Vancouver Civic Theatres is proud to present a free Visual Arts Open House in the lobbies of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. The current visual arts exhibition features work by Sally Clark and Michael Slobodian.

This free event will include a 6:30pm artist talk and musical performance throughout the evening by Lenny Pallerstein.

Sally Clark’s Divine Insider is an exploration of the landscape of a human face. Are these portraits? “Yes and no,” says Clark, “My friends' faces are the starting point for an investigation into the mystery of what it is to be human. They are themselves and they are the More of themselves.”

Focused on the area between the chin and just above the eyebrows, the features in these larger-than-life works become iconic and subjects transform and reveal depths of self not previously seen.

Born in Vancouver, Sally Clark has been painting in oils since she was twelve. She completed her B.F.A. degree at York University in Toronto, where she lived, and exhibited her work, for thirty years.

Since the early 1980sMichael Slobodian has travelled around with his Polaroid SX-70 camera, snapping photos and waiting for them to appear – at which point the image is manipulated before it sets. This process of manipulation has to happen quickly and on the spot, with only 60-90 seconds of optimum time before the emulsion hardens and can no longer be modified. The images presented in this collection were solely manipulated by hand, and each one is an original, one-of-a-kind image.

Montreal born Michael Slobodian graduated from Concordia University, and shortly after became a studio assistant and manager for a commercial photographer. He developed a commercial practice shooting for advertising agencies, record companies, direct clients as well as portraits, and his love of dance has led him to work with many dancers and companies in Canada and abroad.