Intersecting Orbits: Michael Morris and Joan Balzar

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Joan Balzar, “Silver Scape,” 1962-1965

chrome aluminum and acrylic on canvas, 53 x 90 in. (courtesy of Shawn Macmillan) (photo by Ken Dyck)

Opening Reception: Friday, January 26, 2024, 6:00-8:00PM

West Coast artists Joan Balzar and Michael Morris were foundational in the history of conceptual art, abstraction and Op art in the region. To be within their orbit was to be part of a movement which shaped and internationalized visual art in the 1960s and 70s in this part of the country, and went on to become enduringly echoed and quoted. This exhibition will feature work from Morris’s personal art collection and by the artist himself, as well as selected major Balzar works from a private North Vancouver collection.

Curator’s Tour of Intersecting Orbits and Open Studio

Sunday, February 11: Open Studio 12–5pm / Curator’s Tour 1–2:30pm

Join us for a hybrid (in person and online via Zoom) exhibition tour of Intersecting Orbits: Michael Morris and Joan Balzar with curators Lisa Baldissera and David MacWilliam, and in person to see what Established Indigenous Studio Art resident Rolande Souliere has been up to during her time at Griffin.

Conference: Arcs and Orbits: Art, Relationality and Innovation

Sunday, March 10 11am–2pm

Join us March 10, 2024, for a hybrid online and on-site mini-conference Arcs and Orbits: Art, Relationality and Innovation, featuring discussions on artist collections through panel presentations by curator and media producer, and former Director of Power Plant, Wayne Baerwaldt; Marie-Eve Beaupré, Executive Director and Chief Curator, Guido Molinari Foundation; Bill Jeffries, former director of SFU Galleries and curator of the 2011 Balzar survey Orbital; along with contemporary Montreal-based artist Julie Trudel, who will give an artist talk on the convergence of the abstraction, light, and technology in contemporary art.