Beginning today until late December, two different neighbourhood boutiques – Mount Pleasant’s Itsumo and Sort in Kitsilano – will both be featuring the artwork of multidisciplinary artist Janice Wong, for her first ever ceramics show, called Ebb & Flow.

Primarily a two-dimensional artist working in painting, printmaking, drawing and photography, Wong ventured into ceramics as a therapeutic practice, using the concentration and intensity of the physical process to let her worries “ebb”. Two years in the making, Ebb & Flow is an exploration of clay and form, with inspirations spanning time and opposite coasts – from an urban beach in Reykjavík, Iceland where Wong’s interest in clay forms was first sparked, to her current West Coast (Vancouver) based ceramics studio practice – represented by showing her pieces at locations in East Van and on the West side of the city at the same time, with “the vision of an imaginary river flowing” between them.

From the artist statement:

Ebb & Flow is ultimately Wong’s exploration and distillation of forms — the potential of a vessel, the optimism of a bowl. The Horizon and Cloud bowls are reminders of a lacquer bowl Wong grew up with, while the Pebble and Pod forms are small vases reminiscent of sea-worn stones — standalone objects that can also be used for single blooms. Each form presented in this collection offers multiple functions, with the potential to cradle, hold, or shelter precious/necessary objects… “Or air. Even that is enough.”

Ebb & Flow will be the inaugural exhibition inside of Itsumo’s newly transformed next-door Concept Space (formerly East Van Shoe Repair). The show kicks off with an opening night celebration tonight (Thursday, November 10th) in Mount Pleasant from 7-9pm, where you can meet the artist and purchase a piece for yourself. Regular hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 12-6pm, and Sunday from 12-5pm, until December 24th. Sort in Kits will be hosting their own opening on Saturday, November 12th from 11am-2pm, and can be seen afterwards Tuesday-Saturday from 11am-5pm, until December 22nd.

Be sure to swing by either exhibit (or both) the next time you find yourself in the neighbourhood, and seeking a moment of quiet contemplation.