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Detail, pen & ink drawing by Gary Sim (1951 - )
Home Publications Artwork News Links About
Detail, pen & ink drawing by Gary Sim (1951 - )
BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS (BC ARTISTS) is an extensive digital finding aid to reference information on more than 16,800 artists who worked or are working in British Columbia, from the 1700s to the present day. Artist information has been compiled from more than 1,500 bibliographic references, including exhibition catalogues, books, prospectii, newspaper reviews, archival records, personal correspondence, and artist statements. The bibliographic references are linked to the artist index with more than 28,000 individual cross-references. Thousands more references are contained in over 1,250 artist biographical files.
The information is presented in over 2,000 web pages, with 230 illustrations, all extensively hyperlinked from the main BC ARTISTS ALPHABETICAL INDEX. All of this information is contained on a single CD-ROM. The project will run on any device with a web browser (computer, laptop, tablet) regardless of operating system (Windows, Unix, Android, Mac).
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.
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A bibliography of artist monographs has been compiled and linked into the BC ARTISTS index files. 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 bibliography file is posted on the following link for your use and reference. (Please note that this online file is an earlier version, containing 432 books and 220 artists. The current version of this file, available only on the BC ARTISTS CD, now contains 643 books and 329 artists).
BIBLIOGRAPHY - ARTIST MONOGRAPHS (BOOKS, CATALOGUES, PAPERS, LECTURES)
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.
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.
A to Z ARTIST INDEX WRITTEN TO PDF FILES AND COMBINED:
The two files linked below are now posted for the first time. The BC ARTISTS A - Z INDEX has been printed to PDF files from the 26 alphabetical HTM files linked from the home page of BC ARTISTS, and then combined into one PDF file. It contains the names and bibliographic references for every artist in the BC ARTISTS project. This posting is a test to see how the information is received and used.
BC ARTISTS BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES has the names and dates of all publications referenced in the A - Z INDEX, with one exception. Many artists have monographs noted as "biblio" listed in their index entries, and the BIBLIOGRAPHY - ARTIST MONOGRAPHS linked above on this page contains about 2/3 of these references.
Note that none of the hyperlinks in the two files linked below are functional, as the targets for all the links (another 2,070 html files) are not available on-line. However, these files may still be useful to the public to see which artists are listed in the project, and what information has been referenced to them.
BC ARTISTS A - Z INDEX (PDF file, not hyperlinked)
BC ARTISTS BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES (PDF file, not hyperlinked)
Awarded B.C. Historical Federation CERTIFICATE OF MERIT, 2013
Nominated for Melva J. Dwyer Award, 2011
Nominated for Melva J. Dwyer Award, 2010
Nominated for Melva J. Dwyer Award, 2005
Nominated for Vancouver Art Award, 2005
Nominated for Vancouver Heritage Award, 2004
"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
BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS Release 1.5 (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.
UPGRADE ONLY: To update your existing version of BC Artists to the current version, send $30.00 by cheque or money order to Sim Publishing, and we will mail you a complete update.
EMAIL ADDRESS TO PLACE ORDER: sp (at) sim-publishing.com
(We are having "Spam" problems, if you do not get an email response
please write.)
MAILING ADDRESS TO PLACE ORDER:
SIM PUBLISHING
304 - 1348 BARCLAY ST.
VANCOUVER BC V6E 1H7
PURCHASE ORDERS WELCOME, ORDERS SHIPPED IMMEDIATELY WITH INVOICE.