The Department of Art is committed to the study and practice of the visual arts as these relate to creative art making, educational practice and theory, and the understanding of art in its diverse historical and cultural settings. The U of C produces graduates well equipped to meet the numerous overlapping skills currently demanded within professional art practice and theoretical discourse.
Announcements
The of Department of Art is pleased to announce that Mary Cutbill has been awarded the Silver Medallion; this award is given to the graduating student with the highest distinction in scholarship. Mary will receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts Visual Studies degree (with a Studio Concentration) at the June 12th convocation ceremony. Congratulations Mary - we are delighted to see your dedication, time and hard work (not to mention your involvement in out-of-class activities) acknowledged in this way.
The Department of Art congratulates the following graduate students: MFA student William Downey who has been awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship; MFA student Isabel Perrone who has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Master’s Scholarship and PhD candidate Kristine Thoreson who has been awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Scholarship.
Department of Art printmaking professor, Bill Laing, was recently inducted into the Student's Union (SU) Teaching Excellence Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame inductees are “an exceptional group of people who are enthusiastic about teaching and passionate about the subject matter…. They are the instructors who take students beyond the walls of the classroom by teaching more than what is in the textbook, offering additional resources and illustrating real world applications for the course content.” Bill has also won the SU Teaching Excellence Award five times - congratulations, Bill!
The Department of Art’s Graduate Program Administrator, Biljana Arnautovic, who also holds a part-time appointment with the Department of Linguistics, was nominated for an “Exemplary Administrative Award - Support Staff” by the Linguistics graduate students. Congratulations to
you, Bilijana.
Performing & Visual Arts at U of C
Upcoming Events
Faculty and Student Exhibitions in Calgary and Around the World
“Pulp Paper Pages”, at the Leighton Art Centre, showcases work from 28 of the best contemporary paper artists, including Linda Carreiro, an instructor in the Department of Art. Designed to coincide with Alberta's "Art of the Book 2013" exhibition and symposium “Pulp Paper Pages”, presents the capabilities of this everyday material and showcases artists who are fascinated by and relish the opportunity to explore the properties of paper. It features a wide variety of forms, objects, approaches, techniques, and ideas used in both the paper and book arts. The exhibition’s Opening Reception is June 15 at 2p.m.; the exhibit runs until July 14 (the Leighton Art Centre is located southwest of Calgary http://leightoncentre.org/). “Pulp Paper Pages” will then move to South Korea for the Wonju 2013 Hanji Paper Festival.
Former Department of Art Master’s student, Jennifer Stead, has a commission in Ottawa’s newly-opened François Dupuis Recreation Centre “Water” introduces the force of nature into the built environment of the Recreation Centre through a visual exploration of water’s many moods and manifestations. The artwork amplifies the experience of being at the pool and our relationship with water, while acknowledging the building’s activity and purpose. Inspired by Stead’s charcoal drawings, “Water’s” aluminum panels incorporate large open spaces and abstracted patterns to create a dynamic composition, describing water’s movements and reflections as well as some of
the life forms it sustains. Stead has been depicting landscapes in her work for over twenty years and her work is represented in various private, public and corporate collections in Canada. Stead received her B.F.A. from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and received her M.F.A. from the University of Calgary in 2007.Faculty members from the Department of Art including Peter Deacon, Gerald Hushlak, Ron Kostyniuk, William Laing and Paul Woodrow have works featured in a new exhibition at the Glenbow. “Made In Calgary: The 1970s” is a celebration of artists who have lived, worked and created in Calgary. The exhibit brings together art from the '70s, a time when, thanks to a petroleum-fueled economic boom, the city saw unprecedented change and Calgary’s art scene mirrored the city’s ambition and growth. The decade saw a new arts department at the University of Calgary, the opening of a new building for the Alberta College of Art and a new home for the Glenbow Museum. There were many more opportunities for artists to exhibit and sell their work, both in Calgary and beyond, and for the first time, Calgary artists were able to entertain the notion of a full-time career in art-making, rather than having to rely on income from teaching or from another "day job." The works in “Made in Calgary: The 1970s" reveal an artistic community that was embracing new avenues of expression; Calgary artists were exploring new mediums such as plastic, video and performance art and idea-based art that was not rooted in the tradition of representation. ”Made in Calgary: The 1970s” is at the Glenbow until August 11, 2013.
Former B.F.A. graduate, Megan Dickie has an installation at a new gallery in Edmonton, Latitude 53. Dickie’s installation, "Flips Folly", is a series of sculptures inspired by architecture and mathematics and presented as props that invite comic interaction from the viewer through touch and movement. While the creative process behind the sculptures embodies thought and intellectualism, viewers are free to touch and interact with them, breaking down the divide between physical and mental states, by engaging on a tactile level before the censorship of reason kicks in. Dickie, who has exhibited across Canada and in the United States, teaches sculpture and printmaking at the University of Victoria; her installation will be at Latitude 53 from May 24 until July 13. Latitude 53 is located at 10242 - 106 Street, Edmonton, Alberta.
Department of Art instructors Linda Carreiro and Richard Smolinski are exhibitors at the Fringe Arts Bath Festival. "In Other Words: An Exhibition Exploring the Future of Language" features over thirty artists and explores the evolving relationship with text, language and writing. Carreiro and Smolinski’s piece, “Summary”is a series of textual veils made of excised paper hung from the ceiling; the text runs downwards, requiring the viewer to tilt his or her head to read the densely compressed words. All the negative space between and surrounding the text has been cut out so that the veils are comprised of abutted and adjacent words. This enables readers to see not only words, but also the space between and around the text, melding the environment with language. The annual festival runs from May 24 until June 9 in Bath, U.K.