Art Creates Community
Artists In Our Midst, an artists co-op in Vancouver, Canada
There are three communities in Vancouver, Canada that have joined together their artists to create a vibrant and well organized art event. Artists In Our Midst was founded by artists Anne Adams and Pnina Granirer in 1993 in the Point Grey area. Since then the art co-op has expanded to include Dunbar, Kerrisdale, and Kitsalano.
Here's the way their once a year event works: There is a preview art exhibition of all of the artists who participate in the studio tour that follows the next day. Visitors tour the works and decide which artists studios that they would like to visit. In the artists studio, the artists are available to talk with people or to demonstrate their process. The studios double as a small gallery space so that everyone may look at the works of art for sale by the local artists.
Sounds easy, right? Not really. This group of artists distributes work amongst themselves according to abilities and talents. The artists in the group are asked to work jobs such as treasurer, secretary, publicity, sign making, merchant liaison, scrapbook assembly, and working at the opening exhibition.
Artists In Our Midst has the work of painters, ceramicists, photographers, and mixed media artists. The entire event is planned, coordinated, and executed by all of the participating artists, which is part of what makes this event special.
The community also participates in this event by coming out to see the exhibition, and by purchasing artworks. Many Vancouver merchants use the artworks in their storefront windows to add to the ambience and to promote the event and the artists. There are corporate sponsors of the event as well.
This group of artists also contributes to their community by offering free public lectures called the Philosophers Art Café, in cooperation with Simon Fraser University. A quote from their website: "What is Art? Why is it important to culture, why do we love or hate it, support and collect it and how do we cope with the trends and fashions that attempt to dictate our tastes and appreciation of the visual arts?" Excellent questions.
It should be noted that Artists In Our Midst is also a juried group to ensure that the quality of the artwork stays high. Some of the featured artists this year include: Karen Hollowell, Diana Zoe Coop, Suzy Birstein, and Laszlo Jozsa. The dates for this year's events happen over three consecutive weekends on the following dates:
Dunbar/Kerrisdale - April 13-15, 2007
Westpoint Grey - April 20-22, 2007
Kitsilano-April 27-29, 2007
Check out Artists In Our Midst here.
