Thursday Artist Talks have resumed at the Surrey Art Gallery this week, and interdisciplinary artist Blake Hobson-Dimas is hosting the first event. 

Hobson-Dimas will speak on Developing Your Clown In The Pursuit Of Magic, which addresses the artist-clown relationship and the skills required to bring characters to life. 

Hobson-Dimas is a Mexican-Canadian based in Surrey and Burnaby. He has over a decade of classical acting training and has led various workshops at the BC Thespians Festival for the past three years centred around his techniques. Hobson-Dimas continues to hone his craft at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver by combining the art of clown, fibre arts, and physical movement into his live performances.

Artist talks at the Surrey Art Gallery have been ongoing for the past 30 years and happen on the first Thursday of each month, allowing emerging and professional artists to share their work with audiences.

The first Thursday Artist Talk of the year will take place at the Surrey Art Gallery on Jan. 12 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., and admission is free. 

Hobson-Dimas spoke with CIVL about how he got into the art form, the artist-clown relationship, and what his work aims to create: