Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 mixed-media artists to check out at this year's North Shore Art Crawl

From floral resin goddesses to magazine collages, annual North Van Arts event features diverse roster of more than 150 creatives at 69 venues

By Emily Lyth

Resin-cast floral goddesses. Artwork by Liora Agronov-Moss of AMLiora Designs

THE NORTH SHORE Art Crawl, North Van Arts’ annual event celebrating local creatives, runs from October 13 to 15 this year. With more than 150 artists displaying their work across 69 different locations on the North Shore, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Offerings include a vast collection of West Coast Indigenous art at the Spirit Gallery, a Guy Hollington chat about how he creates hand-blown glass pieces, or an array of beadwork, clay, and jewellery made by The Taj Collective, composed of Kirsty Babcock, Elaine Lau, and Sharon Quirke.

Many of the artists at the crawl pull inspiration from the surrounding nature of the Pacific Northwest. Take Ann Marie Lewis of Soulroots Moss Art, with her unique moss installations reflecting the beauty of the forest indoors; or Rhonda LeGrove Garton, whose coastal B.C. landscape oil paintings showcase familiar tree groves, flowing rivers, trail pathways, and more.

Demonstrations, activities, and artist meet-and-greets take place at galleries, community centres, businesses, and art schools (the full event guide can be viewed online). Most venues are open from 11 am to 5 pm on October 14 and 15, with a select assortment hosting opening receptions on October 13 from 7 pm to 9 pm.

For those eager to see a little bit of everything, here are five multimedia artists to catch at the crawl:

#1

Liora Agronov-Moss (AMLiora Designs)

At Garden of Granite Winery

An industrial and resin designer by trade, Liora Agronov-Moss creates everything from jewellery and hair accessories to goddess busts and décor pieces through her company AMLiora Designs. Each of her unique resin works incorporates real flowers and leaves, pulling inspiration from local B.C. nature. Agronov-Moss is a 2019 graduate of Emily Carr University’s art and design program, and founded her business shortly afterwards.

“beauty” mountains (2023), acrylic on round wood panel. Artwork by Colette Tan

#2

Colette Tan

At Welch Street Studios

B.C. and Alberta mountainscapes form the basis of Colette Tan’s paintings, often created on long planks and round panels made of wood. A former private banker and business owner, Tan is a cancer survivor who chose to fully embrace her long-standing passion for art in 2020. She has a penchant for abstract and ethereal imagery, and her works are featured in exhibitions locally at White Rock’s Nomad Gallery and New Westminster’s Van Dop Gallery, plus Montreal’s Le HangArt Gallery.

Landscape Stripes. Artwork by Roman Rozumnyj

#3

Roman Rozumnyj

At Ocean Place Studios

Roman Rozumnyj’s artistic prowess covers a lot of ground: he’s a movie and television set decorator, interior designer, and mixed media artist. The Sudbury-born, Winnipeg-raised, and West Vancouver-based talent primarily creates colourful acrylic paint-stripe works. His diverse portfolio also spans cartoon characters (think Looney Tunes, Garfield, and Beetlejuice), paint-drenched sculptures, and sophisticated office space art.

Cubs, mixed media collage made with Field & Stream magazines on deep wood panel. Artwork by Alex Asai

#4

Alex Asai

At House of Funk Brewing

Alex Asai elevates collages to a new level with impressively large-scale images of everything from a Sapporo Ichiban Japanese noodle packet to a close-up of an elk to a portrait of Tiger Woods. Asai, who has previously shown his work at the North Shore Art Crawl and Eastside Culture Crawl, inventively cuts and arranges snippets of vintage magazines. He finds his materials, some printed over 40 years ago, by scouring Craigslist and eBay. Among the titles he’s used are Field & Stream, Canada’s History, GQ, Life Magazine, and even Playboy.

Once Upon a Grouse, mixed media on wood. Artwork by Carol Demers

#5

Carol Demers

At 5628 Ptarmigan Place

Carol Demers uses paint and ceramics to capture elements of the natural world in rust- and soot-toned hues. Her mixed-media paintings employ a host of different materials, including oil, pigments, graphite, plaster, copper, encaustic (hot wax), and found objects. Demers works on wood and canvas to create earthly images among the likes of birds nests, beehives, seascapes, and plant roots. When it comes to ceramics, her methodically coil-built clay pieces are smoke-fired in wood, sawdust, and minerals, giving them a hazy finish.

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