After a summer vacation, Surrey Art Gallery Association’s monthly Thursday Artist Talk events return on Sept. 6.
The featured speaker that evening is Surrey-based artist Chito Maravilla, who interprets the Philippines and Canada through some of surreal paintings. His “Paintings of an Immigrant” talk is free for all to attend at Surrey Art Gallery, starting at 7:30 p.m.
An artist in the Philippines before moving to Canada in 2002, Maravilla shares the wonder of his former and current homes through paintings that blend surrealism and expressionism.
“My artworks are reflections on having two homes, and they draw comparison between my experiences in the Philippines and my new experiences here in Canada,” he stated in an event advisory. “The different stories of these two places have left me awestruck and with new perceptions.”
His work includes illustrations of people in the SkyTrain, an interpretative painting of a fireworks display and a mural of whimsical animals uplifting children’s spirits in the hospital.
For 16 years in Manilla, Maravilla was as art director at an advertising company. In Canada, he has worked as a playground designer and sculptor, including a project at Guildford Town Centre. Today, he’s a graphic designer at Smartfilms. His drawings have been displayed at Vancouver International Airport. Examples of his work can be seen at chitomaravilla.com.
The gallery association’s monthly artist talks include a question-and-answer session, at 13750 88th Ave., at Bear Creek Park.
Also this fall at Surrey Art Gallery, Thursday Art Talk events will feature Hannah Bennett (on “Art and the In-Between,” Oct. 4), Wendy Mould (“The Secrets of Graphite,” Nov. 1) and Jordan Strom, the gallery’s curator of exhibitions and collections (“Collecting Art South of the Fraser,” Dec. 6). More event details are posted at sagabc.com/thursday-artist-talks.
The gallery has also planned a couple of talks related to its fall exhibitions, including one by Nicolas Sassoon, digital artist fatured at UrbanScreen (Sept. 28) and Maggie Orth, a textile artist featured at the gallery’s TechLab (Nov. 3).
This fall, opening Sept. 23, the gallery will showcase four textile-theme exhibits, including Peace Arch Weavers and Spinners Guild’s “The Art of Warmth,” a “Connecting Threads” exhibit featuring 20-plus works from the gallery’s permanent collection, Maggie Orth’s interactive, colour-changing quilts in “Moving Towards Stillness,” and Kathy Slade’s pop culture-infused images and objects in “This is a chord. This is another.” More details can be found at surrey.ca/artgallery.
