Exhibition: Playhouse

Playhouse features artworks from over 20 Canadian artists and presents the Gordon Smith Gallery as a place to experience stories, meet characters, and transform the spaces we inhabit in order to unveil unseen narratives. The exhibition sets the stage for us to consider ways in which the physical, social, cultural, and imagined qualities of a place are intertwined.

Playhouse is inspired by comics, broadly interpreted as characters acting in frames, asserting control over their own narratives. Comics are accessible forms of sequential storytelling where the reader builds a relationship with characters over time. Throughout the exhibition we encounter sculptures, animation, paintings, and textiles containing active forms and figures performing within their panels and waiting to be interpreted by viewers of all ages.

The works of contemporary Canadian artists Whess Harman, Hannah Jickling and Reed H. Reed, Guná Jensen, and Cindy Mochizuki are shown alongside works from the Artists for Kids’ Permanent Collection. The perspectives of elementary and secondary students across the Lower Mainland are featured through textile artworks and zines.

This exhibition is presented by Artists For Kids and the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art in partnership with the Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists, the North Vancouver School District, the North Vancouver Recreation and Culture Commission, and is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.