CVAG South Gallery | Window + Plaza Media Gallery | GATHER:PLACE | George Sawchuk Gallery
THE THINGS THAT HOLD US
Artist Statement by Tricia Wasney
My work celebrates the ordinary and is informed by forgotten or hidden histories, the specificity of place and the materials I discover. Local, organic, pre-owned and waste materials are incorporated into my work as they arrive with their own layers of embedded meaning. I am especially interested in how relationships between people and the land act as both anchors and buoys, holding us in place while also casting us adrift. The things that hold us reflects personal experiences over the past four years, beginning with the first CVAG curated residency at the McLoughlin Gardens in 2023. The exhibition includes previous work made about Manitoba landscapes, some work made entirely during the residencies, some re-worked in my studio in Winnipeg and others made in 2026, a result of looking back and reflecting on how the landscape in the Comox Valley impacted me and how the Prairie landscape affects me. Additionally, the four years have included unexpected and destabilizing loss in my personal life that has infiltrated the work; as a whole the exhibition reflects on the impossibility of permanence, about finding, losing, and finally celebrating that which has been found and commemorating that which has been lost.
Tricia Wasney, wearing “Spines” brooch.
Image courtesy of Richard Dyck.
ABOUT TRICIA WASNEY
Wasney’s studies in landscape architecture, film and literature impact her art work which aims to tell stories through diverse methods including narrative jewellery, craft-based practices and installations. Artist residencies in Belfast, Northern Ireland; Churchill, Manitoba; Athens, Greece; Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba; Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg; Lake Winnipeg; Manitoba, and the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island have further expanded her thinking and art practice. She has received numerous grants for her art work and writing from the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts and has shown her work in galleries in Canada and internationally.
The Comox Valley Art Gallery is committed to creating spaces where everyone can participate.
CVAG spaces are accessible.
Programs are barrier-free (no cost). DONATIONS are appreciated and contribute to ongoing community interactive programming.
CVAG spaces are accessible. Efforts are made to make presented programming contents available to all by using approachable audio and visual technologies to aid in experience and way-finding. Staff are available to answer any questions and to provide orientation to the presentation and gallery spaces.
PUBLIC HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS: We ask that visitors choose not to visit if they are experiencing symptoms of colds and flus. Hand sanitation dispensers are available at CVAG. Wearing a mask is at the discretion of the visitor.
