Surrey Art Gallery hosts Family Sunday with an interactive performance on March 12

Crafting, collaging, and a ventriloquist show on the day’s lineup of activities

SPONSORED POST BY Surrey Art Gallery

Visitors at Keerat Kaur’s Panjabi Garden exhibition. Photo by Pardeep Singh

Surrey Art Gallery invites visitors to its next Family Sunday on March 12 from 11 am to 3 pm, for a fun-filled afternoon themed “A Place We Call Home.”

The collection of artwork on display in the gallery encourages visitors to consider connections between interior and exterior, home and the world, and language and personal identity. The day will be brimming with family-friendly activities, including art-making and an interactive performance.

Upon arrival, participants can make a booklet that helps them navigate the gallery and discover its surrounding art by completing challenges such as a search-and-find activity.

Exhibiting artist Parvin Peivandi will help participants create a collage using fabrics, magazine clippings, and found objects that reflect their own culture. The art studio will host a paper house activity using paper, crayons, and texture sheets, where people can reflect on the relationship between themselves and their homes. And with exhibiting artist Keerat Kaur, guests will get to illustrate alphabet letters that share stories inspired by two of the gallery’s winter exhibitions, one of which is Kaur’s own Panjabi Garden.

Featured sights around the gallery include a maze-like sculpture of rounded arches, stairs, and windows made of hundreds of acrylic panels in David Umemoto's installation Digital Architecture; imaginatively reconstructed paintings of house interiors by Robert Young; and a hybrid sculpture made of dynamic steel structures and worn-out Iranian rugs by Parvin Peivandi.

At 1 pm, the gallery will present a 30-minute interactive musical performance by ventriloquist Kellie Haines involving song, dance, and puppets. Audience members are encouraged to participate in the show.

There will also be a dedicated sensory-friendly creative space at the event with resources like noise-cancelling headphones, squishy seats, and support staff to facilitate a comfortable and relaxed exploration.

Several other winter exhibitions will be on display in the gallery, including Autumn Strawberry by Cindy Mochizuki, a multimedia work that tells the story of life on Japanese Canadian farms pre-WWII; and Atheana Picha’s mural Echoes, which celebrates the cultural importance of Coast Salish mountain goat horn bracelets.

Family Sunday is a free drop-in event, and no-cost tickets for the 1 pm performance will be available the day of to reserve a spot. More info can be found here.

Post sponsored by Surrey Art Gallery.