Richmond Art Gallery schedules Balcaen talk

Richmond Art Gallery has scheduled a free online artist talk with Jo-Anne Balcaen for May 27, adding the event to its Artist Salon program and upcoming-events calendar. The gallery said the session, titled “Grumpy Thoughts on Art,” will run from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. as a Zoom webinar. A May 23 social post from the gallery also promoted the event. The Richmond, British Columbia, gallery said Balcaen will speak about “the less visible side of artistic practice,” including judgment, self-doubt, work and experience. The event page says the talk is free, but registration is required through the gallery’s website. ### What exactly is the May 27 event? (richmondartgallery.org) Wednesday, May 27, 2026, is the date listed on Richmond Art Gallery’s event page for the online session with Balcaen. The gallery describes it as part of its Artist Salon RAG@Home programming and says it will be delivered as a live-streamed webinar on Zoom. (richmondartgallery.org) The session format includes an artist presentation followed by a question-and-answer segment with the online audience, according to the event listing. Kathy Tycholis, identified by the gallery as its education and public programs coordinator, is listed as the host. ### What will Balcaen talk about? (richmondartgallery.org) Jo-Anne Balcaen will discuss judgment, self-doubt and the pressures around defining success in art, according to the gallery’s event description. Richmond Art Gallery says the talk will address why vulnerability is often hidden in the arts and how ideas of success and failure can shape artistic careers. (richmondartgallery.org) The gallery says the session is aimed at the “shared challenges and quieter realities” familiar to many artists. On its Artist Salon page, Richmond Art Gallery describes the series more broadly as a forum for emerging and established visual artists to hear from arts professionals and discuss opportunities in the arts community. (richmondartgallery.org) ### Why is Balcaen part of Richmond Art Gallery’s current program? Richmond Art Gallery lists Balcaen as one of the artists in “I digress,” a group exhibition running from April 18 to July 5, 2026. The exhibition, curated by Zoë Chan, includes artists working across photography, video, printmaking, embroidery and collage, the gallery says. (richmondartgallery.org) The exhibition text says the show brings together artists exploring lived experiences and collective histories, including “fears and insecurities that undergird artistic life.” Balcaen appears in the artist list alongside Simranpreet Anand, August Klintberg, Anne Koizumi, Lindsay McIntyre and Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez. (richmondartgallery.org) ### How does the gallery describe Balcaen? Balcaen was born in 1971 in La Broquerie, Manitoba, according to the event page. Richmond Art Gallery says she lived and worked in Montreal for 25 years before returning to Winnipeg in 2021. The gallery says her work has been shown across Canada, the United States, Scotland and Ireland. (richmondartgallery.org) It also says she has received support from the Manitoba Arts Council, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts, including an international residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York. (richmondartgallery.org) ### Where can people find the next steps? Richmond Art Gallery’s website says attendees must register through the event page for the May 27 Zoom webinar. The gallery’s upcoming-events page also lists a May 28 talk, “Lulu Series: Migration Patterns from Chinatowns to Ethnoburbs,” and a June 27 Artist Salon with THIS Gallery artistic director Shannon Pawliw. (richmondartgallery.org)