Western Canada Taiwanese Artists’ Society (WCTAS) was established in July, 2005by our former president, Ms. Lu Yueh-Chien. Our objective is to offer artists from Taiwan a chance to liaise, observe and learn from one another. We aim at promoting Taiwanese art and culture by strengthening art and cultural exchange between Taiwan and Canada. We also strive to maintain the inheritance of Taiwanese artistic concepts among promising young people.
The 77 members of the Society, met by chance here in beautiful Vancouver, are all from Taiwan. We brought with us diverse life experience and special achievements. Most of us are professional painters; some are accountants, bankers, realtors, designers, photographers, sculptors or musicians. All of us have been deeply influenced by Taiwanese culture during our formative years and in our education. Our works include Oriental and Western painting, calligraphy, seal cutting, ceramics, photography, design, sculpture and mixed media application. Vancouver has furnished us with a platform to explore artistic creation from a multi-cultural angle. Through the fusion of Eastern and Western artistic principles and international cultural perspectives, we have experimented in achieving a timeless and unique creative spirit. Although we work with diverse media in different styles, our works share the common feature of a “Taiwanese character”. The Society encourages free and diversified productions, and organizes regular exhibitions both locally and abroad. The gallery of the Society also offers a venue for exhibitions of members’ works.
Our Board of Directors, consisting of 11 directors, is elected by the members. The Board, in turn, choose among themselves, the President, two Vice-presidents, a Secretary and a Finance Manager. The Board serves a 2-year term and can be reelected for a second term. It is responsible for developing affairs of the Society and promoting international art and cultural exchange. We have grown strong in 11 years and we hope to continue our experiment in the unique creations of multicultural artistic styles with a “Taiwanese feature”. We hope also to play our part in encouraging cooperation and exchange between international art groups.
Mike Alexander is an emerging Anishinaabe visual artist and writer originally from Swan Lake First Nation in Treaty #1 Territory, currently residing on the traditional and unceded lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc. Adopted out to a non-Indigenous family shortly after birth, Mike is a 60’s Scoop survivor, a second-generation Residential School survivor who grew up in Winnipeg, having no connection to his community, language or culture until his early 20’s.
He has attended the University of Victoria, the Victoria College of Art and the Vancouver Island School of Art. Mike is honoured to have received mentorship from master carver and recipient of the Order of BC Carey Newman (Kwagiulth) as well as master of the Woodlands School of Art, Mark Anthony Jacobson (Anishinaabe) who as a Pipe Carrier and Eagle Staff carrier, serves to transmit cultural knowledge as well as artistic skill to Mike to help guide him.
Mike has been the recipient of several generous grants from the Kamloops Arts Council, the First Peoples Cultural Council and the BC Arts Council and is currently practicing as a full time, internationally collected artist. Since 2015, his large acrylic paintings have received four solo exhibitions in Vancouver, Victoria, and Kamloops as well as participation in several group shows across Canada and the United States.
Mike identifies very strongly with his Ojibwe roots as a student of the Woodlands School of Art. He celebrates his ongoing transformation and reclamation of culture using art as a process of decolonization and cultural revitalization.
The Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society respectfully acknowledges that 2023 Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Festival takes place on the traditional, unceded lands of the Coast Salish people, including the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-waututh Nations.
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