Bring the family to share stories through art

Surrey Art Gallery is inviting families to drop in to make art and connect with family and friends on Saturday, July 13 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Look closely at shape, colour, and language with exhibiting artists, artist educators, and volunteers. Everyone is welcome at this event—children must be with an adult. Admission is free.

 Create with colours, collage, shapes, and more—both indoors and outdoors! Activities relate to the summer exhibits and permanent artworks in the building. Make art alongside exhibiting artists while learning about their practice and connection to the land. Families will use the clues in their art handbook to find the artworks and activities.

 The annual show Arts 2019 is filled with work in different mediums by local artists. Learn about the elements of art and spot them in the Gallery. Families can work together as a team to locate them all. Sara Khan’s exhibit Suraj Kinare contains magical and colourful watercolour paintings. Landscapes of Canada, Pakistan, and her imagination are the background for her intriguing characters. Families are invited to add to a large collaborative collage piece based on her paintings and create a paper figure of their own!

In the TechLab, Cindy Mochizuki is our residing artist working on her future animated exhibit Autumn Strawberry. She’s researching the history of Japanese Canadian berry farmers from Surrey and the surrounding area. Cindy will be reading her illustrated book Things on the Shoreline at 12:10, 1:10, and 2:10 p.m. The storytime will be followed by a chance to invent your own creatures using watercolours and salt.

 Surrey Arts Centre hosts a number of public artworks, including Drew Atkins and his artwork Retro-Perspective on the courtyard windows. As a member of the Kwantlen First Nation, he considers the long history on the land where Surrey now sits and asks viewers to think about their perspective on what is retro or old-fashioned. He uses shapes that represent important symbols of the land, Coast Salish design elements, and patterns from the 1950s. Spend time looking at the colours and shapes while learning about Kwantlen language as you make art with friends in the courtyard!