Group exhibition features artworks with Surrey connections

Surrey Art Gallery’s group exhibition Making Connections is on display until Jan. 31, 2027. A related Thursday Artist Talk, “Stories of Learning and Process,” will take place Nov. 5 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Gallery docents and staff will discuss how the exhibition was made. The event is part of Surrey Art Gallery Association’s monthly free artist talks.

A group of gallery docents, with support from gallery staff, selected artists and artworks with direct connections to Surrey. Docents are volunteer tour guides who lead exhibition tours for visiting students in Kindergarten to Grade 7 through the gallery’s School Programs. They chose 11 works from more than 2,500 in Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

The paintings, drawings, sculpture and video works explore place from different perspectives. Some offer fantastical ideas of place, such as the miniature home in Al McWilliams’ mixed-media sculpture Eggscape II. Arnold Mikelson’s elegant wooden carving Sandpiper with Egg represents local ecology, while Jeremy Herndl’s View from Whalley BC, April 18, 2011 depicts changes in the city’s landscape. The works invite visitors to consider where they are, how they engage with communities and how they act as stewards of the natural world.

The organizing committee included docents Fran Dawkins, Gunmeet Grewal, Peggy Lee, Kathleen Paddington, Gerald Spier and Rocky Sychuk, with support from Gallery Volunteer Programmer Johanna Lasner and Gallery Curator of Learning Chris Dawson-Murphy.

Surrey Art Gallery Association (SAGA) is a non-profit society that gives members opportunities to participate in and respond to contemporary art and to be part of a community that actively supports Surrey Art Gallery. Its website is https://www.sagabc.com/.

Founded in 1975, Surrey Art Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national and international artists, including digital and audio art. Recognized for its award-winning programs, the gallery engages people from children to adults in ongoing conversations about issues that affect their lives and offers opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. It is located at 13750 88 Avenue in Surrey, on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen) and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations. Surrey Art Gallery acknowledges operating funding from the City of Surrey, the Province of B.C. through the BC Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Surrey Art Gallery Association. More information: https://www.surrey.ca/arts-culture/surrey-art-gallery.

Photo: Jeremy Herndl, View from Whalley BC, April 18, 2011, 2011, oil on canvas. Collection of Surrey Art Gallery. SITE Photography.