Excavating N. Vancouver

Free with admission

 

 

Relatedexhibition: N. Vancouver

The Polygon Gallery presents Excavating N. Vancouver, the first in a series of free public talks in conjunction with the ongoing exhibition N. Vancouver. This panel brings into conversation Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Cameron Kerr, Holly Ward, Tracy Williams, and Cease Wyss, who will discuss source materials and the histories, traditions, and techniques drawn from them. Each artist will introduce his or her work, followed by a question and answer period moderated by exhibition curator Reid Shier.

Cameron Kerr is an artist based in North Vancouver and in currently completing a Masters of Fine Art in visual art at UBC. His research focuses on the relationship between the 'architecture' of the human brain and city infrastructure design and abstract methodologies. He works in a wide array of materials ranging from painting and sculpture to photography and video.

Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill is a Vancouver-based Cree-Metis artist and writer, living on unceded Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh territory. Her work is rooted in gathering materials from specific sites, tracing the histories and knowledge embedded in these objects in relation to where they were found. This present-day archaeology informs her sculptures and installations. Highlighting issues of land use, occupation and ownership, Hill also investigates the circulation of items in underground economies, such as black-market transactions.

Sesemiya-Tracy Williams is a fifth-generation cedar weaver and member of the Squamish Nation. She has revived and learned many weaving techniques previously thought to be lost, and is invested in sharing her knowledge with youth. She has developed numerous programmes for connecting Squamish youth to traditional hand technologies and knowledge for living off the land. Williams was recognised in 2006 for her ongoing work as an Outstanding Supporter of Youth by the City of North Vancouver.

T'uy't'tanat-Cease Wyss is a writer, educator, and interdisciplinary artist of Skwxwu7mesh/Sto:Lo/Metis/Hawaiian/Swiss descent. Her work is focused on sustainability, Coast Salish Cultural elements, ethnobotany, and community engagement. Wyss has recently returned to a textiles art practice, having learned Coast Salish weaving techniques in wool and cedar through a mentorship grant she received from the First Peoples Cultural Foundation.

Holly Ward is an interdisciplinary artist based between Vancouver and Heffley Creek, in the BC Interior. Ward works with sculpture, multimedia installation, architecture, and drawing to study the role of aesthetics in forming new social realities. Founded on research in philosophy, political science, visionary architecture, countercultural practices, science fiction, and urban planning, her work probes the dual nature of utopia: at once a collective ideal and a site of contention.

Photo: Cameron Kerr