#3 - PoMoArts
The Port Moody Arts Centre is a non-profit based in Port Moody, and a cultural hub for arts and education in our vibrant city. Each year, PoMoArts offers over 350 classes in the arts to students of all ages, from children to seniors. We are also home to a free contemporary art gallery, which showcases the work of established and emerging artists in our community.
Address: 2425 Saint Johns Street, Port Moody
Website: https://pomoarts.ca/
Instagram: @pomoarts
Facebook: @pomoarts
Exhibiting Artists
Kosar Movahedi
Kosar Movahedi lives and works on the unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples in Victoria, BC. Her work uses humour and play to complicate our perception of space, time and surfaces through photography, drawing, video and sculpture.
Kosar holds an MFA from the University of Victoria and a BSc in Architecture from University of Tehran. Her work has resulted in publications and exhibitions in Iran, the UK, and Canada as well as grants and awards from the BC Arts Council, Audain Foundation, and SSHRC Canada. In addition, she has taken roles as the program coordinator for the Victoria Arts Council and Crummy Gallery, carried out independent curatorial projects, and taught as a sessional instructor at the University of Victoria.
“In my recent work I approach the exhibition space as a ground for improvisation. I source photographs from gallery rooms and through collage play with common themes in my practice that consider frames, surfaces, and the expectations we have of photography as a medium. My hope is to share my process of rethinking the space with viewers and make a dynamic experience where they slip into the world of knowing and not knowing what they’re looking at.”
Leanne M Christie
Leanne M. Christie paints full-time in her Vancouver studio and, when not accompanied by her PADS puppy in training, her 50km cycling commute from her home in Coquitlam, gives Christie an intimate kinship with the flow of the urban streets. The unrehearsed transitory moments provide an abundant source of her paintings.
Born and raised in South Africa, Christie moved to the Canadian West Coast in the late 2000s after a period of 10 years abroad that had originated as a 2 week holiday after the completion of her Bachelor of Fine Art from Rhodes University, Makhanda in the Eastern Cape.
“As an urban oil painter, Leanne M. Christie is fascinated by the idea that our memories are inextricably linked to the anchors in our environment and that as these anchors disappear through development, our memories fade with them and inevitably, we forget to remember. Her new body of work for “Even if I Wasn’t Here” weaves together the experience of the space of the gallery with the experience of the zones of the urban environment, using it to interpret the feelings of belonging, confusion, alienation, and possession that we feel as humans living in a part of the world that is undergoing dynamic change.”
Pat Calihou
Connecting With our Culture Through the Places We Sit - Métis woodcarver and artisan Pat Calihou, is passionate about connecting to his heritage and building the cultural footprints that were hard to find when he was growing up. Each of his wooden “places to sit'' have connections to Métis culture. They are places where family gather, places to share stories, and places to ask questions. Calihou’s work presents opportunities to educate the public and for a new generation to connect with Métis culture.
“Self-taught carver and artisan, Pat Calihou is best known for his carvings of Métis style paddles, canoes, traditionally built red river carts and most recently a full size replica York boat at historic Fort Langley.
As an active Métis Nation British Columbia citizen, Pat Calihou is committed to sharing Canadian Indigenous histories and revitalizing Métis culture through his creative outreach and education in schools, communities, and correctional institutions.”
Medium: Wood
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Blackberry Artists Society - Blackberry Gift Shop
The Blackberry Gift Shop (co-located inside the Port Moody Arts Centre) offers unique, handcrafted creations by local artists and artisans. Stop by and find the perfect gift or piece of art for your home. Browse the extensive collection of one-of-a-kind, handmade items, and talk to the artists who created them.
Exhibiting artists: Yolanda Cheung, Violet Finvers, Luci Gimenes, Joanne Henderson, Angela Holbrook, Del Holbrook, Dilys Huang, Denise Jeffrey, Laurie Jones-Canta, Sarah Kang, Jane Ostenstad, Sepideh Saba, Wendy Schmidt, Leah Shapera, Paul Shannon, Greta Smith, Elizabeth Wallace
Address: 2425 Saint Johns Street, Port Moody
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