#nscad mfa

[nscadmfa]

Featured MFA: Bonita Hatcher

Our next featured 2nd year MFA is expended media artist: Bonita Hatcher!!!

Bonita is an expanded media artist based in Nova Scotia. Her multi-disciplinary practice utilizes audio/video, performance, and other forms of new media. Raised in Newfoundland, and a descendent of a British Home-Child, she has lived across the continent, from St. John’s to Santa Cruz. Her installation-based work is sociopolitical; investigating themes of marginalization, self vs other and the manner in which societies venerate or vilify. Already holding a BSc from Memorial University, Bonita graduated with a BFA from NSCAD in 2008. She received the Gordon Parson's Film and Video award and is a current recipient of the Canadian Institute of Health research scholarship for her work in exploring the relationship between modes of dwelling, systems of control and access to rights and services as a citizen without a fixed address. 

If you want to find out more about Bonita and her work check out this post and her website bonitahatcher.wordpress.com or on her social Media Imon DaRoade on Twitch and @badassbeaglebus on Instagram.

Bonita, tell Us About your studio Practice:

My current work explores the modern nomad or “van-life” movement and the concepts of marginalization, modes of dwelling and how navigate the absurdity of social or public policy and perception. For many months, this has meant my practice has not been a typical or traditional one. I am not carving, painting, drawing or even editing video. My life right now is my practice. 

My campus studio space is currently housing my possessions on live stream as they have a “better” home than I do. But my day-to-day practice, for now, is working on my bus, Babbs, and doing the experiential work of problem solving a mode of living that does not come with presets - if you want electricity you have to learn about how electricity works, determine your output needs and then install options to meet those needs, as opposed to taking for granted the unlimited, even if fee-based, access to electricity by turning on a switch. I also have to find the funds to generate each solution as it appears. I am really interested in this space in between the oppressive problems and the idealized solutions out there, a space where a sort of personal liberty exists. 

Every aspect of life is no longer automatic, I have to engage with my physical reality in ways I never had before. So, my practice is often riddled with seemingly impossible obstacles and worry, with an anxiety over either not knowing or not affording solutions to necessities - but that is the work/research itself in the end. The beautiful thing about it is that despite how ominous a lot of the experience sounds, there is this sense of liberty in it that can only be felt by doing. My challenge will be how to translate that for those who view the resulting work.

Do you keep a special object in your studio: 

A few... like a copy of the infamous photo of Linda Benglis. Her audacity, humour and stark challenge to viewers always reminded me that the right path for me isn’t always acceptable to others.

#NSCAD #nscad university #nscad mfa #featured mfa #studio visit #expendedmedia #dwellings #nomadic #van-live movement #live-stream #problem-solving #@badassbeaglebus #iamontheroad

[amishmencarryingbarn]

new dream life: i live in one of those simpsonsy coloured houses in halifax, and I have an MFA and I teach part-time at nscad and just hang out the rest of the time. I have a bay window full of plants and two rats and have a studio and magically know how to operate a weaving machine.

#this is far fetched but as I was walking around by the ocean in the dog park I was thinking about how nice it would be to settle down there #now im just looking up what level of education each prof at nscad has and most of em have MFAs from there #personal #hopeful

[yegarts]

Yorath House Artist Studio Placement: Meet the Artists – Alicia Proudfoot and Stephanie Florence

The studio space at Edmonton’s historic Yorath House is buzzing with new energy as we welcome our next artist duo to the space: Alicia Proudfoot and Stephanie Florence. Alicia and Stephanie will be sharing the studio until June 18th, as they devote time to their individual practices and collaborate on new works. Let's get to know a little bit more about Yorath House’s current artists in residence.

Alicia Proudfoot is an interdisciplinary artist who completed her BFA at the University of Alberta and her MFA at NSCAD University. Alicia uses sculpture and performance to discuss how humour affects a somatic response in themes on family or bodily experiences in illness. Her latest projects include the Digital Stone Project in Gramolazzo, Italy – where she is embracing new technologies to carve a marble yo-yo that compares her asthma to the toy – as well as a project funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts where she created the couch-based series “Sofa Loaf.”

“Beaded Lung” by Alicia Proudfoot.

“While on the grounds of the Yorath House, I am researching the performative nature of breathing and am creating sculptural vessels that impinge on how air is held or withheld by the body,” says Alicia. “Balloons are an immediate material choice to begin this research and I have experimented with stitching wax beads into the red, rubbery surface to create a puckered restraint on the inflation. The beads themselves have a visceral quality to them and through the process of threading them with a heated needle they look like rotten teeth. I intend to do a small series with these beaded inflamed balloons during the studio placement, but it is leading me to a larger scale that works with latex to mold my own distorted vessels to perform with. The field behind the Yorath House is a tantalizing open space for performance! A goal would be to take the latex objects I create outside and perform with them in that large space. The field also provides enough space for park goers to keep a safe social distance as they glimpse at my performative experiments.

Another component of my time spent at the Yorath House focuses on constructing an interactive sculpture where I will hydroform steel balloon letters to exhibit in the trees at the Lowlands Project Space this June. To have the audience elongate their vocal cords and read aloud the four letters of a monosyllabic “BAAH” mimics the involuntary enunciation I make in the onslaught of an asthma attack. I liken the strength required to inflate the metal with the physiological struggle that my asthmatic body has to breathe regularly. I cut out the letters on the balcony of the Yorath house against a backdrop of budding trees and found great relaxation working in the bright sun.

Top: “The Air of Balking” by Alicia Proudfoot, cut letters. Bottom: Welded letter part of “The Air of Balking”.

There is a delightful oddity in framing my projects around the domestic space of the Yorath artist studio. It makes these different vessels feel like decorations for a house party that celebrates my asthma, which seems to be a catharsis I share with many during this COVIDian time. By already having a prominent macabre aspect to my work, I am wholeheartedly leaning into this playful energy and am excited to see what unfolds next.”

Stephanie Florence is an emerging Canadian artist and curator working from Amiskwaciwâskahikan, colonially known as Edmonton, AB. Their artwork is primarily based in collage and collaboration, borrowing from sculptural objects, installations, performative gestures, explorative painting, and photographic means. Stephanie has recently been accepted into an MFA program with the University of Waterloo that begins in the Fall of 2021. They are also a graduate of the University of Lethbridge with a BFA and a Diploma in Fine Art from MacEwan University. Recently, they curated the SkirtsAfire Festival for a second consecutive year, and they are currently interweaving collections of experiences, interviews, art, and poetry into a book from an inclusive array of Edmontonians during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a non-binary artist, Florence acknowledges the use of pronouns such as they, their, them, she, her, he, him, and his.  

Currently, Stephanie is conducting exploratory research on the coevolution of interspecies interactions, and how living bodies become a commodity for capitalist culture.

Top: “Bacteriophage Attacks a Cell” by Stephanie Florence. Bottom: “Intrinsically Linked” by Stephanie Florence.

“My material choices at this time include paint, sculpture, performance, plants, and meat that is cut out from grocery store flyers, which I use to collage the bodies of viruses and bacteria. I choose to use meat from flyers with the intention of producing a connection between colonial-capitalism, food production and distribution, and our societal view of animal bodies,” explains Florence. “By focusing on the flesh of animals in the production of viruses, a mixture of disgust and the grotesque is implicated, but the viruses are also given a form that feels closer to our flesh as humans. The collaged viruses are intended to demonstrate how domesticated animals’ flesh is essentially the same as human bodies, and intrinsically connects the evolution of virus, animal, and human. I feel that the use of flesh as a paper form shows how propaganda and corporations wish to devalue and dissociate from the idea that humans are all connected in a cellular, biodiverse, and evolutionary manner. The artwork that I am working on in the Yorath House Studio is an attempt to form an empathetic bond between species, adaptation, the flesh of an othered-animal, and our privileged human bodies. Above all, I wish to promote habitat and community building by collectively empathizing with non-humans and humans.  

I wish for my artworks to act as devices for social transformation in how we view all species, whether plant, animal, insect, or viral. If society is questioning their thoughts on the ownership and interaction with all species – whether it is a zoonotic disease or house pet – then we might form new behaviours, norms, and interaction with the vibrant world around us.”

“Devalued Goods” by Stephanie Florence.

Keep an eye on the EAC blog and social media for more information about the Yorath House Artist Studio residency project, and updates from the current artist duo.  

#yeg #yegarts #YorathHouse #ArtistsinResidence #edmonton #ContemporaryArt

[lovepoemsforpace]

February 2021

The details:

1) Make a donation to PACE (minimum ten dollars) 

2) Send proof of donation to [email protected].

3) Get a ten line poem written by one of our lovely poets! 

PACE operates in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and “seeks to reduce the harm and isolation associated with Sex Work through education, support, and advocacy.” Along with your donation please answer the following questions so we can write you the absolute best poem!

Is this poem for yourself or someone else?

If for someone else, what is your relationship to this person?

Please respond to at least five of the prompts below:

A memory:

An image:

A sound:

A smell:

A texture:

I am reminded of:

I am thinking of:

Our Poets: 

Cole Klassen is a writer and musician from Vancouver, BC--the stolen, unceded land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Cole prefers they/them pronouns. They are a winner of Douglas College's Maurice Hodgson Creative Writing Award of Distinction, and they are currently doing their creative writing MFA at UBC. Cole mainly writes music and lyrics, but also writes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Their new band Tall Mary recently released a single on Bandcamp.

Toby Sharpe (he/him) is a queer writer and editor from London, UK. He is an MFA student at the University of British Columbia, and is currently writing his first novel. Toby's favourite poem that he's read recently is OUR BEAUTIFUL LIFE WHEN IT’S FILLED WITH SHRIEKS by Christopher Citro. Find his writing at One Sentence Poems, Adjacent Pineapple, and the Glasgow Review of Books.

Edie Reaney Chunn (she/they) is a current MFA student in the Creative Writing Program at UBC. Her poetry can be found in Cloud Lake Literary Journal, and her first play, How the Light Lies (On You), premiered at NSCAD’s Art Bar in August 2019 and will be part of Eastern Front Theatre’s upcoming STAGES Festival. Edie enjoys working collaboratively & inefficiently on theatre projects, and other pursuits. 

Eleanor Panno (she/they) is an MFA student living on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She works as an editor for PRISM Magazine and writes mainly fiction and lyrics. Eleanor enjoys watching bad tv with her cats.

Jasmine Ruff (she/they) hails from the unceded traditional territory of the K’òmoks First Nation. Her work has been published in Plenitude Magazine, The Maynard, and SAD Mag. She was the 2015 winner of Aesthetica’s Creative Writing Contest. When she's not writing you can find her watching campy movies and drinking bubble tea.

Header photo and avatar photo by Meg Covington. 

[fascinatingliar]

Keeper of Industrial Memory

I am officially an MFA as of last Friday night and I officially completed all of my obligations following my artists talk at noon last Wednesday. It feels surreal that the journey is finally over, but there it is. 

My sister, Christina, brought her camera during my installation and documented its progress. She also photographed the opening and is still documenting the deterioration of the floor. The show closes Saturday at 4pm. 

I presented personal narratives alongside industrial detritus that I had collected and intervened with over the past two years, to create a personal historical document of my youth growing up amidst the toxic waste and ruins of industrial decay. There are eight narratives in total and they can be accessed upon request. 

A million thanks to Christina, Ian and Scott who always help me in so many ways. 

#NSCAD MFA Thesis Exhibition Thesis Art Installation Art Industry Industrial decay narrative archive detritus collection

[uca-year-end]

ART - UCA/2018

In our 11th year of Uncommon Common Art the list of participating artists was selected through two tracks curated (or invited) and juried.  This was a choice made by the curator to insure a solid exhibit. We exhibited 17 installations.

Our guest curator was Kate Ward who is an accomplished artist and resent graduate from NSCAD’s MFA program. Kate had participated in UCA 2017 which gave her a base knowledge of the project.

http://www.kateward.com.au/index.html

Kate invited four artists to participate, one installation was created by the artist in residence, one installation by our legacy artists and twelve artists were selected through an independent jury process.

This year’s participating artists are as follows -

Stop 1 - Nicole Evans and Patrick Farrell

Stop 2 - Kim Morgan and Bruce Anderson

Stop 3 - Marla Benton

Stop 4 - Brian Riley and Andrew Bilz

Stop 5 - Bonnie Baker

Stop 6 - Jessica Winton

Stop 7 - Ben Mosher

Stop 8 - Ericka Walker

Stop 9 - Genny Killin

Stop 10 - Lorraine Albert

Stop 11 - Kevin West

Stop 12 - Alex Mann (Artist in Residence)

Stop 13 - Carrie Allison

Stop 14 - Dyan Hatanaka

Stop 15 - Miyoshi Kondo

Stop 16 - Eileen Boyd

Stop 17 - Dyan Hatanaka

Stop 18 -  Twila Robar-DeCoste

A couple of highlights of 2018

For the second time artist Ericka Walker created a mural on a barn as an installation for UCA.  This years mural is located on two sides of a barn at Longspell Farm in Kings Sport. Ericka acquired a creation grant from Art NS to fund this large project. Ericka and two assistants spent the whole month of may working on the mural while they were billeted at the UCA director’s home. This beautiful artwork will be left as a permanent public artwork for the residence of Kings County.

Brian Riley and Andrew Bilz created an Eye Spy, interactive story near the Gaspereau River n=in Grand Pre. With the help of a pair of binoculars visitors read a story about native animals while they looked for the hidden creature in the field around them. This was a great activity for families and the local fisherman took ownership of the artwork and helped safeguard it from damage.

A couple of low points from 2018

Once again vandalism was a problem.  Stop 6 by Jessica Winton was vandalized before the exhibit was under way.  With some scrambling we were able to relocate the artwork before the guidebook was published.  Unfortunately the electronic portion of the artwork never recovered from the vandalism and relocation. Inspire of the artist effort the sound art piece never was up and running.

Stop 11 by Lorraine Albert underestimate the power of the tides.  Lorraines wrapped rocks were difficult to find and many of the them were swept away in the tide leaving visitors wondering what they were looking for

Artist in Residence

2018 was the first year of our artist in residence program.  Thanks to a partnership with VANS and the generous contribution of housing and studio space from Walter Long the UCA residency was born.  The jury selected young fibre artist Alex Mann as the resident.

Alex’s art practice weds traditional botanical drawing with fibre art to create needlepoint botanical drawings.

Alex’s art practice was a perfect fit for the residence house which also hosted summer interns working at Tap Root farm on their new linen production.  Alex’s workshop was also a great fit with our friends at the Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens.  While in residence Alex lead a workshop at the Irving Centre and utilized the plant knowledge of the horticulturists to enrich the experience.

Suggested Additions and Changes for UCA 2019

The curator for 2019 is Bonnie Baker. Our experience is that it works best to select an artist to curate who has been involved in the project before. The background knowledge of UCA helps the curator better understand our mandate and mission.

As we prepare to work with our fourth outside curator it has become clearer that the curators role is to create a clear and consistent narrative.  In 2019 the curator will write all of the signage and text for the guidebook.

The artwork locations will be more carefully selected by the director working with the artist. The goal is to avoid vandalism, damage by the elements and to more evenly spread the art throughout the county.

The list of UCA 2019 artists are as follows -

Juried artists:

1. Ben Mosher  26.8 (Local)

2. Gerald Beaulieu 25.8

3. Miyoshi Kondo 24.4 (Local)

4. Brandt Eisner 23.8

5. Kevin West 23.8 (Local)

6. Brenda Sheppard 23.4 (Local)

7. Joshua Collins 22.4

8. Andrea Puszkar 22.4

Curated artists:

9. Charles Doucette

10. Deb Kuzyk and Ray Mackie

11. Barbara Lounder

12. Fenn Martin

13. Susan Tooke

14. Jane Whitten

Legacy:

15, Nicole Evans and Patrick Farrell (Local)

Artist in Residence

Ben Mosher

[akimboart]

Work in Progress by Karin Jones

Karin Jones, a Vancouver-based artist of African-Nova Scotian and German descent, is hard at work in the NSCAD University jewellery studio in Halifax, NS, in preparation for her MFA Thesis Exhibition, opening April 3 at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax.

The new work, called simply body of work, is a series of 8-10 objects of adornment referencing restraints used during the period of the enslavement of African peoples in the Americas. Made from materials such as rusted steel, dried corn kernels, human hair, and used horses’ reins and bridles, the collars, necklaces and cuffs are mounted with museum-style brass mounts on wood panels. The work questions the ways in which historical narratives shape our identities.

Karin Jones is best known for her installation Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity, which centred around a Victorian dress made of braided hair extensions, commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum in 2014.

body of work April 3-14, 2018 Anna Leonowens Gallery 1891 Granville St., Halifax, NS

Instagram: @karinjones.studio

https://karinjones.ca/current-work/

#art #artist #workinprogress #studio #submission

[tigerstrikesasteroidnetwork]

NY / Flat File / Charles Sommer

www.charlessommerart.com

Charles Sommer (b. 1989 NJ, USA)  currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received a BFA in Studio Art from the University of South Florida in 2012 and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from CUNY Brooklyn College in 2016. Charles has exhibited work in a number of group shows at galleries including the Tjaden Gallery at Cornell University (Ithica, NY), the Wassaic Projects (Wassaic, NY), No Place Gallery (Columbus, OH) and SOIL Gallery (Seattle, WA). Charles has attended residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and most recently the Wassaic Projects (NY). Most recently he has mounted a solo exhibition at the Anna Leowens Gallery at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Charles has also been featured in publications such as Remixing and Drawing, Two Coats of Paint, Pleat and Drawing Currents and has received the Morris Dorsky Memorial Art Award, the Norma Roth Award and a Merit Award from the Vermont Studio Center. His work is also apart of a number of private and public collections including, most recently, the Van Every|Smith Galleries at Davidson College.

Monolith no.12 (slanted horizon with foo fighter view) Graphite on paper 10 x 8 inches 2019

Monolith no.11 (block with horizon and foo fighters) Graphite on paper 10 x 8 inches 2019

#flatfilesommer #tigerstrikesasteroid #tiger strikes asteroid

[uncommoncommonart]

Carrie is one of our selected 2018 UCA artists. Whilst creating work for UCA she is also finishing work for her MFA thesis show. Here is a pic of here beaded river in progress. We can't wait to see her exhibition.⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #uncommoncommonart #carriealisonart #kingscounty #visitNS #visitnovascotia #environmentalart #outdoorart #river #beads #doitinwolfville #MFA #NSCAD #NSCADMFA ( #📷 @carrieallisonart via @latermedia ) http://ift.tt/2Gf6Riq

#IFTTT #FacebookPages

[nscadmfa]

Featured MFA: Sarah Brooks

Our featured first year MFA for this week is textiles artists Sarah Brooks!

Sarah Brooks (she/her) is an artist, craftsperson and knowledge seeker. Graduating from NSCAD University in 2019, she received her BFA majoring in Textiles (minor AH). Sarah pursues many different creative making processes such as; weaving, sewing, screen-printing, dye methods, painting, photography and design. Sarah has co-created and participated in various curation collectives and group projects, some including; Siawa’sik (2019) - a group curated display with the Indigenous Exhibition/ Methodologies Class at NSCAD University and shown at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax. Amntu’kati Spirit Place (2019) - a Textiles and Ceramics Installation in collaboration with Cynthia Martin at NSCAD University Port Campus, Treaty Space Gallery in Halifax.  Sarah is from the Mi'kmaw community of Sɨkɨpne'katik, First Nation. Since graduating in 2019, Sarah has been employed through CMM (Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq) and St. Mary’s University, contributing to the project titled T’an Weji-sqalia’tiek: Mi’kmaw Place Names.

If you want to know more about Sarah, check out her instagram and read more about her practise and studio work!

@mytinylanguage  and  @brookstextiles

We visited Sarah in her studio on Fountain Campus in the Textile Department (H220).

What is an important in your studio practice?

Plant identification has been a very prominent aspect in my recent work, as I’ve been focusing greatly on ways of reactivating Indigenous material culture - specifically relating to Mi’kmaw people and being in Mi’kma’ki. I’m walking, mapping, photographing and recording what I see in my immediate urban landscape. I'm also looking to investigate what plants are grown in parks, public spaces, and what plants are organically growing in between these spaces. I’ve been really enjoying going for walks and seeing what’s around me, beginning to learn to identify different trees, plants and foliage that I come across on my walks

I’m thinking more intently about the land I’m on - what stories and histories are here. I want to understand better what’s here now and what was once here. By connecting with the living plants and the identification of these plant species, I hope to learn more of that story. I want to become well-versed in what these histories are, and I also want to share what I find with others.

  Alongside this field work, I’m beginning to do research based around archived materials in the Nova Scotia Museum. The particular archived materials I’m learning about pertains to their collected pieces of Mi’kmaw made objects. Some of these objects include textiles made from plant materials. To begin this research, I’m looking particularly at cordages that were made which naturally resemble the likes of hemp or flax fibres. These cordages were pieced together in a wrapping or twining technique that strike similarities to leno weave structures. I’m looking to delve more into this research to find more evidence of what specific plant fibres were used, where and how they were sourced, and what construction methods were used to make these plant fibre textiles. Some of these archived materials are over several hundreds of years old. It’s very special to work towards uncovering some of that history of lost Mi’kmaw material culture.

Some physical work that I’m doing right now is weaving. I recently set up a linen fibre warp onto my loom and I’m beginning my first attempts at leno weaving. Learning to work with the flax linen fibres is a good starting point for me to relate back to using a more naturally sourced and sustainable material. I’m hoping later to make my own cordages using scavenged and harvested plant matter. My goal eventually is to hand-weave using a similar method to leno, and to incorporate plant fibre cordages that I’ll be making.

Do you have special object in your studio?

I don’t keep anything too precious at my studio space on campus. But something special that sits on my desk next to my computer in my living room - is a framed polaroid photo I took of my childhood home. I took the photo the last day I was there, before my family permanently moved. That was about 4 years ago now.

#featured mfa #nscad #nscad mfa #textiles #weaving #field work #indigenous #material culture #@mytinylanguage #@brookstextiles #studio visist #crafts #fibres #mi'kmaw #mi'kmaqculture #linen

[nscadmfa]

Featured MFA: Zehua Sun

Our next featured 2nd year MFA of this week is working with Scenic design and Expended media: Zehua Sun!!!!!

Zehua Sun (he/him) is a scenic designer and expended media artist from Zibo, China. He graduated from Shandong University of Arts with a bachelor’s degree in scenic design and film scenery in 2018. His works are based on personal experiences and theatrical forms of expression including experimental film and installation that represent China’s society. He is currently a MFA student at NSCAD University and exploring more possibilities of artistic expression in time and space.

Find out more about Sun and his practice on his Instagram @zenzehuasun

Due to Covid Zehua is currently living and working in China. Here is what he was telling us about his studio practice:

My current studio practice is about the transformation between physical and digital. In the passage of time and modernization, I feel the things around me gradually depleting. The house I lived in with my grandparents will be demolished, and the furniture we used will be abandoned. These places, spaces and things hold many memories of individuals and generations. I am trying to extract them from the passage of time using the media of image, sound, photogrammetry, 3D scanning, image array modeling and 360 degree video. I let them exist in digital form in virtual space.

Do you keep a special object in your studio:

Yes, in one area of my studio I put down a carpet with a tea table and I also set up a simple Buddhist niche. I usually do a meditation to empty my mind before I start the studio work.

#nscad university #nscad #nscad mfa #studio visit #featured mfa #scenic design #expended media #experimental film #time and space #transformation #modernization #abandoned #virtual world #virtural space #@zenzehuasun

[nscadmfa]

Featured MFA: Grace Boyd

Our first featured MFA in 2021 is 1st year MFA with a practice in ceramics and land based art: Grace Boyd!!!

Grace is a ceramics and land based artist living nomadically across Canada. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba. Her early life was untamed and mostly lived outdoors, the natural beauty that surrounded her shaped her identity and art practice, drawing her to handmade objects and how they are made. The places she has lived inspire her work and inform her constant need to connect; person, place, and object. She is ever seeking a natural place to rest which drives her to create the world in which she wishes to belong.

If you want to know more about Grace, check out this post and her Instagram Site : @gracewboyd

We asked Grace about her “studio”-work. Here is was she said:

With great curiosity, I am seeking to further understand the relationship between person, place and object through the medium of ceramics and land-based materials. I wish to build a world around myself of which I want to dwell and thrive.

Do you keep a special object in your studio?

My collections. Through my explorations of the wild places I have gathered and collected a great assortment of wild objects that I identify as my treasures. These object I award places of honor in my studio, arranging them with care and thought.

"I use the landscape and nature because it's right here. I understand it better than I understand anything else.” – Peter Von Tiesenhausen

#NSCAD #nscaduniversity #nscad mfa #studio visit #ceramics #land based art #handmade objects #clay #wild places #nature #connections #@gracewboyd

[nscadmfa]

Featured MFA: Heidi Friesen

Our next featured MFA is first year textile and fibre artist: Heidi Friesen

Heidi employs the material language of textiles to examine the migration of ideas, referencing natural systems as models for responsible design and intercultural relationships. Born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Heidi left a career in graphic design to do her BFA in Fibre at AUArts in Calgary, Alberta. After graduating in 2016, she interned at the Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator and then worked as Assistant Designer and Studio Manager for the Toronto fashion label Laura Siegel Collection. Heidi was chosen as a finalist for the inaugural LOEWE Craft Prize in 2017, and has participated in artist residencies in Hungary, France, and Portugal.

See more about her studio practice below or go to her Instagram @hkfriesen and her website http://madebyheidi.ca/

We visited Heidi in her studio (H220) at the Textiles Department.

Heidi, tell us about your studio practice!

I have been researching the global history of idea exchange though textiles. My goal is to uncover meaningful connections and to demonstrate that these interactions can be mutually beneficial, emulating symbiotic relationships found in nature. Prioritizing natural materials and slow manual processes, I draw attention to the elemental components of form, composition, and structure.

Most recently in the studio I’ve been working on some weaving and embroidery projects that explore connections between cloth, stone, and architecture. Using natural fibres like linen, cotton, silk, and wool, I can imitate the textures of stone and concrete. I have also been getting better acquainted with Halifax and the local landscape and ecosystems.

Do you keep a special object in your studio?

Whenever I visit a beach, I collect fragments of old bricks that have washed up with the tide. I’m not sure yet where they are leading me, but there is something fascinating about these discarded, man-made construction materials that have gone on a journey and have been re-shaped by the ocean currents over time. 

#featured mfa #NSCAD #nscad university #nscad mfa #studio visit #textiles #fibres #Architecture #slowprocess #naturalmaterials #weaving #@hkfriesen

[nscadmfa]

Featured MFA: Yifan Liu

Next featured first year MFA is filmmaker and photographer Yifan Liu!

Yifan is an artist, filmmaker, and photographer who is currently based in Shanghai, China. Her documentary film "20Hz" was first screened in 2016, LAFA, Shenyang, China, with performances presented by local artists. Later, her experimental film "110000" explored the points of contact between the tumultuous urban geography of Shenyang and its inhabitants. She has been involved with working groups including "Xin Ke Du (New Measurement) Group And Qian Weikang", (exhibition) 2015, OCAT, Shenzhen, and "Shadow Play: Full_Screen", (performance/event) 2016, TANGO, Beijing. Her practice investigates relations between 3-dimensional space and its subjects, with a focus on cultural ecosystems, urbanism, and new media.

You can see more of her work on her Instagram @hangry_fourrr.

Continue reading to see and hear more about her studio work!

Due to the Pandemic, Yifan has currently her studio in Shanghai, China. She stays up many nights to attend her online classes! Here are some more images and what she told us about her studio practise!

Tell Us About your studio Practice: 

My current studio practice is about the transformation between dimensions, using an alternative process of origami and cyanotype. During the pandemic, I recalled the nostalgia of material and handcrafting. This is in response to the fact that in online environments, context and reality are transcoded into excursive windows and missing the physical body of experience.

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Featured MFA: Natasha Martel

Our second featured MFA for this term is also a first year artist with a practise in painting and drawing: Natasha Martel!

Natasha Martel (she/her) is a Canadian artist who paints, draws and pulls monoprints in her small-town country studio where she lives and works with her husband, dog and cat. She studied Studio Arts at Concordia University and obtained her BFA in 2016. Shortly afterwards, her first solo painting show was held at The Arbor Gallery (2017). Natasha was the youngest artist included in a survey of 31 Canadian Women Painters curated by Harold Klunder at The McClure Art Centre (2017). She has shown internationally in San Antonio, Texas where she completed her first artist residency at The Epitome Institute (2019). Natasha’s work is abstract in nature by focusing on gestural movements of her body. She reinvents the sweeping rural topographical landscapes and the colliding of minuscule micro-organisms. She is pleased to be living in Halifax while completing her MFA at NSCAD and takes inspiration from the proximity of the ocean.

If you want to see more work, check out her website www.natashamartel.com or @waxpigment (Instagram) 

While we visited Natasha in her studio in Fountain Campus (N500) we ask her to...

Tell us about your Studio Practice!

For the past few years, my oil paintings have relied heavily on the mixture of wax medium to build up a thick surface texture. 

While I am still interested in this quality of painting, working  at NSCAD has allowed me the space to revisit traditional oil painting techniques such as glazing and using a paint brush - which may seem rudimentary for most painters but those tools were not previously a go-to in my painting repertoire.  has introduced the concept of time slowing down and allowing for the paint to dry before further glazes are applied. This process is quite enriching and provides an eternal luminosity, I enjoy the juxtaposition next to or on top of the heavy wax medium.  

Do you keep a special object in your studio?

Yes, I have 2 so far! I am on the continuous search for rusted metal pieces that have clearly been discarded in the streets and are obsolete. One is a broken piece of a ball joint and the other is a spring. There is so much mystery within these objects and I love the rusted colour!

#featured mfa #nscad mfa #studio visit #painting #fountain campus #nscad #wax medium #natashamartel #waxpigment #drawing #monoprints #canadianart

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Featured MFA: Emily Davidson

Our next featured 2nd year MFA works with printmaking, design and textiles: Emily Davidson!!!

Emily Davidson is a settler artist, activist and graphic designer based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Her artistic practice uses printmaking to investigate the history of leftist political movements, imagine utopian futures, and agitate for social justice causes. Her current research focuses on the entangled relationship of print media in historic and ongoing colonization across Turtle Island, and the formation of settler-colonial states on Indigenous lands. Emily graduated from NSCAD University in 2009 (BFA, Interdisciplinary) and is a current MFA candidate at NSCAD. Emily is teaching Post-Digital Printmaking at NSCAD for the first time this semester, which is a course she designed based on her cross-disciplinary printmaking and graphic design practice. Emily is a recipient of the Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s Program in Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Find out more about Emily and her practice on this blog or her website https://emilydavidsonart.com and her Instagram  instragam.com/madlyvisioned

We visited Emily in the Dawson Printshop and her studio at Fountain Campus N500. Here is what she told us about her studio work:

My process employs visual articulation of extensive research and analysis. I’m not afraid to be didactic to clearly communicate the intent of my work. This means that my studio practice involves digging through archives (primarily digital archives right now due to COVID-19 restrictions); finding and reading articles to develop analysis; and making lists (so many lists!), spreadsheets and digital maps. Lately, I've been focused on researching the wood type collection in the Dawson Printshop. I've been sorting the collection and working on identification of previously unidentified specimens. One of the most exciting revelations is that one specimen was produced by Page & Co. in Greenville, Connecticut–which dates this type's production to between 1857-1869! In my work on the intertwined history of print and colonization knowing specific dates when wood type was produced is crucial. What messages and ideas has this type disseminated in the last 150 years?

Do you keep a special object in your studio:

I keep a special piece of wood type in my studio. It's a 12-line capital letter R from the Columbian typeface. For a long time, it was the only piece of wood type I owned because I bought it as an (overpriced) orphan from a local antique store.

#NSCAD #nscad university #nscad mfa #featured mfa #studio #studio visit #dawson printshop #printmaking #letterpress #decolonization #design #textiles #acitivism #social justice