Griffin Art Projects
1174 Welch Street V7P 2R5 North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Whose Chinatown? curator and artist Karen Tam reflects on anti-Asian racism with The Sunday Magazine on CBC Radio. Listen to the interview here: https://www.cbc.ca//the-sunday-magazine-for-april-4-2021-1 Montreal artist and curator Karen Tam has made a career of exploring the commodification of Chinese-Canadian cultural spaces, and how Chinese Canadians have used exoticism and stereotypes to ensure their own economic survival. Her latest project is called Whose Chinatown? ...It speaks, in part, to the wounds inflicted by anti-Asian racism, from the wave of aggression and violence we have seen this last year, going all the way back to the 1800s. Tam reflects on culture, identity, and the devastating effects of racism and fear in Canada's Asian communities. Images 1: Installation view, Whose Chinatown?, photo by SITE Photography. Image 2: Detail shot: Ruinscape Wallpaper, 2021, Karen Tam, Printed repositionable wall fabric, Dimensions variable. Photo by SITE Photography.

Please join us for Whose Chinatown: A Virtual Conference, presented by the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop Society, Centre A, Griffin Art Projects and The New Gallery on April 10 and 11, live over Zoom. To register, see a full conference schedule, list of participant bios, restaurant recommendations and information about our collaborative supporters, please visit the link here: https://www.griffinartprojects.ca//visions-for-chinatown-a Whose Chinatown: A Virtual Conferenc...e brings together a weekend of collaborative panels and talks facilitated live over zoom, brought to you by Griffin Art Projects, Centre A, The New Gallery and the Asian Canadian Writer’s Workshop with collaborative support from Tea Base, aiya and Youth Collaborative for Chinatown. Join us for a weekend of conversation, connection, and solidarity as we celebrate Chinatowns across the country and engage with topics that range from cultural heritage and revitalization to gentrification, economy and the changes that have swept across Canada’s Chinatowns due to development and population, prior to and post-COVID. Images: Morris Lum, documentation of Friends of Chinatown Toronto's development sign, Documentation of aiya’s Harbin Gate events, aiya, 2018

Day 2 of IG takeover as part of the Whose Chinatown ? exhibition @griffinartprojects . Figures and Figurines representations of Chinese people. Collections that are assembled in my studio, objects reclaimed and repatriated to Chinatown. Hero’s, anti-hero’s including kitsch, racist, decorative , beauty, strength . spiritual, action figures and demigods . I love this stuff - it’s my history. 1. The gorgeous porcelain nude women was acquired in Chinatown in the 1980’s as a vinta...ge object. It came with broken fingers . The front plastic figure is a monk with cell front flanked by two bobbing head figures - the type of thing that would have been placed on car dashboards. 2,3. Bruce Lee is everything. 4. Ceramic & Bronze labourers, the ceramic figure is a vase that can also hang off a wall. 5. Wong family home altar flanked by a pair of very old porcelain urns depicting fauna and flora. 6. Plexiglass Art Deco lamp with male & female figures . 7. Chairman Mao memorabilia , most I collected in China in the 1980’s . 8. 1950’s chrome kitchen covered with Chou En Lai textile. He was Mao’s right hand man . I covered this chair 30 years ago. See more

Grade 2/3 students at Lynn Valley Elementary had the opportunity to explore collaborative art making with Master Printmaker Jillian Ross. They researched and de...veloped drawings of black and white rhinoceroses. The students also explored new materials and techniques and learned through their senses. Thank you to Griffin Art Projects for supporting Jillian's time with the students. Read more here http://ow.ly/IR2w50EbFNt Artists for Kids & Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art See more

Griffin Art Projects would like to welcome its artist-in-residence for the month of February, Jillian Ross. Jillian Ross, a leading South African collaborative master printer, returned to Canada in 2020. Ross has been the Master Printer and Director of the David Krut Workshop (DKW) in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the past 16 years working with celebrated South African and international artists in collaborative printmaking. Ross' most notable ongoing collaboration exists w...ith William Kentridge. Since 2006 the workshop has collaborated with the artist in creating over 150 editions. Among others, three major bodies of work are the "Triumphs and Laments Woodcuts" series of six life-size, multiple-plate woodcuts with collage (20162020); the "Universal Archive" series of 75 linocuts on dictionary pages (20112014); and "The Nose "series of 30 etchings (20062010). During her time in residence, Ross will be assembling Refugees, a culminating diptych from William Kentridge’s Triumphs and Laments Woodcuts series. Ross will also present a live virtual studio tour and talk, offering an overview of her work with Kentridge and providing insights into the inner workings of the print shop. This event will also offer a fascinating glimpse into the woodcut process: from the initial drawing performed by the artist, through the projection and tracing, the wood carving, the inking and the printing, to the trimming, assembling and finishing touches! Live from the Studio: Jillian Ross | February 20, 2021 | 1pm | Link on Website www.jillianrossprint.com Image: Jillian Ross at the David Krut Workshop

Join three Canadian Collectors live over Zoom for an intimate look into their personal collections and the narratives they reveal surrounding Chinese Canadian cultures, communities and histories, both real and imagined.

Sunday, January 31, 2021 | 1PM | Curator’s tour with Karen Tam Registration link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mJSq_h8hQtCb_Ida3goUpw Join guest curator Karen Tam for a live virtual tour of Griffin Art Project’s current exhibition Whose Chinatown? Examining Chinatown Gazes in Art, Archives, and Collections.... Karen Tam is a Montreal-based artist and curator whose research focuses on the various forms of constructions and imaginations of cultures and communities, through her installation work in which she recreates spaces of Chinese restaurants, karaoke lounges, opium dens, curio shops and other sites of cultural encounters. Since 2000, she has exhibited her work and participated in residencies in North America, Europe, and China.Tam holds a MFA in Sculpture from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a PhD in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths (University of London). She is a contributor to Alison Hulme (ed.) book, The Changing Landscape of China’s Consumerism (2014) and to John Jung’s book, Sweet and Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurant (2010). She is represented by Galerie Hugues Charbonneau.

Griffin Art Projects is excited to be launching it's new YouthHub program. For registration or more information, please contact [email protected]

Open Studio with Kelly Lycan | Sunday November 29, 2020 | 1PM Registration link: https://zoom.us//regi/tJIld-6oqDwvGtP8kMhmjPX3NG9NMZ9Z_BSX Join Griffin’s current artist-in-residence, Kelly Lycan, for an artist talk live over zoom to learn more about what she has been up to throughout her time at Griffin Art Projects!... Kelly Lycan is a photo-based installation artist who resides in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Lycan’s work investigates the way objects and images are placed and displayed in the world and the cycle of value they experience. She employs photography and sculpture in order to engage them beyond medium specificity. Her work has been exhibited across Canada, the US, Europe and the Middle East. www.kellylycan.com Photos taken by Kelly Lycan, showcasing some of her current project at Griffin’s artist residence.

A look back at Antonia Hirsch's piece "Mobilemobile I" 2016 featured in the exhibition zero, ground at Griffin Art Projects in 2018 "zero, ground" looked at a...rt works that engage darkness and its potential. Taking inspiration for its title from 0, 10 The Last Futurist Exhibition, this project considers the impact of formal negation as a device since the obliterating effect of Malevich’s Black Square, 1915. The show featured works by artists Tacita Dean, Tara Donovan, Stan Douglas, Amber Frid-Jimenez, Rodney Graham, Antonia Hirsch, Denzil Hurley, Philipp Lachenmann, Myfanwy MacLeod, Damian Moppett, Bettina Pousttchi, Kathy Slade, Beate Terfloth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. ____________________ Antonia Hirsch Mobilemobile I, 2016 Dibond, spring steel, stainless steel 175.3 x 175.3 x 175.3 cm Private Collection ____________________ Photography courtesy of Lee Plested and Griffin Art Projects ____________________ @antonia.hirsch @griffinartprojects

Remembering Harbin Gate with aiya | Sunday, November 8 | 1:00 PM 2:30 PM Regristration Link: https://zoom.us//regi/tJApduyoqT4qG9OygzrB2pLP5WrP_36whOPM Edmonton’s Harbin Gate was dismantled for LRT construction on November 4, 2017. In response, aiya, an intergenerational group of Edmonton-based artists and Chinatown community members, invited contributors to share their memories of Edmonton’s Harbin Gate by expressing their thoughts in the form of an art calligrap...hy banner. Participants were invited to mourn, be sad, be angry and share their stories, memories and wishes. This project resulted in a community art installation that served as a visual mark of this important community icon. Griffin Art Projects is thrilled to host a live virtual Zoom presentation and workshop with aiya. Participants will learn first hand about the Harbin Gate Remembrance Project, followed by a hands-on virtual workshop in which participants will be invited to create a calligraphy and crochet banner of their own. This event is scheduled in anticipation of Whose Chinatown? Examining Chinatown Gazes in Art, Archives, and Collections, guest curated by Karen Tam and scheduled for exhibition at Griffin Art Projects from January 29 - May 1 2021. This exhibition brings together an art history of Chinatowns and their communities by historical and contemporary Canadian artists such Emily Carr, Unity Bainbridge, Paul Caron, Yucho Chow, Fred Herzog, Paul Wong, Mary Sui Yee Wong, Morris Lum, and aiya, among others. Complementing the artworks are artefacts and materials from family and institutional archives, as well as a robust public programming. This exhibition aims to question how narratives are constructed around the idea of Chinatown and the colonial notions that underwrite some of these relations. Registration for this online workshop is limited to 15 participants. Please note that this workshop is for BEGINNER crocheters. All workshop materials will be available for pickup at the gallery on Saturdays from October 24th - November 7th from noon - 5pm.

Come view our current exhibition, NOW BULLETIN, today from 12-5pm at Griffin Art Projects. Now Bulletin is an exhibition, residency and public program on the archive, collection and works of eminent Vancouver artist and former NSCAD president, Garry Neill Kennedy. Reflecting on hospitality, history, memory and the archive in relation to Kennedy and his long history at NSCAD, this project also invites previous NSCAD alumni to collaboratively explore this history through publi...c programs, a residency and a publication. NOW BULLETIN will be exhibited until December 12th. We are open to the public on Saturdays, from 12-5pm. Image: NOW BULLETIN installation shot. Top left to bottom right: Garry Neill Kennedy; GARRY NEILL KENNEDY; 1986; Graphite, ink, yellow pencil crayon, eight drawings on gridded vellum paper; Collection of the Artists. Garry Neill Kennedy; American History Painting (Cross Section); 1991-2011; Photograph; Collection of the Artist. Garry Neill Kennedy; An Eye for An Eye; 2014; Silkscreen print with six colour variations. Photo by Rachel Topham photography.

https://youtu.be/haSkN2bb2VU Griffin Projects is excited to share the second of a two-part interview with New York based artist and founder of Franklin Furnace, Martha Wilson. Presented in conjunction with Griffin’s current exhibition Now Bulletin, Wilson talks about her experiences growing up in a quaker family in Newtown, Pennsylvania, followed by her move to Halifax and the relationship she developed with NSCAD’s burgeoning arts community, as well as her eventual move to N...ew York City and the founding of Franklin Furnace. Wilson will be hosting a live virtual artist talk over Zoom this Sunday, October 25th, 2020 (sign up here: https://zoom.us//regi/tJIocOuqpz4oEtCb5vJDp3IgGBOAqCVNAGrz), during which she'll be expanding on her experiences as a young artist in Halifax in the 1970’s and her post-Halifax years in New York City, beginning with the founding and evolution of Franklin Furnace and ending with her current work and artistic practice. Currently based in New York city, Martha Wilson is a pioneering feminist artist and gallery director, whose innovative photographic and video works explore her female subjectivity through role-playing, costume transformations, and invasions of other people’s personae. Wilson completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Wilmington College in Ohio, and her graduate studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia. Wilson taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to New York City in 1974. Two years later she founded and continues to direct Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space that champions the exploration, promotion and preservation of artists’ books, installation art, video, online and performance art.

The Mill: Director’s talk and Q/A with David Craig | Sunday November 15th, 2020 | 1 PM Registration: https://zoom.us//regi/tJYqdOihrTMqH9brHJL5TDEdvQloqGCzTzwd Watch the trailer: https://vimeo.com/365068011... Griffin Art Projects invites viewers to stream David Craig’s The Mill, a gripping portrait of a rural community deeply divided over the fate of the local pulp mill. Welcome to Pictou County, Nova Scotia where a plan to redirect pulp effluent into the fishing grounds of the Northumberland Strait has stirred controversy. Lobster fishermen say No Pipe! The mill says No Pipe No Mill. A line has been drawn and with hundreds of jobs at stake the issue has reached a boiling point! Following the film, Griffin will be hosting a live director’s talk and Q/A with David Craig, a prominent Canadian filmmaker and former student of Garry Neill Kennedy. This program is presented in conjunction with Griffin Art Projects Now Bulletin: Artworks, Letters and Printed Matter from the Garry Neill Kennedy Collection 1968 - 2019 an exhibition, residency series, public art project and public program on the archive, collection and works of eminent Vancouver artist and former NSCAD president, Garry Neill Kennedy, as well as the legacy and careers of NSCAD grads across Canada and beyond.

https://youtu.be/80crQjwGAjc Griffin Projects is excited to share the first of a two-part interview with New York based artist and founder of Franklin Furnace, Martha Wilson. Presented in conjunction with Griffin’s current exhibition Now Bulletin, Wilson talks about her experiences growing up in a quaker family in Newtown, Pennsylvania, followed by her move to Halifax and the relationship she developed with NSCAD’s burgeoning arts community, as well as her eventual move to Ne...w York City and the founding of Franklin Furnace. Wilson will be hosting a live virtual artist talk over Zoom this Sunday, October 25th, 2020 (sign up here: https://zoom.us//regi/tJIocOuqpz4oEtCb5vJDp3IgGBOAqCVNAGrz), during which she'll be expanding on her experiences as a young artist in Halifax in the 1970’s and her post-Halifax years in New York City, beginning with the founding and evolution of Franklin Furnace and ending with her current work and artistic practice. Currently based in New York city, Martha Wilson is a pioneering feminist artist and gallery director, whose innovative photographic and video works explore her female subjectivity through role-playing, costume transformations, and invasions of other people’s personae. Wilson completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Wilmington College in Ohio, and her graduate studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax Nova Scotia. Wilson taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to New York City in 1974. Two years later she founded and continues to direct Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space that champions the exploration, promotion and preservation of artists’ books, installation art, video, online and performance art.

Sunday, November 8th, 1:00 2:30 PM: Griffin Art Projects is thrilled to host a live virtual Zoom presentation and workshop with aiya. Register here: https://zoom.us//regi/tJApduyoqT4qG9OygzrB2pLP5WrP_36whOPM ... Edmonton’s Harbin Gate was dismantled for LRT construction on November 4, 2017. In response, aiya, an intergenerational group of Edmonton-based artists and Chinatown community members, invited contributors to share their memories of Edmonton’s Harbin Gate by expressing their thoughts in the form of an art calligraphy banner. Participants were invited to mourn, be sad, be angry and share their stories, memories and wishes. This project resulted in a community art installation that served as a visual mark of this important community icon. Image 1 shows memories and wishes for the Harbin Gate being put up at the construction site (photo by Shawn Tse). Image 2 shows the Harbin Gate Vigil (photo by Wai-Ling Lennon). Harbin Gate before and after removal are shown in images 3 and 4 (photos by Grace Law). Image 5 shows Teacher Chen Zhong De, teaching Chinese calligraphy, style (photo by Shawn Tse). Image 6 shows a piece by Teacher Chen Zhong De, "Basic Techniques of Kai Shu Chinese calligraphy". In this upcoming workshop, participants will learn first-hand about the Harbin Gate Remembrance Project, followed by a hands-on virtual workshop in which participants will be invited to create a calligraphy and crochet banner of their own. This is a workshop for beginner crocheters and is limited to 15 participants. All the materials are available for pickup Saturday October 31st or Saturday November 7th, 12 5 pm.