Category Archives: Seen About

This category features on and off campus works. Student artwork seen in the hallways, foyer, and other spaces of the FCCS building and around campus. Student works that are site-specific or in local galleries.

Cultivations: Advanced Painting, Term One

Cultivations is an exhibition of paintings created by students in VISA 312S: Advanced Practice in Painting. Students in this class determined their own subject matter and explored different approaches to scale, space, value and materiality as a method of refining their body of work throughout the semester.

Cultivations includes work by Katya Meehalchan, Sara Richardson, Tin Laam Au (Eunis), Taylor Carpenter, Melissa Clark, Makeena Hartmann, Josie Hillman, Chloe Jenkins, Carly Johnson, Amy Marui, Karina Nardi, Julia Pearson, Christine Wakal and Abigail Wiens.

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Algorithmic – Connor MacKinnon

Connor MacKinnon graduated in the Masters of Fine Arts Visual Art programme at the University of Victoria in 2022. He is now a Workshop and Studio Technician for the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBCO.

A Gold Pan stoneware 2023

Generating and using algorithms as tools for creation is a curious process. In many ways, they can be deterministic, repetitive, and reduce the creative act by limiting it to solutions allowable within their bounds. In other ways, they can be generative, speak to unimaginable potential, and ignite a deep sense of questioning. The algorithms at work here are simple. They do not make use of A.I. or neural networks. They don’t feed off big data and aren’t hooked up to any endless networks. In reality, they are more like math equations that deal in digital 3D geometry. Each series follows a unique set of steps which translates some piece of data into 3D models ready for production whether that be 3D printing, CNC milling, or other forms of digital fabrication. While the function of these algorithms ranges from imaginative historical reconstructions to explorations of non-human centered design, and object-based evolution, they all produce and demonstrate a range of variability within a defined system. While some of the strangeness and variability are genuinely produced through the action of the algorithm, it is important to understand that it is a very controlled environment that inherently carries the bias of the person who developed it.

Historical Fictions (Lisbon) 3D Printed PLA & composite gold leaf 2021

While their algorithmic nature directly links these works, they are also a part of a larger and longer-term exploration of material culture through the properties, qualities, and attributes that we associate with objects. In particular, these algorithms examine those object characteristics as variables or parameters. How far can traits be pushed or changed? When does it become a new object or even a new type of object? Like the algorithms themselves, when does a value break the system completely?

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Con•com•i•tance

The fact of existing or occurring together with something else.

by Jordan MacDonald, & Nayaab Master

Con•com•i•tance: the fact of existing or occurring together with something else, features elevenartists from VISA 482: Advanced Art Practices who work with a variety of, mediums, including drawing, painting; printmaking, sculpture, photography, and new media, to explore themes related to the relationship of interactions that take place alongside one another. Sharing common interests through the exploration of interconnections.

Entering the gallery space, Julia Pearson utilizes a combination of new technologies and printmaking to form an installation that investigates self-identity with overlapping realms of reality. Delainey Vogan uses cyanotypes as a means to reconceptualize the male gaze through a feminine perspective. While Jordan MacDonald’s installation addresses the relationship between fabric and skin as a representation of mental health issues, and the use of natural materials, revealing the many facets of the self. Claire Worrall’s textile art, likewise, confronts her personal mental health struggles by merging objects and garments to build a tale that ties the audience to the piece. Simone King’s textile work explores themes of catharsis and healing while utilizing animal forms t<? portray emotions that are difficult to put into words. Josie Hillman’s interactive performances challenge one’s physical and psychological understandings of social norms by disrupting the underlying societal standards.

The artworks offered by Nayaab Master engages with the process of creation, focusing on themes of intimacy and moments hidden in privacy through the use of mixed media. Moving into the conventional realm of art, Hei Yu Wong’s paintings engage with the concepts surrounding surrealistic illusions via the exploration of elements found within nature. Whereas Chloe Jenkin’s paintings explore themes of place, atmosphere, and individual experience through still images of spaces gathered from film and television. Moving into the natural world, Makeena Hartmann’s graphite drawings on handmade paper elevate native wildflowers to foster the development of a nurturing relationship with nature in the modern world. Lastly, Bella Jiang’s drawings capture and depict the faded-insignificant moments of memories that carry subtle and sensitive emotions.

Con•com•i•tance aims to open conversations around intimacy, discomfort, memory, and self within the natural world; providing a space for reflection on how these themes affect us psychologically and physically. Exploring themes around relationships, body, land, memory and place, the exhibition invites us to reflect on what defines each one of us and our relationships to the ever-changing world around us.

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BECOMING KNOWN

BECOMING KNOWN is a collection of works created by nine BFA and BMS students enrolled in VISA 482: Advanced Art Practices. Because these students are exploring a number of ideas ranging from themes of the natural world to neurodivergence, this show does not have a specific theme or prompt. However, these students have discovered a common interest in the theme of human experience and collective spirit, which you will find in each of these works.

As the exhibition title suggests, these students are emerging artists just beginning to cultivate their artistic practices. This show serves as a small sample of what these students have in store for their year-end exhibition in April. These artists hope that this show will provide visitors with an enthusiasm for what is to come.

Students featured in BECOMING KNOWN: Cakeferdays, Katya Meehalchan, Mariah Miguel-Juan, Ivy Munro, Emily-Jayne May Myatt, Sara Richardson, Angela Wood, Haonan Zhang and Sikun Zhao.

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Soundtracks – 2nd Year Sculpture

Soundtracks is a multi-sensory exhibition of artworks by 2^nd year Sculpture students made in response to ‘music’, defined in the broadest sense, as a starting point. This eclectic collection of artworks range from sculpture/sound hybrids, participatory ‘noise makers’, an experimental sound chamber, birdsongs, to purely visual works made to evoke memory and requiring the viewer to ‘listen’ to imagined music — all examples of how music resonates as a central theme in contemporary art practice.

Students:

Maddy Bohnet

Chandler Burnett

Ella Cottier

Hailey Gleboff

Mei Henderson

Evan Hildreth

Stephen Ikesaka

Ruth Nfutxila

CJ Ozee

Alicia Phypers

Shelley Sproule

Jian Suniga

Frederik Thacker

Odelle Walthers

Wenjing Wang

Wayne Xie

Instructor:

Renay Egami

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Assemblage: MFA Group Show

Assemblage was an exhibition held by the Visa 582/582 MFA graduate student class with instructor Tania Willard.

Assemblage takes its starting point from the studio practices of diverging artistic practices but aligns resultant artworks in the gallery in ways that position new dialogues between practices, concepts and materials. From sculptural works that are conceptually driven by the state of women in Iran to; graffiti sentiments, the beauty of photographic archives of daily life, augmented reality that examines ‘bullish markets’, painstaking works informed by Persian miniature painting, the impacts of veteran lives and their families and figurative painting that focuses on our complex mental states, the exhibition positions differently informed works into conversation with one another and an assemblage of our human experience emerges. Assemblage highlights the engaging and dynamic work of graduate students in the MFA program showing a range of practices and emerging dialogues in artistic practice.

MFA candidates featured in this exhibition: Bengi Agcal, Herra Khan, Jessie Emilie, Nasim Pirhadi, Troy Teichrib, Victoria Verge and Zev Tiefenbach.

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Nasim Pirhadi: Say Her Name #…

Nasim Pirhadi is a current MFA candidate at The University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus.

SAY HER NAME

Using pine needles, I built a wall to embody the restrictions the Islamic Republic imposed upon Iranian people.

A wall between Women and Men

A wall between Iran and the free world

A wall between the dispossessed and the privileged

Many people died to cross the wall

Many are in prison because they think there shouldn’t be a wall

Many people inside Iran are trying to connect to the free world by destroying the wall

Many are risking their lives by choosing to live as though there is no wall.

Many Iranian citizens outside of Iran cannot return home because of the wall

Many religious and sexual minorities cannot live safely inside the wall

In the video, I am repeatedly smearing my face with and then cleaning it of basil seeds as traditional drum music plays in the background. This music is normally played in zoorkhanehs, traditional gyms that only men are allowed to enter and participate in, and whose name translates to House of Strength. There is an old belief that women are not purified enough to enter these sacred places, and that the inherent corruption of womanhood makes them undeserving of titles like ‘hero’ or ‘champion’. Through the repetitive act of cleaning my face of basil seeds, positioned here to represent Irian womanhood, I am asking: is it enough now? Am I purified enough? Am I eligible now?

In Farsi, the word for basil is ‘Reyhan’, which is also a common female name, so, basil seeds and the gelatinous mass they create upon contact with water are embodying female kinship networks. The way that basil seeds swell twice their size and bond together upon coming into contact with water is representative of the misogynistic fears surrounding the contagious nature of women’s drive for freedom – if one woman is fighting for it, she might ‘infect’ other women around her with the same ideas.

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Art @ KCT Exhibits by Alumni Patty Leinemann and Arianne Tubman

Art @ KCT is a professional art exhibition within the lobby of the Kelowna Community Theatre presenting the work of visual artists from the Central Okanagan featuring accessible, thought-provoking visual art in two exhibition spaces, the Rise and the Cube.

Most recently this exhibition features the work of two UBC Okanagan BFA alumni; Patty Leinemann and Arianne Tubman.

In the Rise exhibition space, Arianne Tubman’s Kindred takes inspiration from archival photographs of her grandmother. By replicating the colours, composition, and character of these portraits, Tubman examines generational change and her relationship with place. Her modern portraits are separated from their predecessors by nearly 60 years and thousands of kilometres. The original images showcase her grandmother’s life in Saskatchewan and the trips she took in her 20’s. In contrast, Tubman’s portraits reflect her life at that age, living in Kelowna.

In the Cube exhibition space, Patty Leinemann presents The Conversation, an arrangement of collage and asemic writings exploring the convergence of performance, memory and place. Referencing primarily iconic Hollywood portraits, Leinemann uses layering and composition techniques to explore the emotion of the person behind the persona. Presented salon-style, the numerous collage works take on further meaning in their placement and relationship between each other in the exhibition space.

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We Meet Again

We Meet Again

An exhibition of works by UBC Okanagan Professor Emeritus, Jim Kalnin along with some of his former students

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” Albert Einstein

We Meet Again celebrates artist and educator Jim Kalnin. From the many classes Jim taught at Okanagan College, Okanagan University College, and University of British Columbia Okanagan to his numerous art exhibitions throughout the Okanagan and beyond, Jim’s influence, teachings, and guidance can be seen in many artists’ practices.

Jim Kalnin has been a long-time supporter of the arts in the Okanagan. Jim is one of the founding members of the Alternator Gallery (1988) (now the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art) and was the first curator at the Lake Country Art Gallery (January 2010-September 2011).

The definition of a student for We Meet Again is open; several artists in this exhibition have taken art classes from Jim. Others look to him for his supportive nature and dedication to the arts. These artists have come together for this exhibition to pay homage to Jim Kalnin and his artistic practice.

We Meet Again features new work by Jim Kalnin along with the work of twenty-one former students.

Rosanne Bennett Lee Claremont Glenn Clark Carin Covin Rob Fee Caitlin ffrench

Bev Gordon Natasha Harvey Lois Huey-Heck Judith Jurica

Kerry MacLeod

Christian Nicolay Shauna Oddleifson Amber Powell Crystal Przybille Sarah Ronald

Joanne Sale Charles Scholl Tia-Maria Soroskie Rena Warren

Ingrid Mann-Willis

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Make a Ruckus

Paintings by UBC Okanagan student: Fredrick Thacker

‘Youth culture’ is a term generally reserved for negative conversations, almost always dripping with a condescending tone, and regarded as something not worthy of a more meaningful conversation. What makes youth culture? Has it changed since the 70s? Since the 50s? What is it about young people that is so simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating?

In MAKE A RUCKUS, Fredrik Thacker explores his own interpretation of youth culture in the 2020s. By using popular iconography paired with bold colours and patterns, he shifts the view of today’s youth to highlight the power that young people have in shifting societal progression, as well as the beauty and ease in which collaboration can take form through digital spaces.

Considering how COVID-19 affected artists’ ability to work with models in person, Fredrik decided to lean on social media for the answer, asking his peers and friends to send him their favourite selfies. This created a space where figurative art is equal parts documentation and collaboration; communication was important throughout the process, with an understanding that the selfies people chose to send were what they thought to be the most accurate representations of themselves. Both factors greatly influenced the composition of each painting.

So, to answer the question of ‘what the **** are kids doing?’: they are moulding a space in society where your physical form can be whatever you want it to be and you can be as loud as you need. They are telling us to support our peers, embrace our eccentricities, and make a ruckus.

MAKE A RUCKUS was shown in the Alternator Gallery Members’ Gallery from September 30 – October 22.

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