Public Art Roster 2024-2026
The Artist Roster is a list of artists who pre-qualify to create public art throughout the city. It allows for a streamlined selection process and will be one of several ways used to hire artists.
Artists will be commissioned for various City of New Westminster projects under $75,000 as opportunities become available. Examples of such projects may include (but is not limited to) banners, murals, artist residencies, social practice/community engaged projects, functional, stand alone or integrated temporary and permanent installations throughout the city.
All artists either live or work in the Lower Mainland.
Below is the roster of artists for 2024-2026, effective for the period of March 2024 to March 2026. Please note that artists on the list are not guaranteed a commission as projects will be awarded based on available opportunities.
- "I am a Black-Latinx, Trinidadian-Canadian, Vancouver-based, emerging multidisciplinaryartist. My art practice explores the relationship between humanity and nature; it isinformed by ecopsychology, a field of study fostering ecological thinking anddocumenting how exposure to nature benefits mental, physical, and emotionalwell-being."Image credit: Detail of column at Landsdowne Skytrain by Cherry ArcherMore About the Artist:Instagram: @cherry.archer
- "I am Elinor Atkins, my traditional name is Miməwqθelət – which translates to “The first bird to sing in the morning” I am a 25 year old established artist from Kwantlen First Nation and Nɬeʔkepmx (Shakan Nation).My art is deeply influenced by my roots in the Coastal and Interior Salish culture. Majority of my works draw from Kwantlen’s teachings or are spiritual subject matter and have very traditional influence formatted in a very contemporary way. My style is unique because of the combination between the traditional Salish design elements and modern components, such as the bright color palettes and weaving of botanicals, wildlife, and traditional teachings. Over the last six years my goal has been building my art portfolio through practicing skills in different art mediums such as wood carving, acrylic painting, murals, and illustration; as well as pursuing large scale public art opportunities and commissions that will help me grow as an Indigenous artist in the area."Image credit: Upper Medallion - Pattullo Bridge 2024 by Elinor AtkinsMore About the Artist:Instagram @elinoratkins_art
- q̓ʷɑti̓cɑ’s traditional name means that “I wear the clouds like a blanket”. She is a member of q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen) First Nation.Phyllis learned how to paint with Barbara Boldt at the Barbara Boldt Original Art Studio in Fort Langley and studied with her for many years until she opened her own K’wy’i’y’e Spring Salmon Studio in 2012. In 2001, Phyllis had the wonderful opportunity to learn the art of hand engraving jewelry from late Master Carver Derek Wilson of Haisla, BC.q̓ʷɑti̓cɑ is influenced by the deep connection to her ancestors, the community, and her family, but most of all she is inspired by her husband Drew Atkins.Together we are on this great journey with our three children, our art, our hopes, and dreams and we continue to grow and learn from each other and from our children, always moving forward.Image credit: Rivers that Connect Us by Phyllis AtkinsMore About the Artist:
- "I am a non-binary agender adisciplinary artist working for nearly two decades with generative computational processes and have been inspired by knowledge in philosophy and the natural sciences. I create Machine Subjects: systems that use collected material that is reconfigured in the creation of structures that both resemble, and differ from, source material. Source material is most often lens-based but I have also appropriated pop culture such as cinema and the canon of western painting. In some cases, I collect materials in advance of the creative process, and in others I use in situ cameras to collect “live” to feed artworks that evolve and change in relation to changes in the environment. Key themes of my work include site-specificity and responsiveness, the relationship between subjects and objects, imagination and reality, and the constructive role of boundaries."Image credit: Percepts from Watching by Ben BogartMore About the Artist:
James Harry is a Coast Salish Artist and member of Squamish Nation using modern tools, materials and techniques to integrate the traditional with the contemporary. Committed to continuing the journey of studying and responding to the voice developed through my ancestors’ way of creating.
Lauren Brevner is a multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver B.C with Japanese-Trinidadian heritage roots. Her family heritage deeply inspires her practice with a focus on matriarchal influence. Her work combines traditional approaches to portrait painting with themes of cultural identity and female representation.
With our combined experiences, we are impassioned by the opportunity to create a powerful symbol for reconciliation and celebrate the beauty of collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.Our commitment lies in collaborative efforts to craft murals that reflect the richness and diversity of Canada's history and culture. By incorporating a spectrum of artistic traditions and movements, we aim to construct a visual language that is both familiar and innovative. Ultimately, we aspire to create artwork that resonates with our shared humanity, serving as a source of pride for the New Westminster community.Image credit: Dreamweaver by Lauren Brevner and James HarryDavid Camisa is a British-Canadian Artist based in Vancouver, BC. Having worked as a professional Artist for over a decade, his work has been showcased across Canada and worldwide, including exhibitions with Thumbprint Gallery in San Diego, Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, Penumbra Gallery in Portugal, and Clouds Gallery in Tokyo, to name a few. His professional repertoire in the world of fine art has expanded to include illustration and murals, having most recently been hand-selected to create work for the 2021 Vancouver Queer Arts Festival and the fifth annual Vancouver Mural Festival. His illustration work has been featured in publications such as THIS Magazine and SAD Magazine.
Image credit: Free by David Camisa, 2021 Queer Arts Festival
More About the Artist:
Alice Clair is a freelance artist and illustrator based in New Westminster, BC.
Image credit: Painted tree planter by Alice Clair
More About the Artist:Kim Cooper is an artist, designer and community facilitator, who’s work has been exhibited in Canada & the USA. She is currently based in Vancouver, BC. on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations after having studied fine art in the USA and BC.
Kim’s art practice is grounded in our human connection to the earth on an individual and a larger societal level, questioning the human condition, the environment and how (we) art can foster connection and community. She explores her/our emotional response and reaction to situations in society, entagled with history of place and then tries to transform that into a tangible artifact, a physical manifestation of our emotional landscape. She see’s each project as an opportunity to engage people on both intellectual and visceral planes, bringing others into contact with their environment in a new and unexpected way. Her public art practice tends to looks outwards to the physical landscape of society, while her studio practice looks inwards exploring the landscape of self.
Image credit: Nest by Kim Cooper
More About the Artist:Artist Statement
My art is a journey of healing and growth where I attempt to regain a sense of cultural understanding that was lost. I was born in the 60s and raised in a farm community, far removed from any Native art, but interested in learning about my heritage. At age 24, I met my maternal mother and told her I knew my Indian name, Blue Sky. She was surprised but said that Blue Sky was only the first part of my name and the second was lost in time. This is fitting for my life. Lost in a time when things were hard for natives, and now, I am searching for my shadow, as the story goes.
I began learning about Native art and found that I liked the west coast style, and I bought a few prints. I loved the hummingbird I bought and started drawing it and other things I have seen. After purchasing an original painting set by Mark Anthony Jacobson, I found that the Woodland School of Art was a whole new area of art closer to my ancestors.
Today, I make Woodland-style native art where I paint legends and whimsical wildlife on things I make like drums and an eagle head staff. It is very important to convey what I learn about my culture through legends and teachings because generations have lost so much information and a sense of cultural identity. It is also easier to learn a complex truth through a cheerful medium like painting. For example, my work, Turtle Legend, teaches children where they live on Turtle Island in a way they can comprehend.
I seem to find a peaceful balance when doing art, which brings some relief in these hectic times. I hope to learn more and contribute to the art world by creating and teaching those who want to learn. I think this is the way forward for our cultural heritage to heal and grow.
Image credit: by James Groening
More About the ArtistInstagram: @blueskyjwgArtist Statement:
Currently dividing my time between Manila (The Philippines) and Vancouver (Canada), my artistic practice is governed by nomadic gestures and transient objects, characterized by a concept-driven approach across a variety of media. Working in fields appropriate for each project - drawing, text, sculpture, installation, photography, video, performance and social practice - an increasingly important outcome of my current investigations recognize the roles of language, architecture and other structure-based entities as control mechanisms. My working method can be described as having an acute sensitivity toward an idea, a site, its public and its surroundings, complimented with interests in the dynamics of social interactions, social structures and post-colonial concerns.
In 2010, I founded MAA - Museum for the Administration of Aesthetics. Currently acting as its Director, MAA is a research-based itinerant project concerned with issues surrounding the city and the social interactions involving architecture and the urban environment. MAA collaborates with individuals and organizations on site-specific projects and curatorial presentations. As a nomadic entity, MAA utilizes various artistic methods to record and present an archive of urban and social experiences that engage with contemporary ideas relating to urbanism, post-colonialism and personal pedagogy.
Image credit: People are the City by Paul de Guzman
More About the Artist:- "Art, for me, is an opportunity to explore perspectives, informed by my artistic influences, that represent a composition of ideas in visual and poetic form. My current work aims to celebrate my background in engineering, inspirations from Sikh philosophy, my Panjabi and Canadian heritage, my lived experiencegrowing up in a family fabric store, and my motherhood. My work aims to foster community conversations and contemplation of new perspectives and ideas. In addition to being an artist, I am also a professional engineer with experience in project management that can benefit me when delivering public art projectsand designing projects to meet specific goals."Image credit: Nexus by Kiranjot Kaur
- Katie Kozak is a queer artist of Métis and Ukrainian settler descent based in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.She grew up in Denare Beach, Saskatchewan, Treaty 10 territory, and her ancestral roots are in the Métis communities of St. François Xavier, and Boggy Creek, Manitoba. Her visual art practice is centered around connectivity to Land, relationship, ritual and traces.Lucien Durey is an artist, writer, and singer based in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. His practice engages with found objects, photographs, places, and sounds that form the basis for public projects, as well as artworks in mixed media, sculpture, and performance.Since 2012, we have worked together on durational projects that enact care for one another and gratitude toward the places and spaces in which the artworks are realized andexhibited. The resulting artworks contemplate lineage, ancestry, queerness, sustainability, and healing within a context of reimagining place-based relations that serve the social and cultural landscape of our shared communities.Image credit: Spots by Katie Kozak and Lucien Durey
Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, he brings over a decade and a half of design and fabrication experience to each new project. His ‘heavy but light’ approach seeks to engage meaningful social and ecological concepts with a humor and whimsy, while celebrating overlooked natural and cultural narratives. By understanding the unique qualities of each site, his projects are on one hand refined and richly laden with local meaning, and on the other hand buildable, durable, and responsive to the practical demands of interior and exterior public art.
Image credit: Hak Chu / Pak Chu Nathan Lee, Burnaby, BC.
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James McCrea is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes illustration, fine art paintings and mural installations. Largely self-taught, McCrea has a background as a street artist and has extensive experience in the film industry as a scenic painter.
Image credit: image of film set by James McCrea
More About the ArtistInstagram: @jsilohPJ Patten is a self-taught graphic illustrator, tattoo artist, and poet whose work is influenced by the intersection of his Japanese heritage with his American military upbringing.
Patten’s parents met in Japan where his father was stationed, and the family was raised in Huntington Beach, California where he started airbrushing surfboards in the popular surfing community.
Patten’s own lived experience of homelessness and addiction as a young adult led to the publishing of his first published book “Tower25: Strung Out, Homeless, and Standing Up Again.”
The evocative and emotional illustrations in the book are inspired by the traditional Japanese artform of Haiga, which blends watercolour painting and haiku. Patten uses inkstone and brushes that belonged to his Oba-chan (Japanese for “grandmother”) that she herself used to create art.
His preferred mediums are acrylic paints on canvas, pen, ink, watercolours on paper.
As part of his mental health journey, Patten spent ten years living at a buddhist retreat center, immediately after which he began working on his graphic novel “Tower 25”.
Patten has led graphic novel workshops for at-risk youth and given talks on comics and his own recovery story. He has had his paintings and drawings exhibited in and around Vancouver B.C., and is currently working on a new project - also a graphic novel - telling the stories of the children who spent time in Canada's Japanese Internment Camps.
Patten is a grateful resident on the unceded and stolen lands of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueum peoples who have been here since time immemorial. He operates out of his studio in Burnaby, where he also makes his home with his wife and two stepsons.Image credit: detail of Lost voices rise to the heavens finding new hearts to hold them by PJ PattenMore About the Artist:George Rahi is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish territories. He works with experimental instruments and technologies as a method of exploring acoustic and digital anomalies, modes of listening, and spatial and architectural thinking. His work includes installations, instrument making, composition, solo + ensemble performance, and works for radio, theatre & public spaces.
His work has been supported by awards and grants such as the Lab30 Audience Award, Canada Council for the Arts Guest of Honour (Frankfurt), and the R. Murray Schafer Soundscape Award.
Image credit: frequencies by George Rahi. Palazzo del Casale, Matera, Italy
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Holly Schmidt is an artist, curator and educator that engages processes of embodied research, collaboration and informal pedagogy to explore the multiplicity of human relations with the natural world. Her work involves the creation of temporary site-specific projects and residencies, along with material-based explorations in the studio. Her national and international exhibitions, projects and residencies include: Vegetal Encounters Residency (2019-2021) UBC Outdoor Art Program, Quiescence (2019) Burrard Arts Foundation, A-Y with Locals Only (2018) AKA Gallery, Pollen Index (2016) Charles H. Scott Gallery, Till (2014/15) Santa Fe Art Institute, Moveable Feast (2012) Burnaby Art Gallery, Grow (2011) Other Sights for Artists’ Projects. Schmidt is grateful to live and work in Vancouver, Canada, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̍əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Image credit: Fireweed Fields by Holly Schmidt, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.
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- Mia Weinberg has created site-specific public art projects that explore connections between the places where we live, our personal memories, collective civic and cultural stories, and the natural environment of the area.Christina Peressini works with cut and layered paper — and more recently with larger scale plywood installations — exploring the intersection between the two- and three-dimensional.Image credit: We Are Here by Mia WeinbergMore About the ArtistsChristina Peressini Instagram @christinaperessini
Lam Wong is a visual artist and curator who immigrated from Hong Kong to Canada during the 1980s and studied design, art history and painting in Alberta and British Columbia. Wong works with painting, installation and performance to engage with themes such as the perception of reality, the role of art and the relationship between time, memory and space. He sees artmaking as an ongoing spiritual practice and his work draws upon his knowledge of Western art history and his interest in Taoism and Buddhism. Wong’s creative approach is often concerned with blending Eastern philosophies and challenging the notion of painting.
Lam Wong has been based in Vancouver since 1998. He has recently exhibited his work and performed at Campbell River Art Gallery, Canton-Sardine, Centre A, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Griffin Art Projects, Unit 17 and Vancouver Art Gallery.
Image credit: Spirit Dragon by Lam Wong
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- "As a second generation Chinese Canadian and a child of immigrants, my work addresses cultural belonging, family history, and the diasporic experience.My practice centers around the act of noticing-or examining the overlooked. I use drawing as a way to understand the world around me through investigating matter in the material realm: the discarded, unassuming, ephemeral, sentimental, the forgotten and found. My creative process embraces slowness and deliberation. With the humble tradition of pencil and gouache, I render in painstaking detail the minutiae of our everyday lives, placing relic-like value on each chosen subject in the hopes that meaningful artifacts emerge."Image credit: Time to Heal by Janice Wu, utility box wrap, Calgary, ABMore About the Artist:
Darren Yetlon is a well-established Master Carver from the Squamish Nation and lives on the Xwmelch'tstn reserve in West Vancouver. His paternal roots lie in what is now called Stanley Park. His Great Grandparent's home was located where the 9 o'clock gun is now situated. His Maternal roots hail from the Squamish Valley, Yekw'ts reserve.
At the age of 10 years old Darren lived on the Xwmelch'tstn reserve and learned his craft from his father Michael Yelton and many other elders such as Bob Cole, Edmund Billy, Percy Paull, and Howard Williams to name a few. His main mentor was his friend Dana Marvin Baker.
Darren is now paying it forward by becoming a teacher and mentor to many other artists who have since become well established carvers themselves. He has also been influenced by many well-known artists.
Image credit: Welcome Pole at Ridgeway Elementary School by Darren Yelton
More About the Artist:Jin-me Yoon is a Korean-born, Vancouver-based artist. Since the early 1990s, her lens-based practice has critically examined the construction of self and other in relation to her own direct and inherited history, as well as within broader geopolitical contexts. Unpacking stereotypical assumptions and dominant discourses, Yoon’s work has examined gender and sexuality, culture and ethnicity, citizenship and nationhood. Adopting a wider and wider lens over time, her practice has become a deep investigation into entangled local and global histories existing at specific sites within the context of transnationalism.
Jin-me Yoon’s practice, which stretches over thirty years, has witnessed the presentation of her work in over 200 solo and group exhibitions across North America, Asia, and Australia, as well as select institutions worldwide. Her work is held in 17 Canadian and International public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery and Seoul Museum of Art.
Image credit: Untunnelling Vision by Jin-me Yoon
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- "Art in every culture finds its roots in celebrating the patterns and geometry of the natural world—universal patterns found in nature that serve as inspiration for architecture, design, fashion, systems, and art. My work draws inspiration from these themes.For the past fifteen years, I've immersed myself in this theme, crafting a unique personal style adorned with geometric motifs. This artistic approach permeates my creative practice, spanning painting, illustration, murals, surface design, AR (augmented reality), and sculpture. Specifically, over the last six years, I've had the privilege to contribute to over 30 public art projects, collaborating closely with creative agencies, consultants, BIAs, non-profit organizations, and developers."Image credit: Wildlife by Priscilla YuMore About the Artist:
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