Downtown Courtenay Business Improvement Association

=== IN PLACE / DISPLACED === Contemporary Gallery

Haruko Okano (Vancouver BC) - installation
Maria Whiteman (Edmonton AB) - large scale photography
Pamela Speight (Nanaimo BC) - drawings
...
**Opening Reception: Friday January 13 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance
**Art Talk: Friday January 13 at 8pm during opening reception

**Panel Discussion: Saturday January 14, 10am - 12noon
Invited panel members will be from the BCSPCA, Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society, Tsolum River Restoration Society and Project Watershed. Discussion topics will centre around local habitat/conservation, animal rights and wildlife rehabilitation.

This exhibit consists of a selection of artworks by three artists presenting installation, large format photography and drawings together to activate a dialogue surrounding the human relationship with animals, the phenomena of habitat/territory and invasive species.

Haruko Okano is a Vancouver based artist educated at the Doone School of Fine Arts, Kitchener ON, completing post grad studies at Central Tech, ON followed by a 2 year curatorial apprenticeship at the Grunt Gallery in Vancouver BC. Since 1974, she has exhibited widely in BC, the Yukon, Ontario, Mexico, USA, and internationally. Her works are located in the collection of the Library of Congress, USA, Surrey Art Gallery, Japanese Canadian Citizens Assn, BC Provincial Art Bank and the Canada Council Art Bank.

Maria Whiteman lives and works in Edmonton Alberta. She completed a BFA at the University of North Carolina and an MFA at The Pennsylvania State University. She is currently a Scholar for the Canadian Institute for Research in Computing and the Arts and is the Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Dept. of Art & Design at the University of Alberta. She has exhibited in Canada for the last decade.

Pamela Speight is based in Nanaimo BC. She completed a BFA at Emily Carr University and an MFA at Ohio State University, and has been a Professor of drawing and painting at Vancouver Island University since 1991. She has exhibited throughout the USA and Canada since 1985. Her works are in the collection of the Burnaby Art Gallery, The Richmond Art Gallery, Malaspina Printmaker’s Society Archives and the Canada Council Art Bank.

=== ANIMALMORPHIC === Community Gallery
Opening Reception: Friday January 13 from 7-9pm, artists in attendance

In conjunction with the main exhibit, In Place / Displaced, CVAG invites the community to submit artworks responding to the topic of humanity’s relationship to animals and our practice of attributing human qualities towards them; consider animals both wild and domestic. How does this practice affect how we see, feel and think about animals? In its most prevalent form, we see animals as characters in fables, stories, and legends. Nowadays, how do we continue this relationship in popular media? Submissions can also be a visual exploration and dialogue of how we perceive animals in our/their shared habitat, animal rights, conservation and/or stewardship.

==== TOMORROW ==== George Sawchuk Gallery
Installation by Sylwia Gustyn
Opening Reception: Friday January 13 from 7-9pm, artist in attendance