Rooted Here: Woven from the Land offers first look at new Vancouver Art Gallery building's copper cladding, to May 12
Show celebrates work of Coast Salish weavers qʷənat, Angela George, Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George, Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph, and Qwasen, Debra Sparrow
Qwasen, Debra Sparrow’s swəwqʷaʔɬ (Blanket), 2018, wool fibre, dye, Courtesy of the Museum of Anthropology, The University of British Columbia. Purchase funded by the Michael O’Brian Family Foundation, 3356/1
qʷənat, Angela George’s Rivers Have Mouths, 2021, wool blend, Collection of Artists for Kids and Gordon Smith Gallery, Photo: Khim Mata Hipol, Courtesy of Artists for Kids and Gordon Smith Gallery
The mockup of the new copper cladding planned for the Vancouver Art Gallery’s new purpose-built facility.
Rooted Here:Woven From the Land is at the Vancouver Art Gallery to May 12
VANCOUVER ART GALLERY’S recently installed Rooted Here: Woven from the Land doesn’t just celebrate the work of Salish weavers, it gives a glimpse at what the gleaming copper exterior will look like on its purpose-built new building.
That’s because the four artists showcased in the exhibition—qʷənat, Angela George, Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George, Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph, and Qwasen, Debra Sparrow—have all worked closely with its architects (Switzerland’s Herzog & de Meuron, with Vancouver’s Perkins&Will) to bring Coast Salish art to the cladding of the project.
A large-scale copper mockup sits in the rotunda greeting visitors to Rooted Here, representing years of work and research into the woven metal look, and how to connect the architecture to the history of the land it sits on at 181 West Georgia Street. Ground is finally set to break on the $400-million project early this year, after a ground-awakening ceremony in September. There is also a table presentation of models, samples, images, and text tracing the intricate process around developing the new Vancouver Art Gallery’s woven façade.
Visitors can take a closeup look at the perforated strips of copper that mimic the woven look of the works inside the exhibit. The show traces the integration of handspun weaving into the social life of Salish communities, as well as the ongoing work to revive the traditions interrupted by colonialism. The pieces also highlight the innovations of each of the four standout artists, including Musqueam master Sparrow’s strikingly contemporary geometric designs. Each blanket tells a story, many zig-zagging in earthy reds with black, gold, and white. Elsewhere, blue makes an appearance, most symbolically in Angela George’s Rivers Have Mouths.
In wool or in copper, the show weaves a profound spell.
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