ACS VIRTUAL GALLERY: ARTS 2020

A special acknowledgement and ‘thank you’ goes out to: City of Surrey, Surrey Art Gallery Team, the Jurors, the ACS Team, STCcreatives.com, the Federation of Canadian Artists and of course all the artisans who participated.

TO VIEW EACH WORK IN MORE DETAIL, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FIRST IMAGE IN EACH CATEGORY AND IT WILL ENLARGE FOR EASY VIEWING.

COPYRIGHT: Please note that all art work is under copyright and may not be reproduced in any way without the expressed permission of the Arts Council of Surrey. Send your request to info@artscouncilofsurrey.ca | SUBJECT: ARTS 2020

PURCHASE ARTS 2020 WORKS: If you are interested in purchasing any of the work available for sale, please send your request with Category Number, Artist Name, Title, Item info and Sale info to info@artscouncilofsurrey.ca. The ACS TEAM will gladly arrange for you to safely view the work as the artists intended and help facilitate the sale between the artist and buyer.

We would like to extend our thanks to the three jurors who had the difficult duty of selecting winners from a vast array of incredible submissions. The jurors for ARTS 2020 were…

Paulo Majano | Visual Arts Professor @Kwantlen Polytechnic University
I would like to thank all the artists who submitted their artwork this year. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to see the wide range of approaches and the different points of view that artists in our region express through their talent and dedication to art making. The artists in the Arts Council of Surrey Exhibition now share their ideas, their passions, and their insights through the artworks in this online show. Art is made for as many reasons as there are artists working to create it, and once it is ready to be presented art can become an invitation to us – the viewers – to see the world from different perspectives, to be challenged in our assumptions, and to be inspired.

Chito Maravilla | Artist
It was an exciting but challenging experience to judge a hundred plus artworks that I carefully reviewed and they all have their own stories and charm. There are works that really resonate among each category and they are visually arresting to my memory when I close my eyes. There’s a certain language that made them communicate. It could be the balance in composition or the application skill. Their impulse and courage of knowing when to stop, that the imperfection totally becomes perfect or simply the concept of at least making things original.

Suvi Bains | Curatorial Assistant at Surrey Art Gallery
This year’s ARTS 2020 online juried exhibition was a unique opportunity to jury a diverse selection of artworks. This online platform created more opportunities for local, regional, and international artists to submit their works. The entrants demonstrated strong representations of various mediums, and critical thinking that built dialogue in the artist’s artistic expression and original thinking. As one of the jurors, a challenge was not being able to see the visually stunning artworks up close. None the less, the artworks exhibited artistic maturity and the works take a critical stance in relation to the current climate in these unprecedented times. It was an incredible honour to jury for ARTS 2020, and congratulations to all the artists who submitted their works and to the award winners, these were truly excellent works.

CATEGORY 1 PAINTING | ARTIST STATEMENTS

First Place | Lorena Krause “Cellular Neural Network”
“Cellular Neural Network” is inspired by analog signal processing systems. The visibly protruding shapes and circuit lines are made of sculpted paint, applied by hand and added to the canvas with impasto techniques I developed over time, creating a sensory engagement with paint, lines, volume and texture, pastes and structures designed also to play with shadow and light. A visual ectropy as an overall visual organization of a system resulting from growth and development, blurring the line between abstraction and representation 2D and 3D, while reinterpreting and questioning electronic technology and its growing involvement in our lives.

Second Place | Paul Stilwell “Tires Out”
Late afternoon light. There’s a tranquility, yet danger lurks.

Third Place | Dione Dolan “Safe Haven”
Vibrant moss thrives on a bare tree that has offered a lush and rich source of nutrients.

Honourable Mention | Paul Eccles “Covid Wholesale”
This painting is the result of a 1 and a 1/2 hour lineup for Costco. The imagery and characters within the piece allow the viewer to experience “The New Normal.” It has a lot more detail than my usual work, perhaps as a result of laying low during the pandemic.

Honourable Mention | Shannon Harvey “Medusa Rising”
This new work is inspired by an interest in how power has come to be defined along lines of gender. Though we perceive the world of Greece, Rome and Egypt as ancient history, their legacy continues to be felt through our culture, our ways of governing, and our gender dynamics. Images and stories in which women are killed, raped, or transformed into voiceless creatures have had an enduring impact on how we perceive.

Honourable Mention | Denise Paluck “Beach Creature”
On the West Coast of Vancouver Island, winter storms pound and polish driftwood into fantastical shapes. This work was inspired by a massive tree trunk washed up on Florencia Bay, which had so many protrusions that it looked as though it was ambling up the beach to meet someone.

CATEGORY 2 DRAWING + MIXED MEDIA | ARTIST STATEMENTS

First Place | Paul Stilwell “Red Cedar Strength”
The erosion of the earth from around the red cedar exposes some of its roots. It looks as if it wants to start walking.

Second Place | Kanswaljit Kaur Kundhal “Obession With Abstraction 1”
I love to express my emotions through visual language, focusing on effect through lines, colors, and textures, rather than accurate representation. I wish to fly with open wings, the rest is the viewer’s interpretation.

Third Place | Roxsane K. Tiernan “Dark Waters”
Dark Waters reminds me of a secret garden—a place few people will ever see, a hidden gem near the Earls Cove Ferry. This piece is mainly chigiri-e, using a broad assortment of mainly washii papers to create this complex scene of a body of water with trees overshadowing it.

Honourable Mention | Hazel Breitkreutz “Isabella”
Rhythms of red on complements of green give punch and vitality to Isabella. Light plays over her face adding mystery and intrigue.

Honourable Mention | Linda Pearce “Disorientation”
It is such a strange thing. I find it helpful during difficult times to ground myself with wandering, off road drawings or paintings.

Honourable Mention | Daniel Tibbits “Sacred Ecology”
The forest can teach us to see value in all things living and dead. Even when a tree supposedly dies, it changes its purpose and provides for all the nature that surrounds.

CATEGORY 3 SCULPTURES + FIBRE ART

First Place | Karen Kroeker “A Vision“
This work is part of a series on dreams. ‘A Vision’ tries to interpret what seeing something miraculous in your sleep might look and feel like.

Second Place | Lenka Suchanek “Meganeura”
Meganeura, a dragonfly’s ancestor from the Carboniferous period, symbolizes transformation, survival, and the incredible ability of Earth creatures to adapt and evolve with the environment. Watching dragonflies, and knowing that their progenitor Meganeura lived 300 million years ago, always fills me with awe and reverence for our planet and all life it carries. This work is an offering, and a prayer for us, people on this Earth, to listen and learn from her wisdom… before it is too late.

Third Place | Carla Paterson “Wish I Could Hug You”
This embroidery depicts a dear child. It speaks to the hardship of physical distancing particularly in the case of grandparents and grandchildren.

Honourable Mention | Yulia Boriskina “Keep What Matters”
Sometimes I wonder what our planet would be like if humans didn’t have enough air to breath. Would we value what is really important to us only when we lose it? This artwork shows a girl who keeps her flower, the last remaining fragment of wilderness.

Honourable Mention | Ewa Brzezinski “Inner”
The invisible forces within that manifest themselves in the essence of existence.

CATEGORY 4 PHOTOGRAPHY

First Place | Jonathan Lee “Midtown Truck, Service Inc”
The Old Midtown Garage caught my eye as it sat in disrepair. I was drawn into the different sections of the building and how it fits into the East Vancouver neighborhood.

Second Place | Francisco Molina “CORVID-19 Lockdown 3”
Unfortunately the current reality of isolation and protection during the pandemic has all of us living inside a bubble that is transparent and feels like floating in an immense space, void of contact.

Third Place | Jesse Vance “Proof-CF014874 – Bench”
(Working Project) This project is the embodiment of human life as we know it. The fact that we are all on this journey in life, unknown of where we’re going on this path, only to see little of what is in front of us. But what we do see is the beautiful nature and light within that surrounds us, encapsulating this life we lead together.

Honourable Mention | Julia Chang “Corner”
Through photography, I aim to capture deliberate, consequential, and accidental moments shaped by human touch. It is a place few will go, and for most who do, once. This photo is evidence that the surreal moments of our memory are just as surreal and ephemeral in reality.

Honourable Mention | Kathy Burton “Tranquility”
This photo was taken at sunrise in Fort Langley while standing on the bridge facing east. lt was a clear morning when suddenly a light fog rolled in.

Honourable Mention | Lynne Kelman “Fille Dans Le Train”
This image is part of a series interpreting “film noir.” I have focused on that quiet occupation of day dreaming—subjects caught in thought and wonder. You the viewer are left to interpret “the story”—what each person is thinking, where there mind is going. All of the images in this series translate mood and finesse into black and white printing.

CATEGORY 5 DIGITAL + PERFORMATIVE + NEW MEDIA ART

First Place | Michele Broadfoot “Fluffing My Feathers”
This Sandhill crane fluffs her feathers. I digitally painted the background for a soft effect.

Second Place | Naomi Moore “Were In This Together”
Swirling through the sky in magnificent choreographed displays, together as one, this flock creates a mesmerizing aerobatic ballet. They are “in it together” as they dance and move collectively, changing shape as a thousand pairs of wings move as one.

Third Place | Hafeez Mian “Barco”
Boat in Spanish.

Honourable Mention | Helmut Gruntorad “Haleakala Volcano, Maui Hawaii”
Haleakala Volcano on the Island of Maui Hawaii with an elevation of 10,023 feet at the top.