New public art commissions for the Year of Reconciliation debut in April

Emilie Crewe, still from “Making Circles: The Chilkat Dancing Blanket”, HD video

Two new projects debut in April to honour and celebrate the City’s Year of Reconciliation. A new video by Vancouver artist Emilie Crewe, Making Circles: The Chilkat Dancing Blanket, will intervene in the advertising content on the dual screens at Granville and Robson Streets. The 2.47 minute silent video contrasts close-ups of the hands of master weaver Donna Cranmer with images of the 100-year-old Anislaga Chilkat Blanket that was recently returned to Alert Bay from Europe.

Alexa Hatanaka

Toronto artist Alexa Hatanaka will show two new bus shelter posters based on block prints she made from images she took while doing workshops in Nunavut and Nunavik.She describes the images as “…beautiful, curious kids that have all the potential to be empowered to dance the line between the vastly different experiences of the past few generations of their communities, their own generation, and their ancestral heritage.” The posters will be in sites around the city through April. See location list below.

Additional artworks on display that debuted in March 2014 are:

• Open Handed, banners by Brian Liu at the Vancouver Public Library, Central Branch
•  Her Story, photo mural by Krista Belle Stewart at the Canada Line City Centre Station
• Video by Krista Belle Stewart at the CBC screen, Hamilton and Georgia
• Video by Jeremy Borsos at the VanCity Theatre screen, Seymour and Davie

Upcoming Artworks:

Watch for upcoming artworks by Tania Willard, Gabrielle Hill and Peter Morin (BC), Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Vancouver), Jeannette Sirois (Surrey), and Dionne Paul (Sechelt).

Artist Bios – Reconciliation Public Art 2014

Emile Crewe, Vancouver, British Columbia

 Emile Crewe’s work often takes the form of video installation, sound, sculpture and single-channel video. She holds a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Recent exhibition history includes the AC Institute in New York, NY, the Governor’s Island Art Fair in New York, NY, the Zhou B. Art Center in Chicago, IL, and the Khyber Institute of Contemporary Art in Halifax, NS.

Alexa Hatanaka, Toronto, Ontario

 Alexa Hatanaka is a mural painter, weaver, printmaker, collaborator, and educator. She holds a BA in Printmaking from OCAD University. She exhibits internationally and paints large-scale murals with latex and aerosol paint, most notably in several of Canada’s remote high arctic communities. Alexa has roots in Toronto but strives to be nomadic, perpetually learning and evolving her artistic practice.

 Location List of April’s Transit Shelter Posters:

• Pacific Blvd 20m E/O Homer SS
• W. Broadway 20m E/O Laurel NS
• W. Broadway 20m Laurel NS
• King Edward 20m W/O Arbutus SS
• King Edward 38m E/O Cambie SS
• 2nd Ave 20m W/O Columbia St NS
• Arbutus 20m N/O W. 33rd ES
• Cambie 23m S/O W. 54th WS
• Clark 25m N/O E.3rd ES
• Commercial 20m S/O Adanac WS
• Dunbar 20m S/O W. 31st WS
• E. Broadway 20m E/O St. Catherines SS
• E. Hastings 20m W/O Campbell NS
• Kingsway 20m E/O E. 15th SS
• Nanaimo 28m S/O Grandview ES
• Powell 20m W/O Commercial NS
• SE Marine 20m E/O Argyle SS
• W. 41st 74m W/O Cambie SS
• W. 49th 20m E/O Granville SS
• 49th 20m E/O Tisdall NS

More Information

Press information and images: please contact publicart@vancouver.ca