Building an Art Community Art Vancouver 2020

Building an art community:

by Nathan Durec

connects the public to artists

ART VANCOUVER wants to be recognized as more than an international art fair. It wants to be viewed as a place where one goes to experience and participate in art. And that’s exactly what they have created as they head towards their sixth annual exhibition in April 2020.

Skyla Wayrynen, the media coordinator for ART VANCOUVER, said they have learned from attending other exhibitions around the world about what makes a good art experience.

“ART VANCOUVER developed into more than an art fair that you see at other events,” she said. “When you go to Miami, they have tons of art fairs, but it’s just art. There’s no runway shows or panel talks or artist demonstrations.”

In their short history, they have grown into the largest art fair in Western Canada, creating a platform for local artists as well as bringing in international ones to a new audience.

“There’s opportunity here in terms of a platform of how can we create this into more of a community thing,” Wayrynen said.

Public Relations and Volunteer Manager Taisha Teal said they saw a need that was not being serviced.

“A lot of galleries are closing because rent’s expensive and people are selling their work online, through online galleries,” she said.

In creating ART VANCOUVER’s international art fair, these artists and galleries have a built-in and engaged audience come to them with thousands of potential buyers to see their artwork.

This was part of the goal, Teal said. When talking with Vancouverbased art buyers and even artists, many of them said they had to travel to other provinces or out of country to find what they were looking for.

“There was no platform in Vancouver for them to buy art,” she said. “There was no big art fair where there was art being shown.” And now that they have established themselves and become part of the art community of Vancouver, they want to champion the local art scene.

“That’s our goal, to put ART VANCOUVER on the art map with London and New York and Miami,” Teal said.

Attendees not only get to see well over 1,000 individual pieces of art, they get to speak with the artists that created them. The fourday schedule of programming also includes a panel talk on how to purchase art, live painting accompanied by music, a runway for artists to showcase their work, art demonstrations and even a unique program for high school-aged youth.

takes place April 16–19 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. 2020

ART VANCOUVER 2019.

Exhibitor artist IBE ANANABA.