Maltwood Gallery – Victoria

The World Tea Party, Victoria, project examined the influence of the simple act of drinking tea on various artistic and social cultures, which are represented by objects in collections in British Columbia.

The project used a multidisciplinary approach to look at collections, revealing how something as simple and common as meeting over a cup of tea can reveal an interconnection between visual art, decorative arts, architecture, archival photography, and social meeting rituals, multicultural activities and contemporary cultural production.

The research was archives- and collections-based and included the cataloguing of relevant public and private collections. The main public collections that were researched are housed at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV), the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery and the Royal BC Museum.

The project exhibition at the AGGV, ran from June 25 to August 29, 2004, and featured art and artifacts related to the many tea cultures from around the world represented in British Columbia, as well as examples of contemporary British Columbia art that highlighted tea culture as a living tradition. The exhibition was accompanied by an extensive series of community events in the gallery and in several Greater Victoria venues.

The research and exhibition were documented in a publication edited by Judith Patt, entitled World Tea Party, Victoria . Copies of the publication can be obtained from the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery. To provide additional access to the project, the Victoria tea party event will be added to the current World Tea Party website.

http://www.maltwood.uvic.ca/cura/projects/world_tea_party/

Presentation House Gallery

A pan-cultural, interactive installation which takes the form of an archetypal tea salon, this project draws upon the ritual of tea drinking as a metaphor for the dialogue between peoples, and their spiritual and aesthetic ideals. Tea served in the afternoons.

Catalogue

Published by Presentation House Gallery – Exhibition 1995
North Vancouver, BC, Canada

WINNER OF

Canadian Museums Association
Outstanding Achievement Award for Publications

American Association of Museums
Publications Design Award

This magnificent publication includes several historical and previously unpublished photographs
from archives, collections and museums of British Columbia about the Pacific West Coast
tea traditions, artefacts and culture.

Includes original essays by

Jennifer Fisher
Keith Snyder
Steve Holtzman
Vincent Sze

64 pages, Illustrated in Colour and black & white
$ 14 + tax + shipping

ORDER DIRECTLY THROUGH PRESENTATION HOUSE GALLERY

333 Chesterfield Avenue
North Vancouver, BC, Canada,V7M 3G9
tel. (604) 986-1351 fax. (604) 986-5380
phgallery@imag.net