The John Ferrie Gallery is 2500 square feet of space with 20-foot ceilings and industrial lighting. Ferrie has three exhibitions here each year -- spring, fall and just prior to Christmas. During these exhibitions there are set gallery hours, and at other times private viewings and consultations are by appointment only. Additional services, such as framing and installation information, are also available.

Ferrie graduated from Vancouver's Emily Carr College of Art and Design with a diploma in fine arts in 1988. Since then, he has shown his work more than 75 times at exhibitions throughout Canada and in the U.S., Hong Kong and France. His artworks have appeared in many public installations, including the 20- by 30-foot mural at Children's Health Centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital and the renowned Robson Street banners. After the banners were taken down in '94, they were cleaned and tidied up, and 185 of them were then sold to interested buyers. The proceeds benefited A Loving Spoonful in Vancouver.

The energetic and irrepressible Ferrie is very involved in charity support, creating images for AIDS Vancouver, including World AIDS Day campaigns, as well as conferences, the resource centre and the library. For several years, he has designed Christmas cards for Children's Hospital and for Ronald McDonald House.

His corporate projects have included the Umberto Villa Delia Bambolo wine label, cover art for the Whistler Mountain Fast Food Cookbook and a Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival poster in the late '90s. A photo in the May 29/00 issue of People magazine captured actor Robin Williams in a cycling event, and his Sugoi cycling jersey sported one of Ferrie's eye-catching designs. Ferrie has recently been conferring with entrepreneur Mark James about doing some paintings for James's new Avalon Brew Pub in North Vancouver and Milk nightclub at the Lotus Hotel in Vancouver.

One of Ferrie's larger paintings currently hangs in the office of Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson, and he is working toward getting his work into the National Gallery of Canada. Ferrie has been artist in residence in New York City as well as at the West Island School in Pokfulam, Hong Kong and at Chateau Drouilles in France.

Ferrie currently teaches a seminar in Vancouver at the Alliance for Arts & Culture. Called "Search," the class is geared to artists with whom Ferrie shares his extensive knowledge on marketing and promotions in the art world. For info, call (604) 681-3535.

To be kept apprised of what's happening with the artist and the John Ferrie Gallery, add your name to the mailing list via his website, www.johnferrie.com.

The fascinating anthology Art and Its Significance: An Anthology of Aesthetic Theory includes some of the most important writings on the theory of art in the Western tradition.

By Alexa R. Deans

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