Throughout my time at the CAG I focused on public programs with Holly Schmidt and other members- Shaun Dacey, Jas Lally, Jill Henderson, and Maddy Tranter. My roles consisted of:

1) Helped facilitate the programming events concerning the artist in resident Keg de Souza:

-This included attending the workshop held for students of King George Secondary School, photo documenting the workshop and helping with the exercise Keg provided.

-Attended two of Keg’s weekend open houses, where I greeted visitors/informed them about Keg’s project and the details of the final events, as well as help her put the structures together.

-Pursued research for Keg’s final event, tracking down the best options for dim sum and bamboo mats needed for the event. Lastly I attended the event. Her project came together so well!

2) Haroon Mirza, exhibiting artist in mid-January

-Research Haroon Mirza, gather valuable information/videos/ other relevant information, start to structure information towards writing a teacher’s guide.

-Research Teacher’s Guides and Gardner’s five-point entry system to understand how the CAG’s teacher’s guides function. This research provided a template to how I structured my research on Mirza i.e. coming up with relevant key words, key themes, and questions that facilitated a variety of ways to think/question the artwork.

-Write an introduction about Haroon Mirza that would give incite to the head members of John Oliver Secondary School as to what kind of work they and their students will be engaging with. Giving a brief description of Haroon, his practice, what it might be like to experience his installations, and video links/images that further inform his work.

-researching possible LED circuit experiments to conduct for family day during the month/in light of Mirza’s exhibition

In an conclusive meeting with Holly, we agreed to continue working together throughout the New Year, specifically with programs concerning Mirza. We have planned that I will oversee/aid in completing the teacher’s guide with her, help to conduct further family day’s, and, if possible, document Mirza’s installation and interview the artist when he visits. As Holly and I had previously discussed my participation with the programs planned for John Oliver, I would assume to help facilitate those workshops as they occur in the New Year as well.

3) Extras

-volunteer at the CAG’s annual auction

-write transcripts for the educational videos by artist Skawennati (part of the learning-videos workshops)

-create materials (plasters/moulding) for Guillaume Leblon’s family day

-oversee and help facilitate New West Minster High School tour of Guillaume Leblon tour

-write an introductory blog post about myself and my position with the CAG

My initial project plan was structured in terms of specific projects and dates, however Holly provided several extra opportunities that engaged my position in different and spontaneous areas as well. Although my project did not consist of completing a full teacher’s guide for Haroon (rather conducting research/researching teacher’s guides, writing an introduction for J.O), my partnership will continue in to the New Year, helping Holly to fully complete Haroon’s teacher’s guide, and help facilitate other programs planned for him. Skills that I previously had before the partnership was the ability to perform in-depth research, strong interpersonal and communication skills, rich exposure/experience with contemporary and historical art, and although this might be somewhat off, but as a teacher of yoga I felt an initial interest or experience with education/teaching (although art and yoga are two different fields completely).

A quality that I found very compelling inherent in the mandate/programs of the CAG was to provide a large scope of accessibility for the community to engage with contemporary art. As a large part of my project was to write an introduction on Haroon and gather research for a teacher’s guide, I became interested in how linguistics are an integral part of accessibility. I’m most familiar with writing papers based on Art History or Art Theory, two genres very different from writing an educative guide. I actually had struggled when I wrote the introduction on Haroon for J.O in a strait forward, non “art history” type of way.  In my own pursuit, I conducted and completed a research paper concerning the use of linguistic expressions of metadiscourse (a linguistic function specifically to simplify, organize, and engage the readers) and its functions in relation to a teacher’s guide compared to an “art jargon” riddled webzine platform. This research in combination of working with Holly very much intrigued my interest in learning more about writing teacher’s guides, or art education in general. With this research and feedback from Holly, I developed a new perspectives concerning writing about art in very strait forward ways. In addition to the closing meeting I conducted with Holly, I had discussed this research/pursuit with her, and we discussed what options may look like for me in the future either with her or in further education. Whether in writing or with programs/workshops, something that I really would like to continue to work with are methods of engaging the community/readers. This partnership really opened my eyes to the variety of roles/activity surrounding education in the arts.

Contemporary Art Gallery, Public Program Intern, September 2016-present

This position focused on several areas of the Contemporary Art Galleries public programs. Strong interpersonal communication skills, strength in conducting in-depth research and writing, proficient organizational skills, and knowledge of the contemporary art realm were employed. Using these skills, my position facilitated preliminary research for writing teacher’s guides on artist Haroon Mirza, attending workshops with High School students, working with the artist in resident Keg de Souza, and contributing towards various community based workshops and programs such as family day, learning guides, and the annual auction.