We were sad to miss the opening last week of Michiko Suzuki and Wayne Eastcott’s exhibition Interconnection, also the grand opening of the new Bellevue Gallery. By all accounts the opening was very successful, attended by around 200 people spilling out onto the sidewalk.

Yesterday, my husband and I had one of our after-work “gallery and dinner dates” and went to the Bellevue, knowing that Michiko and Wayne would be there. We enjoyed a personal chat about their work, which utilize techniques of etching, inkjet, silk-screen and chine-collé. The work looks stunning in this lovely new space (and these photos do not do it justice). Even though we’ve seen most of the work before other than the latest new prints, it all looked very new and different in this spacious yet warm setting. As I’ve mentioned before this exhibition was first shown last year in Tokyo, then in Vancouver. Congratulations again to both artists for the success of this amazing collaboration!

We also met Lynn Ray, the charming owner of Bellevue Gallery (her partner is her daughter Nicole Ray-Sharma who was not there this time). It was a pleasant surprise because Lynn and I knew each other many years ago and so enjoyed catching up with our lives since then. Lynn has a studio art and art history background as well as many years of business experience, so she has excellent qualifications for running a serious art gallery. An architect had been hired to do the interior of the gallery and this shows in the lovely architectural details, materials and lighting. The Bellevue Gallery is a great cultural addition to the charming Dundarave area of West Vancouver, right by the sea. Our very best wishes to the Rays for the success of this new gallery!

If you are anywhere near Vancouver and haven’t seen this significant exhibition by two very important artists yet, I suggest not to miss it. It is up until October 29th, 2006.