'Losing the Key to the Garden'

Mahtab Firouzabadi

'A Busy Plot'

Kim Rosin

Gardens are & have been an integral part of life for millennia. Whether a utilitarian patch of land that produces life sustaining food or beautifully manicured place of comfort & inspiration, we have always found the need to cultivate, grow & tend to flora & vegetation. The work in Bounty approaches the garden from various perspectives, meanings & traditions to present a feast for the eye & mind.

Mahtab Firouzabadi is a North Vancouver based artist whose work explores the interactions between nature, urbanism, culture & tradition in a contemporary form. This body of work is inspired by traditional Persian poetry, in which gardens are often employed as symbols of paradise or places of sanctuary & solace. Firouzabadi transforms these notions of still perfection into energetic brushstrokes & chaotic colours, reflecting the fast-paced disruption of contemporary life. Through wild abstracted trees, flowers & even people, these gardens invite us inside to contemplate our place in the ever-changing world.

Kim Rosin is a West Vancouver painter with a deep curiosity for the world around her. Interested in how plants grow, Rosin took up a community plot in Argyle Gardens in Ambleside, which has inspired this body of work. Documenting the flowers, plants, vegetables & fruits with vibrant colours & bold brushstrokes, she hopes to draw attention to issues of food scarcity & the vulnerability of nature. Through vivid micro views of these lovingly tended gardens, we are invited to enjoy their beauty while examining our own effects on the local ecosystems.

Artists Talk

Watch an engaging conversation with these talented artists as they share insights into their inspirations, creative processes & take a tour of the exhibition.

Plan your visit to the Kay Meek Arts Centre. The exhibition spans the PARK Retirement Living Atrium & lobby to the McEwan Theatre lobby downstairs.

'High Desert Fantasy'

Emily Cowan

'Green Monochrome Embroidery'

Mallory Donen

'Puppies in the Kitchen'

Joanne Frewer

Artists Emily Cowan, Mallory Donen & Joanne Frewer present smaller works that invite viewers to get up close & really explore the themes & techniques of each piece. Exploring a variety of media from painting to embroidery to assemblage, these artists investigate themes of home, women's work, traditional craft & change.

Emily Cowan is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver. Her current body of work features acrylic & gouache paintings of houses, buildings, interiors & domestic scenes inspired by the concept of "home" & by the spaces women create for themselves & their families. Women creating homes has traditionally been looked at as an unimportant skill, & Cowan is interested in elevating everyday women's spaces & contributions. She is also interested in the house as a modern-day status symbol; as affordable housing continues to disappear. The houses she paints are a love-letter of sorts; to the lifestyles once assumed but now out of reach; to the women who create them.

Mallory Donen is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Vancouver. Donen’s art explores the intersection of digital art & embroidery, through processes rooted in traditional craft passed down from generations of women in her family. By using the distinct grid format of cross-stitching she creates connections between threads & pixels. Her practice explores repetitive mechanical processes, & our relationship with technology, by making art as if she were a machine.

Joanne Frewer is a West Vancouver based multidisciplinary artist creating shadow boxed assemblage works that combine the everyday & the spiritual. Frewer's pieces offer viewers glimpses into other spaces - a Mexican kitchen, Parisian flat, or Buddhist shrine - full of tiny pieces of decor either handmade by Frewer or collected on her travels around the globe. Each scene invites viewers to look closely & discover the details in not only the artwork but in the sacred moments of life they represent.

Artists Talk Livestream

Thur. May 30, 7 pm

Join us for an engaging conversation with these talented artists as they share insights into their inspirations, creative processes, take a tour of the exhibition & answer questions from viewers like you live!

Plan your visit to the Kay Meek Arts Centre. The exhibition spans the PARK Retirement Living Atrium & lobby to the McEwan Theatre lobby downstairs.