• ExplorASIAN Festival– Art and Culture Celebration

    Location: Evergreen Culture Center, Coquitlam

    Exhibition opening:  May 21st 2025 4pm-8pm

    3:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Registration & Check-In
    4:00 PM – 5:11 PM: First Session
    4:00 PM – 4:10 PM: Opening Remarks from MCs,
    Introduction of VAHMS
    Land Acknowledgement: Maryam Rostamy
    4:12 PM – 4:15 PM: Kumala: The Opening Dance
    4:16 PM – 4:22 PM: Filipino Dance and Kudyapi,
    Traditional Filipino Instrument by Mayo Landicho
    4:23 PM – 4:31 PM: ‘Song of the Yue Boatman’ by
    Geoff Schellenberg and ‘Wishing You All the Best’ by
    Geoff Schellenberg and Tamar Simon
    4:33 PM – 4:41 PM: Peking Opera: MU Guiying Takes
    Command by Vancouver Jing Yun Opera Association
    4:42 PM – 4:50 PM: Punjabi Folk Songs ‘Lathey Di
    Chadaar’ and ‘Maaye Ni Meriye Shimley’ by Indian
    Singer, Arvind Kaur
    4:51 PM – 5:01 PM: Persian Poetry Display by Toward
    the Future Institute
    5:02 PM – 5:08 PM: Urdu Prose Recital ‘Sur O Sher Ka
    Sangam’ by Shah O Shab
    5:09 PM – 5:19 PM: Traditional Indian Dance by Mirchi
    5:19 PM | Closing Remarks by MCs and announcement for
    the audience to visit Studio A.
    5:19 PM – 6:00 PM | Break time with drinks and snacks
    *5:50 PM | Evergreen crew announces that guests should
    take their seats for the second half.
    6:00 PM – 6:10 PM | Speech by VAHMS President and VIPs
    6:10 PM – 8:00 PM | Second Session
    6:10 PM – 6:20 PM: Traditional Persian Vocalist &
    Musical Instrumental ‘Pir e Farzaneh’ and ‘Ghet’eh Zarbi
    Birjandi’ by Rasan
    6:22 PM – 6:28 PM: Uyghur Dance: Maqsim Layip
    6:30 PM – 6:36 PM: ‘Listening to the Rainfall on the
    Mountain Mist’ on Guqin, Traditional Chinese
    Instrumental by Linmin
    6:37 PM – 6:43 PM: Peking Opera: The Gentle April
    Breeze Brings Warmth by Vancouver Jing Yun Opera
    Association
    6:44 PM – 6:53 PM: Punjabi Folk Songs ‘Murr Wataanaa
    Nu Kali’ and ‘Charkha Mera Ranglaa’ by Indian Singer,
    Anjali Sharma
    6:54 PM– 7:00 PM: Traditional Korean Dance: Janggu-
    Chum by Min Lee from Charm Dance Company
    7:02 PM – 7:09 PM: Classical Dance: Drunken Spring
    Breeze
    7:10 PM – 7:16 PM: Traditional Persian Dance – Baroon,
    Baroon by Vancouver Pars National Ballet
    7:17 PM – 7:23 PM: ‘Delyar’ and ‘Bella Ciao’ by Persian
    Singer, Azita Ebadati
    7:25 PM – 7:30 PM: Traditional Persian Dance – Sarve
    Naz by Vancouver Pars National Ballet
    7:31 PM – 7:36 PM: Han Dynasty Dance: The Pan Drum
    Dance by Juno Dance Academy
    7:37 PM – 7:49 PM: Chinese Peking Opera: Peking Opera
    Medley by Vancouver Jing Yun Opera Association
    7:49 PM | MC invites all Artists on stage for group photo
    8:00 PM | Final Closing Remarks by MCs

  • Intricately Woven – Art by Xiangmei Su

    Location: Lipont Gallery, 4211 No. 3 Road, Richmond B.C. V6X 2C3

    Exhibition opening:  Wednesday October 11th 7 – 9pm

    Culture Days Hands-on Workshop: Saturday October 14th 2 – 4pm

    Artist Talk: Wednesday October 18th 7 – 9pm

    Exhibition: October 12th – November 4th, free admission (Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm)

    Artist Xiangmei Su (??) lives in an era where the natural climate is changing drastically,
    the economic direction is accelerating, and human productivity is making great strides. New
    energy, new materials, 5G communications, artificial intelligence, etc. are taking mankind
    into wider unknown areas. As the other wing of human society, art will inevitably develop
    and evolve with the pace of science, technology and economy.
    From witnessing her grandmother using wooden looms to make traditional textiles, to
    observing the mechanical assembly line in her father’s factory, to creating her own
    contemporary art and becoming a full-time artist, Su uses her talent, wisdom, and personal
    immigration experience to create unique works of art. She passed through Suzhou, a famous
    cultural town in China, roaring contemporary industrial cities, and arrived in Canada, where
    the cultures are intertwined. Painting, installation, and fibre material art have transformed
    into new extensions and connotations in her hands.
    The lines in the Intricately Woven Series of paintings are clear in latitude and longitude,
    sparse and orderly, exquisite, three-dimensional, and unpredictable. They bring our sight into
    the profound spatial dimension and inspire us to explore the essence through phenomena. The
    maze-like “factories,” “workshops,” “parts” and “units,” and other contemporary industrial
    images she depicts with single-toned lines make us stand in awe of the great wisdom and
    productivity of mankind, and at the same time make us realize human insignificance. We
    have conquered matter and improved efficiency, so where will technology take us?
    In her installation works, she uses canvas as a two-dimensional medium and uses pins and
    threads to carefully weave three-dimensional works on the surface of the canvas. This series
    of works are neither textiles nor paintings, but installations that utilize fibre materials, light, colour and space. Through the artist’s special perspective, social productivity transforms
    material into brand new things in a specific environment.
    Su’s latest installation “Interweaving (??)” will also be exhibited this time. She used
    ancient techniques, traditional tools, and her usual symbol of material culture – thread, and
    used her mother’s dowry suitcase as a “prism” to “refract” onto the wall the maps of Suzhou
    and Vancouver, the two cities where she had lived. The complex trajectory of fate and
    journey are visualized to tell the story of the destiny and journey of life.
    The Chinese sage Wang Yangming’s “investigating things to gain knowledge (????)” is
    about obtaining true knowledge through exhaustive investigation of things. Su’s artistic
    practice, artistic works, and artistic style well reflect this cognitive proposition. She gained
    new knowledge from the “investigation” of traditional crafts, regional culture, and creative
    media, and maintained and managed her relationship with history, tradition, humanity, and
    nature, and then used new artistic techniques and forms to interpret new world and era.
    Intricately Woven: Art by Xiangmei Su will open at Lipont Gallery, 4211 No. 3 Road,
    Richmond BC from 7:00pm to 9:00 pm on Wednesday October 11, 2023. The exhibition
    remains on view until November 4 th . The gallery opens from Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00
    am to 6:00 pm. Admission is free.
    On Saturday, October 14th, from 2:00pm to 4:00 pm, Su will lead the audience in a hands-on
    workshop during the Culture Days (https://culturedays.ca/), using canvas, pins, thread, and
    other materials to create installation works. The workshop is free and open to people of 12
    years old and above. Please register at https://suworkshop.eventbrite.ca.

    On the evening of Wednesday, October 18th, from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, Su will introduce her
    creative process and works to the audience in detail. The talk is free and open to public.
    Please register at https://sutalk.eventbrite.ca.
    Lipont Gallery, 4211 No. 3 Road, Richmond B.C. V6X 2C3. (604) 285-9975,
    www.lipontgallery.ca
    Free reserved parking. Transit: Aberdeen Station

  • Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Amir Aziz

    Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Amir Aziz

    Artist Statement
    The ancient past and technological futurism are blended beyond recognition in my imagination. My art practice lives in the space between the digital and the physical, and purposefully relies on traditional mediums as well as digital and industrial techniques. The work could not exist without the intersection of both.  In a way, I explore meaning most often through method, while the subject only acts as a vector toward a larger, more interpretative, conversation.

    I think of my work – in all of its multiple disciplines and mediums – as relics of an ancient future, rather than objects of contemporary contemplation to be hung on some white wall somewhere. They are all created to interact with time, light, shadow, sound, and most of all, with the viewer who gives life to the work through the act of perception.  Above all, I consider my art an offering – to whom and for what – I can not say. 

    Biography

    Amir Aziz is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the intersection of art, perception, and technology in light of sacred traditions and world cultures.  Using a variety of manual and computer techniques and equipment, he is best known for his unique three-dimensional acrylic artworks.  His work uses both traditional and digital mediums to explore the overlap of perception and aesthetics at the intersection of emerging technology and transcendental culture.  His art practice incorporates elements of digital art, vector illustration, motion graphics, interactive and 3D design, sculptural jewelry, fabrication technology, and immersive media. 
    He has exhibited in solo and group shows across the world and his works have been collected by music superstars and moguls, as well as private collectors.  Amir holds a Masters in Interactive Art + Technology, in the area of immersive experience and mixed reality.  His emerging technology artworks have been exhibited at prestigious conferences globally, including SIGGRAPH Asia, the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), and the Burning Man Festival. His immersive media company, Spherical Pictures, is finalizing the production of two immersive 360? planetarium films about the poetry of Rumi, as well as the philosophy of Alan Watts. Amir currently resides in Robert’s Creek, BC with his wife and three children.

  • VAHMS Community Awards Celebration Recap

    Every year, VAHMS honors three individuals, community organizations, or educational institutions representing Pan-Asian communities that have made significant contributions to VAHMS’ vision of fostering, promoting and celebrating the arts and cultural diversity that Asian-Canadian communities bring to Canadian society. This year, our award ceremony was held on July 30th. Congratulations to The Middle East North Africa Film Festival (MENA), Todd Wong and Kassandra Lea for coming the award winner for the year 2023!

    2023 Community Award Winner: The Middle East North Africa Film Festival (MENA)

    The Middle East North Africa Film Festival (MENA) provides a platform for filmmakers and artists from the MENA region to share their work with a broad audience. For more than 5 years MENA has provided educational and collaborative opportunities to create a more inclusive arts scene. Screening films from the MENA region, the festival promotes understanding of MENA culture and challenges stereotypes. MENA’s focus is to create a more diverse and inclusive community through art and to contribute to cross-cultural and multicultural exchange of Pan-Asian art.

    Visit MENA Website

    2023 Community Award Winner: Todd Wong

    Todd Wong created Robbie Burns Gung Haggis Fat Choy celebration dinner in 1998 as a tribute to two distinct cultures that played major roles in BC’s history. His commitment to racial and cultural harmony has been at the forefront of his life. Todd also created the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and significantly engaged with the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop, the Joy Kogowa House Society, the Word Vancouver Literary Festival as well as other organizations. Well-known for his commitment to building bridges and enhancing cross-cultural understanding, Todd has received numerous accolades and media attention. 

    2023 Community Award Winner: Kassandra Lea

    Kassandra Lea, known as Kassandra La China, is the one and only flamenco artist in Vancouver. A stunning performer herself, for more than 30 years Kassandra has promoted Flamenco through education, leadership, advocacy and by performing in shows throughout BC. Co-founder of Mozaico Flamenco dance academy, she shares her talent and knowledge with students from different cultures, backgrounds and ages. Kassandra is a unique and original Asian Canadian artist celebrating diversity and cross-cultural understanding through her art.

    Find Out More About Kassandra
  • Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Paulina Constancia

    Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Paulina Constancia

    Artist Statement
    Positivity and connectedness are constant themes in my painting and poetry.  I take inspiration from the simple joys of my youth growing up on a tropical island.  I was the youngest of 6 – there was always a sharing of food and stories at our very long dining table. It doesn’t come as a surprise that  gestures of caring and connecting often appear in my work. And inspired by the many hours of hide and seek from my childhood, I love to hide life metaphors and social commentaries between the layers of color and whimsy in my work.

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    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

    Biography

    Paulina Constancia (she/her) is a Filipino-Canadian creative spirit with many different mediums of expression. Born and raised on the island of Cebu, Philippines, Paulina immigrated to Canada in her early 30’s as a self-employed cultural contributor in her capacity as a visual artist. Her experience in design and music coupled with her educational background in communications and languages developed in her a visual storyteller who finds form, rhythm and a story waiting to be told wherever she goes. She creates with the island spirit in her heart, highlighting the essence of things, painting simple joys and genuine connectedness. Paulina creates full time  from her home in Vancouver which she shares with her husband, teenage son and adult cat.

    Check out more of her works at her website: paulinaconstancia.com

    Instagram: @paulinaconstancia

  • Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Tiffany Zhong

    Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Tiffany Zhong

    Artist Statement
    Growing in the city, Tiffany’s always been fascinated by wide open spaces. Vancouver granted her access to the ocean and mountains and she fell in love with nature’s grandeur early on. Landscapes have been a favourite subject of hers to paint since she was young. Light and space inspire her endlessly and she aims to capture its essence in her works. For the past several years, she’s been experimenting with getting her digital pieces to carry the same textural interest as her traditional pieces. She believes in retaining human touches in art—especially in a digital space.She’s also just now figuring out how her heritage can influence her work and she’ll probably spend the rest of her life uncovering and discovering her identity through art.

    Biography

    Tiffany Zhong (she/her) is an Asian-Canadian interdisciplinary designer and artist born and raised on the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territories of the Musqueam (x?m??k??y??m), Squamish (S?wx?wú7mesh), and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (s?lilw?ta?). She received her B.A. in 2019 from UBC in Linguistics and Law & Society. After working in strategic communications for several years, she decided to take a leap of faith and go after her childhood dream career in art and design. She recently graduated from the IDEA School of Design at Capilano University in North Vancouver and specializes in brand identity design. She’s dedicated to living a creative life and inspiring others to do the same.

    Check out more of her works at her website:  tiffanyzhong.art

    Instagram: @tiffzhong

  • Interconnected Artists on Shaw Multicultural

    Interconnected Artists on Shaw Multicultural

    This year, VAHMS had the privilege to partner with Shaw Multicultural to showcase three Interconnected Artists on their channels! Check out each of the artists and their videos below:

    Michelle Sound

    Michelle Sound is a Cree and Métis artist, educator and mother. She is a member of Wapsewsipi Swan River First Nation in Northern Alberta. Her mother is Cree from Kinuso, Alberta, Treaty 8 territory and her father’s family is Métis from the Buffalo Lake Métis settlement in central Alberta. She was born and raised on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the x?m??kw?y??m (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and S?l?ílw?ta?/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts, and a Master of Applied Arts from Emily Carr University Art + Design. Michelle is currently an Indigenous Advisor at Douglas College.

    Website: https://www.zoecire.com/about
    Instagram: @michellesound.art

    Check out her Interconnected Artist Spotlight art here.

    Paulina Constancia

    Paulina Constancia is a multidisciplinary naïf artist from Cebu, Philippines, based in Vancouver BC, Canada. Her style is expressive and colourful and often invoke personal emotional experiences as reflected in both her visual and literary works. Paulina primarily paints on canvas, sometimes incorporating stitching, but also works with textiles and found materials, gracing all with the vibrant colours of her childhood growing up in the tropics and her serendipitous encounters traveling abroad. Her works often incorporate a smiling sun or feature curious humans looking out at you to tell the story, usually with animal companions. Life metaphors and social commentaries lie beneath her whimsical treatment of everyday themes. Paulina has exhibited her art in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Greece, Poland, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Mexico & in various cities in the U.S.A. and Canada. Her art is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Naïve Art (MoNA) in the Philippines, Musée international d’art naïf de Magog in Canada and the Galerija likovnih samorastnikov Trebnje (Gallery of Naive Artists Trebnje ) in Slovenia.

    Website: https://www.paulinaconstancia.com/
    Instagram: @paulinaconstancia

    Karl M. Hipol

    Karl Mata Hipol was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada in 2015.He is a multidisciplinary artist living and creating in North Vancouver. Karl holds a BFA (2022) with a major in Visual Art and a minor in Curatorial Practices from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. I was awarded the OPUS Art Supplies Graduation Award BFA and Honourable Mention for the ECU Graduation Award for the Anti-Racism + Social Justice.

    Website: karlhipolarts.com

    Instagram: @karlhipolarts

    Check out his Interconnected Artist Spotlight art here.

  • Shaw Multicultural – Conversation with Andrea Nann

    This year, the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society (VAHMS) had the esteemed opportunity to once again collaborate with Shaw Multicultural in order to engage in a conversation with Andrea Nann, an artist from Dreamwalker Dance Company, regarding her latest performance entitled “Firehorse & Shadow.”

    Situated in Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown, Firehorse and Shadow is an autobiography charted in gesture, storytelling, ink painting and shadow puppetry.  This dance memoir works against and alongside the hearsay of family stories, Chinese medicine cycles, and zodiac animal signs. Two performers weave together passages of re-membering and releasing, inviting the audience into an intimate reanimation of familial memory.  The work unfolds the yin and yang elements expressed within the bodies, lives and choices of four generations of Chinese Canadian women. 

    Interview with Andrea Nann

  • Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Lenore RS Lim

    Interconnected Artist Spotlight: Lenore RS Lim

    Artist Statement

    Lenore  RS Lim’s art is a testament to her constant exploration of the technical possibilities of printmaking, her continued collaboration with her print master, and her ongoing relationship with her culture as expressed in her use of plant life, Philippine crafts and mythology.

    Her work emanates a positive point of view toward her childhood, her parents, and her home in the Philippines, expressed in an artistic language she mastered while living in New York. 

    The development of Lim’s art has greatly benefited from her immigration experience as her technique, her point of view, and her aesthetic are a byproduct of her openness to new places and interactions.“Change is the force that motivates me as an artist, a mother, and a person.  Change requires us to alter comfortable routines, to rethink paradigms, to try new ways of doing things. Constant evolution is one of the few undeniable truths in life ”

    Biography

    Lenore RS Lim obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines and Printmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

    She is an extraordinary printmaker who has led an extraordinary life outside of the spotlight. Never content to work for her own enjoyment, she is instead a pioneer and an important leader in the world of printmaking.  An artist who underwent an exceptional rise in the art world of New York, she continues to be true to her convictions and to the legacy of printmakers who came before her.  

    Lenore received the Presidential Award, specifically the Pamana ng Pilipino Award, for Filipinos overseas, in 2004 and the Outstanding Professional Award in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in 2005 for her accomplishments in the arts.  Lenore received a grant from the prestigious Jackson Pollock /Lee Krasner Foundation in New York in 1999 and the VAHMS – Pan Asian Recognition Award, Vancouver, BC in May 2019.  

    In addition to showing at galleries and museums worldwide, Lenore represented the Philippines at the United Nations World Women Conference Exhibit in New York in 2000 and OPEN, the International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations, in Venice, Italy in 2002. Lenore is the president and founder of the Filipino Music and Art Foundation in BC. In the past, she has also served as president in various Filipino community organizations in Vancouver and New York.

  • explorASIAN 2023 Program Guide

    We are thrilled to share the arrival of our 27th explorASIAN Festival Program. We invite you to download, browse, and share the complete guide through the interactive links above, where you will find 60+ Asian Heritage Month in-person and virtual events and exhibitions presented by our various community partners.

    Browse, share and download our Festival Program here

    Please join our Opening Ceremony on Saturday, April 29, 2023, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at SFU Concourse Center, 580 W Hastings St., Vancouver. We look forward to see you there!