Chapter Four: Visual Art, Craft and Literature

“It is of central importance that the Arts Council through its programs, services and membership reflect the real ethnic and cultural profile of Vancouver.”

– Anthony Norfolk, President 1990-1993.

Since its inception, the Arts Council has taken an active interest in the visual art and craft. In its support of the visual arts the council mounted an exhibition in 1948 to demonstrate the high standards achieved by Vancouver artists. At that time, there were no commercial galleries showing local or even Canadian art. Over 100 paintings were submitted. Five won prizes and became part of a B.C. touring exhibit, the first of its kind in the province.

In 1956, with the support of the B.C. Weaver’s Guild and the Potter’s Guild, the Arts Council opened the B.C. Arts and Crafts Centre in two old houses on Howe Street. Staffed by volunteers and assisted by a grant from the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation, the centre sold a variety of B.C. crafts and was the best local source for weavers’ wool. The Arts Council produced a craft newsletter and began a registry of local craft groups and artisans. Eventually the craft groups formed their own independent coordinating organization, the Crafts Association of B.C. which included both professionals and hobbyists. In 1963, with the help of a Canada Council grant, the Arts Council presented Arts in Action at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This was a hands-on presentation by local artists and craftspeople demonstrating their skills.

In 1969, when the Arts Council moved to Gastown, it had an attractive, specially designed space in which to display visual art. Here was an opportunity to provide exhibition space, assistance, and advice to emerging artists who needed exposure. A volunteer committee of experienced adjudicators selected works for solo and group shows on a regular exhibition schedule. Many artists from these early years have gone on to greater success in public and private galleries.

The Arts Council’s present Davie Street premises have, since 1985, provided vastly improved exhibition space in which two and three-dimensional craft and artworks can be displayed. The emphasis continues to be on new artists, with works selected by a jury from a burgeoning number of submissions. The space also supports much larger group shows and boasts well-attended opening nights.

By 1987, the work of selecting and mounting exhibitions exceeded the energy of the volunteer committee, and, in January 1987, the part-time paid position of Gallery Coordinator was approved. There was recognition that a more sophisticated approach for recruiting volunteers to work in the gallery or serve on juries was necessary. An active program of recruiting, training, and placing gallery volunteers has been very successful ever since.

Over the years, the Arts Council has also been involved in a number of other visual art activities. For example, the visual arts com¬ponent of the Annual B.C. Festival of the Arts, Images and Objects, is the responsibili¬ty of the Assembly of B.C. Arts Councils. Once a year the Arts Council sponsors the Vancouver Juried Exhibition. From close to 135 Vancouver entries, fifteen to twenty selected works are sent to the festival as part of the provincial exhibition. This program has grown substantially in recent years. In 1996 there were 270 entries.

In the eighties, Arts Council member Jo Scott-B. coordinated a multicultural student art exhibition, Our City’s Essence for several years, co-sponsored by the Vancouver Multicultural Society. Popular annual exhibitions include the juried Sunday Artists Show which gives recreational artists a chance to have their works exhibited. A major undertaking for the committee and staff is the annual juried Christmas Craft Sale, initiated in 1986. Craftworks (as the sale is now called) serves as a major fundraiser for gallery programs.

In 1992, the Arts Council sponsored a ground-breaking multimedia exhibition of work by twelve visual artists of South Asian origin. Chris Creighton-Kelly and Shani Mootoo curated to visit the tiger, an exhibition generously funded by all three levels of government. This made it possible for the Arts Council to pay the artists and the curators and to produce a catalogue and a teacher’s kit. The latter was approved by the provincial Ministry of Education as a resource for all fine art teachers in B.C. Arts Council program initiatives in recent years have reflected a commitment to counter the marginalization of artists of colour from Vancouver’s mainstream and from publicly funded organizations.

Through the years, the Arts Council has lobbied for government and community support of the literary arts, with emphasis on B.C. and Canadian authors. Young Canada Book Week and Canada Book Week were sponsored in Vancouver by the Arts Council and intense lobbying resulted in the inclusion of book reviews in the local papers. Board members Mackie and Bill Duthie played an important part in these early endeavours. In the seventies, the Arts Council put on an ambitious Book Fair with panel discussions and an elaborate wind-up gala. A highlight of this event was the appearance of a ‘Margaret Lawrence’ who had been invited by mistake. (The real Margaret Laurence was also invited and attended.) This Margaret Lawrence arrived in a bizarre costume complete with tennis shoes. Fortified by several drinks of sherry, she felt emboldened to approach Pierre Berton to tell him in a critical fashion what she thought of his writing. Joyce Frazee, an Arts Council member who organized this affair, reports that while this encounter made her nervous, it turned out that Pierre Berton enjoyed it thoroughly.

From 1988 to 1991, as part of lively public programming, the Arts Council spon¬sored Downtown Readers Series and Writers Out Loud, public readings and lectures fund¬ ed by the provincial government and co-sponsored by the Writers Union of Canada. These two series were extremely popular.