Griffin Arts Projects Gallery

Griffin Art Projects (GAP) is a non-profit art residency and gallery located in North Vancouver devoted to supporting artists in the production of new work through its residency program, and in creating new research on contemporary Canadian and international art, artists and art collections from around the world in its exhibition program. GAP is a non-collecting institution that has quickly become a vibrant contributor to the North Vancouver cultural landscape and visual art practices in the region through its exhibitions, residency and public programs.

Established in 2015, GAP was founded by Brigitte and Henning Freybe who began collecting art in the early 1970s. GAP considers the methodologies, thematics and narratives that shape and direct both visual culture and creative work, and collecting practices. In addition, GAP supports and develops solo and group projects and thematic exhibitions of works, collaborating with established cultural producers, guest curators, artists, writers and art educators in the region, nationally and locally to also produce exhibitions, public programs and publications on contemporary art in the region.

GAP also examines new currents in contemporary art and contemporary collecting practices in order to further research on how collections evolve and are formed. GAP creates a platform for sharing these artworks with a broader public as a unique new non-profit public visual arts organization model led by the support of leading key philanthropists and received its non-profit status in the spring of 2018. There is no other organization like it in Canada, in its combination of non-profit public outreach which is free for all to participate in, support for artists through residency and studio spaces as well as featuring the work of private, public and corporate collections and collectors.

Through the Residency Program, GAP supports the development of international and Canadian artistic and curatorial practices by hosting visiting artists and cultural producers from the region and the world. Participants receive studio space and, if non-local, an apartment, as well as introductions to cultural producers in the community. They also contribute to visual arts in the community through public presentations, workshops and educational outreach to diverse age groups and audiences. GAP also develops and promote links and networks in Canada and internationally by creating new professional connections through a data bank of artists from the region that it has been developing over the past year, as well as through outreach and public programs. In addition, public programs include outreach to the local public through workshops, talks and studio visits through specialized programs that provide direct access to contemporary artists who are engaged in making new work at the residency while our curatorial residency program invites curators from Canada and internationally to conduct new research on art and artists from the region.