BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS - Release 1.2

BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS (BC ARTISTS) is an extensive digital finding aid to reference information about more than 12,500 artists who worked or are working in British Columbia, from the 1700s to the present. Artist information has been compiled from more than 1,400 bibliographic references, including exhibition catalogues, books, prospectii, newspaper reviews, archival records, personal correspondence, and artist's statements. The bibliographic references are linked to the artist index with more than 20,000 individual cross-references.

The information is presented in more than 1,900 web pages, with 170 illustrations, all extensively hyperlinked from the main BC ARTISTS ALPHABETICAL INDEX. The project will run on any device with a web browser, regardless of operating system.

ABOUT THE BC ARTISTS ALPHABETICAL INDEX

Artists are listed alphabetically, with vital statistics and formal education listed if known, and a list of bibliographic references in which each artist is included. The table below shows 2 typical entries from the S index, in this case for Herbert Siebner and the editor. Each reference has a unique abbreviation with a date code, and the abbreviation is hyperlinked to more information about the reference. Emphasis has been placed on listing references that contain biographical information. (Note: the links in the box below are not active). If the artist exhibited artwork in Vancouver prior to 1950, they will typically have their own biographical file, such as the Innes and Sherman files given below.

A bibliography of artist monographs has been compiled and linked into the BC ARTISTS index files. To date 419 books and exhibition catalogues are listed and linked from over 210 artists. Many of the publications are limited edition, or from countries around the world such as Japan, Mexico, Germany, Indonesia, and France and not easily sourced. The entire bibliography file is posted on the following link for your use and reference.

These links take you to two sample biographical web pages, in this case for artists Maud Sherman and John Innes. The links otherwise embedded in those biographies have been converted to lettering in bold, as those files are not posted on-line and would therefor result in an error message if clicked on. The BC ARTISTS project includes more than 1,250 individual artist biographies like these.

         JOHN INNES Biographical Page

         MAUD REES SHERMAN Biographical Page

Each biographical page is divided into seven main sections that may or may not contain informatino about the artist:
     1. The artist's name in full, including optional spellings, single and married names.
     2. The artist's dates of birth and death, as known and if applicable.
     3. Groups and associations that the artist belonged to or exhibited with.
     4. A biographical summary of the artist.
     5. A summary of exhibitions, linked to transcribed exhibition catalogues.
     6. A summary of reference material with artist references or illustrations.
     7. A summary of published artist reviews, linked to transcriptions.

REVIEWS

"It is truly impressive, intelligently and skillfully organized..."
     Charles C. Hill, Curator of Canadian Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
"It is a most welcome addition to Canada's national research collection in the visual arts."
     Jo Beglo, Bibliographer, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, Ottawa
"It is indeed a very helpful and impressive body of work."
     Ian M. Thom, Senior Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery
"...an invaluable contribution to Canadian cultural research - and a boon to all art historians..."
     Paula Gustafson, Editor, Artichoke magazine book review, Summer 2004 issue, Vancouver
"...the result is a document that is amazingly comprehensive and accurate."
     Lynn Brockington, former Librarian, Vancouver Art Gallery
"This tool is a rich storehouse of information about artists working in Vancouver."
     Murray Waddington, Chief, Library & Archives, National Gallery of Canada
"It is a compact gem densely filled with valuable information."
     Letia Richardson, former Art Researcher and Writer, Vancouver
"It has been handy in more ways than you might imagine."
     Cheryl Siegel, Librarian, Vancouver Art Gallery

HOW TO PURCHASE

BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS Release 1.2 (including a complete copy of ART & ARTISTS IN EXHIBITION: VANCOUVER 1890 - 1950) is now available to purchase for only $175.00 (Canadian funds). Simply send an email including your complete shipping address to Sim Publishing, and we will ship your order immediately, with an invoice. Sim Publishing is also willing to donate the project to authorized institutions in exchange for a tax receipt. Please ask about this if you are interested.

EMAIL ADDRESS TO PLACE ORDER: sp (at) sim-publishing.com