Follow
Chandler Burnett // Strawberry Juice
Chandler Burnett, also known as Strawberry Juice, is an Ontario-born artist, UBCO student, and tattoo artist, currently based out of Kelowna, BC. Strawberries’ artistic practice is influenced by the artwork of traditional tattoo flash and vintage prison artwork. He has always taken an interest in the illustrative techniques associated with tattoos including the notable line work, compositions, simplistic imagery, and intricate shading methods. Strawberry incorporates his own style into this work to create new and unique compositions and continue the tradition of vintage tattoo art and design.
Strawberry is largely inspired by artists such as Briar Gates, Ed hardy, Huck Spaulding, Paul Rogers, Prof Zeis, and Thomas Kirschner. While influenced by the rich history of the medium, Strawberry does not attempt to create a singular narrative, but rather opens up space for diverse interpretation for viewers. In addition to this, he attempts to achieve his goal of “putting his personality onto paper”, to explore and create the subject matter and style that inspires him, and hopefully leave an impact on viewers.
Strawberry Juice, the artist’s first solo exhibition, will be on view in the Alternator’s Members’ Gallery from November 25 to December 17, 2022. Learn more about Chandler Burnetts practice by visiting his Instagram at @strawb3rryjuic3
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Tethered: A Study In Entanglements by Alison Trim
Tethered: A Study In Entanglements exhibition by UBCO MFA Alumni Alison Trim
This exhibition was shown at the
Tethered is the latest development of an ongoing project that layers and stitches cut paper into floor-based installations, engaging with surface as a rich and complex interaction. The thread of our inescapable connection to land that moves through the work is reflected in the title. Tethered is a phrase used when an animal is tied to restrict movement.
Alison Trim’s practice demands a haptic engagement with materials and a physical immersion in place. Walking and other somatic engagements with land and place are intrinsic to her work, while drawing, photography, cutting and reassembling are the studio processes through which she interacts with ideas and materials. The resulting works are the artefacts of both, as much about the process of making as they are a record of the phenomenological experience of land. This work was made across the Okanagan and Slocan Valley regions, unceded territories of the Syilx and Sinixt peoples.
Alison is a visual artist and arts educator from Co. Cork, Ireland currently based in British Columbia. In 2020 she completed her MFA in Visual Arts at UBC Okanagan with a thesis exhibition that explored expanded drawing practice as a response to place. She has a background in contemporary arts and gallery education, with 15 years of experience working for a public contemporary arts centre in Ireland (Uillinn,West Cork Arts Centre) before moving to Canada in 2018.
Living Through Wildfire – exhibition by Andreas Rutkauskas
Living Through Wildfire
I began documenting landscapes affected by wildfires during the summer of 2017. At the time, standing near the edge of a forest that had recently burned offered a certain amount of exhilaration. Through dialogue with members of diverse communities, including fellow researchers at UBC’s Okanagan campus, I have learned about how forest ecosystems have adapted to wildfire and how certain species depend on fire for renewal. These conversations have altered my perspective of fire as a destructive force. Over the three fire seasons that followed, I made photographs that contained a certain amount of optimism. I avoided photographing devastated structures and, for the most part, turned my camera to environments that were undergoing renewal after the fire rather than depicting active wildfires.
This land is managed by various stakeholders, including sovereign Indigenous communities, settler residents and the forestry sector, who hold divergent views on appropriate use. Globally, a lengthy history of fire suppression to protect natural resources and infrastructure has led to media representations of wildfire as inherently destructive. My artistic approach to this subject acts as a critical foil to the dominant media discourse.
The arrival of the heat dome in early June of 2021 signalled a shift in my approach to making art on this subject. In the following weeks, I watched as communities in my vicinity were evacuated and burned to the ground. Picking up my camera and engaging in the creation of hopeful pictures seemed to attack the dignity of those who were displaced or had lost everything. I was also uninterested in documenting this trauma directly, thereby contributing to the media rhetoric. Perhaps visitors to this exhibition have been directly impacted by wildfires themselves.
This exhibition comes at a time when artistic representations of wildfire are becoming increasingly prevalent. As global communities continue to heal following the trauma of recent fire seasons, I hope that my images can act as a conduit to understanding our local ecology within the context of international climate change, and ultimately enhance our resiliency.
Andreas is a lecturer and researcher in the Faculty of Creative and Critical studies.
His research includes contemporary art, climate change, border studies, extractive industry. He teaches photography, visual art.
Heraa Khan: Devoured Earth: From floods in Pakistan to forest fires in the Okanagan
From floods in Pakistan to forest fires in the Okanagan the exhibition Devoured Earth explores climate apartheid, colonial history, trade practices and migrations.
Heraa Khan is a miniature painter from Lahore, Pakistan. She received her BFA from the National College of Arts Lahore, Pakistan in 2012. Currently, she is an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. She received the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation award in 2021 and the Ruth Katzman scholarship for the Art Student’s League Residency at Vyt, New York, in 2016. She co-taught the course “Miniature painting and Beyond” at The International Summer Academy of Salzburg, Austria in 2017. She has conducted several workshops on traditional miniature painting including those at Art Student’s League, New York, Satrang Gallery Islamabad and at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Khan has shown both in group shows and solo shows in Pakistan, USA, UK, Europe, Iran and Canada.
Statement:
Currently, a third of Pakistan is underwater due to record-breaking flooding. These statistics are shocking, since Pakistan is responsible for 1% of the world’s carbon emissions and yet is the 5th most affected country by climate change. Last year, after moving to Canada, Heraa not only witnessed the flooding in British Columbia, but also the devastating aftermath of forest fires in Kelowna. Having had close encounters with impacts of climate change, Heraa has become deeply vested in understanding the climate crisis that has followed her through her journey from the East to West. In her paintings, she draws upon Pakistan’s and Canada’s similar colonial histories of violence towards land, ecosystems, culture, and traditions.
Heraa’s interest in the use of Indo-Persian miniature painting as a medium, lies not only in reviving an ancient traditional art-form but also because the practice embraces ideas of sustainability, ecological sensitivity and knowledge. Her practice involves borrowing raw material from nature like squirrel hair, bird feathers, tree branches and natural pigments to craft handmade paint brushes, paper and paints. The paint created from these natural pigments is then stored in empty mussels. She uses her hand as a palette and sits on the floor to work which helps her form a connection with earth and her surroundings. The whole process of creating her art requires her to be at one with nature, whether through observation or by creation, much like the indigenous folks that inhabited this land before her.
