CAG Goes to the Circus

Thank you Cirque du Soleil for giving us tickets to send our volunteers to the Circus. We were able to offer a few opening night tickets that were donated to us by Cirque du Soleil to some of our especially active and long-term volunteers, who have recently gone above and beyond in helping with CAG programming and special projects.

Here’s what some of the volunteers had to say about Kooza:

“The age old tradition of acrobatic’s can still give an audience a chill… it certainly gave me one as I witnessed beautiful elegance from carrot topped trapeze artists and reckless abandon on the part of wrestler like acrobats who were determined to push the will to live to the extreme” – Daniel

“It was a Classic Cirque performance. We were totally entertained, from the humorous antics of the French Canadian pick pocket/magician to the wheel-of-death jumping acrobats”. – Charles

and about the experience of volunteering at the CAG:

“The most interesting part of volunteering at the CAG is the feeling I get that I am helping, in some small way, the art community. I love the shows that are put on in the gallery, the staff, and the artists that choose to show. When I am working there I feel like I am part of something that really matters to a community of artists and people who have a love affair with art, and I’m just happy that I can provide all of them with a service to keep that community flourishing. ” – Charles

“I love talking about art and exploring the various meanings and interpretations that art installations can evoke. Volunteering at the CAG lets me do this, plus everyone there is devoted and passionate about working in a not-for-profit environment that encourages art exploration. Overall it’s just an enjoyable experience.” – Briana

“What I enjoy about making the guided visits at the CAG is that every tour is different, you engage in different discussions with the public, no matter what age they have and that’s always surprising.” – Patricia

CAG volunteers and friends at the circus

rethink + cag

The staff of Rethink communications visit Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still Life

On Friday evening, the CAG played host (a beer friday event!) to the staff from Rethink communications as a  thank you for their continued collaboration and participation with ongoing  yearly projects.

We are extremely grateful to the dedicated staff at Rethink for all their hard work, which includes the creation of our much admired website: 

www.contemporaryartgallery.ca

www.rethinkcanada.com

Ian Grais (founder and partner, Rethink) with Christina Ritchie (CAG Executive Director) and Jenifer Papararo (CAG Curator)

Ian Grais and the staff of Rethink

admiring Jayce Salloum's 'flowers, 1999-2010'

rethink staff 'mingling' at the CAG

thanks rethink!

In June I took over at the reins of the CAG’s 2010 auction catalogue. Previously, this task had fallen to Jill Henderson, the Gallery Coordinator. This year, a Young Canada Works grant provided an opportunity to hire someone new to oversee production of the catalogue full-time.

I jumped at the opportunity to do something similar to the consistently edifying, but unpaid, work I have done for the past four years on Pyramid Power, an experimental arts magazine. Since the moment I arrived, I have felt entirely at ease—thanks, doubtless, to the gracious welcome I received, not to mention the atmosphere of good-natured ribbing that prevails. I repaid this kindness by passing on a cold from my one-year-old, Francis.

Fresh from my first year at UBC’s Critical and Curatorial studies program, I have been trying to absorb as much as I can about the CAG’s inner workings. Whereas the program largely focuses on the theoretical side of curating, one of the field’s main allures for me has always been its practical aspects—what you might call the art of getting things done. This is, of course, the business that takes up much of the days here. Between, Christina, Allison, Jenifer, Jill, Abi and Phil, I feel privileged to have such an adept crew to observe and learn from.

Jonah Gray

guided visit volunteers, bring to life, still life

Students from Vancouver Film School participating in a guided visit inspect Kelly Mark's 'GDS (graphite drawing series) Still Life #3'

During the Summer months and into the fall the CAG is excited to be offering guided visits of our exhibitions, free of charge and to wider audiences,

thanks in part to our dedicated volunteer guided visit leaders !

In June we have already accomodated groups from Vancouver Film School, Yaletown Montessori pre-school and our first German language visit.

Keep posted for an upcoming French language guided visit in mid July, date to be announced !

Gerald Ferguson, 'Apple' 1985, cast iron. From the exhibition Triumphant Carrot; The Persistence of Still Life

Eric Cameron, 'Beer Can-Can (1248)', 1997 from Triumphant Carrot; The Persistence of Still Life

If you would like to book a free guided visit please contact Jill Henderson  j.henderson@contemporaryartgallery.ca to arrange to bring your group, large or small, from your family, community, school, summer camp or workplace !

CAG Announces New Board Members

from left: Mark Shieh, Rick Erickson, Ross Hill, Mark Wentzell

The Contemporary Art gallery is pleased to announce the election of four new Members of its Board of Directors at its AGM on Tuesday June 22, as well as the appointment of new officers.

New Board Members are Rick Erickson, Mark Shieh, Mark Wentzell and Bruce Wright.

Rick Erickson is a passionate collector of contemporary Vancouver art and a recognized philanthropist of the arts. His business interests are in commercial and residential property.

Mark Shieh is the Director of Take Root Properties, a real estate development company. His latest project is revitalizing River Market in New Westminster. He previously served on the Vancouver City Planning Commission.

Mark Wentzell is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Insolvency and Restructuring Professional. He is Senior Vice President, Restructuring & Reorganization at Grant Thornton Limited and is responsible for delivery of all reorganization and corporate recovery services in British Columbia.

Bruce Wright is the managing partner at Goodmans’ Vancouver office.  He has practiced corporate and securities law at the firm since 1996.  Bruce is Immediate Past Chair of Vancouver Opera and is currently President of the Health Arts Society (British Columbia) and is a board member of Frontier College, the national literacy organization.

Outgoing President Bruce Haden, of Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden, is succeeded by Ross Hill, Managing Partner of Hill’s of Kerrisdale. The position of Vice President is taken up by Marcella Munro, Senior Consultant with Earnscliffe Strategy Group. David Brown of Stikeman Elliot LLP, and Tia Walsh of Walsh King Chartered Accountants retain their respective positions of Secretary and Treasurer.

The Board also includes Vikky Alexander, Germaine Koh, Attila Richard Lukacs, Nada Vuksic and Stephen Waddell.

VFS students share thoughts on Still Life

Students from Vancouver Film School class FD41 came to the CAG for a guided visit, and created video responses to what they saw in the exhibition Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still Life. You can view some of the results below.
We can’t wait to see what these students produce in reaction to our next show!

quiz answers…

Quiz answers by Charles Collins, drawing version !

The Still Life Quiz

This week, the blog challenge to the CAG staff and volunteers was to re-create one of the ‘Still Life’ artworks from the current exhibition: Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still Life. 

There was of course, a catch.  The ‘DIY still life re-makes’ had to be constructed from ‘found’ items borrowed from around the CAG offices and workshop area (as per Erica Stocking style!).

Prizes will be given for the correct identification of all the artworks represented below, or send us your own versions ? Good luck guessing which is which !

# 1

# 2

# 3

# 4

# 5

# 6

# 7

# 8

# 9

# 10

# 11

# 12

# 13

Answers in next blog post !

contributors: Christina Ritchie, Phil Dion, Hannah Hughes, Jill Henderson, Allison Andrachuk, Jonah Gray, Abi Thatcher, Daniel Potter, Neudis Abreu and Casey McLachlan

One Question: Two Answers

We’ve just posted 2 new videos on our website, featuring Brad Phillips and Kelly Lycan.  Both artists have work in our current exhibition Triumphant Carrot: The Persistence of Still Life.

Click below to hear these artists respond to a question regarding their use of materials.

http://www.contemporaryartgallery.ca/#play