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In Love with Photo-based Art by Martin Stein profile of looking at the world." A s for the future o f P H G . Love and the board are in consultation with the City of North Vancouver and the gallery's membership, hoping to locate to a new location closer to Lonsdale Quay, where the increased volume of foot traffic would increase the gallery's attendance. Although P H G is only a short walk from the Quay, attendance figures are lower than what Love would like. The gallery is working toward being a part of a new community in the Lower Lonsdale area. Planners and others engaged in the redevelopment of the area believe the community w i l l benefit best from a "mixed-use" development. In the meantime. Love w i l l continue to do what she does best: present modern photographic artists from a gallery in an old North Vancouver house. Martin in Stein is a freelance writer living A combination o f a tea salon and art exhibit, it had previously shown at the National Gallery in Ottawa and at the prestigious Venice Biennial in Italy. After seeing World Tea Party in Ottawa. Love approached the curators three times before securing it for P H G . "(In Ottawa) there were a few women who would come in every day for tea. but that was it. I felt we could do a better job. in an interactive sense, here." The goal was achieved. "Attendance was probably triple what we'd get for a contemporary art exhibit." Love said. A number of people were repeat visitors--including one senior citizen who came back several times to play the piano for her friends. The presentation also attracted attention form national magazines such as Border Crossings and Canadian Art. More exciting for Love were the write-ups from papers representing the Chinese. Japanese and Southeast Indian communities: media that normally doesn't cover P H G shows. Ming Pao. a Cantonese newspaper, even ran seven colour photographs of the exhibition. As both director and curator. Love is not only responsible for selecting the various artists for exhibits, she must also maintain ties with other curators across the country, keep tabs on up-and-coming talents and balance the books. Aside from the in-house exhibitions. P H G also organizes touring shows, some going as far afield as Florida. A l l told, there can be as many as 12 productions a year. O f these, almost every one consists of photography-based conceptual work. In layperson's terms, that means photographs, videos and some 3-dimensional pieces all having some sort or philosophy behind them, rather than being purely aesthetic. Submissions are accepted yearround. "When I'm looking at contemporary art, I'm hoping to find a bit of an edge." explains Love. "Ideally, it's work that engages the intellect, but also the emotional side, and that questions our traditional way F r o m the outside, it looks like a typical three-storey North Vancouver home, perhaps belonging to some elderly widow who keeps most of the rooms closed off and busies herself making tea. But. as with most things, looks are deceiving. Inside, on the top floor, are four interconnected rooms which contain installation pieces on the floors, a video deck and monitor, a slide projector and photographs, a circular mobile of yellow cloth and photos and light boxes illuminating more photographs onto the walls. Hardly the stuff a widow would have laying about but exactly what you'd expect director and curator Karen Love to have at Presentation House Gallery ( P H G ) . a venue for photo-based works. Love, 44, was born and raised in Ottawa and after graduating from Carleton University with an honours B A . she landed a job at the Canada Council Art Bank in Ottawa. She came to Vancouver a few times and "like everyone else. I fell in love with the mountains and the city." In 1981 she left Ottawa and made Vancouver her home. "I was made to discover that it was much harder to find (a job in the arts) than I had imagined. I hadn't been in the job market for awhile and Karen Love, and curator of Vancouver. a n n a w y m a n school of dance Providing the best dance training to students of all ages and ability levels including adults. · Pre School · Ballet · Modern · Choreography · Jazz · Tap · Flamenco · Hip Hop ·Yoga · Stretch + Strength · NIA things had changed." In 1983 Love got her break at P H G as an assistant to the gallery director. After working part-time for a year, she was promoted to both curator and director. Love has held her dual position for the last ten years but her biggest coup came last fall with the installation/event World Tea Party. Register Now! Spring Term begins March 25.1996 Phone 926-6535 Anna Wyman School of Dance Arts 1457 Marine Drive West Vancouver, BC V7T 1B9 director Presentation Gallery, here House pictured in on holiday Assisi, Italy.