The Arts Council of New Westminster presents:
Arthur Babiarz & Olga Turok
Artist Talk: Sunday, March 17, 3:00 – 4:00pm
The Gallery at Queen’s Park presents Inter/action: Artist Learning Series. Inter/action is a monthly free public event that facilitates dialogue, practice, and education between the exhibiting artists and members of the community. The programming will be developed and delivered by the artists at The Gallery at Queen’s Park during their exhibition, and will consist of creative events such as artist talks, performance art, theoretical or technical seminars, live drawing/painting, collaborative social practice activities, workshops, or performances. Inter/action: Artist Learning Series encourages the integration of the arts into daily life providing fully hands-on, barrier-free, no-cost art education that promotes intergenerational mentoring opportunities and inclusivity between backgrounds of gender, race, age and ability.
Artist Biographies
Arthur Babiarz
Since childhood, Arthur Babiarz has been interested in art and photography. His drawings, paintings, and later design work were often influenced by that medium, and Arthur considers his camera, which he always carries with him, his “vision extension.”
Born and raised in Poland, where he studied fine art and design, Arthur subsequently received his MFA degree. His image creation skills are applied to both his professional and artistic activities. In Canada, as a university level visual art and graphic design instructor, Arthur also teaches computer graphics, digital photography and post-production editing.
Olga Turok
Olga discovered clay in 1975 and soon realized that it would be her artistic passion. She finds working with this material healing, meditative and fulfilling, and becomes inspired on outdoor excursions where she connects with nature.
Olga is a self-taught potter and also a watercolourist. Clay is her main medium for the creation of both functional and decorative pottery. She enjoys hand-building and throwing pots for burnishing, and sawdust firing by hot smoke. Elsa also sculpts structures that she calls “My Vancouver.”
Working on her pots makes Olga feel grounded and connected to the Earth. Every vessel undergoes a long process of creation, which involves the four elements: Fire, Water, Air and Earth.
As a member of Artists in Our Midst, Point Grey Potters, and the Potters Guild of BC, Olga participates in many community events and shows.
