North Island College students from FIN 230 and 231 Sculpture + Integrated Art Practice courses have been engaged in a community incubator project at CVAG. Work by the students is currently presented in our George Sawchuk Gallery.
This incubator and presentation project offers participants an opportunity to have practical experience in a gallery environment — installing artwork, preparing art statements, documenting, sharing, and engaging with public audiences.
Featured Artists — Valerie Arthur / Anne Cumming / Hynsel Curaje / Karen Day / Naia Lisch / Erica Livsey / David Page / Kaleeka Pather / Renee Poisson / Oskar Roughsedge
THEME 1: Two Halves Make a Whole (Series of Multiples)
Material exploration: plaster (molds), clay (forms), ceramic firing (bisque + raku)
Methodology: plaster mold for slip casting / clay press — repeat, vary, hybridize, exchange
THEME 2: Stories Without Words / Under Cover
Material exploration: open 3D + integrated media combination
Methodology: juxtaposition of content + form (provocation: “You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover”) / book as installation / participatory formats
VALERIE ARTHUR
Abandoned Alberta Farmstead, Circa 1948, Found Many Years Later
Bring your questions to this piece. What does it evoke for you? A work in progress shifts and transforms with memory and ideas. This is a cross-cultural display evoking the past, and perhaps the future.
ANNE CUMMING
Artificial Proprium
Life involves the process of mining the depths of who we are and the fruits of that process can be anywhere along the spectrum from the most beautiful to the most ugly. Sometimes it’s hard to discern what we find.
HYNSEL CURAJE
Macro Nub
The art form encourages the viewer to consider the societal implications of their own gaze and how it shapes their understanding of Identity, gender, and sexuality.
The repetition of the dildos and the circular formation symbolise the idea that all forms of sexuality and pleasure are connected and should be celebrated.
The two-piece mould technique grants a creation of mass produced dildos to interpret and comment on the commodification of sexuality thus depriving our society of intimacy and authentic connections.
The multiple casts also emphasize the idea of diversity and individuality. Each cast comes out unique from the same mold. Alluding to the way that all children, adults, men and women all begin inside the womb.
KAREN DAY
Tarot of My Mind
This interactive piece provides a snapshot of my mind. Memories and Moments are distilled down into tarot cards. Each head holds an 8 card spread. A companion book explains each card as it pertains to the reading.
The Noises in my Head
This series explores life with Mental Illness. To have a brain full of noise and everyone is talking at once. How to make sense of that internal self talk and how to turn down the volume (or turn it right off).
The Remains of the Day
What is left behind at the end of the day? Does it even matter? A collection of castings from the Two Halves Make A Whole 2022 installation.
NAIA LISCH
Unrubber Ducks
Turning an everyday object, especially a very durable one, into something unique and fragile is something that’s always interested me. The rubber duck was designed by an artist, and I’m using its existing form to create a different version of itself. What makes the ducks that I’ve created art, but not the rubber duck? Is it intention? Fragility? Perhaps it’s simply because the porcelain objects are visually appealing.
ERICA LIVSEY
Portals
A simple metal ring was slip casted in a porcelain clay and then raku fired. Each piece has resulted in it’s own individual portal.
DAVID PAGE
Untitled
I’m interested in how everyday objects become something else if you view them differently. Here, slip castings of an industrial light bulb become a collection of strange objects suspended in space.
Scrapbook
While photographing scrap piles, I thought about the differences and similarities between metal and fabric. This Scrapbook combines the two materials.
KALEEKA PATHER
Mantra-Making, Even When Things Break
Slip cast
A process in multiple parts
This series holds the act of taking something from home; making a replica requires a preparation akin to stealing its form.
The form is captured in detail through a multipart mold. Removed. Released from the plaster. I notice more detail the more I work with the object.
Each are experiencing alchemy; running through mold making, igniting through the raku fire.
Each are imbued with:
Rose petals
Fire
Hair – personhood
Burning – cleansing – clearing
Experiencing and providing:
Moments.
They signify.
Prayer.
Mourning.
Gathering.
Celebration.
Pause
even when things break
even when things break
you are.
They are. I am
things: I don’t know what they are
I am
What will become of them? Me? You?
Taking something liquid and watching it become solid
It’s in what I do, preparing for ritual
(small)
RENEE POISSON
In To Land
You can see a small forest of forms, maybe trees, possibly people growing out of shape: a rock, mountain peak, an island in the sea. Underneath, viewed through the tunnel, drifting floats inscribed with conifer embryos, reach a shore, root and grow to inhabit receptive ground. I am a multi-faceted artist whose practice has been rooted in independent and collaborative projects involving sculpture, performance, drawing, video, installations and soundscapes. My studies and training have been intensely self-directed over the past five decades.
This incubator is part of the OPEN ⋮ REALITY convergent program at the Comox Valley Art Gallery.