Welcome to my House - A show at the BCNPHA Conference
The art show at the 2023 Housing Central Conference returns in force with this year’s inclusive theme of “Welcome to My House” with over 25 artists, curated by Olivier Salvas Artiste and featuring hostess Mina Mercury.
“Welcome to my House” invites participants to be fully immersed in over fifteen different and cohesive art experiences that showcases the diversity and the uniqueness of our local art community. The “Welcome to my House” artists will invite you to their own house warmings, encouraging visitors to engage with their lived experiences through their craft.
Curated Show - Sunday, November 20th, 2023
ALA TALMATCHI
MARY ANN MANUEL
NATALIE MORISSETTE
Playground
18X24
$550
OSCAR DE LA TORRE
NATALIE MORISSETTE
Synthetic Cubism Study
30X20
$1300
ALTHEA ADAMS
Mama Earth Carnival Spirit
OSCAR DE LA TORRE
A.J. BROWN
Two Cats
Artist Booths - Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Booth 1: ARTFASHION by Charlie’s Charmed & Olivier Salvas Artiste
Booth 2: Cease & Senaqwila Wyss
Booth 3: Glen Hesse
Booth 4: Robert Jess Marshall
Booth 5: Mike Alexander
Booth 6: Studio Liberum
Booth 7: Althea Adams
Booth 8: Rose Williams
Booth 9: Ala Tatmatchi
Booth 10: Min Xu
Booth 11: Mary Ann Manuel
Booth 12: Pacific Arts Market Collective
Booth 13: Beth Wilks
Booth 14: AJ Brown
Booth 15: Studio 73
Booth 1: Olivier Salvas, Curator
Olivier Salvas is an artist, educator, media personality and curator who specializes in arts education and social justice. Originally from Montreal, QC, Olivier moved to Vancouver, British-Columbia shortly after completing his Bachelor of Education in Teaching French as a Second Language from University of Montreal. As he embarked in his Graduate Studies in Media Studies and Curriculum at the University of British-Columbia, Olivier merged his two passions of artist and educator, and he began to create artistic work based on educational research. Olivier uses abstract paintings, photography, and various media to bring light to social causes and to foster conversations about identity and arts education. Olivier's area of research and of creation are inspired by graffiti art, street art, and urban culture. When Olivier begins an artistic collection based on his findings, he thinks of a topic in the world that resonates with him. Then, he creates a story with this event, and he creates a main character. He asks,” What would this character do, think, or say?”. Subsequently, Olivier pairs up with a photographer to create a visual story, which inspires him for the direction he wants to take artistically with his message.
In 2021, Olivier released his new collection “Flamboyant”, a series of abstract paintings with bold colors, acting as statement pieces for self-acceptance and positivity. One of the paintings from “Flamboyant”, “Sometimes I Paint Just for Fun” has won first prize at the Federation of Canadian Artists’ “Pride in Arts” Exhibition in June 2021. Olivier has collaborated with Vancouver Biennale as an educator for the Big Ideas in Schools project since 2015 and he has joined in 2020 We Are Ocean Vanncouver, a project commissioned by Vancouver Biennale and curated by ARTPORT_making waves acting as an artist-educator alongside indigenous artist Cease Wyss. This project is part of the global WE ARE OCEAN project contributing to the Preparatory Phase of the UNESCO Ocean Decade for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
Olivier’s art & fashion project in collaboration with Charlie’s Charmed (Eddie & Ryan Mendoza) ARTFASHION has launched with a curated piece at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in March 2022 and it is now showcased in many events and galleries across Canada. The ARTFASHION BOUTIQUE has opened in October 2022 at the Pacific Arts Market in Vancouver.
In 2023, Olivier released his latest project, Disco Nap, at his gallery at Bean on Hastings.
Olivier currently showcases in Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Vancouver and Victoria, BC. You can catch Olivier as a columnist on Radio-Canada (CBC) and as a reporter the show OutlookTV on OutTV, reporting on 2SLGBTQ+ artists and causes across Canada.
Booth 1: Charlie’s Charmed
Eddie Mendoza is a 2S Michif from the Treaty No. 1 Territory and the Red River Settlement in the heart of the Metis Nation Homeland. Ryan Mendoza is a queer person of color who immigrated to Canada at a young age and settled in Mississauga ON, now living in Manitoba. Together married for ten years they have merged their talents and passions into creating an urban fashion accessory line. Offering a modern twist on traditional fashionable wearables, they take pride in creating a genderless line while maintaining all of their conceptual elegance.
Sitting on the Board of directors for Rainbow Resource Centre (Manitoba’s 2SLGBTQ+ Resource Centre) for seven years has given Eddie an in-depth look directly into the diversity and needs of the 2SLGBTQ+ communities. It has also been the driving force behind many inclusive campaigns and specific opportunities to give back and support their communities inclusively.
They have created a strong, visible and authentic platform that highlights who they are. It has given them the opportunity to successfully develop a collective of safe places for 2SLGBTQ+ folks to shop for their wedding. The Love is Love Collectives is a not for profit collective that works with businesses and corporations on becoming more inclusive and to promote a safe environment for the 2SLGBTQ+ community to be their authentic selves. The collective is a national collective that continues to highlight and assist community members’ rights across Canada through a vetting process to direct the community to only the safest places.
Eddie and Ryan have been able to create fashion pieces and deliver on a national and international scale. They have partnered and created custom work for the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Manitoba Legislature, International Modelling Agencies in addition to nationally recognized Indigenous Elders and international red carpet looks. Their work can be found featured in a variety of media outlets such as Global Television, The Winnipeg Free Press and Out TV.
They have collaborated with numerous local and national fashion designers, stylists and artists. Most recently collaborating with Olivier Salvas Artiste (Olivier Salvas), a conceptual / abstract artist from Vancouver, BC with the ARTFASHION project. A project that encourages your individuality while becoming a living art installation with their ready to wear fashion. ARTFASHION had a couture piece curated in March 2022 by the Winnipeg Art Gallery as part of the Art in Bloom Festival. This project highlights Eddie and Ryan’s ability to manipulate birch wood shavings into flowers using numerous mediums, textures and colors, while adhering to the concept of someone’s journey to self-acceptance.
Booth 2: T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss
T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss is an Indigenous Matriarch of the Skwxwu7mesh, Sto:lo and Hawaiian people. Through her work as an ethnobotanist, artist, activist and community-based educator, they strive to share Indigenous customs, teachings, and futures and to connect Indigenous peoples. Wyss’s thirty-year career encompasses a vast array of practices, from weaving, making remedies, medicine walks to the realm of Indigenous Digital Futurisms. Ceases’ interactive, community-based work is insightful and informative of their contemporary conditions.
Interweaving their skills as an ethnobotanist and an interdisciplinary artist, Cease maintains a practice to decolonize their life and their art by learning about their culture and using traditions practiced by their ancestors. This is witnessed in their recent exploration of cultural weaving using materials traditionally used by Salish People such as red and yellow cedar, Salish Woolly dog fibre, stinging nettles, and fireweed fluff. Furthermore, their current community teachings and research is focused on restoring and remediating Indigenous species and natural space by encouraging others to build their Indigenous food forests and to nurture local biodiversity respectfully and sustainably.
Wyss is a collaborator, deeply involved in community building and finds dialogue with communities crucial in exchanging knowledge and critical in preserving Indigenous understanding of the land and ecosystems. Wyss has taught these teachings to public institutions and organizations and has participated in creative projects that share different indigenous cultures in stewarding this effort in preservation. Outside the importance of preserving what surrounds them, Cease believes in the importance of taking care of and feeding oneself, in redefining oneself as a way to care for Mother Earth, Chescha7 Timixw, and Ch’iaxw- their sacred protocol.
Booth 2: Senaqwila Wyss
Senaqwila Wyss is an ethnobotanist, warrior entrepreneur, and co-owner of Raven and Hummingbird Tea Co. She is from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), Tsimshian, Stō:lo, Hawaiian and Swiss, and will soon graduate with her Bachelors in Communications and First Nations studies at SFU.
With her mother, traditionally trained ethnobotanist T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss, Senaqwila uses Indigenous plant teachings and shares that knowledge with people of all ages, particularly with her young daughter Kamaya. She is also learning the Squamish language in an effort for her daughter to become a fluent speaker.
Booth 3: Glen Hesse
Living in Vancouver is a blend/juxtaposition of urbanism and nature, a combination that inspires me to depict the social and material environment of the city. Creating paintings that spark conversations on all levels provides me with the impetus to continue producing works of art. Glenn is a current supporting member of the Canadian Federation of Artists and a recent graduate of Emily Carr University Continuing Studies in Painting, Fine Arts, and Illustration certificate programs.
Booth 4: Robert Jess Marshall
Robert Jess Marshall is a multi-talented fine artist, born and raised in the interior of British Columbia, Canada and is of Metis heritage. With over 20 years of painting experience, he welcomes to the world to enjoy his Impressionistic style and beautiful use of vibrant, shimmering colour and rich texture. He enjoys studying spiritual and worldly philosophies and all of these influences have helped him create his bold imagery that represents the beauty of Spirit in all things. Robert's paintings reflect a variety of subject matter including landscapes, figurative work, and a mix of floral and still life images, all done with an amazing visual attraction that results in each of his paintings literally jumping off the canvas and inviting you in to share his unique vision. Robert has attracted a significant following of private and public collectors all over North America, Asia and Europe. Enjoy yourself in his world...
Booth 5: Mike Alexander
Mike Alexander is an emerging Anishinaabe visual artist and writer originally from Swan Lake First Nation in Treaty #1 Territory. Adopted out to a non-Indigenous family shortly after birth, Mike is a 60’s Scoop survivor and a second-generation Residential School survivor who grew up in Winnipeg.
He has attended the University of Victoria, the Victoria College of Art and the Vancouver Island School of Art. Mike is honored to have received mentorship from master carver and recipient of the Order of BC Carey Newman (Kwagiulth) as well as master of the Woodlands School of Art, Mark Anthony Jacobson (Anishinaabe). He has been the recipient of several generous grants from the Kamloops Arts Council, the First Peoples Cultural Council, the BC Arts Council as well as the Canada Council for the Arts and is currently practicing as a full time, internationally collected artist.
Mike identifies very strongly with the Woodlands School of Art. He celebrates his ongoing reclamation of culture using acrylic paint as a process of decolonization, healing, and cultural revitalization. He has been an exhibiting artist since 2015 and is looking forward to being a part of the “13 Moons Around the Lake” exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery in October 2023.
He is currently an artist in residence at Skwachays Lodge in Vancouver where he lives and works.
Booth 6: Studio Liberum
Liberum Made crafts one-of-a-kind and personalized goods inspired by the wildlife and nature of British Columbia. With a focus on materials derived from nature such as wood and moss, each piece we make has its own unique feature so no two items are alike. Our vision is to celebrate the beauty of handmade home decor and art that you can display at home or share as thoughtful gifts with your friends or loved ones.
Booth 7: Althea Adams
Seema Mehra is a Vancouver-based Indian born artist, she earned her B.F.A from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2011. Seema was brought up in Mumbai, India, where she received her B.F.A in textile design from the J.J.School of Art, later also completing her professional training with the Helene Lefeaux School of Fashion Design in Vancouver, Canada, consequently working in the apparel and couture industry in India and in Canada.
Seema’s work has been shown internationally, including: Franc Gallery (Vancouver), the Art Gallery of Calgary (and the BMB Gallery (Mumbai). Mehra is also the creator of Sharing Salt, a platform that makes collaborative public art with peers, art schools, and community. Sharing Salt has held residencies in Canada and in India.
Seema Mehra respectfully acknowledges that she is a guest on the unceded Indigenous territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.
Booth 8: Rose Williams
Visual Artist & Certified Expressive Arts Therapist, Rose L. Williams critically investigates the
interstices between creative processes, trauma and transformation. Her greatest area of
exploration is seeing how true healing can come from artmaking and viewing. In addition to
aesthetic considerations, her paintings and photographs intend to stimulate dialogue around
wellness and healing, allopathic and natural medicine, and the health of the Environment.
Rose is a Graduate of Emily Carr and University of the Fraser Valley; Langara College EXA;
member of Kickstart Society for Disability Arts & Culture and The International Art Alliance, a
global, ongoing, collaborative multi-media experiment.
Booth 9: Ala Talmatchi
My name is Ala Talmatchi and I am a multimedia and tapestry artist based in Vancouver, BC. I am a graduate of Fine Arts and Education and a teacher who educates through Fine Arts. My paintings echo my life passions: neuroaesthetics, education, cultural and environmental diversity preservation, oenology, weaving, hiking, and world traveling. Influenced by the kintsugi philosophy, I like to think of my artwork as a form of meditation, a therapeutic process of putting the broken parts together, a source of acceptance and resilience. My canvas is a display of diverse materials: bold colors, patterns, recycled paper, semi-precious stones, collages, and borders between arts and crafts. As an artist and a hiker, environmental concerns have become a key awareness for me as I hike and see the destruction of so much wilderness that I previously loved and explored. At the same time, I see the “kintsugi gold”, the first layers of plants that start the regeneration of a wounded forest. My hiking, world traveling, and my keen observation of nature have significantly marked my art. Seeing the multitude of geological layers and botanical diversity translates into how I paint and what paper patterns or textures I use to convey the fragility of cultural and environmental diversity.
Booth 10: Min Xu
Min was born and raised in Shanghai, China. He left hometown in 2010 to pursue education in the USA. In 2012, he graduated with a Master Degree of Education and worked as a Pre-k/K Montessori Teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. He loves to work with students of young age and also enjoys painting in his free time.
Min moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2018 when he started to focus on art development. In 2021, he was awarded Active Membership from the Federation of Canadian Artists. Fascinated by the stunning landscapes in British Columbia, Canada, he gradually loves to paint these scenes in various mediums. He found himself in a great meditative stage through painting.
Booth 11: Mary Ann Manuel
Mary Ann Manuel is a Filipina painter who first picked up a paintbrush in 2016. She loves exploring the wonders of painting, and challenges herself to create art through expressing a soul-deep world of emotions.
Ann’s paintings can be described as abstract realism, visual art, and contemporary art with a deep, dreamy, romantic element.
Ann expresses beauty, mystery, authenticity, hope, and love through her brushstrokes.
I create my art as a way to stay sane in a world that makes no sense. Creating is my way to look beyond my problems. It is a way to uplift myself. Hopefully when other people see my art, they are also uplifted.
Booth 12: Pacific Arts Market Collective
As a female business owner and entrepreneur with a background in marketing, it has been my dream to help grow and promote the local art community in Vancouver. I created Pacific Arts Market to showcase our city's local artistic talent and diversity. Local artists exhibit paintings, jewelry, pottery, photography, leather goods, woodwork and other crafts. My role is to be a catalyst that unites creative artisans with art-loving consumers. Once inside, all the unique & stunning pieces of art will speak for themselves. All Vancouverites are bound to find something that speaks to them. Passion overflows in all of these talented artists. You can’t help but be swept up with it, too.
~ Owner Crystal Holli Cornthwaite
The artists featured at Pacific Arts Market at Welcome to my House are:
Cheryl's Trading Post
Cheryl’s Trading Post is an independent Native family owned, operated, and staffed business selling authentic handmade Native art. We focus primarily on local Northwest Coast Native Art. We also have products from across Canada and the United States, as well as Mexico, and Central and South America. The artists we work with are traditional people that practice their cultures and fulfill their responsibilities. The artists, the staff, and ourselves deserve to be compensated fairly for our work. And our customers deserve the highest quality work at the most reasonable prices possible. We are working to make this a positive experience for everyone.
Cheryl (Morgan) Gregory is a Gitxsan woman born on the Skeena River. She grew up living a traditional lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering on her traditional territory. She is member of the Killer Whale Clan, and of the House of Woosimlaxha. Her family on both sides is of the line of Hereditary Chiefs. Her mom holds the name Woosimlaxha. The name has been passed down through her family matrilineally since time immemorial.
Cheryl earned an Associate of Arts in Indigenous Government Studies, a Native Family and Community Counseling certificate, a Business Administration diploma, and a Master of Neurolinguistic Programming. She has worked in various administrative positions in the Native and Women's Communities.
Cheryl is a dedicated mother, wife, and stepmother. She is also active supporting her larger family and community.
Richard Shorty
Richard was born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory in 1959 and belongs to the Northern Tuchone Tribe. Richard is a self taught artist. He originally started painting wildlife at an early age along with painting his favorite rock star or sports idol. In 1978, Richard moved to Vancouver.
In the early 1980’s, Richard started painting West Coast Native design and soon developed his own distinct style, using the wildlife form of the animal and adding his native design on the inside of the form.
He began painting in 1981 initially learning Northwest Coast design from books and then later from other artists after moving to Victoria, BC, in 1983. In addition to carving techniques, his work also includes original drawings and paintings and can be seen publicly in the Orwell Hotel mural on Hastings Street, in Vancouver.
Over the years, Richard has moved around – Vancouver Island, Richmond, Whitehorse, but always returning to Vancouver. Today, Richard is one of the most sought after Native artists, with works throughout many galleries. He is very versatile, working on drums, paddles, masks, rattles in addition to his paintings. His pieces are collected internationally.
Shirley Jade
Experience the culture behind Indonesian Batik, plus enjoy Quilting and Embroidery demos. Sample some Indonesian treats too!
Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap.
Asma Burney
I have been painting for many years, although I was in a long hiatus before coming back to what I love most. I love to work with both watercolours and acrylics. My subjects are quite varied and I enjoy experimenting with different kinds of papers. My style is influenced by Impressionism and I also enjoy abstract art.
Mindy Hardiman
A long time South Surrey, White Rock resident and local artist, she has always incorporated art and creativity into her activities whether in painting, crafts, cooking or gardening.
She has always had an affinity with nature and this is reflected in her art expressions.
Her early years were spent in the Okanagan, swimming at the lake, spending time in the forest, hiking and enjoying nature. These activities made her a hiker, skier and camper.
As a result her art is a reflection of these experiences. Having retired recently as a math educator, and with more time available, painting has become a passion.
She is a member of the White Rock South Surrey Art Society, Semiahmoo Arts and the Federation of Artists. Her active involvement with these organizations has given her inspiration to try many different styles and mediums and to explore works from landscapes to abstracts.
She works mainly with acrylics and at times uses textured mediums to create a more three dimensional effect.
“I am always looking to learn from others and recently traveled to France to paint. Curiosity and being a constant learner is a large part of my process. The best part is sharing my joy and vision of art with others.”
Work currently on View at the Coast Capital Theater and has been shown at the Turnbull Gallery and Semiahmoo Pop-up Gallery.
Samuel Kjell Smith
Samuel Kjell Smith was born and raised in Port Coquitlam, an adopted son in a family of 7. While performing various odd jobs in his younger life, Samuel realized his passion for art. After only a few months of art classes, the rest of Samuel’s talent is entirely self-taught. Where did that eye for detail come from? Perhaps some people are just born with it!
The unexpected reunion of Samuel with his biological father in 1996 brought about a love for jazz and musical instruments. Not only a talented visual artist, Samuel also plays the saxophone, flute and guitar. He has even produced 3 fabulous meditative flute albums.
Samuel Kjell Smith has spent most of his adult life in Vancouver, with 7 interesting years spent in Montreal. This fusion can be distinctly seen in his art, largely consisting of old Vancouver scenes, beach scenes, and lovely neighbourhoods in Montreal.
With now a secure gallery and studio space at Pacific Arts Market, Samuel is able to finally explore yet another passion, that of conspiracies and alleged ‘cover-ups’, even developing a new form of artwork. His current Conspiracy-Art project is something to be seen and definitely discussed.
Booth 13 Beth Wilks
Beth Wilks was born Heidi Elisabeth Lowther in mid-sixties Southeast Vancouver to working class poet activists. She started regularly drawing at age 3, inspired by frequent family trips to the Gulf Islands. Responding to unfolding chaos in the home, she drew with increasing intricacy and concentration, which eased tension and resulted in positive attention in otherwise volatile situations. Art then became interwoven developmentally with trauma as a means of survival. Later, her grandmother, an accomplished landscape artist in oils, taught her shading and drawing from observation, but couldn’t lure her away from the pencil. For many turbulent years, Beth made art sporadically, unable to forge a specific identity or evolve creatively, due to persistent poverty and all too frequent moves. Making art to please others, she gave away most of her occasional work. Seeking new directions required waiting for a backdrop of stability in which to create an authentic voice, a gift which eluded her until midlife.
CreatureStudies, her ongoing look at the sentience of nonhuman life through unique illustrative portraiture, began in 2013, evolving from a fascination with animals as characters in their own right
Having experienced homelessness while growing up in foster care, Beth turns to urban wildlife for kinship and community, considering local birds and animals as neighbors and friends, delighting in learning their language and customs. Here she presents portraits of some of her favorite locals, who represent the many neighborhoods of her Vancouver home.
Booth 14: AJ Brown
When the big wind storm of Friday, December 15, 2006, hit Vancouver, that caused a tree to hit my neighbor’s roof. That caused extensive water damage in my apartment. I was rendered homeless for nineteen months. I house hopped with family and friends until an apartment opened in my building to stay in, until my apartment was repaired. So, I do have an experience of homelessness. I have many disabilities as well. I am deaf, have cerebral palsy, and I have a very rare genetic disease that eventually kills the person. I only got this correct diagnosis in 2019! This disease causes extreme exhaustion. My mother is alcoholic, and that causes untold stress.
Booth 15: Studio 73
Studio seventy-three is a fused glass studio and gallery located in Surrey. The artists here are creating beautiful, handcrafted, one of a kind fused glass that is both decorative and functional. They are also integral in the running of our Newton business. The artists are engaged in all sales, networking, and marketing. While promoting awareness, access, participation and appreciation of the arts within the community, they bring with them a new way of looking at our culture. They continue to give back to the community by volunteering in things such as adopting a street or fundraising for the Surrey Women's Centre. Not only are these artists assisting to build and grow a more sustainable and enjoyable community, but they are also bridging the gap among community members- where everyone can be seen as truly valued citizens in an inclusive community.
As artists we believe that art is a universal language that stretches across all people. We are also people that receive support for a variety of reasons, including Mental Health. We do believe that our work relates to the themes of housing, homelessness, mental health, addictions, resilience and healing as we have all experienced one or more of these things in our own lives. Art is a wonderful way to express ourselves, relieve stress and build confidence.