Modern in the Making: Post-war Craft and Design in British Columbia

From the aesthetics of postwar reconstruction to the functional objects that complemented 1950s West Coast Modern architecture and the expressive material forms of the 1960s and 70s, Modern in the Making will acknowledge the many dimensions that defined British Columbia’s cultural identity in the postwar era. It is the first volume to trace the evolution of Modern ceramics, weaving and fiber art, furniture, fashion and jewelry design produced between 1945 and 1975 in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

Currently Interim Director at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Daina Augaitis was Chief Curator/Associate Director from 1996 to 2017 where she worked with a team of curators to conceive and develop the Gallery’s exhibitions, publications, collections and public programs. Among the over 30 exhibitions she curated or co-curated were these solo projects of Rebecca Belmore, Douglas Coupland, Stan Douglas, Charles Edenshaw, Geoffrey Farmer, Kimsooja, Muntadas, Brian Jungen, Ian Wallace, Gillian Wearing and Zhu Jinshi.

Allan Collier is an independent curator, writer and collector based in Victoria, BC. He maintains a large collection of Canadian postwar furniture, tableware, ceramics and enamelware. He has written extensively on Canadian architecture and design and has curated exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Charles H. Scott Gallery and the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery.

Michelle McGeough (Métis) is an Indigenous art historian, artist and curator. She received her MA from Carleton University and her PhD from the University of New Mexico. McGeough’s research interests have focused on contemporary and historical Indigenous cultural production and Indigenous non-binary identities. She is also interested in the application of Indigenous research methodologies and the incorporation of these ways of knowing into the curation of Indigenous material culture and art.