Friday April 4th, 2014
Brazilian Artist to Transform Salvaged Wood into Furniture for Vancouver Biennale
Hugo Franca will be carving stumps and logs on Spanish Banks for next two weeks
The wood speaks and Hugo Franca listens.
The Brazilian designer and artist was doing a lot of listening to a 4,100-kg Douglas fir stump at Spanish Banks Friday morning. Weathered grey, the stump had a massive root that cascaded on the sand to one side.
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Thursday April 3rd, 2014
‘Do you want to get engaged?’ city asks
Civic Participation.
Council approves plan to help citizens vote easier, feel welcome.
Vancouverites are cynical about city decisions, terrified to speak at city hall and unlikely to vote in municipal elections.
Oh and they're lonely.
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Wednesday April 2nd, 2014
Hugo Franca: Telling the story of the trees
Brazilian artist Hugo Franca, who works with discarded wood to carve
monumental public sculptures, was in Squamish until April 2 as part of the Vancouver Biennale.
Speaking to Pique through his interpreter, Tais Ribeiro, Franca talked about how happy he and his team were to learn more about the connection between the people living in the Sea to Sky region with the expansive forests that cover it.
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Wednesday April 2nd, 2014
Renowned woodcarver kicks off Biennale
Renowned Brazilian woodcarver Hugo França admitted to being just a tiny bit overwhelmed by the reception he received in Squamish last week.
At an event on Thursday (March 27) marking the kickoff for the town’s involvement in the two-year-long Vancouver Biennale arts initiative, a smiling França stood up in front of an overflow crowd at the Squamish Academy of Music to offer his thanks for the warm welcome on his first visit to Canada.
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Friday March 28th, 2014
Ai Weiwei’s artwork coming to Vancouver for Biennale’s 2014-16 exhibit
The work of famed Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei is coming to Vancouver, as a part of the 2014-2016 Biennale public art project.
(The Biennale describes itself, on its website, as a "registered non-profit organization with a mandate to exhibit great art in public space and use it as a catalyst to learning and social action".)
The location of Weiwei's work is yet to be announced, but it will be in Vancouver. Other venues for artists' work will be in Richmond, New Wesminster, North Vancouver, and Squamish.
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Wednesday March 26th, 2014
In New Public Art, Three Visions of Vancouver Collide
In many ways, Vancouver is the ideal city for public art. While Winnipeg excels at wintertime installations like its idiosyncratic “warming huts,” and Toronto’s public art often feels grittier and more urban due to its main greenspaces being ravines—tricky places for exhibitions—Vancouver benefits from a warmer year-round climate and abundant parkland.
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Wednesday March 26th, 2014
Vancouver Biennale public art project hits beaches in April
Soon Vancouverites will be able to enjoy the beach on furniture carved out of salvaged trees by a famous Brazilian sculptor.
Artist Hugo França will use recovered local wood to build sculptures and benches at Spanish Banks Beach, Kits Beach, Sunset Beach and English Bay starting next week as part of the third Vancouver Biennale, an 18-month rotation of large-scale public art across Metro Vancouver.
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Tuesday March 25th, 2014
Ai Weiwei Artwork Coming To Vancouver Biennale
The thought-provoking work of renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei is headed for Vancouver. Weiwei's art is coming to town as part of the 2014-2016 Vancouver Biennale, which started this month.
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Tuesday March 25th, 2014
Hugo França Sculpts Old Trees Into Art For Vancouver Biennale
Brazilian sculptor Hugo França has arrived in B.C. to participate in the 2014-2016 Vancouver Biennale.
França is converting the trunks and roots of old trees, as well as trees that have washed ashore, into large-scale public art pieces and benches in Squamish and Vancouver.
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Sunday March 23rd, 2014
North Vancouver Hosts Biennale
North Vancouver will play host over the next two years to a pair of public art installations that showcase the work of international artists as part of the Vancouver Biennale.
Opening in May, one installation will be outside of the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art and the other will be at the Pipe Shop Building in Shipbuilder's Square, the long-dormant historic building on the city's waterfront.
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