Category Archives: residencies

Honky Tonk Chapel – Kevin McKenzie

Honky Tonk Chapel curated by UBC Okanagan Gallery Curator, Dr. Stacey Koosel features Kevin McKenzie’s well-known series of resin-cast, neon glowing buffalo skulls, in an installation which juxtaposes pop culture, muscle cars, hot rods and honky tonk bar references with sacred icons intrinsic to Indigenous traditional beliefs and spirituality, such as buffalo skulls and religious motifs.

MAY 10 TO AUGUST 22, 2024, FINA GALLERY

Kevin McKenzie was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and is a member of the Cowessess First Nation on Treaty 4 territory. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s with his self-described ‘lowbrow’ buffalo skull series  426 Hemi (2010), Hot Rod Buffalo (2003), Red Voodoo (2010) and Immortals (2010) which were acquired by the National Gallery of Canada.

Honky Tonk Chapel combines some of Kevin McKenzie’s best known works with new paintings from his Indigenous comic book hero series.

HONKY TONK CHAPEL EXHIBITION ESSAY

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Invisible Forces: Tiffany Shaw and Krystle Silverfox

JUNE 7 TO AUGUST 24, 2023, FINA GALLERY

Invisible Forces guide us through our lives, through ethereal worlds, symbolism, dimensions and the passages of time. The unseen is often more powerful than the seen, the unknown holds more power than the known when we activate our senses. These Invisible forces can help us navigate this earthly, corporeal existence of strained relationships between bodies and lands.

In Krystle Silverfox’s anthropomorphic No word for goodbye (2023) the land bleeds – bright red blood, from the branch of a tree, reflecting on the pain caused by a colonially extractive economy in Canada. The invisible wound of the exploitation of natural resources is manifested in the blood red fringe. Silverfox’s Landmark (2022) demonstrates the connection to how one navigates the land, and how we navigate our bodies. Body and culture merge in her monochrome photography, portrait and cartography. As the Silverfox explains, peoples of the North West Coast wore their art on the clothing, to always carry it with them. In a minimalist nod the artist recreates the ovoid forms of the art of the North West Coast using her body and photography.

Tiffany Shaw’s large scale installation, my children, my mother, her mother and their mother, and their mother, and their mother, and their mother….. nitawasimisak, nikawiy, okawiya ekwa okawiwawa, okawiyiwa, ekwa okawiyiwa ekwa okawiyiwa…..  (2021 – current) merges futuristic, architectural structures rooted on the unshakable foundation of the Indigenous matriarchy. When Shaw’s mother passed away she found comfort in knitting, the tactile, repetitive action brought her peace and a connection to those who came before. The mylar material in her installation is also knitted, acknowledging the ongoing grieving process changing over time but always present.

Bodies and the land, mothers and ancestors. Invisible forces are at work, in memory, labour and invocations of the land, these unknown and unseen elements can inspire and scare, destroy and protect.

This exhibition is part of the Indigenous Art Intensive, organized by the UBC Okanagan Gallery, curated by Dr. Stacey Koosel and supported by the BC Arts Council.

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UBC’s summer residency brings artists into the studio

 

Artists given space to create work, design, learn, and teach

UBC Okanagan’s new Summer Residency program is connecting artists with free studio space, allowing them time and encouragement to create new work and enhance their skills.

Inaugurated by UBC Okanagan’s Creative Studies department, the residency gives emerging and established artists access to specialized facilities for sculpture, printmaking, painting, drawing, photography, and multimedia.

The artists have the time and space to tackle projects, develop new work and conduct research. In return, the public will have an opportunity to see professional artists in action. As the summer progresses, residency participants will showcase their work to the public through exhibitions, performances, and an open-studio day.

Running until to August 20, the residency will host four artists. From Lethbridge, Alberta, Patrick Lundeen’s visceral sculptures and paintings draw from various genres like Indigenous art, Minimalism, Primitivism, folk art, and kitsch to explore present-day conditions of humour, skepticism and anxiety. A graduate of Concordia University, Lundeen’s practice is one part quasi-scientific anthropology and ethnography and one part Saturday-at-the-mall.

Vernon-based artist, curator, and art consultant Katie Brennan creates colourful, abstract works in gouache that present intriguing spatial compositions inspired by the natural world. Brennan has exhibited in Canada, the U.S., and England. She completed her master of fine arts degree at the University of Guelph and her undergraduate degree at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Winnipeg-born Kelowna resident Margo Yacheshyn creates drawings and sculptures that explore memory while evoking feelings of both beauty and repulsion. A graduate of the Alberta College of Art and Design, Yacheshyn was actively involved with the artist trading card movement in its early years.

Netherlands-born Jeroen Witvliet works in painting, installation, video and other media. Through his work, he strives to find different ways to connect with reality, to go beyond the immediacy of first encounters and link them to history, the uncertainty of memory, notions of truth, dominance and manipulation. Witvliet holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Victoria and a fine arts degree from the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam.

Upcoming solo exhibitions at UBC Okanagan’s FINA Art Gallery:

  • Katie Brennan: July 27 to 31, opening reception Wednesday, July 29, 7 at p.m.
  • Margo Yacheshyn: August 10 to 14, closing reception Friday, August 14, at 7 p.m.

While not formally part of the residency, the Kelowna Art Gallery will also be presenting Witvliet’s exhibition “Wayfarer” July 25 to October 18 with a reception July 24, 7 to 9 p.m.

More detail about the artists and their work can be found at:

Patrick Lundeen: http://patricklundeen.tumblr.com

Jeroen Witvliet: http://jeroenwitvliet.com/home.html

Margo Yacheshyn: http://yacheshyn.blogspot.ca

Katie Brennan: http://www.katiebrennan.ca

 

For more information about the residency please contact Katherine Pickering at ubcosummerresidency@gmail.com, or go to www.facebook.com/UBCOsummerresidency.

 

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