Burnaby’s Public Art Program has adopted a FLEET into Edmonds Park to build new connections in the neighborhood and to create space for cultural expression. Located in the Park behind the Edmonds Community Centre, the space is set up to host working artists and will regularly be activated as a site for community participation.

Visitors can expect opportunities to engage with visiting artists through events such as open studios, talks, presentations and performances.  Audio programs will also be shared online via the radio broadcast Currents and Waves.

The studio will be located in Edmonds until September 2025.

FLEET: Edmonds launched an open call for participation from May 2024-July 2024. From this open call, artists, collectives, community members, and groups were selected to visit FLEET throughout the next year and a half. For 2024-2025, the artists visiting FLEET include:

Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun: July 15 - September 7, 2024

Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun is a Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth artist and storyteller from the Snuneymuxw First Nation in Nanaimo, BC. His family has roots in Hupacasath, Penelakut, and further up and down the Northwest Coast. His interdisciplinary art practice is rooted in honouring and celebrating the stories and teachings that have been passed down by his family, community, and world view. He works across mediums ranging from digital art, painting, sculpture, public installation, and creative writing. He currently resides on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

Michelle Sound: September 16 - November 9, 2024

Michelle Sound is a Cree and Métis artist and mother. She is a member of Wapsewsipi Swan River First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory, Northern Alberta and she was born and raised on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She is a multidisciplinary visual artist and her art practice includes a variety of mediums including photo based work, textiles, painting and Indigenous material practices. Her artwork often explores her Cree and Métis identity from a personal experience rooted in family, place and history. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts, and a Master of Applied Arts from Emily Carr University Art + Design.

Mohamed Assani: November 12, 2024 - January 5, 2025

Mohamed Assani is a sitarist and composer who will work on a new composition for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. During his stay in the studio, he will offer a 3-person performance event and host 2 workshops using South Asian instruments and geared to musicians of all ages.

• November 16 at 1 pm: Half-day workshop - Passport to South Asian Music  
• November 17 at 4 pm: Performance featuring Mohamed Assani Trio
• December 7 at 11 am: Full-day workshop -  Demystifying South Asian Music

Sidi Chen: January 6 - 27, 2025 and April 7-27, 2025

Sidi Chen is a diasporic queer artist living in Edmonds. Sidi is a graduate of the MFA program at Emily Carr University, and is currently studying art and community integration. Sidi’s project at FLEET has 2 parts; in the winter he will invite the public to contribute rain vessels for a sound walk and recording project, and in the spring he will hold workshops creating home-made chalk using eggshells for a community mapping project.

Kay Slater: January 27 - February 23, 2025

Kay Slater is a queer, multidisciplinary artist with over 15 years of experience exploring digital media and accessibility in exhibition design. Kay’s work aims to create inclusive and immersive spaces that engage diverse audiences, particularly those who are deaf, hard of hearing or disabled. Kay will explore accessibility and digital innovation through virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. Kay will remain silent and practice non-verbal communication throughout their residency.

Bahar Vaghari Moghaddam and Eilidh Keegan-Henry: February 25 - April 5, 2025

Bahar Vaghari Moghaddam and Eilidh Keegan-Henry will research the role of public transportation in shaping the Edmonds neighbourhood. Their creative work hopes to uncover parallels between the social and economic impacts of the development of Burnaby’s historical electric tramway system (the Interurban Railway) and the modern Skytrain network.

Sophia Zarders: June 9 - July 6, 2025

Sophia Zarders is a mixed race Black femme visual artist, illustrator and educator from the unceded, ancestral land of the Tongva and Gabrielino peoples (Long Beach, California). Zarders will use the studio to continue exploring their interdisciplinary approach to clothing and figurative painting.

Kevin Orlowsky: July 8 - August 2, 2025

Kevin Orlosky is a North Burnaby artist whose work involves community participation. He is a recent MFA graduate of Emily Carr University of Art & Design. During his residency he will invite park visitors to participate in creating large, full-body cyanotype portraits.

Stephanie Springgay: July 2025

Stephanie will use FLEET: Edmonds as a meeting place for outdoor activities as part of their project: A Field School of Mapping and Walking. The events, called WalkingLab, draw on feminist-queer, anti-racist, anti-ableist and anti-colonial thought and practice to question who gets to walk where, how we walk, and under whose terms. Neighbours and community are encouraged to join and participate to share their perspectives.

The Only Animal Collective: August 5 - September 27, 2025

Sena Cleave, Tristan Sober-Blodgett, Ysabel Gana, Toni-Leah C. Yake, Anju Singh, Julia Ulehla and Barbara Adler will hold a group residency to explore how handmade textile environments can set the stage for climate care, and heighten relationships between people and place. The group will take a variety of approaches to offering workshops and events over the course of their stay, and hope to encourage community connection across many media.

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FLEET: Edmonds is a partnership between the City of Burnaby Public Art Program and Other Sights for Artists' Projects. Many hands went into making FLEET a reality, with special acknowledgement to:

Other Sights Producers:
Colin Griffiths, Marko Simcic, Barbara Cole, Lorna Brown, Jay Pahre, Sunshine Frère

FLEET Working Group includes:
Other Sights Producers as well as Germaine Koh, John Steil, Cedric Bomford, Annabel Vaughan, and Javier Campos, with additional design contributions from Cory Douglas.

FLEET is generously supported by the BC Arts Council, City of Burnaby Public Art Program, City of Vancouver, Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts, Metro Vancouver Regional Cultural Project Grants, and CMHC-Granville Island.  We are grateful to all the supporters that made FLEET possible.

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