Branscombe House Artist Residency

Keely O’Brien is the 2018 Branscombe House Artist in Residence. 

Keely is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice incorporates intricately handmade objects with innovative theatre productions. She is Co-Artistic Director of Popcorn Galaxies, a Vancouver based experimental theatre company. She is also a community engaged arts educator for children and youth in both theatre and visual arts and holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from SFU. 

Her artistic practice includes the creation of handmade puppetry, immersive installations, extravagant costume creation and imaginative ephemera. During her residency, Keely plans to explore the universal and topical experiences of finding, making, and then ultimately losing a home and community. Keely hopes to spark conversations about how we inhabit new communities and how we can work together to make them our own.

Visit Keely’s Artist-in-Residence blog.

Upcoming Free Workshops
Drop-in workshops take place on the second Sunday afternoon of every month. All ages and experience levels welcome; materials supplied.

Artist Walking Workshop
Sunday, May 13
1:00 – 3:00pm
Free. Branscombe House (4900 Steveston Highway)

Stop by this unique and fun workshop at Branscombe House to go for an "artist walk" in the yard and surrounding neighbourhood. Slow down to take notice your surroundings and sketch overlooked details of the landscape. A balloon caught in a tree, an initial written in the sidewalk, a hummingbird overhead – learn to look at the world through the eyes of an artist and the ordinary becomes captivating, worthy of documentation and celebration. Following the walk, return to the house and compile your sketches to make a collaborative map of the neighbourhood's meaningful minutiae.

Other Upcoming Events
​You Are Here                           
Saturday, June 2 and Sunday, June 3
10:00am - 4:00pm
Free. Branscombe House(4900 Steveston Highway)

Join Keely during Doors Open Richmond for a community art show about place, home and belonging. 

You are Here is a collection of artwork on the theme of home and belonging created by community members in collaboration with 2018 Branscombe House Artist-in-Residence, Keely O'Brien. Through personal map making, mixed media, assemblage and collage, participants at Branscombe's monthly public workshops have explored how we create and define home and community. This exhibition will be shown alongside Walking Atlas, an interactive installationof handmade maps created by Keely. 
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Branscombe House is located at 4900 Steveston Highway and is one of the earliest homes built in the area; as such it is significant for its historical association to Steveston and for reflecting the pattern of commercial and related residential development that occurred in Steveston’s early history.