Category: Buddhism

In the Present Moment: Memories and Another Milestone!

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By Marina DiMaio, Digital & Print Assets Coordinator.

Back in 2018, pretty much fresh out of grad school, I found myself at the beginning of my very first job at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Through my own multidisciplinary art making, I’ve always been interested in contemplative practices, and the idea of creative process as spiritual practice. So, with the support of an Early Career Development Grant from the BC Arts Council, I had the incredible opportunity to extend and deepen the artistic research that I began exploring as an MFA student at UVic by contributing as a curatorial assistant at the AGGV to a multiphase project, by curator Haema Sivanesan, considering Buddhism as an artistic methodology.

10 Things To Know About Decorative Themes in Chinese Blue and White Porcelain

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By Audrey Wang, AGGV Volunteer

With its origins in China, this quarter’s column of “10 Things To Know” will look at Chinese blue and white porcelain and its myriad decorative themes. Behind every design element are symbolic meanings relevant to the maker or to the eventual owner of the piece. What does each theme signify and what does that tell us about the piece?

Kay Larson on John Cage, 4’33” and the Lecture on Nothing

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By Audrey Wang, AGGV Volunteer

Last Fall, scholars, theologists, art practitioners and followers of Buddhism gathered at the University of Victoria for a weekend of lectures and performances for In The Present Moment: Buddhism, Contemporary Art and Social Practice, A Research Convening. The opening Orion Keynote Lecture & Performance was Lecture on Nothing with acclaimed New York-based writer and art critic, Kay Larson.

Beautiful Trouble: A Conversation Between Friends on Activism, Art and Buddhism

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For the Closing Orion Keynote Conversation, we were given privy to an ongoing conversation between longtime friends – artist Suzanne Lacy and activist Jodie Evans. As they hashed out their differences in approach and opinion, lavished each other with praise and admiration, and critiqued their own areas of professional expertise, the engaged audience remained enthralled by two inspirational women, both practising Buddhists and both passionate about their work.

A Glimpse into the Life and Work of Paul Horiuchi

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By Marina DiMaio, AGGV Curatorial Assistant

Horiuchi was a painter and collagist whose work has become an important hybrid of Western-style abstraction, Asian calligraphy, and eastern philosophies. His body of work has helped situate an alternative narrative to the development of modern art in the Pacific Northwest, one that fully considers Japanese and North American relations.

Granting Buddhist Research: Q&A with AGGV Curator Haema Sivanesan

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AGGV Curator Haema Sivanesan is a recent recipient of a Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation research grant in the amount of $150,000. She was also awarded a $50,000 curatorial research fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. What is Sivanesan working on and why? Hint: it’s infinitely vast with neither a beginning nor an end. Therefore, let’s start with the present moment…