Introducing the VMF Winter Arts Artists!
Introducing the VMF Winter Arts AR Artists! From February 12-28th, public space across Vancouver’s core will be transformed into an interactive, open-air gallery featuring Augmented Reality (AR) art by local and international artists. There will be 24 AR pieces available for you to explore outside while safely distanced.
We’re grateful that despite travel limitations this year, we were able to connect artists–virtually–from around the world to create incredible augmented reality art to engage our local community!
We’re so excited to share the diverse talent, creative minds, and stories being told through digital art. Get to know the artists before their art goes live on February 12th! Make sure to download our free VMF Mobile App to find the VMF Winter Arts pieces (plus 250+ murals!) and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for upcoming details.
MEDIAH is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist who weaves graffiti/street art forms with painterly techniques and digital media to create cinematic environments. Heavily inspired by avionics, mechanical engineering and schematics, MEDIAH’s abstract work utilizes speed, motion, dynamism, and force to depict otherworldly dimensions. MEDIAH strives to create visual content that inspires, intrigues and uplifts his audience.
kenxxxooo (JAPAN)
An AR artist with a background as an Art Director and Videographer, who uses AR in collaborations with graffiti artists from all over the world.
Ernest Swanson, who holds the traditional Haida name, Giinowaan, is a Haida artist from Old Massett, British Columbia, who currently lives on Vancouver Island. As a matrilineal descendent of iconic Haida artist Charles Edenshaw and a grandson to the late Rufus Moody, Ernest continues his family’s legacy by creating traditional Haida art. In 2004, he began to work with artists such as Jim McGuire, Christian White and Chief Edenso “James Hart”. Ernest has continued to display his works on regional, national, and international scales, working in wood, silver, gold, and argillite.
Laine Butler is a Vancouver based media artist working in visual and sound. His work has been shown at Shambhala, Bass Coast, New Forms, Pretty Good Not Bad, and various festivals and art galleries around North America. Laine is a member of Chapel Sound Art Collective. He has collaborated with various artists on music videos, album art, stage design and social media campaigns. Laine's latest project is Ashwell Woodland, an ambient music/visual art project. Find the first release '460215' on Sensing Waves Records.
Krista is a 2D/3D artist based out of Roberts Creek, that loves the wonderful world of 3D art. Continually striving to develop and expand her work, she uses AR to help create immersive interactive experiences.
Syrus is an Assistant Professor at the School of the Arts, McMaster University. He is a Vanier scholar, visual artist, activist, curator and educator. Syrus uses drawing, installation and performance to explore social justice frameworks and black activist culture, and he’s shown widely in galleries and festivals across Canada. He is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Canada and a core-team member of Black Lives Matter – Toronto, a part of the Performance Disability Art Collective, and an ABD PhD candidate at York University in the Faculty of Environmental Studies. His on-going curatorial work includes That’s So Gay (Gladstone Hotel, 2016-2019) and BlacknessYes!/Blockorama. He is the co-editor or the best-selling Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada (URP, 2020)
Electrifly (USA)
Electrifly is an award-winning immersive art and merchandise company based in Detroit, Michigan. They are a team of digital creatives working closely with artists and organizations to execute their visions, and turn their dreams into unique augmented reality experiences.
Tracey Kim Bonneau (Syilx) is a media artist, writer & veteran producer residing on the Penticton Indian Reserve, B.C. In 2016, she received recognition from the Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Foundation of British Columbia garnering 4 Leo nominations for her documentary series, Quest OutWest - Wild Food. In 2020 she was awarded a significant professional artist grant to further develop her Virtual Reality ECO Project: “Huckleberry”. Tracey is a Media Matriarch with the IM4 Lab created by Indigenous filmmaker, Loretta Todd in partnership with Emily Carr University
AKA Collective designs and creates experiential installations and artworks that explore the intersection of physical and virtual worlds.
They believe that art as commentary, design as a medium and installation as a form can enable and facilitate meaningful moments.
T'uy't'tanat - Cease is an interdisciplinary artist who works with new media, performance and interdisciplinary arts and is a community engaged and public artist.
Her works range over 29 years and have always focussed on sustainability, permaculture techniques, Coast Salish Cultural elements and have included themes of ethnobotany, Salish weaving and digital media technology. Cease has been focussing on connecting to her Polynesian roots through weaving and digital media projects and has recently been given opportunities for collaborating with Indigenous peoples from throughout Oceania, specifically Polynesian peoples.
Extra Crunchy (ISRAEL)
Extra Crunchy is a duo of artists originally from Tel Aviv. For the past five years they have been performing their art in music festivals and graffiti festivals worldwide. They’re creations had them traveling to India, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, USA and more. In their work they are combining AR experience with large scale murals and animations to merge between the digital and the physical realms.
Chrystal Sparrow is a Coast Salish artist and female carver from the xʷməθkʷəyə̓m (Musqueam) First Nation. She was traditionally mentored by her late father Irving Sparrow with Coast Salish designing and carving techniques. Chrystal's work represents unique feminine designs and movement that explore her Coast Salish, Cree and Shuswap bloodlines. She designs red and yellow cedar panels, houseposts, and works with other mediums. Her public art can be seen at the YVR Airport, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver School Board; Starbucks Canada, BC Children's Hospital and other locations. Chrystal believes her work is a part of a living art language that conveys the importance of Coast Salish culture and history for generations to come.
Zachary George
Zac George is a member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. He was born and raised in North Vancouver and now lives in Chehalis, BC. His work is inspired by his late grandparents, Chief Dan and Amy George, and Robert and Betty Edge. Zac studied carving with Don Joe of Chehalis and is proud to use the Coast Salish artistic style. He lives the rich cultural lifestyle of the Salish People: he is a hunter and a fisherman and follows the traditional spirituality practiced by his people for centuries.
Casey Koyczan is an international Tlicho Dene interdisciplinary artist from Yellowknife, NT, that works with various mediums to communicate how culture and technology coincide together alongside the political, economic, and environmental challenges of the world. A portion of his large scale installation work utilizes earth materials to evoke the idea of nature reclaiming architectural space. Inspired by sci-fi and Indigenous Futurisms, Koyczan implements various techniques of interactivity, audio-video, VR/360/XR, and the engagement of the bodily senses within his creations.
Atheris is a 3D artist currently studying Masters of Digital Media. She was born and raised in China, graduated as an interior designer from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019. After that, she found out how fascinating it was to create characters and objects in 3D.