FROM: PORT MOODY ARTS CENTRE SOCIETY
2425 St. Johns St., Port Moody, B.C. V3H 2B2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wearable Art Awards Exhibition

LARGE SCALE WEARABLE ART EXHIBITION TO MAKE PORT MOODY A DESTINATION POINT DURING THE WINTER OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

PORT MOODY, BC - The City of the Arts will become the City of the "Wearable" Arts this winter through a large scale exhibition of art for the human form, says Jane Matthews, Executive Director of the Port Moody Arts Centre. "Some 10,000 media personnel, many not accredited to cover the Olympic events themselves will be seeking newsworthy events to cover and we believe we can encourage many of them, as well as other visitors, to come to Port Moody to see the exhibition."

The exhibition will take place from February 5 - March 21, featuring 100 intriguing garments at 11 locations, including Port Moody Arts Centre, Port Moody Civic Centre Galleria, Port Moody Social Recreation Centre, Caffé Divano (Klahanie), Golden Spike Pub, Curves (Port Moody), Rubens Chocolate (Suter Brook Village), Vancity (Suter Brook Village), Pasta Polo (Coquitlam), Shoppers Drug Mart (St. Johns Street) and the office of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. The display will include both new entries submitted to three categories - Olympic, Canadian Spirit, and Mantel - and retrospective entries from past Wearable Art Awards.

"Presented by the Port Moody Arts Centre Society, the Wearable Art Awards has been taking place in Port Moody since 2002 - the event has featured over 250 works by 150 artists, both local and international," says Matthews. "With the Olympics in Vancouver and a large list of past entries available for inclusion we decided the time was right for a retrospective display."

Many award winning garments will be returning, including "Got Petrochemicals?" by Cynthia Van Ginkel, a provocative piece relaying a political statement about toxin levels in breast milk, the human body and the environment, and "From the Ashes" by Eleanor Hannan, a crow costume illustrating the metamorphosis of a dead crow to the infamous Phoenix.

The exhibition will kick off with an opening on February 5 at 7:00 PM, at the Port Moody Arts Centre.

The new entries will be juried in a two step process, initially by electronic submissions, then by a panel of jurors drawn from the fashion and textile arts industry. Each piece is examined for its creativity, originality, skill in construction and conceptual idea. The category winners, sharing $2,000 in cash awards donated by community and corporate partners, will be announced at the opening on February 5 while the Pasta Polo People's Choice Winner - involving both new and retrospective entries - will be announced after voting closes on March 21.

The Wearable Art Awards are presented by the Port Moody Arts Centre Society - with support from businesses and sponsors who include the City of Port Moody, the BC Gaming Commission, the Port Moody Arts Centre, Georgia Straight, Pacific Coast Terminals Co. Ltd. and Pasta Polo - to encourage local, Canadian and International artists of all mediums to submit evocative, imaginative and thought-provoking creations for the human body. The imaginations of the participating artists are the only limits on entries.

For further detail, see www.wearableartawards.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2009

Greek Mythology – A New Exhibition at the Port Moody Arts Centre

PORT MOODY, BC –The Port Moody Arts Centre will present the works of local artist, Bill Adamantidis in the Scotiabank Gallery from January 21 to March 21, 2009. As the title of his exhibition, Greek Mythology, suggests, Adamantidis is inspired by the mythological stories of his native land, Greece. He works with a unique medium, copper relief, creating elaborate three dimensional scenes from Greek mythological tales on copper plates which are then oxidized to add the illusion of further depth to his work. Adamantidis became interested in working with copper when he was 19 years old and still living in Athens. He often visited a small shop just below the Parthenon which sold icons, copper pots and souvenirs to tourists, and where he could observe a craftsman working on copper pots and decorated plates. “Seeing the craftsman manipulating the copper gave me a sense of the versatility of the material which I now manipulate like clay. I can do anything with it.”, says Adamantidis. But rather than continuing with the traditional methods of working with copper, the artist has developed the process even further. He began using sulphur and oil to oxidize the copper and add elements of light and shadow to the work, which later developed into rubbing steel on the areas where he wants to show light. He has also experimented with various chemicals that clean the copper and add unique characteristics, rather than using the traditional vinegar and salt. Over the years, Adamantidis has even created his own tools using hardwood, glass and other materials.

Adamantidis’s works, showing dramatic scenes from Greek Mythology such as the adventures of Odysseus or the Amazons, and the Clash of the Titans, are very rich in detail and show superior craftsmanship. It takes months to complete a work from the initial intricate drawings to the final artwork.

The opening reception of the exhibitions will be held Thursday, January 21, 2010, 6-8pm in the Port Moody Arts Centre, 2425 St. Johns Street, Port Moody. The artist will be in attendance. The exhibition and reception are free to the public.

© 2006 The Port Moody Arts Centre