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, explains Ashok Mathur, head of the Creative Studies department.
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.
“Students attending summer classes at UBC Okanagan’s campus will also benefit from this unique opportunity to see professional artists develop works from conception to final gallery installation,” says Katherine Pickering, residency coordinator.
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.
UBC Okanagan’s FINA Art Gallery (1148 Research Road) will be hosting a free public workshop about artist residencies (what they are, how to apply) Thursday, July 16, from 5 to 6 p.m. On the same day, residency participants will open their studios to the public from 4 to 7 p.m.
The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art hosts all four artists in a group show July 14 to 18 with an opening reception on Friday, July 17.
Three of the participating artists will have solo exhibitions at UBC Okanagan’s FINA Art Gallery:
• Jeroen Witvliet: July 20 to 24, opening reception Wednesday, July 22, at 7 p.m.
• 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.
For more information about the residency, or to sign up for the workshop, please contact Katherine Pickering at ubcosummerresidency@gmail.com, or go to www.facebook.com/UBCOsummerresidency.
