[grunt had]… an embryonic beginning that was a toss-up. It could have ended several times, but the people who believed in it stuck around. There was always a coffee pot going (and a kettle for tea) to converse over, whether supportive or argumentative. The people were a diverse lot with a multitude of practices. There were musicians (jazz to folk to Cage), writers (Haikus to great epics), visual artists (from drawing and painting etc., to performance art, video and theatre); it wasn’t New York or Paris but just grunt. In its own way, for the community, more important. A safe place that accepted and cross- pollinated a great diversity of creative thought and people.
– Merle Addison, grunt founding member

The show that you’re standing in is part of a larger conversation. At the time of writing I can see a white fridge, a non- working stove, a set of second-hand Ikea cabinets, a pile of 2x4s, an old coffee maker, an arborite table, a chop saw. It is as yet unresolved—and will continue to evolve throughout the run of the exhibition, building in dimension and playing host to events, discussions and small gatherings.

The artist – Julia Feyrer – has been working in the archive for months now, pulling images and ideas out of binders and cupboards, watching videos and running slides. Central to her research has been images of the grunt kitchen, often mined from the background of documentation of openings, fundraisers and board meetings of years past. Faces, overexposed from a 90s-era flashbulb, laughing/ smiling/ smoking/ drinking in the grunt kitchen. Like so many archival investigations, this one is about filling in blanks—pulling information from the literal backgrounds of the collection.

…Read the entire text here.

PDF Download | Part 1 – History creeps: the grunt kitchen and Julia Feyrer

Exhibition info.

Sonny Assu has created a playful series of coasters that will be distributed at various Main Street restaurants and pubs during the month of November.

“Inspired by the everyday, beautiful people of Main Street. People I’ve met over my years of living in Mount Pleasant and the people I’ve met through my involvement at the grunt. Grunt has shown me tremendous love and support over the years, and it was an honour to be able to give something back. Something beautiful. Something funny. Something that I hope inspires a conversation between strangers and a “cheers” amongst pals. ” – Sonny Assu

If you happen upon these coasters be sure to tag your photos on instagram with #grunt30.

Read more about these Coasters designed by Sonny Assu.
This coaster series is available for purchase on our online store.
Big thanks to District Dogs for printing these beautiful letter-pressed coasters.

>> About the 30th Anniversary
>> 30th Events
>> Social Objects
>> Donate

We’ve reached 30% of our goal! Back us so that we can raise $10,000!

Donate here!

This is a big year for grunt gallery and we’ve got a lot brewing: we’re celebrating our 30th anniversary! Raise a glass and take a moment with us to celebrate what we’ve accomplished.

Founded in 1984, we know there’s a lot to celebrate! Thirty years is a long time and it’s time to proudly commemorate the institution we’ve become over these last three decades. Yeah, we said institution. Becoming what we are today did not come easy. It happened over many cups of coffee and numerous bottles of beer. Our vision continues with the generous input and support from people like you. This year, we’re hosting a series of events and projects relating to our 30th anniversary. These include…

Click here to donate:

URL: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1687768919/brew-grunt-gallerys-30th-anniversary

>> About the 30th Anniversary
>> 30th Events
>> Social Objects
>> Donate

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Please be advised that the Annual General Meeting of the Visible Art Society (dba grunt gallery) will be held on Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 7:00pm at grunt gallery (#116 – 350 East 2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5T 4R8).

Please join us for a fun, fast, pizza and beer-filled AGM. Vanessa Kwan, Curator of Community Engagement, will be sharing photos and talking about her whirlwind trip with the Asia-Pacific Visual Arts Delegation. Also, the first 10 people through the door will receive free tickets to grunt’s 30th Anniversary blow-out bash, GROWLER, at the ANZA club on Saturday, October 11th.

We will be meeting for the following purposes:

1. To receive the March 31, 2014 Audited Financial Statements

2. To receive the Directors’ Reports

3. To vote on changes to the bylaws

4. To elect the Society’s Officers

All members of the Visible Art Society are invited to attend.

Location: grunt gallery – 116-350 East 2nd Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5N2T5

GROWLER: grunt gallery 30th Anniversary Party
Event Time: Saturday October 11th, 8pm – 1am.
Location: The Anza Club, 3 W 8th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1M8
Tickets: $10 – available at the door.

Celebrate grunt gallery’s 30th anniversary at GROWLER. Arrive early to witness a special performance by poet Janet Rogers – Mohawk writer and Victoria’s poet laureate. Ready yourself for heavy guitars, beats and indigenous drums and visuals with The Monster Project – featuring artists Chris Bose, Bracken Hanuse-Corlett and Dean Hunt. Finally, dance your way past midnight with a DJ set by hip-hop artist Ostwelve.

This event is also the launch of grunt’s BREW editions, a beautifully crafted beer growler featuring work by artist Lorna Brown. And, custom ovoid-shaped coasters that riff on Main Street’s cultural aesthetic, created by artist Sonny Assu. Growler’s will be available at the event for only $5, be sure to grab yours before they sell out!

Performance/Reading:
Janet Rogers – http://music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Janet-Rogers
A Mohawk writer from the Six Nations band in southern Ontario, Janet Rogers was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and has resided in Victoria since 1994. A published and award-winning poet, she has worked and studied in the genres of poetry, short fiction, spoken word performance poetry, video poetry and recorded poems with music and scriptwriting. You can hear Janet on the radio as she hosts Native Waves Radio on CFUV fm and Tribal Clefs on CBC radio one fm in Victoria BC. Her radio documentaries “Bring Your Drum” (50 years of indigenous protest music) and Resonating Reconciliation won Best Radio at the imagaineNATIVE Film and Media festival 2011 and 2013.

Live Music:
The Monster Project – https://soundcloud.com/womp

DJ:
Ostwelve – https://soundcloud.com/ostwelve-productions
Ostwelve (Ron Dean Harris), was born in the Coast Salish – Sto:lo Territory of British Columbia, Canada. Being introduced to music at an early age, Os was experimenting with the art form of Hiphop by the age of 12 years old. Moving into the city of Vancouver at the age of 13, the hip-hop scene there lead him to the sounds and sights of the growing art of hip-hop.

This event is a part of our 30th Anniversary programming. To learn more visit our 30th anniversary page.

***UPDATE***

We regretfully announce that Chris Bose is unable to make it to the event this evening due to travel issues. Wanda John will be reading instead. There will be a 30-minute open mic at the beginning of the event.

Read the update here! https://www.facebook.com/events/1483774898559821/

Writer Biographies:

Janet Marie Rogers

Janet is a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer from the Six Nations band in southern Ontario. She was born in Vancouver British Columbia and has been living on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people (Victoria, British Columbia) since 1994. Janet works in the genres of poetry, spoken word performance poetry, video poetry and recorded poetry with music and script writing.

Janet has three published poetry collections to date; Splitting the Heart, Ekstasis Editions 2007, Red Erotic, Ojistah Publishing 2010, Unearthed, Leaf Press 2011. Her newest collection “Peace in Duress” will be released with Talonbooks in September 2014. Her poetry CDs Firewater 2009, Got Your Back 2012 and 6 Directions 2013 all received nominations for Best Spoken Word Recording at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards and the Native American Music Awards. You can hear Janet on the radio as she hosts Native Waves Radio on CFUV fm and Tribal Clefs on CBC radio one fm in Victoria BC. Her radio documentaries “Bring Your Drum” (50 years of indigenous protest music) and Resonating Reconciliation won Best Radio at the imagaineNATIVE Film and Media festival 2011 and 2013.

Ikkwenyes or Dare to Do is the name of the collective Mohawk poet Alex Jacobs and Janet created in 2011. Ikkwenyes won the Canada Council for the Arts Collaborative Exchange award 2012 and a Loft Literary Prize in 2013.

Chris Bose

Chris Bose is a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and filmmaker, who has read and performed at universities, theatres, and coffeehouses at all points from Victoria to Montreal, as well as the BC Festival of the Arts, as a literary delegate to the Talking Stick Aboriginal Arts Festival in Vancouver and the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto.

Chris continues to make art on a daily basis, and is also a workshop facilitator of community arts events, digital storytelling, art workshops with people of all ages and backgrounds, curatorial work for First Nations art shows and projects, research and writing for periodicals across Canada, project management and coordination, mixed-media productions, film, audio, and video recording and editing, and more. He is of the N’laka’pamux Nation in BC, and currently spends his time in Kamloops, BC.

You’re invited to grunt gallery on Thursday, August 28th for a cake-cutting event that will kick off grunt’s year-long 30th Anniversary celebrations!

The event will take place from 6:30-8:30pm at grunt gallery and in the adjoining Amenity Space. We will cut the cake at 7:15pm.

Please join us for a slice of cake and a glass of wine or iced tea. We will have refreshments for children and the party is dog friendly. Stop by to check out a slideshow of past and present art exhibitions; meet our board and staff; or take a break to socialize with your neighbors.

Artist Sola Fiedler will have her Vancouver tapestry on view in the Amenity Space. Sola produced this work in her studio at Main Space over the past few years. This monumental work is truly spectacular and representative of the important work that happens regularly in our building.

Whether you’re an old friend of grunt or a new one, we want to celebrate this momentous time with you.

There is no need to RSVP. Come one, come all, and invite your friends.

We hope to see you on August 28^th as we raise a glass to 30 years of supporting Vancouver’s artist communities!

Discussing urban development with grunt’s Glenn Alteen

[Published by VANDOCUMENT]

Words by Brit Bachmann + Edits by Christopher Millin + Photos by Alisha Weng

Last month Western Front, grunt gallery, Arts Factory, VIVO and C-Space were awarded a combined $4.5 million in the form of CACs, or Community Amenities Contributions. This money was part of $6 million donated to the City of Vancouver by Rize Alliance Properties in exchange for zoning permits for their development on the corner of Broadway and Kingsway.

The amenities contributions will help fund new programming and development for these established arts organizations in Mount Pleasant. The CAC has been met with mixed responses, however. While $4.5million is a substantial chunk of money to the average person, certain organizations argue that it is not enough money to kickstart a cultural revival against the gentrification that is occurring in the neighbourhood, especially with the inflating costs of living and operations.

VANDOCUMENT will be interviewing representatives from each arts organization awarded CAC to hear their individual perspectives on arts funding and urban development. We previously publishedan interview with Elia Kirby, and this week we talk to Glenn Alteen of grunt gallery.

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Until the mid 90′s, Mount Pleasant was a low-income area of Vancouver. The affordability of live/work spaces attracted artist-runs operating on minimal funding. Organizations such as grunt gallery acted as drop-in centres for the neighbourhood. These galleries helped establish community identity by providing exhibition space to emerging and established artists alike.

CAC Party at grunt gallery July 10th, photographed by Alisha Weng

grunt gallery opened in 1984 in a storefront now occupied by The Whip on East 6th Ave. Back then, its programming focused on promoting local artists and ‘outsider art.’ grunt has expanded its reach since then. Its mandate is to provide artists with resources to further their practices, with an emphasis on community engagement. Glenn Alteen was one of the founding members of grunt. Since 1990, he has acted as Director.

(…Continue reading this article at VANDOCUMENT)