Woah! Last minute show?

I was sent this today, could it be a last minute show? Report back people!

Islander's Mind By Willie Seto

In “Islander’s Mind”, Willie Seto explores different shapes of people’s experience through his own islander’s eye. Using digital photo manipulation, Willie's photos become geometric works of optical illusion that distort one's perception of scale and object. Through his work, moments become islands in space and time: each both unique and familiar.

Opening Tonight!!!
8-11pm Show runs to Feb 19th
Fifty Fifty Arts Collective
2516 Douglas St
Victoria, BC

The Fifty Fifty Arts Collective presents:

VALENTINES PARTY!!
an evening of music, dancing, and love with

LISTENING PARTY
RUGGED UNCLE
LAKE COUNTRY
and a special secret band!

Tickets on sale as of Saturday January 23rd at Ditch. $8 advance $10 at door.
Doors at 7pm, Bands at 8pm sharp!
dancing will follow!

PLEASE NOTE: LIMITED CAPACITY. NO INS/OUTS. Please come on 'round the back!

Well that's the message. I think the Ministry may have something in the works too.

The Wright Stuff? - Jimmy Wright show at the View Street Gallery

Jimmy Wright died in 2008. I've seen lots of his work around town. Well at the View Street Art gallery there will be a show and sale of his work. I have a feeling it's going to be expeeeeensive! But you might be able to score some snacks and a glass of wine there.

Jimmy Wright
"Magnum Opus"
View Street Art Gallery
104-860 View Street
Victoria, BC
Opening night Friday February 5th six to nine o' clock
Show runs until March 6th

Liam Hanna-Lloyd is Back!

Small Works by Liam Hanna-Lloyd will be at the Ministry of Casual Living!

Liam Hanna-Lloyd presents his new scavengings. A self-taught artist, he finds lessons in old movie posters, house sparrows, memories and the subconscience. Closing reception on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 8pm.

Take a peek at his website.

Small Works
Liam Hanna-Lloyd
Ministry of Casual Living
1442 Haultain Street
Victoria, BC

Teachers of Teachers

Bill Zuk, Bow Glacier, print on paper, 2010

Do we get to grade them? A new show at the McPherson Library Gallery! This is the 30th year in a row that Art Education Faculty display their own work.

"The exhibit, with the largest group of contributors on record, will show the work from 22 studios of art educators who practice what they teach. The work comes from a range of backgrounds, from retired professors to masters students working as teaching assistants. On view will be themes capturing traditional and realistic perspectives to newer media explorations that are ephemeral and mystical."

Teachers of Teachers: 30th Annual Art Education Faculty Exhibition

McPherson Library Gallery

University of Victoria

Show runs March 17th

It's free!

Conversational Cafe at the Legacy Art Gallery

Lets cure our Saturday night hangovers by getting jittered up on coffee and listening to artists!

Conversational Cafe is in conjunction with the Coast Art Trust exhibit: "Cross Connections". The show is a selection of works by West Coast Artists. A large donation of more than one hundred works was made to the University of Victoria in June of last year, and Cross Connections is a peek at some of the works. The collection donated consists of fourty five different artists all who live on the west coast of British Columbia. There are paintings, sculpture, collage, mixed media and photography from three different decades of each artist's career, representing a historical overview of the works.

The talk will be Sunday January 31st and two of the artists in the show will be there: Gregg Simpson and Pnina Granirer. Martin Segger who is the Director of the Maltwood Gallery will also be tagging along. The topic of conversation? Why do people make stuff! Awesome.

Conversational Cafe

Legacy Art Gallery

630 Yates Street

Victoria, BC

Sunday January 31st, 1:30 to 2:30 in the afternoon

Admission is free but please reserve your place at 250-721-8480

Last chance to see "Watching Time" at Studio 16 1/2

Stefan Thompson is exhibiting at Studio 16 1/2. Show will be coming down this Friday January 15th, so this is your last chance to see it. Very cool paintings, get out there.

"Watching Time"

Stefan Thompson

Studio 16 1/2

16 Fan Tan Alley

Victoria, BC

Gallery Hours Thursday through Sat eleven to five o' clock

Visit their website here.

Opening this Friday "Homeless Awareness: an Exhibition of Art Work by People Who Have Experienced Homelessness"

Artists will recieve 100% of the sales.

"Homeless Awareness: an Exhibition of Art Work by People Who Have Experienced Homelessness"

Featured Artists Include:
George Williams
Vicki Bailey
Ian Morris
Robert MacDonald
Paula Johnson
Luke Garrison
Russell Maier
Taras Masciuch
Anne Campbell
Jerry Hayes

Show runs January 15 – February 27
705 Johnson Street
Victoria. BC
Hours are Wednesday to Saturday, eleven to five o'clock
Opening reception with the artists January 15, five to eight o' clock
Free event

For more information visit www.VictoriaFineArtFestival.org

Update: Show Me Your Wood

Photos from Cedric Bomford and Nathan Bomford's "Bamberton: Contested Landscapes" opening night at Open Space.

Bean to Xchanges Lately?

I know you're all groaning at that one. I couldn't help myself! Suzanne Bean has her opening night at Xchanges tonight. Lots of action on this Friday night. Be sure to check this one out as well as the Bomford brothers at Open Space. Below is a small write up Suzanne did for the show.

“Transitory by-products is an exhibition about our changing perceptions based on new sculptural material and the dialogue that is generated from the work. I work with mass-produced commodity products such as balloons, styrofoam cups, and pipe cleaners, which leads me away from object reference and finite questions. My process-based work is about following a dialogue with the material and then allowing the viewer to create questions that bring about a transformation in our perception of the world.”

Suzanne Bean
"Transitory by-products"

Opening Reception Friday January 8th, seven to nine

Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, one to five in the afternoon

Exhibition runs through to Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Xchanges Gallery

2333 Government Street

Victoria, BC

Cedric Bomford and Nathan Bomford at Open Space

Two brothers have been busy bees at Open Space. They get things done, just like the Sedins. So get on with making this new year a better one - get active and go out to the opening tonight. I'll see you there? Below is the media release.

"Inside the gallery space, artists Cedric Bomford and Nathan Bomford have built a massive installation entitled Bamberton: Contested Landscape. The brothers have transformed salvaged building materials into an overwhelming meditation on the built environment, density and spectacle. The Bomfords’ intuitive and collaborative working process drives the project—at times involving family members, volunteers and co-workers. This astonishing construction turns monumentalism inside out: in effect, it critiques systems of power expressed through architecture.

The Bomfords reuse materials from demolition sites and from their previous work. Bamberton: Contested Landscape confronts land use skirmishes of Bamberton (an abandoned cement plant on Vancouver Island site) through architectural references and a fabricated oratorical arena. The Bomfords have created structures that invite visitors to physically move through, over, under and around the installation. Tactile interaction heightens the theme of contested space and the artists’ playful, provocative strategies. Changes in elevation and position are coupled with the physicality of weathered wood and the Bomfords’ interventionist architecture.

Both Cedric and Nathan Bomford’s previous work is associated with photography. Cedric Bomford’s recent photographic and video work examines historically charged architectural subjects in documentary style images that betray “history” by highlighting the artifice rather than the actual subjects depicted. Similarly, Nathan Bomford’s previous work consists of photographs of empty theatrical scenes devoid of specific narratives. The brothers say their new direction towards a collaborative project represents a logical progression of their previous bodies of work and shared interests."

Cedric Bomford and Nathan Bomford

"Bamberton: Contested Landscapes"

Open Space

510 Fort Street

Victoria, BC

Opening Reception: Friday, January 8, 7:00 p.m.

Show runs until February 20

Panel Discussion Saturday February 20 at 2:00 p.m.

"Natural Disaster" Caleb Speller at the Slide Room Gallery

Check out this media release from Mr. Speller. I'll pass this on to my many naturalist buddies. Spread the word, or at least hug a tree.

"Natural Disaster presents five characters interacting with a Western Red Cedar in the lush and unique Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island. The old growth Western Red Hemlock and Douglas-fir trees found in Cathedral Grove have been both a source of wonder and aggravation for environmentalists. This one-of-a-kind forest has existed under the threat of logging and development since its discovery. If it weren’t for the few protestors who stood (and continue to stand) in the way of development, the giant trees would be long toppled, never to be enjoyed again. The characters in this project are presented in such a way as to reflect upon this problem that our province faces every day: the struggle to preserve the wilderness which surrounds us, while inviting the world to come and enjoy it with us. Everyone has a connection with nature, whether they acknowledge it or not, and the work which makes up Natural Disaster reflects the chain of command which sometimes breaks its hierarchal order as individuals begin to listen to one another. "

Visit Caleb's blog.

"Natural Disaster"
Caleb Speller
Opening Janurary 15th at seven thirty
Show runs until Feburary 15th
Slide Room Gallery
2549 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC

Division of Labor – Jess Wheaton & Jon Tracy at Deluge

Hooray! New art for the new year! This exhibit looks neat. Take a gander at the media release.

"In summer 2006 a disquieting study undertaken by the General Social Survey was published in the American Sociological Review. It had been found that a quarter of Americans say they have no one with whom they can discuss personal troubles, more than double the number who were similarly isolated in 1985. An increasingly fragmented society means that the psychological and civic benefits of intimate social ties are evaporating, and in these current hard times, far more people appear to suffer alone.

Wheaton and Tracy, both born near the first study, and both Americans who have lived in other countries, study both meanings of the phrase Division of Labor through their practice. Together they act as both a "contingent" of labor, laboring in the name of partnership, and as artists dividing between themselves the work they believe needs to be done. Tracy's paintings place people from his life in fantastic, combinative settings suggestive of the nature of globalization. Within these environments, his figures tackle real-world challenges through his lens of personal symbolism. Wheaton's paintings and installations explore ways of making both historically "universal," as well as subjective thought and understanding, readable. This method conveys a deep faith in visual logic, while commenting on the impossibility of objective understanding.

Jon Tracy holds a BFA from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, and spent this past summer studying art in Paris, France. His work has been shown at the State Capital in California, The Oliver Art Center in Oakland, and Ego Park in Oakland. Jon lives and works in Oakland, California.

Jess Wheaton is a painter currently living and working in San Francisco. She received her BFA from the California College of the Arts in December. Her work has been shown at Rare Device in San Francisco, the Fifty Fifty Arts Collective in Canada, and Artists Space in New York."

Holy moly! Objective understanding really is impossible ain't it?

"Division of Labor"
Jess Wheaton and Jon Tracy
Opening January 15th at seven o' clock
Show runs until Feburary 13th
Exhibition Hours: Wed to Sat, 12 to 5pm
Deluge Gallery
636 Yates Street
Victoria, BC