Blog Archives - Joanne Probyn Art

CFUWSD Presentation Announcement, Daring to Create

I’m so honoured to be invited to speak at Canadian Federation of University Women South Delta. I will be encouraging attendees to find ways of being creative in their everyday lives.

Canadian Federation of University Women – South Delta chapter presentation

Daring to Create – The Adventure of Being an Artist

Have you ever wondered what if? Joanne Probyn has made a life of asking this question. Her curiosity and commitment have led her to become a full-time, contemporary, abstract painter and hand embroiderer. Yet, making art is more than choosing the right colors. Joanne invites us on her unique path sharing how she finds balance, inspiration and motivation. Her amazing journey spans decades, careers and cultures. Following the creative professional dream often requires great leaps of faith! Discover Joanne’s key learnings while taking a visual tour of her beautiful art.

Her contemporary embroidery was recently featured in Fun Size, a curated art book published by Jen Tough Gallery, New Mexico. Career heights include local and international awards such as North Vancouver Arts Council Award for Excellence in Painting and contributions to Vancity, Vancouver, BCAMA Marketer of the Year, and Chandler Chicco Agency, New York, Magellan’s Top 50 Publicity Campaigns. Joanne is the past vice president of the Canadian Public Relations Society – Vancouver Chapter. She completed her education in design and illustration at Capilano University and holds a marketing management certificate from UBC Sauder.

Joanne is a founding member of FLOURISH Art Group, a BC-Based, female artist collective and is a key contributor at her studio collective, Eastside Atelier in Vancouver. She is an active member of several art groups in Canada and the United States including THRIVE Art Studio, B.C., and The Artists Alliance, New Mexico, and the Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC). For more information, visit www.probynart.com

Daring to Create – The Adventure of Being an Artist
by Joanne Probyn

Presented by CFUW-SD

Tuesday, January 25, 2022
7pm PST
Event will be recorded.

Email me to attend. I will send you the Zoom event invitation link.

Hope to see you there!

Announcing First Saturdays!

I’m thrilled to be participating in the First Saturday holiday edition with Eastside Atelier Artists. Join us and visit up to 17 open art studios!

Great gift shopping! Support local artists!
Eastside Atelier, 1310 William Street, Vancouver. Door locked. Call number on door for entry.
Saturday, December 4th from 12pm noon to 5pm

Stop by! Say hi! No appointment required. Please wear a mask.

Participating artists as of November 30th, in no particular order:

Eastside Culture Crawl 2021 Recap

A big thank you to everyone who helped make Eastside Culture Crawl, 25th anniversary edition, a wonderful success! Thanks to kind friends and family behind the scenes, to wonderful volunteers who generously gave their time and support, and to Culture Crawl Society for their vision and execution. Most importantly, thanks to those who fought to protect our artists from a 2020 eviction! Thanks to all who supported from near and far. Your encouraging likes, comments, visits and purchases mean so much. I am crazy grateful to be doing what I love. I work tirelessly to make and share my art. Simultaneously, I do everything I can to make help other artists. I’m deeply grateful to be part of the Eastside Atelier family. Everyone is so generous, passionate and creative. It is an truly epoch experience.

I love how art exhibitions bring people together. From those who I see frequently on social media but rarely, if ever, see in person, to dear friends and family who I wish I saw more often. I was thrilled to meet my music teacher, Mike Ferraro, who I have studied with online for over 15 months. A few other special visits include artists and muralists Jean Paul Langois and Christina Boots. Pandora Yeung, who was a huge help to me in 2020 when I launched Make Safe Brigade, a mask-making coalition, came by as well. So many guests said this was the first large event they had attended in almost two years due to the pandemic. It was so wonderful to see people safely exploring enjoying art and culture again! Finally, there were some great connections made for potential future collaborations. More on those later! It’s moments like all of these that make a show great and important to many. Studies have shown how seeing art heals. It’s can be a healer for maker and viewer alike!

Eastside Atelier Culture Crawl 2021 was held over seven days across two weekends, from Thursday, November 12^th to Sunday, November 21^st. I was lucky to be given the feature photo in “30 Things to Do This Weekend“, a high profile post by award-winning, rock writer Steve Newton. The event was tiring and exhilarating. The first weekend was by appointment and the second was an open house. Many artists and attendees said they liked the new format driven by Public Health. I advised the Crawl Society and they agreed many felt the same way. Maybe they will keep the extra weekend going forward? On the last Sunday, our building counter registered 1,110 attendees! There was a solid turnout on most days with the slowest day Thursday night. My guess is we had a total of 3,500 building attendees and I had 1,100 studio attendees. By far my largest Crawl yet! I was able to take a few short breaks thanks to some kind souls who volunteered.

Ten people helped during the event. These include, in no particular order, Annie Kuan, Lynne Probyn, Laura E., Leah Probyn, Anna Villaruz, Adrian Wong, Tammy-Jo Regier, Louise Souk, Linda Poon and Lily Eskandari. A special shout out to Tammy-Jo who travelled over four hours to my studio! She stayed overnight helping with anything she could do to keep me fed, laughing and on time. She also helped the following day. How lucky am I to have dear friend like that?! Thank you, Tam!!! Thank you everyone for the much-needed meal breaks, photos and laughs. Your company was fuel for my spirit and made all the difference!

Several works were sold including New Directions, a work that was curated into the Eastside Culture Crawl’s prestigious Preview Exhibit, Surfacing, at The Cultch. In addition, I was paid $360.00 in artist fees to be featured. The exhibit closes December 1^st. Here is a PDF of the page. While the pdf does not represent it well, if does give you a rough idea. I expanded my inventory to include greeting cards as well as museum quality, limited edition prints. Some of these also sold. I also began embellishing these, which as a great way to pass the time during the event while engaging people. Thanks to past Eastside Atelier artist, AF Wauthy, for guiding me in this direction. I love where this has taken my edition work.

I included over 40 artworks in the Crawl of many various sizes and mediums. I included a few of my few Sewn Open Series works to build context. My Reimagining Balance series included my Ageless and Evergreen contemporary embroidery work, acrylic paintings and a small assemblage. Thanks to Jen Tough Gallery’s Artist Alliance for inspiring this playful work. Reimagining Balance was made over a two year time period. If you missed any of my recent shows, you can view my 2021 artist talk on YouTube.

Thanks to all the artists who helped make Eastside Atelier’s Crawl a success. Namely, Jessica Craig, who is gave endlessly to lead us. Big thanks for Janine Breck who did an outstanding job marketing including a one-day Eastside Culture Crawl Instagram account takeover. To Bryan R. Marshall who shot videos of many of our artists and provided his beautiful studio map for updating. I believe Lee James Abbott connected us with documentary filmmaker, Ezra Wood, who recorded during the event. Correct me if I am wrong! Global News filmed as well. We had cleaning organizers, lobby gallery installers and vaccine checkers. It takes a village! Many attendees who know the venue well said it had never looked better! Yet other, regular Crawlers said they didn’t know we existed. That’s good news as it means our hard work attracted new visitors! Many artists had some sales. After a quiet couple years, this means so much! Thank you all for supporting local artists!

Finally, community building has always been important to me. It’s a great privilege to make art and to serve the art community. My latest initiative aimed at nurturing pride and solidarity while connecting artists and supporters. This has been achieved through our new logo and Instagram account. The account is managed by myself and a few guest posters. Discover the creativity of our talented artists. Follow us at @eastsideatelierartists! I also had the pleasure of updating the wayfinding signage focused on the new east wing of the building. In person, by appointment visits are always welcome! If you’re unable to visit in person for any reason, I’m also thrilled to announce that I’ve recently launched new 3D art studio tours. Learn more about the tours here!

Next up? I’m participating in First Saturday on Saturday, December 4^th from 12pm noon to 5pm at Eastside Atelier, 1310 William Street, Vancouver. Come by and see seventeen artists! Stop by! Say hi! Explore our First Saturday participating Eastside Atelier artists!

George, Meredith, Joanne, Lynne & littles

New 3D Studio Tours!

I’m thrilled to announce new 3D studio tours! This is perfect for anyone who wants a second look at my studio or who would love to visit but can’t for whatever reason. Tags indicate a work’s availability and can include links or additional information. I will try to update my tags periodically but to be honest, I doubt I’ll do this regularly. It’s always best to send me a quick email to make an inquiry.

Annnnnnd, I’m also helping out a few of artist friends. These artists are in our collective, Eastside Atelier. In case you haven’t heard, a collective of over 45 artists based in Vancouver, Canada. We are located at 1310 William Street. Visits are always welcome!! However, it’s by appointment. Here’s a unique way to visit with no appointment.

Below are three tours I created. It’s early stages. So, this means the tours may be lacking some information. If you have any questions about the Victoria or Dalyn, please email them directly. They would be happy to connect.

Check back regularly to see more artists! I will continue to post more tours here. Have fun!

Joanne Probyn – Eastside Atelier, Studio 10B
Joanne’s available work (Email me if you see something you like and don’t see it listed on my portfolio site).

Dalyn Berryman – Eastside Atelier, Studio 12
Dalyn’s Website

Victoria Mitchell – Eastside Atelier, Studio 6
Victoria’s website

Eastside Culture Crawl Curators Select New Directions!

_{New Directions. Acrylic Media on Canvas. 43 x 60 x 1.5 in. C$2,580.00}

I’m so thrilled to announce my work, New Directions, has been selected for Surfacing, the Eastside Culture Crawl’s 2021 juried preview exhibition. The selection committee consisted of three curators including Alanna Edwards, Paul de Guzman, and Connie Sabo.

Surfacing is a multi-venue exhibit. My piece will be shown at The Cultch (online) from November 1–31. I will receive a $360.00 honorarium. Exhibition fees were initiated by Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) in 1968. CARFAC is the national voice of Canada’s professional visual artists. CARFAC believes artists, like other professionals, should be paid for their work. Learn more about CARFAC fees.

At the time of this writing, New Directions is available to view at my Eastside Atelier studio by appointment. If available, I plan to show this artwork during my Eastside Culture Crawl exhibition at my studio.