Interdisciplinary Artist
bio
Pia Yona Massie is a multi-media artist, environmental activist, and teacher. Massie’s films and art have been exhibited in museums, festivals, and galleries throughout North America
and Europe, including The Museum of Modern Art, NYC; Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Lausanne; and the
grunt gallery in Vancouver, BC. Massie's writing has appeared in: DAMP: Contemporary Vancouver Media Art; Foret-Frontiere : Une Action Art / Nature; as well as The Bulletin, Adbusters and Ricepaper magazines. Her work has received Canada Council and BC Arts Council grants, a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant and numerous other awards.
At this moment, 40 years of her
work is being brought online for a
special collections archive
by VIVO Media Arts.
​
She is currently collaborating with
a new generation of artists on
a multi-media piece called
which brings the voices of Clayoquot Sound's 'War in the Woods' back full circle to the engaged creatives on the frontlines continuing the ongoing protection of our air, land and water.
​
Pia has taught and mentored for over forty years, in gratitude to her early teachers, many collaborators and friends. This includes work at community centres and universities, outdoor environmental education and film schools, kindergarten through graduate school, in three countries: Canada, the USA and Japan.
In Vancouver: the Aries program, the Cousteau school, ECUAD, Fresh Air Learning, GIFTS, Pacific Cinematheque, SFU, Vancouver public schools and VFS. In the US: Bennington, Boston’s public schools, the Kitchen, Parsons MFADT program, RPI, and Sarah Lawrence.
Originally raised in Brooklyn, New York she has now lived half her life on the West Coast, near the Pacific Ocean,
in the city of her ancestors. She is deeply grateful to work and live in the Pacific Northwest unceded traditional lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.
