About the artwork

Weeds of Cultivation includes mixed media artworks reproduced as vinyl wallpaper and a vinyl border pattern installed on the windows of the annex building adjacent to the Irving House.

"Floral representations abound in the wallpaper, rugs, curtains, and plasterwork in Irving House; each room is as lush as any garden. Typical of decor from this time, images of plants introduced the perceived moral benefit of beauty into homes of the wealthy. In the context of early settlement -- such abundant floral interiors marked a contrast to the ecological extraction and environmental destruction taking place in the Colony of British Columbia. 

This work is an invitation to consider vast, unanswered, interconnected questions -- what moral aspersions are cast upon the non-human world? How do the objects in this House reflect the material conditions from which they came? How does the past bleed into the future -- and what can we make of the uncertain present?"

-Elijah Biscoe and Holly Schmidt

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.

More about the Artist

project BACKGROUND

This work was produced as part of the Irving House Artist in Residence Pilot which ran from June to October, 2023. Two artists, Holly Schmidt and Janet Wang were invited to explore and experiment in response to the site and surroundings of the Irving House, one of British Columbia's oldest post-contact historic homes.  

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Photo credit: Rachel Topham Photography (3rd image)