This month is an exciting time in the local art scene with plenty of new and interesting openings that are well worth checking out. Make your way around to the different galleries using this map as your guide…

So. Many. Good. Shows. Here’s a round-up of just some of the exhibitions and arts events you don’t want to miss. Bonus: they’re all free to attend!

ARTIST TALK WITH LORNA SIMPSON | Rennie Museum presents a new exhibition that brings together the works of the late Barkley L. Hendricks, an American artist best known for revolutionising black portraiture throughout the 1960s to early 80s, and Lorna Simpson, a multimedia artist who works in photography, film, and, more recently, painting. We can look forward to seeing Simpson’s first paintings, revealed in 2015 at the Venice Biennale, a collection of 307 black and white photographs, and a monumental new commission (with 5,000 components!), The matter of the bracelet. Simpson will be giving an artist talk on Feb. 9th. Doors open at 1:40PM, seating is first come, first served. The exhibition runs until Aug. 28th.

I SAW A CROW, ORCA WAS I | An exhibition of new works by Netherlands-based, Canadian artist Allison Yip. An artist who works in painting, wall treatments, writing, and sculpture, Yip was part of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s triennial in 2016, Vancouver Special for which she painted the Gallery’s rotunda to create a memorable, immersive experience with painted windows looking out onto an imagined world.

LABOUR’S TRACE | An exhibition that brings together works by Karin Jones and Amy Malbeuf who explore cultural identities and histories through traditional and contemporary materials. Learn more about the exhibition from the artists at the Talk & Tour from 1-2PM, followed by the opening reception.

ARTIST TALKS WITH CINDY MOCHIZUKI AND HOWIE TSUI | Two artist talks at Burrard Arts Foundation to accompany their exhibitions. Mochizuki’s installation The Sakaki Tree, a Jewel, and the Mirror explores Japanese folklore and comprises fifty, unique figurines, lit to cast shadows on the walls, and five delicately embroidered, circular canvases. Tsui’s Parallax Chambers includes a captivating animation based on ink drawings, and programmed to flow in random sequence. The exhibitions are up until March 7th.

SCREENING OF LUKE FOWLER’S “ELECTRO-PYTHAGORUS: A FILMIC PORTRAIT OF MARTIN BARTLETT” | Produced during a 2015 Artist Residency at the Western Front, Electro-Pythagorus­ is a portrait of composer and musician Martin Bartlett (1939-1993), who pioneered the use of interactive computer music. A co-founder of the Western Front, Bartlett also established its music program. Through extensive research, Fowler has combined archival material with self-shot 16mm footage. Luke Fowler is a Glasgow-based artist, filmmaker and musician.

INTERCEPTING THE NATURE OF COLOUR AND FORMS | A group show featuring works by Sara Genn, Mira Song, and Scott Sueme. Works from Genn’s latest New Alphabet series are simple, bold, colourful forms; Song explores natural and architectural spaces; and Sueme’s paintings consider shape and colour.

CROCODILE TEARS | A group show including painting, sculpture, audio, video and performance. Evolving in three parts over the next three months, there will be a performance or event to accompany each installation. The first installation includes works by Mike Bourscheid, Gabi Dao, Babak Golkar, and Anne Low.

NO FIXED ABODE | Lyse Lemieux’s exhibition No Fixed Abode is an installation of two-dimensional drawings on paper and three-dimensional textile drawings, made of bundled, thrifted and personal items. On now at SFU Gallery and inspired by Franz Kafka’s short story, The Cares of the Family Man (1919), and its abstract character, Odradek, who has “no fixed abode”.