Vancouver Perspective - Expression by 12 Women Artists

Charles H. Scott Gallery has organized an exhibition of twelve Vancouver artists for showings at the Yokohama Civic Art Gallery in Yokohama, Japan, October 31 to November 24, 1996 and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, in July of 1997.

The exhibition Vancouver Perspective will feature the work of twelve artists who represent the diversity of art practice by Vancouver women artists. The exhibition will present the work of: Vikky Alexander, Lorna Brown, Allyson Clay, Kati Campbell, Monique Fouquet, Lucy Hogg, Landon Mackenzie, Elspeth Pratt, Anne Ramsden, Jin-me Yoon, Sharyn Yuen and Renee Van Halm. These artists work in a variety of mediums, from painting to sculpture to photo-based media. Women artists in Vancouver and Canada have had a great impact on the development of art practice over the last fifteen years. They have changed the way we think about art, society and its history. In that sense, Canadian women artists have something important to share with artists and the art viewing public in Asia. The intent of this exhibition is to inform the audience about the issues and concerns of women artists in Vancouver.

These concerns range from issues of identity as seen in the work of Jin-me Yoon and Sharyn Yuen. The domestic environment in relation to social and historical concerns is explored in work by Renee Van Halm, Ann Ramsden and Kati Campbell. Women in the urban environment is the focus of Allyson Clay and Lorna Brown, while issues addressing western art history dominate the work of Lucy Hogg, Monique Fouquet and Elspeth Pratt. Landon Mackenzie’s painting looks at landscape from a lived and fictive perspective. Vikky Alexander’s work explores the relationship between nature and the constructed urban environment. The placement of the artists work in the galleries for the exhibition will reinforce the concerns expressed in the works.

These artists have been selected because they are all strong artists who have played an important role in the development of art practices in Vancouver over the last decade. Their work is a fitting representation of the high quality and criticality of Vancouver and Canadian art practice.

For the showing in Yokohama, the Civic Gallery will be producing a full colour catalogue of the exhibition. As well, the artists have been invited to participate in a public panel focusing on contemporary women’s art practice in Vancouver. This will provide a context for a greater understanding of the work in the exhibition by audiences in Japan.