​By Amelia Epp, Program Coordinator and District Visual Arts Teacher

Senior secondary students nominated from the North Vancouver and West Vancouver school districts had the opportunity to work with artist-in-residence Michael Love for a three-day photography workshop with Artists for Kids in November 2023.

The geographic focus for the workshop was the Burrard Inlet and its feeding tributaries on the North Shore. Students visited and photographed Maplewood Flats, the Cleveland Dam, and the Capilano Fish Hatchery. They engaged with the rich resources at the Archives of North Vancouver (MONOVA) to inform their approaches to these sites. Students worked with historical photographs and maps from the archives and combined these with their own location-based photographs. The resulting artworks took on diverse forms, incorporating weaving, paper folding, and collage.

Completed artwork by Karolina Konieczna, inspured by archival photographs from the Archives of North Vancouver. Photo: Artists for Kids

After the workshop concluded, the finished student artworks were exhibited at both the Museum of North Vancouver (MONOVA) at 115 Esplanade, as well as at the Gordon Smith Gallery lobby at 2121 Lonsdale Ave. In November 2024, with the generous support of North Vancouver Recreation and Culture, the student artworks were printed on vinyl and mounted publicly in the Village Plaza at Lynn Valley Village (1277 Lynn Valley Road). If you’re heading to Lynn Valley over the next months, be sure to check out these original artworks in person!

The student artworks were printed and mounted in the Village Plaza at Lynn Valley Village in November 2024. Photo: Khim Mata Hipol

 In November 2023, the finished student artworks were exhibited at the Museum of North Vancouver. Photo: Artists for Kids

Left: Completed artwork by Tristan Bracewell.

Right: Completed artwork by Nate Jackman.