Now and Then: The Shipyards Through the Lens of Secondary Students
Artists For Kids project supported by the Archives of North Vancouver explores relationship between photography and place.
Artists For Kids project supported by the Archives of North Vancouver explores relationship between photography and place.
Completed artwork by Gillian Forde inspired by an archival photograph from the Archives of North Vancouver. Photo: Artists For Kids
By Amelia Epp, Artists For Kids and Gordon Smith Gallery
How does photography impact our relationship to place? This is a question that senior secondary students from the North Vancouver and West Vancouver school districts explored in November 2022 through a workshop with photo-based artist Karen Zalamea.
The workshop, hosted by Artists for Kids, took place over three school days and offered secondary students unique opportunities to develop technical photography skills, to explore digital and analogue processes for altering photographs, to carry out research at MONOVA: Archives of North Vancouver (3203 Institute Road), and to publicly exhibit their artwork.
Reference Historian Daien Ide workshopping with students at the Archives of North Vancouver in November 2022. Photo: Artists For Kids
The students test out their cameras outside of the Archives of North Vancouver in Lynn Valley, November 2022. Photo: Artists For Kids
With the North Vancouver waterfront as the central location of inquiry, students began this three-day workshop by engaging with the rich resources at the Archives of North Vancouver to inform their approaches to the site.
Students worked with historical photographs, maps, and plans from the archive, combining these with their own location-based photographs. The resulting artworks took on diverse forms, incorporating weaving, paper folding, hand stitching, and digital collage.
Photo-based artist Karen Zalamea (shown on right) working with students, November 2022. Photo: Artists For Kids
The finished student artworks were exhibited at the Gordon Smith Gallery lobby at 2121 Lonsdale Ave in December 2022, with a large closing reception attended by the proud student artists as well as friends, families, and educators.
In December 2022, the finished student artworks were exhibited at the Gordon Smith Gallery. Photo: Artists For Kids
In March 2023, with the generous support of the City of North Vancouver, the student artworks were then printed on vinyl and mounted publicly on the mezzanine over-looking The Shipyards Commons.
Artist Karen Zalamea and several student artists led a walking tour of the public exhibition in April 2023, an event that was featured on the Capture Photography Festival website.
If you’re heading to The Shipyards this summer, be sure to check out these original artworks in person!
The student artworks were printed and mounted in the Shipyards Commons in March 2023. Photo: Artists For Kids
The Artists For Kids student project, supported by the City of North Vancouver, will be on view in The Shipyards during the summer of 2023.
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Donations are accepted through the Friends of the North Vancouver Museum & Archives Society, Registered Charity No. 89031 1772 RR0001.
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North Vancouver, BC V7K 3E5
Tel: 604. 990. 3700 (ext. 8012)
Fax: 604. 987. 5688
We respectfully acknowledge that MONOVA: Museum and Archives of North Vancouver is located on the traditional lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations, whose ancestors have lived here for countless generations. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work and learn with them on unceded Coast Salish Territory.