UBCO Creative Studies Virtual Gallery
“Absolutely No Ink Area” is an exhibition curated from this year’s VISA 336 Advanced Practice in Printmaking course at UBCO. Students have been working diligently to find their voice and unique perspectives through the medium of print, while also developing their technical craft. This upper-level fine arts course encourages students to experiment with new print media and combine methods from previous courses.
Join us in celebrating their accomplishments thus far.
Ziv Wei is a fourth year BFA student. In this exhibition, In Search of Lost Memories In Search of Lost Memories, Ziv deconstructs and reimagines nostalgia by providing new contexts for found vernacular family photos and frames.
This exhibition is on view in the Members’ Gallery of the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art until February 10, 2024.
For more information please visit the show in person or at the Alternator’s page.
Katya Meehalchan is a UBC BFA graduate. This work of hers is being shown at the Member’s Gallery of the Alternator Gallery, to
www.alternatorcentre.com
Meehalchan’s work captivates through its interplay of mediums. Her prints evoke a sense of nostalgia, bridging the past and present, while her multimedia collages challenge the boundaries of traditional artistic forms. Her installations immerse viewers in thought provoking environments, inviting them to engage with her narrative in a tangible way.
Meehalchan seeks to create an environment packed with delicate details that allows for many access points for the viewer to relate to through the sense of nostalgia or curiosity. Her work is representative of the feeling of going through a vintage store, or estate sale and experiencing a sense of wonder or curiosity that lies in objects that hold a personalized history.
The BIG the BOLD the BRUTAL was inspired by a field trip to Geert Maas’s Sculpture Garden in early September. Geert and his wife Elly welcomed us for a tour of their studio where we learned about their creative careers and artistic processes. We spent the afternoon outdoors sketching his large-scaled bronze sculptures as we embarked on the term’s research topic of Brutalism.
Brutalism is an artistic movement that materialized after the Second World War in Europe. We can recognize the aesthetic (or design philosophy) of the era through the use of raw building materials that aided in the reconstruction of cities affected by heavy bombing.
The Sculpture 235 class has installed their artworks in the FINA Gallery for you to experience. The sculptures are made from clay, where each student sculpted their own brutalist inspired artwork in relation to their personal research. The plinths were built to reference the strength and austerity of the movement and are installed to create an interior garden-like space in the gallery.
A BIG THANK YOU to Kaila, Connor and Sam for the technical support. Congratulations to the students!
1. Taylor Garvey
2. Mariah Miguel-Juan
3. Ains Reid
4. Rain Doody
5. Megan Furlot
6. Eva Wang
7. Ethan Life
8. Kelly Choy
9. Stevie Poling
10. Madi May
11. Amelia Vegt
12. Austyn Bourget-White
13. Bernice Yam
14. Maya Taki
15. Talia Gagnon
One of the unique things about the varied media of printmaking is that print artists tend to work in multiples and they tend to work on paper (or a paper-like substrate). These two characteristics open up a great many opportunities for exchange and exhibition. Works made in multiple could, literally, be exhibited in different exhibitions at the farthest reaches of the globe at the same time. And, being on paper, those works are relatively easy to ship from one location to another. In that spirit, a long history of international printmaking exchanges and exhibitions have been established. As a result, there is an extremely open dialogue between artists practicing in very different geographies. The exhibition 7 X 7 Macedonian and Canadian Graphic Artists was conceived with that in mind.
Both Canada and Macedonia have played significant roles in the nurturing of contemporary printmaking. The International Graphic Triennial in Bitola and the newly established International Biennial of Miniature Graphics and Drawings have, over the last thirty years brought the work of over 5000 print artists to the Balkan region. And, the three long-standing international print exhibitions in Canada, the Biennnale Internationale d’Estampe Contemporaine de Trois-Rivieres; the Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition (Vancouver); and the Okanagan Print Triennial (Kelowna and Vernon) have similarly brought the work of contemporary world-class artists to this country.
The works in 7 X 7 have already been exhibited in Bitola, Macedonia at the Cultural and Informative Center and have travelled across Canada for presentations and panel discussions in Halifax, Montreal and Toronto before landing for a final exhibition at UBC Okanagan’s FINA Gallery. It is perhaps fitting that the 7 X 7 exhibition began in Bitola and is concluding in Kelowna – both are sites of significant international print exhibitions.
In his catalogue essay for this exchange exhibition, Besant poses a question about “whether there might be particular collective identities emerge from either group” of artists. Contemplating that query is something left to the individual viewers but the opportunity to see these works and to consider the broader implications of exchange between international artists remains extremely valuable in the contemporary art world.
Artist represented in 7 X 7 are:
Segej Andreevski Macedonia
Bonnie Baxter Canada
Derek Michael Besant Canada
Trajce Blazevski Macedonia
Atanas Botev Macedonia
Mark Bovey Canada
Sean Caulfield Canada
Briar Craig Canada
Miroslava Cvetovikj Macedonia
Ladislav Cvetkovski Macedonia
Vlado Goreski Macedonia
Libby Hague Canada
Gerald Hushlak Canada
Svetlana Jakimovska Rodikj Macedonia
Slavica Janeshlieva Macedonia
Guy Langevin Canada
Jo Ann Lanneville Canada
Ivana Nasteski Macedonia
13th October to 19th October 2023
About the Exhibition “The Journey”:
“The Journey” delves into individual narratives of human experience and existence expressed by each artist currently enrolled in the studio course for the Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) Program. Each artwork stands as a testament to its creator’s individual journey, forging a comprehensive narrative that promises to engage others through individual narratives that relate to our broad experiences. Using distinct mediums and processes artists express particular experiences making their work with concerns ranging from colour, form and layering of medium to autoethnographyand destabilizing situations globally that affect women’s fundamental rights and concepts relating to disability rights and our own realities as ‘temporarily able bodied’. Working from narratives of personal experience or aesthetic these artists bring their own journey into conversation with each other and us, as audience, asking us to relate to our own journey and our own humanity.
Participating Artists:
Negar Baghlani
Robin Hodgson
Roland Samuel
Tara Yadollahi
Artist Statements (excerpts):
Negar Baghlani
Untitled-2023
Oil paint on Plastic Sheet
Negar Baghlani
Untitled-2023
Oil on paper :Art Book
“I have been recently exploring the simple shape of an oval as an individual form. The bulge and cavities, and the graceful qualities of asymmetry and dissymmetry which can mold many different forms, has become a very sensitive concern to study for me. Ovals are a combination of different shades of red, black and magenta that together give a feeling of a soft, warm and wet dense mass. It might be felt as either some untouched parts of your body or a forgotten part of your mind. The Oval project was initiated three years ago with sketches and continued with oil paint on vellum paper in different sizes. I worked on some small vellum sheets and oil paint to study the form and curves to find the one that matched with the picture in my mind the best, and I was satisfied by almost all of them in terms of either forms or colour. The way pure and undiluted red and black paints overlap, and in some other parts they are blended.
I am now visiting this project from three years ago again with oil paint on handmade papers bound together in a book. The fact that each single page satisfies me while is not assumed complete, made me ponder how exclusive the collection, as a book, can be. As if words, sentences and pages work together to define a whole concept, each page with slightly different details can add more information and feeling to the previous page and ultimately forge a detached picture in the onlooker’s mind and give them a feeling of looking at a single sheet on the wall.
Robin Hodgson
Writing on a Trickle -2023
Acrylic, Latex, Spray Paint, Accidental Oil Spill on Birch panel
Robin Hodgson
Race Night -2022
Acylic, Latex on Birch panel
The paintings I create are intuitive, with spontaneous application and vigorous brush
strokes, often layered over areas of fine detail and text. These layers reveal and evoke
ideas reconsidered or purposefully left obscured, yet not entirely erased, suggesting a
past left behind but not forgotten. During these times of rapid social change
My paintings share the complex stories of those living with disabilities through my
large-scale, colourful compositions. The figures in my work are emotionally intimate,
painted in a fast and loose manner that draws the viewer in. My paintings are influenced
by the drama and symbolism of Renaissance painting reflected in both scale and
composition and symbolic imagery. I use autoethnographic images, like race cars and
helmets, that occupy the background and negative space of many of my pieces
referencing risk-taking behavior, and the motor vehicle accident that led to my spinal
cord injury. As a C5-C6 tetraplegic, I make work that investigates the physical and
psychological nature of post-able-body life.
Working from a wheelchair, my process employs the use of both traditional techniques
of painting by hand, mixed with experimental methods using tools I have built to
overcome aspects of my disability..Through my conceptual paintings I seek to develop a deeper connection between theviewer and the one-in-five Canadians living with disabilities. By exhibiting disabilityrelated images in a gallery setting I hope to stimulate conversation; and remind us allthat we are only temporarily able-body.”
Roland Samuel
Ọ̀jà player in contemporary times –2023
Scrap Metal
“As an African visual artist, I consider creativity to be indispensable as a means to express myself and communicate my narrative. Sculpting is an ongoing process through which I aim to immortalize my story and the narrative of the people. I craft my sculptures using a variety of readily available materials, such as fibre, wood, plastic, and metal. Notably, my recent works have involved repurposing waste resources, including discarded metal, unused wood, and disposed plastic. This recycling of waste materials not only enhances the environment but also transforms devalued materials into aesthetically valuable sculptures..My sculptures serve as reflections on our past, commentaries on our present, and preparations for our future. I depict the transformation of our way of life, juxtaposing past societal practices with contemporary social issues. Throughout the creative process, I perceive myself as a conduit, an instrument employed by ancestral influences.
In my recent sculptures, I’ve incorporated waste metals from electronic components, reflecting the current age of technological advancement and material innovation. However, my sculptures often depict historical attire, traditions, and cultures that contrast with the advanced technology of the materials themselves. This contrast between material and subject matter is evident in my piece, Ọ̀jà player in contemporary times (2023). The Ọ̀jà is a small high pitched wooden flute, approximately seven inches (18cm) long, indigenous to the Ìgbò people (
Nwachukwu, 1997). This flute has historically been used for communication during significant occasions, spiritual rituals, or to convey messages to the king. It’s a culture-bound medium for conveying messages, much like contemporary cryptography, as it can only be deciphered by those who understand it when used solely for chanting. The sculpture featuring the Ọ̀jà player is a representation that combines the enduring tradition of the Ọ̀jà flute with contemporary materials and techniques. It fuses traditional African motifs with technology, including the use of CNC laser machines for cutting found metal plates. This fusion serves to highlight the stark contrasts between what our society values and what it wastes in the modern era.
Tara Yadollahi
Women Fading Echoes-2023
Paper-Threads-Pins on paper
Tara Yadollahi
Zane-Rooz-2023
Digital Projection
“..many women have been censored in Iranian society over time… either by choice or by force. I remember my father always talking about the old female singers, actors and celebrities before the Iranian revolution 1979, and how much more advanced they were than their time, they somehow had more freedom in speech and even in dressing; back then, they might have been judged by people in the society because of their clothing or thinking, but there was no law to prohibit them from their clothing or behavior. But after the Iranian revolution, the law of mandatory hijab for women was officially approved, and then many of female celebrities have been faded day by day and suddenly there were no picture or name of them. Some of their images and even artworks were banned in the country because they were against the Islamic laws in Iran.
This sparked the inception of the “Zan-e Rooz” initiative. Zan-e Rooz (means “Woman of Today”) is a women’s weekly Persian-language magazine published in Tehran, Iran. The magazine was first published in 1964. The first issue hit the newsstands in Tehran on 27 February 1965, and the magazine gained an immediate success. Before Islamic revolution Kayhanpublishing company was the editorial and publisher. After the Iranian Revolution, as women’s political activity alongside men increased, publications focusing on women’s issues sprang up to answer the increased demand. Due to this, Zan-e Rooz shifted from being a Western-style gossip sheet to a publication dedicated to exploring the rights of women within the Islamic framework. This magazine has a nostalgic atmosphere for all Iranians. I remember well that my grandmother used to buy this magazine every day, and in fact, this magazine played a prominent role in my childhood. Years later, when I became a young woman, when I looked at the past and the progress of this magazine, I saw that women and women’s issues had become less important day by day, so that even in society, women were not seen and were censored. In this project, it shows the process of censoring a woman on this magazine, as well as her censoring in society. In fact, the woman gradually gives its place to the “Peyvandha” page, which is the symbol of the filter and censorship of the website in Iran. Furthermore, This page appears on the browser, in Iran, when a site is filtered by the State and Islamic law and cannot be accessed without a VPN. This filters page is a collection of state sanctioned or approved sites and topics. This page is a reminder and a symbol for me of all the filters and censors in Iran.
A few months after the creation of the “Zan-e Rooz”, it came to my mind that it is true that many women are censored in society, but I can look at this issue in another way: why should us, women, censor ourselves? And alos, in other words, if we think deeper, even society has been censored by then too!
This was the spark for me to start creating “Women’s fading echoes ” artwork. In this new collection of digital artworks, I somehow completed critically “Zane rooz” (2020). This series of works is a collection of portrait photos of these women before the Iranian revolution, like Forough Farrokhzad, Googoosh, etc. In this work, I still tried to keep some elements like the “Peyvandha” page, but this time, I censored the space around each artist. In this work, I tried to print them with the same low quality as some of the photos, and then somehow drawing on some of the images and even writing their poems and dialogues in different movies, and then by sewing them together with thread or connecting them together, by pins and tape, I conveyed to the viewer more of the concepts that were in my mind. Concepts such as disappearing and being present at the same time, concepts such as being separate but at the same time being connected.
Walking in the Woods, paintings by UBC Okanagan BFA graduate, Christina Knittel, are currently on exhibit in the CUBE space of Art@KTC. Art @ KCT is a professional art exhibition within the lobby of the Kelowna Community Theatre.
Christina’s work features colourful renditions of wooded landscapes. These images allude to memories and imaginations of forest walks.
https://www.kelowna.ca/our-community/arts-culture-heritage/artist-opportunities/art-kct
Remember When…? by Bailey Ennig is a BFA graduate from the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan.
This exhibition in the RISE space at the Art @ KCT, a professional art exhibition within the lobby of the Kelowna Community Theatre, combines photographic work with poetry.
https://www.kelowna.ca/our-community/arts-culture-heritage/artist-opportunities/art-kct
Some Say Tragic, Some Say Funny
VISA – 322U
FINA Gallery, UBCO
October 20 – 26, 2023
Dear Viewers,
A few years ago, emerged a new contemporary art theory that got everyone excited. It was edgy, sounded serious and it was bold. It offered something that genuinely echoed a shared common sensation emanating from art made today. Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf even refers to a manifesto synthesizing its core tenets[1], situating this theory as a trendy way of approaching art theory. However, Under the appearance of an ephemeral fab, lay an ever-relevant set of ideas. These “feelings” seem a good way to approach the Advanced Sculpture Students’ exhibition “Some Say Tragic, Some Say Funny”.
Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin Van den Akker, in their essay Notes on metamodernism[2], proposed a theoretical approach that would take opposites into consideration: sincerity and irony, refinement and rawness, pragmatism and intuition. They would refer to “structures of feeling” to pinpoint a state of mind specific to contemporary life. The term metamodernism itself wasn’t new, but the theory offered a perspective that straddled diverging historical perspectives and seemed to rally deeply entrenched positions regarding modern idealism and post-modern cynicism.
The title of this exhibition refers to this oscillation between two states of mind, and to the difficulty we are facing today in assigning value to our experiences while judging the magnitude of current events around us. I often noticed that oscillating state of mind amongst my students. The highly structured yet continuously vacillating world we are living in might not be foreign to the emergence of these conditions. The works found in this exhibition broadly explore notions specific to sculpture and succeed in generating a broad variety of thoughts and emotions. The students were free to explore and independently develop themes meaningful to them, and bring their ideas to reality using materials and methods of their choosing.
Samuel Roy-Bois
Associate Professor, Creative Studies
VISA -322 Instructor
[1] http://www.metamodernism.org
[2] Vermeulen, Timotheus, and Robin Van Den Akker. “Notes on metamodernism.” Journal of aesthetics & culture 2.1 (2010): 5677.
Megan Perra is a UBCO alumnus. She graduated in 2015 with a degree in Zoology. In the final year of her degree, she decided to take the two courses in Introductory-level screen printing to satisfy six elective credits. Megan’s all-encompassing interest in drawing convinced the professor to waive the prerequisites for the courses. And, since that time, she has not stopped drawing and pictorializing her unique vision of the natural world. Once she learned the basics of the process of ultra-violet screen printing, she set about making images that combined her interest in the academic study of the natural world with that desire to record the things she saw.
Since graduating, Megan has continued to pursue and combine her many varied interests. She has completed a Graduate Diploma in Visual Journalism from Concordia University in Montreal; a Master of Science from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and is currently working on a PhD in Environmental Biology from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Along the way, she has participating in over 40 international art exhibitions, solo exhibitions, collaborative art projects, and artists residencies where she continues to engage with scientific knowledge in her creative practice.
Megan has returned to the UBCO printmaking studio numerous times since her graduation and the Bachelor of Fine Art’s Teaching Collection has benefitted from continued donations of her work. This exhibition was organized from that collection and highlights selected work from a remarkable seven years of her artistic production. The Teaching Collection exists to provide tangible examples of excellence in printmaking as an aid in the education of young artists in the BFA program.
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