ABOUT ME
Emily Lau is a self-taught acrylic painting artist, originally from Hong Kong, now residing in Richmond. Having spent over 10 years in the beautiful Kootenays, she was inspired by the surrounding nature, wildlife and the most artistic human beings in this quaint and unique town.
She always loves art but didn’t have the courage to pursue it when she was young. For the longest time, she thought that people have to be extremely talented to become an artist.
Until one day someone told her this:
"Talent is mostly a myth. Like 0.3% of people actually have talent. The only reason other people are better is from hard work usually. The word talent needs to be replaced with the word passion.Some of us have more passion and that is what separates us in most cases."
Passion! That's it! What has she been thinking? Being able to paint shouldn't be a super power. It's a skill that we all can work on.
Since then she has been creating a lot of paintings and trying to understand what art truly means. She has been greatly involved in the local art community in Richmond Her paintings were exhibited in local restaurants and art galleries since then. In 2019, she was 1 of the 10 selected ambassadors for BC Culture Days. Now she is on a mission to inspire others who might want to give art a try but don't know where to start.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023 ArtRich,
“Homeless Crow”, Richmond Art Gallery
2023 Faces of Richmond,
“De Walden”, Richmond Arts Council, Minoru Centre for Active Living
2023 Hong Kong Cultural Exhibition,
“Hongkonger Collection”, Hong Kong House, Anvil Centre, New Westminster
2022 Midsummer Arts Dream Juried Exhibition,
“HongKong Collection”, Richmond Art Council, Lansdowne Centre
2022 Faces of Richmond, “Jim Kojima and Maria Aspeleter”,
Richmond Arts Council, Minoru Centre for Active Living
2021 Rotunda Show, “Fishermen boat and The little painter”,
Upper Rotunda Gallery, Richmond
2019 ArtRich, “The Red Door”, Richmond Art Gallery
2019 RAGA Fundraiser and Exhibition, Hong Kong
protestor, Richmond Art Gallery
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 “Door Collections”, Crystal Ballroom, Richmond
2018 “My First Art Show”, Wall Flower Cafe, Vancouver
AWARDS
People's Choice Award for ArtRich 2023
REPRESENTATION
2019 BC Culture Days, BC Culture Days Ambassador, Richmond
Member of Richmond Art Guild since 2019
Member Richmond Art Coalition since 2019
COMMISSIONS
2023 Pacific. Authentic. Pop-up Picnic Areas, Hand painted picnic bench commission, Tourism Richmond & Steveston Harbor Authority
2023 Pacific. Authentic. Pop-up Picnic Areas, Hand painted picnic bench commission, Tourism Richmond, and City of Richmond
2022 Pacific. Authentic. Pop-up Picnic Areas, Hand painted picnic table commission, Tourism Richmond & City of Richmond
MENTORSHIP
2019 BC Culture Days, BC Culture Days Ambassador
Mentorship Program, Spent 3 months with Senior Local
Artist Loraine Wellman in Richmond
COMMUNITY WORK
2023 Paint and Meet, Free Children’s Painting Party for newcomers, Neighborhood Small Grant, Frog Hollow Neighborhood House, Vancouver
2023 UBC Relay for Life Instructor, Free Painting Class,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
2022 UBC Relay for Life Instructor, Interactive Crossover
Painting Project, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
2021 UBC Relay for Life Instructor, Online Sketching Class,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
2021 UBC Cantonese Master Class Series Guest Speaker,
The Multifaceted Cantonese Visual Art, University of British
Columbia, Vancouver
MEDIA COVERAGE
2024 Richmond News, "Three artists win People's Choice award for ArtRich 2023"
2023 SimonGlobal Youtube Channel, "Interview with Vancouver Artist Emily Lau"
2023 Ming Pao Weekend Magazine, “Hongkonger painter in Vancouver”
2023 The Points Media “Hongkonger Painter in Vancouver
standing up for rights and freedom.”
2019 Richmond News “Brush away the Fear”
2019 Richmond News “Richmond Artist Ambassador Selected for BC Culture Days”
2019 BCIT News “First Solo Art Show”