Artists draw from nature in In Reflection Across the Shore exhibit, at the Museum of Vancouver starting August 5
Show is part of ACSEA’s new Reflect Festival, connecting Taiwan and the Pacific Northwest
Post Sponsored by Asian-Canadian Special Events Association
Edward Fu-Chen Juan
Yu-Wen Wang
A new exhibit celebrates the work of two Taiwanese and Taiwanese-Canadian artists who turned to nature for inspiration during the pandemic.
Yu-Wen Wang and Edward Fu-Chen Juan are the subject of In Reflection Across the Shore, showing August 5 to November 6 at the Museum of Vancouver with the support of Ministry of Culture (Taiwan), Taiwan Academy of Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Los Angeles and Asian-Canadian Special Events Association.
The artists will also conduct workshops at the museum on August 14 and 20,, all as part of the new Reflect Festival. It’s organized by the Asian-Canadian Special Events’ Association (ACSEA), which puts on TAIWANfest each year.
Wang lives in Taitung, by the mountains on Taiwan’s southeastern coast, and being close to nature there allows her to explore using various natural materials—from sand to beeswax—as mediums for her art.
Unable to travel to Taiwan due to the pandemic, Taiwanese-Canadian artist Fu-Chen Juan, meanwhile, turned to the knowledge of local Indigenous knowledge holders in Canada to help him extract ink from native plants. Embracing native plants and the stories and significance to local cultures behind those plants is at the heart of the artist’s printmaking and papermaking.
Fu-Chen Juan also infuses that work with some of the familiar sights of Taiwanese culture with sustainable mediums that emphasize the biodiversity of native plants, such as crafting traditional lanterns found at Taiwanese temples and printing them with images of plant specimens and calligraphic texts.
Ultimately, these themes about looking to nature to find humanity’s own roots are at the heart of the new Reflect Festival. Reflect Festival seeks to press pause on that rush and look back to nature and discover humanity’s roots through the arts, music, discussion, or more, connecting the Pacific Northwest and Taiwan, and base itself between Vancouver and Taiwan. This new ACSEA project will present exhibitions like this one with partners interested in similar themes.
Find more information here.
Post sponsored by Asian-Canadian Special Events Association.