A Closer Look, a provocative and whimsical exhibition exploring the sense of home and celebrating the craft and work of women, will come to the Kay Meek Arts Centre from Wednesday, May 22 to Sunday, June 30.
In participation with the West Vancouver Community Arts Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding cultural opportunities for West Vancouver and all North Shore residents, artists Emily Cowan, Mallory Donen and West Vancouver’s Joanne Frewer will present their artworks.
Through various media from painting to embroidery to assemblage, these artists will investigate themes of home, women’s work, traditional craft, and change.
Joanne Frewer is a West Vancouver-based multidisciplinary artist creating shadow-boxed assemblage works that combine the every day and the spiritual.
Frewer’s pieces offer viewers glimpses into other spaces including a Mexican kitchen, a Parisian flat, and a Buddhist shrine. They are full of tiny pieces of décor, furniture, and other objects either handmade by Frewer in her home studio on the Ambleside waterfront or collected on her travels around the globe.
A self-taught miniaturist, Frewer hopes her tiny shadowbox scenes will inspire viewers to slow down and take the time to investigate not only the worlds she has created, but also the ever-changing ones we live in.
Accompanying Frewer are works by Mallory Donen and Emily Cowan.
Donen is a textile artist from Vancouver. Her work explores the intersection of digital art and embroidery through processes rooted in traditional craft passed down from generations of women in her family to create pixelated images using the distinct format of cross-stitching.
Cowan is a Vancouver painter. She aims to elevate the work of creating a home traditionally done by women, through colourful and stylized images of houses’ exteriors, interiors and domestic scenes while also bringing the ever-increasing housing crisis to the fore.
An engaging livestream conversation with the artists, in which they will share insights into their artistic processes and inspirations, will also take place on Friday, May 30, at 7 p.m. Join via the West Van Arts Council Youtube channel.
Dates: May 22-June 30
Times: Monday to Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Location: Kay Meek Arts Centre, 1700 Mathers Ave, West Vancouver
Fatemeh Falah is an intern reporter with the North Shore News. She can be contacted at [email protected].
