TEAMWORK MAKES
THE DREAM WORK :
The Family Business That is Art Vancouver
Art Vancouver has grown rapidly into the largest international art exhibition in Western Canada in just five short years . But its beginnings are rather humble , with a couple of young girls selling homemade candles on the street corner to their neighbours .
Art Vancouver — and a lifelong career as an artist , curator , fashion designer and businesswoman — was not even a thought . However , the seeds had been sewn long ago and fostered in a home that encouraged creativity and following one ’ s impulses .
NATHAN DUREC
— ART VANCOUVER —
“ My sister and I , instead of selling lemonade , we sold candles at the corner ,” founder Lisa Wolfin said . “ We didn ’ t even think of selling lemonade .”
But while Lisa is the director for Art Vancouver and the Vancouver Visual Arts Foundation that runs it , she was not the only person behind its conception and implementation .
It took a family . Her family .
From its inaugural year in 2015 , Art Vancouver has steadily grown in both the number of artists and galleries exhibiting and the number of people attending . More than 100 individual artists and galleries from all over the world participate in the four-day show . Over 10,000 people , both local and abroad , flock to the city to catch some or all of the exhibition , its unique and innovative programming and for the chance to talk to the artists and purchase their artwork .
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Art Vancouver is much more than an exhibition . It is an opportunity to speak with artists and like-minded people about art . The point of the show is to place artists front and centre , even going so far as to give them their own runway show , the Face of Art .