13TH PERSPECTIVE
FOREWORD The title of this exhibition, 13th Perspective, references the graduating artists shown here, and the manifold ways they regard, consider, and represent the unique spaces of their individual worlds. With twelve artists exhibiting, you the audience are invited to join as the thirteenth participant of this offering—both as witness but also as active stakeholder— in the defined spaces you will encounter, enjoy, and at times be confronted by.
THANK YOU FRIENDS & FAMILY KPU FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT KSA THE RUNNER
Creating art in an edge city produces profound perspectives. From this place, and from this distance, one can consider alternative viewpoints, unseen vistas, and the workings of an everyday less impacted by the dominating center. It is at once a blessing and a challenge to make art in this context. Perhaps that is why space, in all of its multifaceted manifestations, plays such a vital role for these artists. Perhaps that is also why our spacious Cloverdale studio becomes such a dynamic and befitting stage for this particular exhibition. In the Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre’s famous meditation on that difficult to define, but central concept to our social relations, he reminds us of charged associations with space, and all of its many unspoken associations, arguing its role “less and less neutral, more and more active, both as instrument and as goal, as means and as end.” In this show, themes of urban decay, transformed through industry, and often inaccessible or hidden from public view, merge with studies of human encroachment and interaction with natural spaces. Many of the art works are both architectural and theatrical, abstracting forms and pointing towards a history of objects as reflections of personal and lived histories. You will find charged connections with spaces overlooked, ignored, or unnoticed, and then meet the human figure, abstracted into an everyday landscape of our collective imagination. And along the contours of this exhibition lie intersections, communications, displacements, and the mapping of whispered exchanges and broken relationships. To be sure, the notion of space as a medium—or as Lefebvre suggests, a milieu or intermediary that is at once physical, mental, and social— is where these frames of reference meet. I invite you to view and experience 13th Perspective in the spirit of active participation and spatial encounter that these themes evoke for you. Dorothy Barenscott, Art Historian Fine Arts Department
Alan Canning This year I have chosen to focus on the landscape. I began with The Water Flows, painting older apartment buildings in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside. Erasing the Past Acrylic on Canvas
Contact
alan_canning@telus.net 4
Understandably, I discovered the difficulties in working so far from my real home in Surrey. This time I am still exploring the idea of home, but I worked with my knowledge of local areas. My work began with the exploration of the Bon Accord Creek. I have chosen the wide format panoramic size to simulate a naturalistic viewing. For example, its dimensions involve the viewer’s peripheral vision, and I have purposely allowed for the distortion of the horizon line, which occurs while sketching in a fixed position. The smaller studies inform the large-scale studio work. The rugged concave and convex forms of the landscape could allude to canyon landscapes, however the miniature steps and beautiful tree stumps suggest a more meditative retreat such as a garden. However, for all these symbols and deliberate designs the land is private and is slated for future CNN pipeline projects, so while its future as a Salmon run is assured, the landscape awaits its next change. With my Vancouver paintings I visited many similar subjects that reminded me of “home”, but in this painting, I have constrained myself to working with a single site. This change in my process has given me greater understanding of the interconnection with water and land. Also, I feel that working quickly, observing the changing light, and weather conditions has given me a greater connection to this landscape, a sensitivity to the subtle and overlooked elements found in nature, and possibly within ourselves.
Alyx Essers Pruning (above) The Living Wall (right)
Mixed Medium
Contact
alyx_e@hotmail.com www.alyxessers.webs.com 6
I have always been influenced to create works of art that reflect how I engage and respond to my environment. Many of the themes in my current works are combinations of things that occur in natural environments but are often also combined to coexist together with unnatural things. It is in these compositions that I am able to create a meaningful representation of how I view this odd narration of city life that is smashing into nature and the response of nature. What I enjoy most when creating my art pieces is the processes involved in gathering and collecting images and pooling all of these things into something visually interesting. The energy and intensity that I work into my images reflects a hunger to lay down all of this information that I have been hoarding. It is in this act of drawing and painting on a wall or canvas that frees up my manifestations of images for others to witness. The intent of my compositions is to generate new thoughts about something that is usually in our periphery, the things we over look. After spending time with my work I hope to create new ways of viewing the everyday. I want to open the viewer’s mind to think and see beyond what is in front of them, to search deeper and to become more present in their surroundings.
Angelai Lai Constuct Mixed Media
Contact
lai.angelai@gmail.com angelai.art.craft.design 8
In my work, scale is emphasized using constructed cardboard and presented as performative installations. The material used is manipulated to extend its strength and malleability as well as to showcase its rigid potential and fluid spontaneity. As a result, the cardboard mimics what one would expect of steel, wood, or fabric. What is imperative to the piece is that both cardboard and installations are seen as being temporary, unlike here, they are semipermanent and because of this they were worked on as if they were paintings. The installations, similar to abstract paintings, exhibit movement through the gestural and linear qualities created by adding layers, subtracting elements, and editing it to be viewed like a composition. The works are reminiscent of Piet Mondrian’s paintings, Joel Shapiro’s installations, and Frank O’ Gehry’s designs. In these works, the architectural size is significant because it envelops the viewer. The performative aspect comes into play when the viewer moves within the piece.
Caitlan Gray Untitled Found Wood and Pyrography
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As an artist I have always strove to represent the aspects of the human condition which are ineffable. I transitioned from my work as a painter to working with fire because the unpredictability and violence of the medium is much akin to real experience. Since beginning my work with the open flame my practice has grown increasingly process driven. The degree of concentration required of the conscious mind to ensure my own safety and that of those around me necessitates an unconscious and intuitive approach to the production of the work itself. As such I have embraced a naturalistic approach which allows for the spontaneous development of imagery and meaning. The resulting series of work ranges from the primarily figurative to a high level of abstraction. The individual narratives of the pieces are held together by several common themes. The delicate patterns of smoke are evocative of the ephemeral, yet the weight and solidity of wood grounds the pieces in the temporal realm and in this contrast is an allusion to ritual. The works evoke the passage of time; from the fragility of individual moments to the ongoing struggle between the forces of destruction and creation. References to the human form, coupled with the act of burning, suggest cremation, and go on to suggest individual experience, trauma and mortality. Furthering these readings is the use of found wooden objects as a substrate, with these objects bringing their own individual histories into the narrative of the work.
PyromanticDesigns@gmail.com 10
Gunilla Kay The Tides Acrylic on Canvas
Contact
gunilla@shaw.ca www.gunilla.kay.com 12
The Tides illustrates the actions of water as it erases our foot prints in the sand. These foot prints have become starting points for my abstract paintings and, being marks, they are traces of human life on earth. For me intuitive, abstract painting has become a release from formal restrictions and it feels invigorating. The sense of freedom is enhanced by elimination of the regular frame and having no borders, just a painted board of wood. After years of learning and much practice my perspective of the details has become sharper; techniques such as mixing hues, blending, layering and added depth has increased. There is joy in warm and spontaneous actions with colours and shapes. I have followed the straight line, curved it and invoked shapes in an effort to create an expressive, spontaneous art, which is a new outlook for myself. The Tides stays with the curved lines, but relies more on shapes and colours rather than added depth. Images appear and disappear.
Jenine Sarchet West Coast Winter at Midnight Acrylic on Canvas
Contact
jdsarchet@gmail.com 14
What do we see in the shadows? How does seeing something in shadow make us feel? It’s something different for everyone. When I first started to paint this subject I wanted to create a sense of unease in the shadows, it has progressed into wanting to capture the light. Light can be transformative, it has the ability to add a touch of the wild to a perfectly domestic space. When night falls and we have a limited light source, we see only what that light can touch; we are given a vague impression of our surroundings and our imaginations can take over and fill in those gaps. For me, the act of abstract painting and re-interpreting light and shadow in a pattern of colour and form through layers of pigment and hours of labour fills in those gaps, connecting me to a lineage of painters who have seen light as their subject. My goal is to invoke feeling and thought and something my viewers can really look at and find their own meaning in. I began with a photo and that photo evolved into a series of large paintings. I could have stopped with the photo, but a painting seems to be so much more to me. A photograph captures a single moment, a painting is the product of hours spent creating the end result. Each piece is a struggle, a fight to achieve the finished product I envision. The scale of these works is the largest I have worked on thus far, I feel that it helps to draw the viewer in and envelope them within the intensity of my observations.
Katie Sture Immersed Oil on Canvas
Contact
katie.sture@gmail.com 16
I find myself in the pursuit of discovering beauty hidden in abstract forms and concepts within the world around me. As inspirations may be evoked by a particular person or place within both physically and emotionally, it is because of these influences that I find the means to express myself through art marking. Through out my work I have frequently studied and experimented with the female figure. I am interested in exploring the lines and shape of the figure through exploring new abstract and expressive compositions. I enjoy concentrating on a particular body part or curve of the figure and try to create and expose an abstract composition within. For example, in my work, Immersed, I was inspired by shape and lines in which the sea and land compose, and used those shapes to experiment with the figure through out the image. I enjoy manipulating the landscape to create abstract compositions within the painting. I feel the need to expose and manipulate the figure through changing my subject’s form, proportions, and colour palette. I believe that it is within these hidden beauties that I find the reason to express myself physically and creatively.
Mark Stewart Global Village Mixed media
Contact
mstewart.j@gmail.com thisismarkstewart.com 18
Global Village reveals the connectivity that makes up my life and the state of global connectivity that our culture experiences everyday. This is an expression of discovering identity through relationships with people of diverse cultures, ages, perspectives, and geographic locations. This process art piece evolved from identifying the geographic location of friends and family on a map into a geometric sculpture depicting interconnectivity. The intersecting points of this crystal-like sculpture are the result of projecting the mapped locations on to a wall. The light seams symbolize the connectivity and relationship of all the people at the intersection points. In its entirety the piece forms a system of cartography that speaks to the hyperconnectivity that our culture is defined by. This origami-like relief sculpture brings relationships that thrive through instantaneous connectivity out of this place of electric speed and into a static physical structure. By bringing these relationships, that are usually defined by a digital medium, into physical form I not only bring awareness to the prevalence of global computer-based connection, but I give these connections a visual form that reminds us of historical physical communication as well as previous experiments within the canon of modernist abstract sculpture. The geometric-shaped wooden panels bring to mind an earthy, land-like cartography element. There are also parallels between constructing and maintaining wooden structures and forming and caring for personal relationships. The audio element of personal conversations with people in my global village compels the viewer to come closer and to engage with my world exploring the relationship between voices and the abstract form of this piece.
Merry McMullen Hidden in Plain Site Mixed media
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In this series of works, Hidden in Plain Site, I turn a spotlight onto all the things we see daily, mentally edit, and ignore. We see, but we do not. I start by exploring the jungle of electric and communications equipment; the base of today’s world; superimposed upon the landscape with no aesthetic planning whatsoever. The apparent lack of care in the placement of the cheap paper tacked onto the wall, accompanied by lines escaping the boundaries reflects how we place this equipment in the real world. Every tall building wreathed in communication receivers/ senders; the grid covers the cityscape. #citylife - mosaic and mixed media What exactly is a city? What do we ‘use’ a city for? The City is made up of varied materials representing the many and varied peoples, lifestyles; the clash and conflict as well as the productivity and energy. We need to ask ourselves if we have built a place for humans to enjoy or if we have built a place convenient for propagating our way of life. Set within this installation the city is a reflection of the factory - yet another shiny, sparkly manufacturing area. With the physicality of modern communications equipment, I have left the parts of the machine we use as operating interfaces. Conveniently near to hand - waiting for us to pick them up and, once again become functional.
merrymcmullen@gmail.com 20
Miriam Severson Untitled 35mm Colour and Black and White Film, Performance Sculpture using Ceramics
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Film photography is my main medium and its specific qualities have influenced my exploration within art. The different processes and possible unpredictability that comes with film allows me to visually represent emotional sensibilities in different ways. The topics and tensions surrounding self-identity, family issues, and relationships are the primary focus within my photographs. A key technique I have used to create my pieces is to shoot a roll of film and then re-load it to expose a different subject matter onto the same roll. This produces a double exposure and this effect embodies the emotional tension in my subject. I have also added a sculptural performance element to my piece to further bring people into the photographs viscerally. The pottery, being hand made, is smashed, confined, and teetered to mirror the images and emotions. We cannot control what life’s outcome is most of the time and these images capture only a moment and lack of control in those moments. The purpose of my work is to imitate my relationships, mainly between my mother and I. Reflecting on this relationship has helped me deal with my struggles within it and create a strong and meaningful body of work. I have been honest with myself and expressed something that I thought was always criticized as being wrong to feel. Now I can move on from that place, feel more capable as an artist and start to have the mentality of living in this moment.
miriamseverson@gmail.com 22
Pauline Tiongson Untitled Acrylic on Canvas
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The notion of identity is an important aspect in my work. A person’s identity is always changing because of the surrounding environment a person situates themselves in. This series focuses on multicultural/multiracial identities, specifically on the various cultures that we have adapted or affiliated ourselves with. My fascination with this form of identity draws from personal history; as a Filipino woman born in Muscat, Oman, and moving to Vancouver, BC at the age of 10, I have associated my identity with various cultures that I inherited in my upbringing. In the work, I selected friends and classmates who share the same diasporic identities. The various cultures represented through these persons differ from one another. In order to showcase the many cultures each individual associates themselves with, I chose to present the content in the background, using patterns, textiles, as well as graffiti as inspiration for their representation. I then juxtapose the backgrounds with the portraits of the persons in contemporary clothing The piece evokes a celebration of the multitude of cultural affiliations. While that is not the initial intention, I love and embrace the cultures I have adapted in creating my own identity. Though they are not a part of my genetic structure, they all have equal importance.
p_tiongson@hotmail.com Artwork by Pt 24
Rosaura Ojeda From Eden Paper, LED lights, and various found materials.
Contact
rxsixi@gmail.com 26
To address my installations is to address my existence as a young Venezuelan female artist. These constructions are conceptual and formal interpretations of my external surroundings, aesthetically shaped by internalized explorations. They primarily deal with concepts that concern my position in contemporary society as a Latin American, as a woman, and as a political and catholic-raised individual. I intend to portray these concerns in a way that seamlessly blends a dynamic, formalist, visual language with my mental concepts. In this way, my visual language has a factual (and meaningful) presence but also allow gaps for interpretation and interaction. My latest installation, From Eden, embodies these characteristics. It derives from both internal and external perspectives. The use of banal materials such as paper, wrapped by a selective use of light and dark allow for a contrast between the inside and outside (ephemeral simplicity and spiritual sublimity) to comment on my concern for a society desensitized by prejudgments of gender and sexuality. Defined by its curves and complexions, each shape in the installation represents an individual or group of individuals. These individuals, just like the shapes, are composed of a faรงade and an interior. The purity of their exterior contradicts and contrasts the corruption of their interior, which is visibly limited by the lights.