Exhibition Gala | T I M E: Preservation, Continuation, Evolution at Howe Street Studios (on view until Nov 25, 2026)
On October 24, 2026, resident artists (Wendy Davey, Cristiano Bruno, Alessandra Mei, Sharon Wong, Mayari Rodriguez, and Jessica Milum) welcomed a hundred guests to Howe Street Studios to celebrate the public launch of their group exhibition T I M E: Preservation, Continuation, Evolution (TIME).
The exhibition was the culmination of many months of work, ideation, research, and collective work as the latest cohort of the Metal Arts studio stream of the Malaspina Printmakers Society's Printermedia Residency program. TIME is a collective expression of the group's relationship to the jewellery and metal arts as told through the progression and interpretation of events, alongside the growth and significance of accumulated experience.
About T I M E: Evolution, Preservation, Continuation
The artists present their explorations and research around time and its significance in the field and processes of making jewellery.
We are a part of a cultural act, simultaneously preserving the craft of metal work and jewellery by creating, continuing the traditions and techniques while contributing to the evolution of the craft - such as integrating new technologies in our practice. Within the idea of time, the connection we create through our processes highlights the unique styles of each artist.
The Presentation
The artists built slender wooden plinths to showcase their work in the street-facing gallery. To mark the gala, and in an extended tribute to the exhibition's theme, all seven laid out select tools used in their processes alongside other items for examination and sale.
The evening
Throughout the evening, guests circulated between the north and west windows of the exhibition looking onto the street, examined the tabletop displays, and nibbled at appetisers over glasses of wine or soda.
Cristiano Bruno
The setting
In the years since its completion, Howe Street Studios has necessarily been a site for artistic production, with its function to serve as a rare affordable site for practicing artists. As such, it is rare -- although more common in recent years -- to have the doors thrown open to select occasions during which community can gather to celebrate its resident artists.
Many in attendance on October 24 had never suspected that studios dedicated to material practice in woodworking, photography, metalsmithing and printmaking were located so centrally in the Downtown South neighbourhood. Residents from neighbouring buildings mingled with students from LaSalle and the Vancouver Community College's respective jewellery art and design programs; friends and family of both presenting artists and the wider contemporary jewellery field in Vancouver filled out the evening.
The Artists behind "T I M E"
Cristiano Bruno (Matilpi)
Cristiano has spent more than two decades hand-carving and engraving, trained in West Coast metalwork by his uncle, Charles Harper. He describes this body of work as bringing together his ancestral traditions and his 13 years with the British Columbia Regiment and the Canadian Armed Forces, "where the endurance of metal meets the fluidity of storytelling." @living_indigenous_art
Wendy Davey
"This collection explores the meeting of what is fleeting and what is timeless."
Wendy's collection takes the cherry blossom as its subject. To make it, she learned traditional acid etching with asphaltum, a resist material used since ancient Egypt. @purple_butterfly_studios · purplebutterflystudio.ca
Drew Jang
Working with hand-cut gemstones and industrial materials, Drew looks at scars and repair. "This work explores how wounds accumulate over time and what it means to live with our broken parts." @11_o_oo
Alessandra Mei
Alessandra's work asks whether the tools and systems we make are an extension of evolution, "another branch on the tree of life." Her pieces pair the visual language of uncommon mineral occurrences with precisely crafted forms. @squalojewels
Jessica Milum
Jessica's work treats time as lineage, examining how jewellery gathers meaning as it passes through families. "Some are formed from reclaimed gold and inherited stones — materials that have lived previous lives, carrying subtle histories within them." jessicamilum.com · @jessicamilum
Mayari Rodriguez
Working with precious gemstones and metals, Mayari explores the nonlinear path of time, and "how patterns and imprints endure time," through movement, light and shadow. @mayarirodriguez_
Sharon Wong
Sharon brings a background in fashion design to wearable sculpture, focusing on the relationship between a wearer and the objects they carry. "The multifaceted nature of the human experience shows that we can represent multiple singularities at a time." @shareb.gems by @sharonwongatelier
T I M E close up
Drew Jang Cristiano Bruno (Maltipi) Wendy Davey Alessandra Mei Sharon Wong Jessica Milum Mayari Rodriguez
About the Printermedia Artist Residency (Metal Arts)
Presented by Malaspina Printmakers Society with the support of the Vancouver Metal Arts Association, the Metals stream of the Printermedia Artist Residency gives metal and jewellery artists a shared studio at Howe Street Studios in downtown Vancouver. Residents develop their own practices, build community, and explore where metal and print media meet. T I M E is this cohort's first public look at the results; you can see the previous cohort's exhibition in our post on An Unfamiliar Happening (2024) and Our Language (2023)
Interested in the residency?
We are accepting applications for the 2027 cohort. Learn more today.
Thank You
Thank you to Malaspina Printmakers Society for its ongoing support of the residents' artistic development at Howe Street Studios and to the West Coast Vault for its sponsorship of the exhibition.
To the volunteers and loved ones who supported the curation process, and to all the guests from the community who came out to celebrate this achievement, the space has seldom felt so alive and full. Art cannot survive without community or relationships. The evening was given over to both. Thank you for uplifting art.
Visit T I M E before November 25
T I M E : Preservation, Continuation, Evolution will be on view at Howe Street Studios, 1265 Howe Street, Vancouver, until November 25, 2026. To arrange a visit, contact us at contact@vancouvermetalarts.com.
Photo credits: Ingrid Valou
Comments