A Closer Look

May 22 - June 30

Artists Emily Cowan, Mallory Donen & Joanne Frewer present smaller works that invite viewers to get up close & really explore the themes & techniques of each piece. Exploring a variety of media from painting to embroidery to assemblage, these artists investigate themes of home, women's work, traditional craft & change.

Emily Cowan is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver. Her current body of work features acrylic & gouache paintings of houses, buildings, interiors & domestic scenes inspired by the concept of "home" & by the spaces women create for themselves & their families. Women creating homes has traditionally been looked at as an unimportant skill, & Cowan is interested in elevating everyday women's spaces & contributions. She is also interested in the house as a modern-day status symbol; as affordable housing continues to disappear. The houses she paints are a love-letter of sorts; to the lifestyles once assumed but now out of reach; to the women who create them.

Mallory Donen is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Vancouver. Donen’s art explores the intersection of digital art & embroidery, through processes rooted in traditional craft passed down from generations of women in her family. By using the distinct grid format of cross-stitching she creates connections between threads & pixels. Her practice explores repetitive mechanical processes, & our relationship with technology, by making art as if she were a machine.

Joanne Frewer is a West Vancouver based multidisciplinary artist creating shadow boxed assemblage works that combine the everyday & the spiritual. Frewer's pieces offer viewers glimpses into other spaces - a Mexican kitchen, Parisian flat, or Buddhist shrine - full of tiny pieces of decor either handmade by Frewer or collected on her travels around the globe. Each scene invites viewers to look closely & discover the details in not only the artwork but in the sacred moments of life they represent.