from 1:00pm – 3:00pm, for an Artist Talk & Presentation. Exhibiting artist, Crystal Noir, will be hosting an artist talk and visual presentation where you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about her, her work and artistic process, as well as the meaning and significance behind why she creates. Presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

“Paint The Train” – A Travelling Group Exhibit, Jan.6-29th, 2023

January 13, 2023

Exhibition Dates: Jan.6 – Jan.29th, 2022 Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm EXHIBITION STATEMENT The Arts Council of New Westminster (ACNW), in partnership with the Arts Council of […]