Ruins In Process is a research archive and educational resource that brings together still and moving images, ephemera, essays and interviews to explore the diverse artistic practices of Vancouver art in the 1960s and early 1970s. Drawn from private collections and archives as well as public sources, it uses the capacity of the internet as an ideal medium to present the interdisciplinary activities and technologies that emerged at that time. With hundreds of images, texts, audio and video recordings, Ruins In Process will reward repeat visits and ongoing research.
The Project Sites are curated selections of archive materials, all located in the central database, that look in detail at particular movements, specific artists or focused research areas in order to provide a context for the array of practices and documents gathered by the curatorial teams. Distinct in their design, these Project Sites present this valuable and original research — previously unavailable to the public in many cases — in ways that are in keeping with the formal and conceptual approaches of the artistic activity they explore.
The Essays area brings together commissioned pieces: Making Indian Art “Modern” by Marcia Crosby, Vancouver Cinema in the Sixties by Zoe Druick and UBC in the Sixties, a transcribed conversation with Audrey Capel Doray, Gathie Falk, Donald Gutstein, Karen Jamieson, Glenn Lewis, Jamie Reid and Abraham Rogatnick, edited by Marian Penner Bancroft. Reprinted for this broader audience is Urban Renewal: Ghost Traps, Collage, Condos and Squats by Scott Watson and Siting the Banal: The Extended Landscapes of the N.E. Thing Co. by the late Nancy Shaw. Designed to download as PDFs, this collection expands upon the social context in which Vancouver art in the sixties was produced and received, and forms a resource for students and instructors to complement the online resource.
The video Interviews with Ingrid Baxter, Christos Dikeakos, Carole Itter and Gary Lee-Nova provide a platform for these artists to reflect upon their work as students and young artists and the milieu in which they developed their ideas.
Visitors may browse the Digital Archive by artist’s name, year, title, or medium. Researchers, instructors and students will find that the resources conform to Chicago Manual of Style for citation purposes, and the Archive Item detail pages contain the source and location of the materials presented.
All content on this site is protected by copyright. The educational resources on this site may be used, reproduced and distributed by instructors for non-commercial, educational purposes without additional permission. Any other reproduction or use of content from this site requires the user to obtain copyright clearance.
We welcome your feedback and response to this resource. Let us know at feedback@vancouverartinthesixties.com
Lorna Brown
on behalf of the Editorial Team
Since many of the artists represented on the site worked in several media, we would recommend that you explore the People section of the Archive Index as well as try out a Keyword search to access related Archive Items and Project Sites.
In-class use may include projecting the live site, or using the images in PDF version in a screen presentation. Alternately, choosing “Save as” from the file menu will allow you to retain the archival information and description along with the image in a Web Archive file.
The Essays section contains downloadable PDFs of each text to create a collection of print resources for research. The text materials on the Project Sites feature either a Print Version link to a PDF or may be printed by choosing Print from the File menu in your browser.
For directed research, the Search Archive field accommodates Boolean searches and corrects for minor misspellings. Visitors may browse the Digital Archive by artist’s name, year, title, or medium. Researchers, instructors and students will find that the resources conform to Chicago Manual of Style for citation purposes, and the Archive Item detail pages contain the source and location of the materials presented for further research.
Editor & Project Manager: Lorna Brown
Technical Direction: Jeff Khonsary
Design: The Future
Editorial Group: Scott Watson, Glenn Alteen and Lorna Brown
Curators: Marcia Crosby, Michael de Courcy, Charo Neville, Michael Turner, Scott Watson
Writers: Marcia Crosby, Michael de Courcy, Zoë Druick, Michael Turner, Scott Watson, Marian Penner Bancroft
Project Site Designers: Jeff Khonsary and Courtenay Webber of The Future, Archer Pechawis, Stuart Bailey and David Reinfurt of Dexter Sinister, James Szuszkiewicz
Website Framework and Database: Filbert
Funding Development: Lorna Brown and Mary Ann Anderson of Little Dog Creative Consulting
Photography and Videography: Howard Ursuliak
Video Editing: Owen Sopotiuk, Demian Petryshyn
Digitization: Ryan Peter
Biographies: Jacqueline Mabey
Research Assistants: Jacqueline Mabey, Sarah Todd, Roberta Kremer, Jasmina Karabeg
Copy Editor: Kate Steinmann
This project was initiated by Glenn Alteen, and is produced through a partnership between The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at The University of British Columbia, and the grunt gallery, Vancouver.
Krisztina Laszlo, Archivist; Jacqueline Mabey, Public Programs and Exhibitions Assistant; Ryan Peter, Graphics and Media Assistant; Naomi Sawada, Public Programs and Publicity Coordinator; Owen Sopotiuk, Collections Manager/Head Technician; David Steele, Preparator; Terri Sudeyko, Registrar; Jana Tyner, Assistant to the Director; Howard Ursuliak, Gallery Assistant/Photographer; Scott Watson, Director/Curator; Annette Wooff, Administrator
Glenn Alteen, Program Director; Meagan Kus, Operations Director; Demian Petryshyn, Communications and Programming
Media inquiries: Naomi Sawada, Public Programs and Publicity Coordinator, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery: naomi.sawada@ubc.ca / 604-822-3640
Ruins in Process is made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy. We are also grateful for the assistance of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Our sincere thanks to all the artists, curators, institutions, librarians, educators, and individuals who cooperated with us on this project by providing feedback and advice, participating in interviews, and granting us permission to use their material on the site.
Special thanks to Colin Preston, Archivist, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Belkin Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
The grunt gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the City of Vancouver and the Audain Foundation.
Every effort has been made to contact and credit all copyright holders of the materials on the Ruins in Process site and project sites. If you feel there has been an omission or error, please contact us.