LESSONS FROM A LIVING WORLD: ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Zuzana Vasko

Zuzana Vasko's art practice explores how we might better relate to our local ecologies, what we have in common with other species and what we might learn from them.  She teaches with the Faculty of Education at SFU, where she likes to bring ecological awareness and creative/relational ways of being to learning.  She loves walking in our local forests.  

Shawna Davis

Shawna Davis is Laxskiik, eagle clan, from Wilp Sakum Higookxw of the Gitksan (People of the river mist). She has recently returned to her homelands and is now living amongst the Gitksan for the first time in her life. She would like to give thanks and recognition to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples for allowing her and her family to live and share in their lands and waters. This was where she lived for most of her life and where the beadwork in her published book, Majagalee, was created. 

Clyde Richard Brittain

Clyde Richard Brittain is a multidisciplinary artist working and living in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations. A primary focus of his practice is exploring the complex and often fraught relationship we, as a species, have with the Earth. He finds inspiration in the shapes, textures and patterns that exist within nature. Drawing on these, he seeks to imagine new narratives in which humans embrace our place as part of the natural world, just as the natural world is an integral part of ourselves.

 

q̓ʷɑt̓ic̓ɑ / PHYLLIS ATKINS

q̓ʷɑt̓ic̓ɑ’s traditional name means that “I wear the clouds like a blanket.” She is a member of the Kwantlen First Nation. Phyllis Atkins was taught how to paint by Barbara Boldt at the Barbara Boldt Original Art Studio and studied with her for many years until she opened her own studio in 2012. In 2001, she had the wonderful opportunity to learn the art of hand engraving jewelry from the late Master carver Derek Wilson from Haisla, BC.

CHERRY ARCHER

Cherry Archer is a first-generation Trinidadian-Canadian Vancouver-based multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the humanity-nature relationship. A decade of living in Europe surrounded by talented photographer friends ignited her interest in photography. Upon returning to Canada, she decided to study photography at Focal Point and Vancouver Photo Workshops. Large-format images from her Botanical Ice Tile series appear as public art in the cities of Richmond and Surrey, BC.