EXHIBITION | "OUR LANGUAGE" presented by Printermedia Artist Residents

Our Language will showcase the metal arts research of the inaugural Printermedia Artist Residents during their time in the new metal and arts studio supported by Malaspina Printmakers Society and the Vancouver Metal Arts Association.

Context

Rob Van Yperen, Maura Tamez, Celeste Lucero Maas, Cicy Sze-Yin Ching and Stella Eun Hui Lee come from diverse backgrounds -- from the self-taught to the scholarly trained, from east to west and north to south, they have nonetheless come together to collaborate and create in Vancouver under one broad language: the metal arts.

Our language represents the sum of individualities and their collaboration. In a collective statement, the artists explain:

“Our language is enjoyment, our language is identity, our language is a reflection, our language is a playground: our language is sustenance. In sharing our practice with each other, we, the metal artists, perceive the inherent differences that come from our cultures. As strangers, we take notice that we thrive and relate in our unique ways through the same language; it is in this way that we find kinship through the Metal Arts.”

Rob Van Yperen | TIME CAPSULES

“They will bring happiness for hundreds of years. This work is considered a never-dying message to the future.”

Maura Tamez | DAIK’EO

“My work is focused and connected to my ongoing research and learning with hadntn, the Ndé word for cattail pollen, and is informed by Ndé science, culture, and contemporary life. My work is a continuation of my learning and reflections with aluminum as a material in my practice. Throughout my residency, I have been engaged with aluminum in a setting influenced by the other artists in the residency as well as my own change of location and move to the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.”

Celeste Lucero Maas | IN MY BODY

“In My Body explores the cycles of my life that start and end with mourning and celebration. It shows some of the scenes that as part of those cycles have stayed with me and, in doing so, have transformed me. Art Jewellery is the way I choose to explore them.”

"En Mi Cuerpo explora los ciclos de mi vida que empiezan y terminan en duelo y celebración. Expone algunas de las escenas de esos ciclos, que se han quedado conmigo y que, al hacerlo, me han transformado. Es a través de Joyería Arte que elijo explorarlas".

Cicy Sze-Yin Ching | BLOOM ELSEWHERE

“Obsolete daily objects, pressed glass panels from old Chinese screen doors, ceramic fragments, childhood favorite toys, old-fashioned jewellery castings collected from long-gone factories… They are traces of the bygone days. Cicy reconstructs these reclaimed scraps to sort out personal and collective memories, by reshaping, polishing, and putting together these fragments in silver with her own hands, so they emit a little bit of residual heat in the fleeting time and space.”

陳舊的日常用品、港式舊屏風上的海棠花玻璃、陶瓷碎片、童年喜歡的玩具、倒閉工場積存的過時首飾鑄件、…保存着逝去歲月的痕跡。程詩賢將這些零碎的回收物件重新整合，以便梳理個人及集體記憶，用自己的雙手將這些碎片重新切割、打磨、拼合金屬構建成形。讓它們在轉瞬即逝的時空中再散發出一點點的餘溫。

Eunhui Stella Lee | THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

“I recognize oysters as both food and jewellery since they are not only something we eat but also the producers of materials such as pearls and mother-of-pearl. My work maximizes the beauty of the shells by focusing on their very organic and free lines and challenges the boundary of art jewellery. As the title says, you can achieve anything you want.”

"조개는 먹을 수 있을 뿐 아니라 자개를 품고있는 재료이기도 하기에 저는 그것을 음식이자 보석으로 인식합니다. 제 작품은 매우 유기적이고 자유로운 선에 초점을 맞춤으로써 조개의 아름다움을 극대화하고 예술 보석의 경계에 도전합니다. 타이틀에서 알 수 있듯이 누구든 소망하는 것은 무엇이든 이룰 수 있습니다"

All Artists | OUR LANGUAGE

The exhibition Our Language is primarily an observation of the artists' ongoing research. As such, it will showcase their individual practices in the fields of jewellery and metal work. The five artists begin this conversation individually with one-week solo presentations of work, after which they will present all their work together in a group exhibition to close the series.

Dates and schedule:

Opening nights from 6pm to 8pm. Regular hours are 1pm to 6pm.

Aug 17 to Aug 20 | TIME CAPSULES | Rob Van Yperen

Aug 24 to Aug 27 | DAIK’EO | Maura Tamez

Aug 31 to Aug 03 | IN MY BODY | Celeste Lucero Maas

Sept 07 to Sept 10 | BLOOM ELSEWHERE | Cicy Sze-Yin Ching

Sept 14 to Sept 17 | THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER | Eunhui Stella Lee

Sept 21 to Sept 24 | OUR LANGUAGE | VMAA Artists

Thursdays will be reception nights where the artists will engage with visitors and talk about their work.

Location:

The exhibition will be held at Malaspina Printers Association 1555 Duranleau St (Granville Island) in the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations that currently and forcefully are recognised as Vancouver, Canada.