Credit: Angelina Dai, Wavering Dynasty, 2025, watercolour on paper.
Next generation of artistic talent emerges at Surrey Art Gallery
Surrey Art Gallery’s biannual Art by Surrey Secondary Students exhibit in partnership with the Surrey School District and Surrey Art Teachers Association is running at the Gallery from February 15 until April 27, 2025. Admission is free.
Surrey, BC – Surrey Art Gallery’s biannual Art by Surrey Secondary Students exhibit in partnership with the Surrey School District and Surrey Art Teachers Association is running at the Gallery from February 15 until April 27, 2025. Admission is free.
Every year, Surrey Art Gallery collaborates with the Surrey School District and the Surrey Art Teachers Association to produce an exhibition of works by students from across the city, alternating between elementary and secondary schools. This year’s edition of Art by Surrey Secondary Students features a new cohort of creative young artists demonstrating a high calibre of technical skill and creative thinking. In addition to the traditional forms of drawing, painting, and photography, the show also includes ceramics, with excellent sculptures of hybrid animals, portrait vases, and whimsical storage boxes.
Through the encouragement of their teachers, art students develop their skills in mark-making, composition, and form while studying historical and contemporary movements and artists for guidance and inspiration in the pursuit of their own ideas. The exhibition includes statements from both students and teachers, allowing visitors to understand the relationship between the educational curriculum and the development of young peoples’ critical thinking and visualization skills.
The works on display offer insight into some of the key topics of this year’s collective, addressing themes such as climate change, the influence and consumption of social media, and personal identity. These themes are reflected through self-portraiture, experimental film photography, and pop culture satire. Expressions of hope, personal growth, and transition are also on display, signaling optimism for the future.
“This year’s Art by Surrey Secondary Students features a talented group of young artists,” says Assistant Curator Rhys Edwards. “Their work is thought-provoking, technically complex, and demonstrates a profound passion for artmaking, guided by the wisdom of their teachers.”
Other exhibits at Surrey Art Gallery include Rajni Perera: Futures, a vision of imagined futures in which mutated subjects adapt to exist in dystopian realms through strength and resilience (ends March 16); Cheryl Pagurek: Winter Garden, a digital collage developed out of a still life photography series (ends April 27) and a’su’n – blanket, a collaborative artwork inviting visitors to reflect on the flora and fauna of Bear Creek Park (ends April 27).
About Surrey Art Gallery
Founded in 1975, Surrey Art Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national, and international artists, including digital and audio art. Recognized for its award-winning programs, the Gallery engages children through to adults in ongoing conversations that affect our lives and provides opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. The Gallery is located at 13750 88 Avenue in Surrey on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations. Surrey Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges operating funding from the City of Surrey, Province of BC through BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Surrey Art Gallery Association.