Surrey Art Gallery
13750 88 Avenue V3W 3L1 Surrey, BC, Canada

We're all connected. Everything that we do as humans affects what happens to the salmon, what happens to the salmon affects the eagles, it affects the bears, it affects the wolves, and salmon's always been sacred to me and my family, say Phyllis Atkins. Hear from artist Phyllis Atkins about what led to the creation of her public artwork We Are All Connected to This Land on Bear Creek bridge. She explains the stories behind the animal imagery like the wolf, salmon, and eagle. Learn about her family’s connection to the water and land, and why we must work together when living on this territory. Find out more about We Are All Connected to This Land - https://www.surrey.ca//p/we-are-all-connected-to-this-land.

Visit Museum of Surrey for Che’ Semiahmah-Sen / Che’ Shesh Whe Weleq-sen Si’am I am Semiahmoo / I am Survivor of the Flood. Created by Semiahmoo First Nation specifically for the Museum of Surrey, this exhibit tells the stories of how the Nation has flourished since the Great Flood. The exhibit features two large dioramas showing reef net fishing and a summer village, video interviews with Semiahmoo First Nation members, cultural belongings, and more. Focusing not only on the past, the exhibit emphasizes the continued presence of Semiahmoo First Nation in Surrey and White Rock, highlighting the Nation’s youth and annual canoe journeys.

Michael Abraham created this hand-printed etching back in 2012 but it feels especially relevant during our current pandemic. With our masks on like armour, we go out into the world where a glance gains that much more significance when it’s all you can really see of someone’s face. Do you see this symbolic artwork as a statement about the heart’s vulnerability (that needs protecting) or a heart hardened by contemporary urban life? (or maybe both, neither?) Share your thoughts! The Armoured Heart is part of our current exhibit Where We Have Been that you can pre-book to see at the Gallery until Dec 13. https://www.surrey.ca//events/surrey-art-gallery-exhibitio

Rungh’s newest issue is out, featuring an essay Crafting Identity by Lera Kotsyuba on the porcelain and earthenware work of Heidi McKenzie from her 2019 exhibition Family Matters at the Gardiner Museum shop. Heidi’s art is currently in our exhibition Where We Have Been, up until Dec 13. Pre-book a self-guided tour to see her work, along with other art from our permanent collection, by calling the Gallery at 604-501-5566 and press 1 or by emailing [email protected].

Surrey Art Gallery Association has been working hard over the last few months to set up their online gift shop so their annual Heart to Home Holiday Market can still take place! This shopping event is now being offered from the comfort of your home and runs until December 15 where you can receive 15% off your purchase. Browse their store and consider supporting local artists with your purchases this season. https://saga-gift-shop.square.site/

In our contemporary culture, we’re so inundated with images that affirm or reaffirm states of affairs as we continually see them and I think the big opportunity for contemporary art practice is to create objects and experiences that are invitations to question and to discover something that is some sort of disturbance, interruption, or reconfiguration of the usual. Exhibiting artist Helma Sawatzky delivered this gem of a statement about art’s role in our world during our live #ArtinConversation event last week. Rewatch the discussion on Youtube also featuring artists Sonny Assu, Heidi McKenzie, and Jan Wade from our Where Have We Been current exhibit.

To mark the Gallery’s 45th anniversary, we are thinking back to the thousands of artists, artworks, events, and hundreds of thousands of visitors we have welcomed to the Gallery over the years. We are constantly amazed by the artists we work with and the art that they make the joy they bring, the ideas they provoke, and the actions they inspire. The Gallery has always been a place that presents interdisciplinary art. In the spirit of artists showing work across artistic bo...undaries, we decided to invite some innovative performing artists in the community to create work that responds to the new exhibition at the Gallery Where We Have Been, which brings together some of the Gallery’s oldest and most recent works from our permanent collection. Tune in on Saturday, October 17 on the Gallery’s YouTube channel and Facebook Page at 7:00pm to experience tabla player Amarjeet Singh, multi-instrumentalist Bruce Harding, and singer Bhargavi Singh’s response to Sarindar Dhaliwal’s olive, almond & mustard in Where We Have Been. Amarjeet Singh, the founder of Naad Arts Centre, has a Master’s degree in music and many years experience performing tabla solos as well as accompanying a myriad of leading Indian and Western musicians and dancers at international music and dance festivals. Bruce Harding is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (voice, flutes, guitar, bass, and percussion) with a PhD in musicology from The University of Toronto and over 30 years experience making music with artists from around the world. Bhargavi Singh is nine years old, and started her classical music training five years ago, learning from Mr. Narinder Singh Panesar as well for the past two years. Along with her vocal music training, she is learning Indian classical Kathak dance from Mrs. Mangal Bhatta and Mrs. Prajakta Trehan. In her small musical journey so far, she has performed at various prestigious musical events in the province.

Presenting lens-based artworks from between the 1970s and 90s by Craig Berggold, Marlene Creates, Kiss & Tell, Roy Kiyooka, Laiwan, Ken Lum, and Melinda Mollineaux, Thought, outside curated by Amy Kazymerchyk is now on at Western Front. The artworks in the exhibition explore the subject of the outside and its multiple meanings, often shifting in relation to time and to what is considered indoors. Included in the exhibition is Ken Lum’s performance along the periphery of the Trans-Canada highway, Entertainment for Surrey (1978) from the Gallery’s permanent collection. Read more about this work with Kristina Lee Podesva’s Open Book Essay On A Critical Juncture: On Ken Lum’s Entertainment for Surrey: https://www.surrey.ca//KenLumEntertainmentForSurreyOpenBoo.

Over 20 new works, including performance, animation, photography, painting, and more, have launched on grunt gallery’s Mount Pleasant Community Art Screen! If you’re in the area, take some time and watch the works engaging with the cultural history of the neighbourhood. https://mailchi.mp/grunt/mpcas-new-works-fall-2020

Ulli Maibauer’s painting Untitled (Bear Creek) is a featured work in our fall permanent exhibition Where We Have Been. Sadly, Maibauer passed away shortly before the opening of the show. Maibauer was a long-standing member of the Surrey art community. Born in Berlin in 1929, he studied under several prominent artists at the Academy of Fine Arts before settling in Surrey in 1956. He was an active member of the BC Society of Artists throughout the 1960s, and was among the a...rtists included in Surrey Art Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in 1975. Maibauer continued to paint throughout his life, comfortable with working in many different styles. Untitled (Bear Creek) is an expressive portrayal of the locally popular park in which Surrey Art Gallery is located. In his rendition of the park, Maibauer makes no distinction between figure and ground foliage, flowers, and fields collapse into one single plane. Maibauer’s approach conveys a deeply personal response to the local environment, as well as a harmony among elements of nature. Simultaneously, with jagged brushstrokes and a stark colour scheme, Maibauer’s painting evokes the techniques of German Expressionist printmakers. Gallery staff were terribly saddened to learn of Ulli’s passing at the end of this past summer. We are honoured to be sharing both Untitled (Bear Creek) and Beloved Autumn with his home community. We hope you have a chance to experience these moving tributes to the local landscape and the creativity it inspires. Image: Ulli Maibauer, Untitled (Bear Creek), ca. 2000, oil on board, SAG2019.18.01. Image by SITE Photography

Celebrate fall and the upcoming holidays by creating your own print with artist educator April Davis. Try out different imagery like autumnal pumpkins, falling leaves, and even snowpeople!

Listen and learn with qtic Phyllis Atkins as she discusses her public artwork "We Are All Connected to This Land" installed in 2019 at Bear Creek Park. Later this fall, we’ll be sharing two new videos with Phyllis talking at length about this artwork and her practice. Find out more about "We Are All Connected to This Land: https://www.surrey.ca//p/we-are-all-connected-to-this-land

Join us this afternoon at 2pm as we go live on our YouTube channel and Facebook page. We look forward to hosting you soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNpvmNrdjpg

For this edition of #ArtinConversation, join us Saturday at 2:30pm as we celebrate the launch of Sylvia Grace Borda: Shifting Perspectives. This recent publication comprises essays and photographs that address Borda’s practice in Surrey and beyond over the past 15 years. The online panel will include a series of short conversations about the changing nature of digital art and agricultural production between Borda and invited guest speakers Edward Bateman, Megan Arney Johns...ton, Michelle Henning, Michael Tan, and Grant Rice. This publication and virtual book launch and conversation is a collaboration between the Gallery and Victoria-based Heritage House. Learn more https://www.surrey.ca//surre/art-together/art-conversation #ArtTogether #SurreyArtGalleryFromHome Image: book cover, Shifting Perspectives, 2020

Be creative from the comfort of your own home! Learn at your own pace with Art Takeout courses. Follow along as experienced art educators guide you through two courses for all ages that expand your knowledge of contemporary ceramics and drawing. Turn blocks of clay into ceramics in Handbuilding with Clay with Amelia Butcher. Experiment with surface and 3D decoration, bring to life coiled pots with animal features, and more. Includes materials, six video lessons, firing, a...nd glazing. Drawing in the Field with Alexandra Thomson explores techniques and exercises used in en plein air/in the open air drawing. Use perspective and composition to build sketching skills as we look closely at elements of a landscape. Includes materials and six video lessons. Finish these courses in one week or over several months! Once you register for the course either online or with the Call Centre 604-501-5100, please follow up with [email protected] to arrange a time to pick up your materials. https://www.surrey.ca//surrey/learning/visual-arts-classes

Autumn is here ! Make plans for a visit with your bubble, and see works from the permanent collection in Where We Have Been, that have been pulled from the Gallery’s vault. Celebrate the Gallery’s 45th anniversary with us and see works that haven’t been displayed since 1975! Gallery’s Assistant Curator Rhys Edwards shares, In celebration of the Gallery’s 45th anniversary, the exhibition brings some of the Gallery’s oldest acquisitions into conversation with some of its m...ost recent. The range of voices on display speaks to the diversity of artmaking throughout this region’s history, all the while illustrating how profoundly these artists have visioned the struggles, the beauty, and the complex realities that shape our community. Pre-book your visit or pop by to see the exhibition at select times on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 5-9:30pm and Saturdays 10-5pm. Tag us @surreyartgal and #WhereWeHaveBeen and we will feature your image on our IG story! https://www.surrey.ca//pre-booked-self-guided-exhibition-t

#ArtFromTheArchives artist Nicolas Sassoon employs early computing imaging techniques to render a wide array of forms and figures, encoded visually using pixelated patterns and animation. His Liquid Landscapes (2018) artwork is inspired by photographs of seven key geographic sites around Surrey including Serpentine River, Redwood Pard, Crescent Beach, Nicomekl River, Boundary Bay, Serpentine Fend, and the Fraser River. He created this hypnotic series of pixel animation f...or the Gallery’s UrbanScreen in 2018. Each animation evokes rippling reflection, flowing waves, the growth and decay of foliage, and other natural processes. Download the PDF and read Dreaming the Pixel Imaginary, An Open Book Essay by Curator Rhys Edwards in Art After Dark: 10 Years of UrbanScreen on page 117. https://www.surrey.ca//exhibition-/art-after-dark-10-years This work is part of the Gallery’s Where We Have Been exhibition, including over 40 works from the permanent collection. The paintings, photography, sculpture, and video installations reflect on the connection between place, nature, memory, and identity in South of the Fraser. Plan your visit with us today! Pre-book your visit to see the exhibitions at select times on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 5-9:30pm and Saturdays 10-5pm. https://www.surrey.ca//pre-booked-self-guided-exhibition-t Image: Nicolas Sassoon, Liquid Landscapes, 2018, two-channel digital animation, variable length, SAG2019.06.01

BC Culture Days | Fête de la culture starts today! Continuing until Oct 25, Culture Days is a national celebration of arts and culture. Visit the City of Surrey culture hub to see all the events and activities you and your friends and family can take part in. This includes self-guided tours exploring the City’s history, digital recordings, and live online events, and today’s Surrey Civic Theatres’ livestream storytelling event with Ivan Coyote and Sarah MacDougall. Sign up... for the Gallery’s free pre-booked, self-guided tours or revisit our Art in Motion online videos. https://culturedays.ca//5fa3e988-061f-4fdb-b632-ed1711e357

How can music be a call and tool for decolonization? Soundings: An Exhibition in Five Parts at Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, curated by Candice Hopkins and Dylan Robinson, features newly commissioned scores, performances, videos, sculptures, and sound by artists who respond to this question. Unfolding in a sequence of five parts, the scores take the form of beadwork, videos, objects, graphic notation, historical belongings, and written instructions. During the exhibition, these scores are activated at specific moments by musicians, dancers, performers, and members of the public, gradually filling the gallery and surrounding public spaces with sound and action.

Join us now in conversation with Sylvia Grace Borda and guests! Sylvia Grace Borda: Shifting Perspectives is available here: https://www.surrey.ca//exhibition-ca/shifting-perspectives

Have you seen these unique and beautiful face masks by Rhonda Philips on the SAGA online shop? Head on over to pick up your very own today! You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home, free shipping in Canada https://saga-gift-shop.square.site//96714779-hand-mad/287

With artist educator Claire Moore, learn about the position of the sun and its effect on the shadows and highlights of people, objects, and environments using chalk pastels and black paper. Inspired by Don Li-Leger and his paintings of desert superblooms, follow along as Claire guides you through creating your own superbloom drawing. Surrey Art Gallery recently exhibited his works with the exhibition "Counting the Steps of the Sun" in 2020. Read more: https://www.surrey.ca///don-li-leger-counting-steps-of-sun Follow #ArtinMotion to stay up-to-date with art lessons and activities using a range of mediums from artists and educators #SouthoftheFraser and beyond. #SurreyArtGalleryFromHome

#ArtFromTheArchives Artist Sarindar Dhaliwal’s video installation is a wide-ranging meditation on diaspora and the formation of identity. When entering Dhaliwal’s three channel video installation of olive, almond and mustard (2010), you will see that she uses the motif of hair grooming to explore the complexities of cultural assimilation. The title derives from the oils used for grooming. South Asian mothers would traditionally use almond or mustard oil to groom the hair of... young girls, but these items were not widely available in the London borough of Souhthall, Britain, where Dhaliwal’s family migrated when she was 4. This work is part of the Gallery’s Where We Have Been exhibition, including over 40 works from the permanent collection. The paintings, photography, sculpture, and video installations reflect on the connection between place, nature, memory, and identity in South of the Fraser. Plan your visit with us today! Pre-book your visit to see the exhibitions at select times on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 5-9:30pm and Saturdays 10-5pm. Register online or phone the Call Centre at 604-501-5100 (Monday to Friday 8:30am-4:30pm). For group bookings, or if you need any assistance, please email the Gallery at [email protected] or phone the Gallery at 604-501-5550. https://www.surrey.ca//pre-booked-self-guided-exhibition-t Images: Install of olive, almond and mustard, (2010) #MyCityofSurrey #WhereWeHaveBeen #sarindardhaliwal

Reminder to tune in tomorrow at 2:30pm on our YouTube Channel as we premiere artist Sylvia Grace Borda’s Shifting Perspectives publication! This virtual conversation brings together invited artists, photography historians, and agricultural advocates Edward Bateman, Megan Arney Johnston, Michelle Henning, Grant Rice, and Michael Tan. Tune in and learn more about the changing nature of digital art and agricultural production and celebrate 15 years of Borda’s commissioned ph...otographic artworks with us. Ring the bell to ensure you will receive a notification on YouTube and subscribe to our channel. We look forward to hosting you virtually and sharing this conversation. #sylviagraceborda #artinconversation #surreyartgalleryfromhome https://youtu.be/MRUAczYxW9Q

Murray has been a full-time potter for over twenty years, and has taught children, youth, and adult pottery courses at the Surrey Art Gallery nearly the same amount of time! He holds a Fine Arts diploma and a diploma in Adult Education. Murray creates mostly functional work bowls, teapots, mugs and enjoys exploring the relationship between form, design, and surface decoration. He will be teaching Pottery for Beginners and Continuing Pottery this fall! Try out a course w...ith him, or one of our other wonderful ceramics instructors. We’re offering over half a dozen courses with clay. To register, phone the Call Centre at 604-501-5100 or sign up online: https://www.surrey.ca//surrey/learning/visual-arts-classes. See the Leisure Access Program for more details (Call Centre can also assist): https://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/1773.aspx. Photo: Edward Westerhuis.

Tonight from 7-8pm, with Surrey Civic Theatres Digital Stage, Amarjeet Singh, Bruce Harding, and Baljit Singh will perform The Naad Malhaar (Water Music) Concert. Listen to these accomplished musicians play the tabla, flute, and dilruba in the beautiful Darts Hill Garden Park. Tune in at https://www.facebook.com/SurreyCivicTheatres. https://www.surrey.ca//naad-malhaar-water-music-concert-in

Mixed media artist Katina Giesbrecht creates artworks through drawing, painting, printmaking, and collage. She specializes in monotype arta form of printmaking that results in one unique print. Katina enjoys teaching and draws inspiration from the creative environment. This fall, Katina will teach Colour Theory for adults and Art Express for children ages 5-7 at the Gallery. To register, phone the Call Centre at 604-501-5100 with registration number #47923 for Adult Colour ...Theory or #47919 for Art Express. You can also sign up online: https://www.surrey.ca//surrey/learning/visual-arts-classes. See the Leisure Access Program for more details (Call Centre can also assist): https://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/1773.aspx Image: Experimenting with chalk pastels in Art Express. Photo: Pardeep Singh.

SAGA’s Online Gift Shop is Open! This fall enjoy shopping from home while supporting local artists as Surrey Art Gallery Association launches its Gift Shop online. Visit their site showcasing a wonderful collection of ceramic, glass and wooden bowls and vessels, inspiring jewelry, innovative textiles, beautiful cards, and much more. Surrey Art Gallery Association’s mission is to support local visual artists and connecting them to audience and community. Become a member and receive a 10% discount on purchases. You can even buy their new gift cards to share with a friend or family member.

Our fall exhibition Where We Have Been showcases a selection of works from Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection, some of which have been featured in our online publications. Read about Shani Mootoo’s The Muddy Swamp is where the Lotus Grows written by Denise Blake Oleksijczuk. An Open Book makes information on the artworks in the Gallery's permanent collection easily accessible. In this series of publications, commissioned writers share essays about specific artwor...ks, in relation to the artist's biography and the history of their practice. More than 50 publications to select from! Shani Mootoo, The Muddy Swamp is where the Lotus Grows, 1989. SAG1998.02.01 Read more: https://www.surrey.ca//fil/media/documents/ShaniMootoo.pdf

Calling all artists for the virtual competitive clay off! Our next competitive event invites you to experiment with clay during the week of October 24 to 30. In partnership with the Gallery, Surrey Art Gallery Association will provide artists with the supplies and they will have one week to create their masterpiece and share progress through social media. Apply early, as supplies are limited. http://sagabc.com/oct-24-30-2020-competitive-clay-off-goes/ Participants are to be ...based in the region, work only with materials supplied, use social media, and be a member of SAGA. Send an email to [email protected] to apply. Image: Competitive Paint Off 2019. Photo by Scarlet Black

Starting Monday next week, join artist-educators April Davis and Claire Moore for Seniors Centre Without Walls We’re All Artists: Creative Practices at Home program in partnership with Seniors Come Share Society. This ongoing, free, and interactive phone-based program is for those 55 plus. Register at 604 531 9400 ext. 205 or [email protected]. On Monday Sept 14, April will be sharing how to make watercolour bookmarks! Follow along over the phone as April demonstrates a ra...nge of watercolour techniques. #ArtinMotion #ArtTogether #SurreyArtGalleryFromHome Photo: Watercolour bookmarks by April Davis.

Try out pottery for beginners, open studio, and youth pottery with Gloria Han! Gloria Han studies Korean ceramics, and uses traditional craft to observe how material culture adapts and evolves to play a role in our lives today. Gloria completed her Masters of Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has experience teaching adults, teens, and kids. Her favourite part of teaching is helping students take risks in their creative practice and watching them be ...rewarded for pushing their work in new directions. To register, phone the Call Centre at 604-501-5100 or sign up online: https://www.surrey.ca//surrey/learning/visual-arts-classes. See the Leisure Access Program for more details (Call Centre can also assist): https://www.surrey.ca/culture-recreation/1773.aspx. #MyCityofSurrey

Register today for your pre-booked visit to the Gallery at surrey.ca/artgallery or phone 604-501-5100! Spots are available at select times on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 5-9:30pm and Saturdays 10-5pm starting September 19.

Creating art can feel like a complex process. Even the most experienced artists go through periods of artistic block. Local artist Jennifer Clark-Paintings & Prints will examine some of the causes and then give solutions on how to overcome them, such as developing good work habits and creating an environment that supports creative abundance. Tune in tomorrow at 7:30pm to learn more! Jennifer is a painter who spends her time between Crescent Beach and her studio in Vancouver. ...She studied at Claude Watson School for the Arts in Toronto and obtained a BFA from Concordia University in Painting and Drawing and Art Education. She has shown her work in galleries in Montreal and Vancouver and is a mastermind facilitator with Thrive Art Studio supporting female artists. She has taught art classes and painted murals throughout Vancouver and Surrey. Her art practice includes two bodies of work: one which explores the complexities of the subconscious mind through the creation of gestural abstract paintings. The second is an ongoing series focused on the life cycles of living things and the role they play in a larger ecosystem. Surrey Art Gallery Association's Thursday Artist Talks series supports emerging to established artists in sharing their work with audiences. Talks are being delivered live on SAGA’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SurreyArtGalleryAssociation/, and replays will be available to watch anytime afterwards. Image: Jennifer Clarke, Octopus Study, 2017 #ArtinConversation #ArtTogether #SurreyArtGalleryFromHome

Surrey Fusion Festival is going virtual! This year’s family-friendly livestream will feature a series of segments including cultural performances, musical entertainment, art lessons, Surrey history, Indigenous knowledge sharing, dance lessons, cooking segments, and kids’ activities. The livestream event takes place both on Facebook and YouTube on Saturday, Sept 26 from 10:30am to noon. Stay tuned for a full list of performers and on the Event Page be sure to click ‘going’ to not miss out!

The City’s Cultural Grants Program is now open for its 2021 grants. Apply for capacity, project, and operating grants to support arts and cultural activities in Surrey. Expression of Interest forms due September 30! - September 16: Cultural Grants Info Session (online) - September 30: Expression of Interest forms due - October 14 & 17: Individual Application Mentorship ... Sessions for eligible applicants - November 7: Cultural Grants Application Deadline https://www.surrey.ca//grants-financial-as/cultural-grants #MyCityofSurrey

Are you a youth interested in learning about augmented reality and the tech field? Geared toward indigenous youth, but open to all youth, the fall IM4 Media Lab and The Discovery Group are teaming up to create a free online and live training program for youth grades 8-12 called Mentoring For and By the Matriarchs. Participants will be introduced to augmented reality (AR) with the opportunity to create an AR project alongside an IM4 Lab technologist. IM4 Lab will guide youth through the creative imagining and software processes that go into building an AR project. Participants will use Unity Engine and Google Tilt Brush to learn AR creation and development, photogrammetry, visual coding, photography, and videography basics including framing.

Sign up your little one for the Gallery’s in-person visual arts course Art Explosion with Jinsil Haveliwalla. Focusing on self-expression, the course is for ages 4-5 and runs from Oct 17 to Dec 5 3:15-4:15pm. To register, phone the Call Centre at 604-501-5100 with registration number #47577 or sign up online: https://www.surrey.ca//surrey/learning/visual-arts-classes. See the Leisure Access Program for more details (Call Centre can also assist): https://www.surrey.ca.../culture-recreation/1773.aspx With your imagination, create a collage and experiment with different collaging techniques with Jinsil’s #ArtinMotion video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2asx0tZXrfw&feature=youtu.be Photos: Pardeep Singh