Any nominees who put their name forward will stand for election by the membership at VANS Annual General Meeting on Saturday, June 1, 2013 in New Glasgow.

Overall, a regional representative believes wholeheartedly in the importance and value of VANS to the visual arts community and the representative should be able to endorse the mandate and objectives of our organization without reservation.

Being a regional representative also offers visual artists and members of the visual arts community an exceptional volunteer opportunity to contribute to the advancement of the visual arts in Nova Scotia and the ongoing sustainability and direction of VANS, in general.

If you are interested in nominating a member or putting your own name forward and would like additional information, please contact Briony at director@visualarts.ns.ca or Andrea Puszkar at puszkar@rocketmail.com .

NARC MINE
Visual Arts Nova Scotia Region 7 Exhibition

Opening Reception June 1 4-6pm 2013

With the Carillon Singers at The Celtic Circle

Whether turning their gazes to subjects outside themselves or seeing their inner gaze via a technique outside their own realm, the Artists in this show are revealing powerful turning point works. Playing and provoking on the theme of  narcotics – “narc”  is actually  an abbreviation for narcissism – the healthiest kind… Artists mine their own healthiest moments of narcissism in their searching and seeing. Come and see art that represents the creative mining of interior landscapes that Region 7 Artists have bravely explored. Featuring works by:

Carolyn Bedford, Barbara Brown-Conrod, Deborah Jenkins, Tila Kellman, Paige Prichard Kennedy, Debbie Lamey MacDonald, Dawn MacNutt, Adele McFarlane, Fenn Martin, Raina McDonald, Anna Pereda, Anna Syparek, Carolyn Vienneau, Lyn-Sue Wice, Eliza Fernbach, Margaret Nicholson, Bruce Campbell, and the ASAP Artists Collaborative, and more!

A Subject, A Story, A Scene, A Saying, A System discovered.

Catalog available during exhibit

The Celtic Circle is located at:
195 Forbes Street,
New Glasgow, NS B2H 1P4

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For more information regarding the exhibit, please contact Visual Arts Nova Scotia Region 7 Representative: Eliza Fernbach at elizafernbach@ymail.com.

For more information about Visual Arts Nova Scotia, please contact

Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road
Halifax, NS, B3H 4P7
902.423.4694 / 1.866.225.8267
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca

Learn all about VANS’ activities over the past year and our direction for the future.

Join the board, staff and artists for lunch from 1:00 – 2:00pm at the Celtic Circle, giving  members an opportunity to meet and socialize before the  Annual General Meeting.  The AGM will begin immediately following lunch at 2pm where members can vote on Agenda Items.

Following the meeting, please join us for the opening reception of the VANS Region 7 exhibition, NARC MINE, from 4:00pm – 6:00pm. The reception is open to the public, please feel free to invite family and friends to the opening.  A complete list of activities programmed for the AGM is listed below.

Please RSVP your attendance to the AGM and lunch by May 24 to vans@visualarts.ns.ca or call (902) 423-4694, toll-free 1-866-225-8267.

AGM Schedule

1 – 2pm – Lunch at The Celtic Circle, 195 Forbes St, open to all VANS members, please RSVP by May 24.

2 – 3:30pm  – Annual General Meeting, open to all VANS members, please RSVP by May 24. See agenda for meeting items.

3:30  – 4pm  – PAINTS and Mentorship Program information tables. Becky and Andrea will be available to answer any questions regarding these programs.

4 – 4:30pm Opening remarks and performance by the Carillon Singers at the Trinity Church, 151 Temperance St. (5 min walk from the Celtic Circle)

4:30 - 6pm -  Reception for NARC MINE, Region 7 exhibition at The Celtic Circle.

The Celtic Circle is located at 195 Forbes Street, New Glasgow, NS. For locations and driving directions, please consult Google Maps (http://maps.google.ca).

Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
t: (902) 423-4694, 1-866-225-8267, f: (902)422-0881
vans@visualarts.ns.ca

Feel free to join us for a reception at the Khyber Centre for the Arts Saturday April 20, from 6-9pm.

For more information about the symposium visit: http://www.visualarts.ns.ca/atlantic-symposium-art-writing/

For more information about upcoming workshops visit: http://www.visualarts.ns.ca/programs/vans-workshops/

Mary MacIntosh, Gloryhole #3, Cotton and polyester thread on linen 12ā€¯x8ā€¯

Hole
Mary MacIntosh
May 3 – 24, 2013

Emerging Cape Breton textile artist Mary MacIntosh exhibits a series of embroidered quips in the corridor gallery from May 3 – 24. MacIntosh describes her motivation and process:

The works in this exhibition all began as fleeting jokes and puns that involved the word “hole”¯. The embroidered eyelet hole has been a common thread (excuse the pun) throughout much of my work in the past year, and I find there is an interesting tension between the immediacy of the unfunny puns I create and the meticulous and methodical techniques I employ to create them.

Mary MacIntosh graduated from NSCAD University in 2012 and recently completed an artist residency in her hometown of Sydney at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design through NSCAD’s Community Studio Residency Program. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions across Nova Scotia at galleries such as the Khyber Centre for the Arts, Cape Breton University Art Gallery, and more. She has also had solo exhibitions of her work at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design and the Anna Leonowens Gallery. Her work is primarily embroidered.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) office at the Halifax Seaport, since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

For further information regarding the Corridor Gallery or this exhibition, please contact:

Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
902.423.4694 1.866.225.8267 f: 902.422.0881
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca

Shelter #3, Torn cloth embroidered and stitched with twigs, found branches woven into existing fence.

Pat Loucks

An early interest in sewing, knitting and quilting led me to pursue formal studies in Textiles at NSCAD, where explorations in weaving gave me an understanding of the basic structure of cloth. Intrigued by the idea of cloth as an art form, I began experimenting with printmaking and resist dyeing, adding applique, stitching and embroidery to create more complex imagery.

The historical tradition of textile work done by women has been an important influence in my art process, choices of materials, and techniques. The labour-intensive, repetitive nature of handwork, as well as its physicality, are important features of my work. I regularly use torn cloth and unfinished edges to make the structure of cloth apparent and to demonstrate the properties of cloth – its strength as well as its vulnerability.

Links

I’ve been a member of VANS for over 10 years. I joined in order to be more connected to the broader arts scene in this region. VANS plays an important role in creating links between artists by offering workshops, discussion groups, opportunities to exhibit and market our work. I’ve participated in several VANS programs including the PAINTS program, exhibitions, workshops. I was selected for the VANS Artist-in-Residence program at Captain Wm. Spry Library, and recently showed my work at The Hub. I have exhibited also in the Corridor Gallery.

Patterns in the Landscape

Inspiration for my work usually comes from my observation of seasonal changes in the natural environment or the effects of human intervention in the landscape. More recently I am exploring the similarities between the earth’s landscape and human skin – our personal landscape – reflecting on histories, memories, scars and the passage of time. The marks and patterns on the land and on human skin provide an image bank of resources for my work.

Challenge of Textiles

As a textile artist, the challenge is always getting recognition as a serious artist. Textiles have traditionally been regarded as “craft” rather than “art”¯ and as such relegated to an inferior position. Consequently it can often be frustrating to continue to make the work you love to make. Textile artists have considerably fewer opportunities to exhibit in galleries, commercial or otherwise, and usually need to carefully comb calls to entry for possibilities. I recently had two pieces accepted to the World of Threads Festival, an international juried exhibition of contemporary fibre art. Works were exhibited in several venues in the Toronto area, and included a huge variety of wall-mounted works, indoor and outdoor installations.

Recent Work

I recently had 2 pieces selected for the World of Threads Festival, an international juried exhibition of contemporary fibre art. Works were exhibited in several venues in the Toronto area. Currently my work focusses on creating outdoor site-specific installations, and studio installations. These works often combine re-purposed cloth with natural elements and found objects, as in my 3-part land art work “Shelter”. A new installation work titled “Skin Deep” will be exhibited during July and August in a gallery in Portalegre, Portugal.

Renate Deppe, ‘Ephemeral’ #1, photo collage, 17″ x 11″, 2013

Sky and Steel: VANS in the HUB

Gary Castle
Renate Deppe
Anna Horsnell Wade
Ed Huner
Su Rogers
Kate Stinson &
Barbara Schmeisser

April 3 – May 30, 2013

Visual Arts Nova Scotia presents Sky and Steel, the 5th edition of VANS in the HUB at The Hub Gallery. The exhibition is on view from April 3 until May 30, 2013. VANS in the Hub features a broad range of artworks by Nova Scotian visual artists: Gary Castle, Renate Deppe, Anna Horsnell Wade, Ed Huner, Su Rogers, Kate Stinson, & Barbara Schmeisser.

Works displayed range from photo collage and large scale paintings to sculpture and prints, many of which use imagery and sentiments of travel and the vastness of landscapes. Sky and Steel juxtaposes political works that examine gun control and urban violence, alongside serene images of monumental structures and vistas in the context of the Hub – a dynamic, ever changing work environment in the heart of the city.

The Hub is a work-inspired office space located at 1673 Barrington Street on the second floor in Halifax, NS. The Hub is open Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 6pm. For more information regarding the Hub, please visit http://thehubhalifax.ca/.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia is a provincial non-profit arts organization which works towards the advancement of visual artists and the visual arts in Nova Scotia.

For further information about this exhibition or VANS, please contact:

Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
t:902.423.4694 1.866.225.8267 f:902.422.0881
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca

Trouble 12″ x 12 Mixed media, acrylics, found objects, vintage ephemera

Teena Marie Fancey is a Nova Scotian artist working in mixed media and relief printmaking methods. Primarily self-taught, she has also gained skills by working and collaborating with other artists. The Nova Scotia Art Bank Program purchased her work “2 Crows” in 2000 and in 2010 her work was selected to represent Canada at Kinsale Arts Week in Ireland. Teena Marie’s work has been exhibited in solo, collaborative, and group shows and is held in private collections throughout North America and beyond. Teena Marie is a member of VANS and the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design.

Tall Tales

In my latest work, I draw on inspiration from collected photographs, remembered poems, nursery rhymes and stories that left me full of wonder and fueled my imagination.

I love the way the stories are told with an enchanting sweetness even when the tale was grim and dark.

I have conveyed these impressions in my work using paint and carefully chosen subjects, colour, objects and ephemera. These bits and pieces bring their own history and a renewed value in merging together to tell tales that are both imagined and true.

In Good Company

I’ve been a VANS member for a number of years now, I can’t actually remember when I first joined. 2000 or maybe earlier? I enjoy the magazine, Visual Arts News and being connected to the arts community throughout the province via the e-newsletters and bulletins. I like knowing what everybody is up to!

I have also participated in a few VANS exhibits, most recently Saturday Night/Sunday Morning and Pol.ar. Participating in group exhibitions is always a good exercise to discover new ways of working. Being presented with interesting themes or concepts can often lead to evolution in one’s work. Feeling like you’re in good company is a nice result of showing en mass, as is being a VANS member.

Storytelling

Mostly other artists influence me to continue creating. So many great ideas and talented people are out there, but I also have a strong desire to tell stories for people to enjoy. I love to collect things and write too, so I can put things that I love together and share a story visually. The urge to communicate will always motivate me to make things.

Creative Living

The biggest challenge for me is maintaining my practice while trying to make a living. This is nothing new to anyone in the creative arts. Luckily, I work for the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design in the gallery and shop and hone my skills doing installations and scratching my creative itch by being part of an organization where we are creating events, projects, and promotions of our artists and artisans; further connecting me to the arts community. I am also a professional member of the CBCCD, and am represented in the gallery shop.

Since 2007, I’ve been painting in a specific style and have shown regularly from 2009 – 2011. My hard work is starting to pay off, as interest and sales are increasing. It never fails to feel good when someone likes what you make and wants to own it. It’s always a good day when that happens.

Fairy Tales

I’m inspired by fairy tale illustrations, so my work is often dark and surreal. I use old photographs from my growing collection and after working on them digitally, I make a transfer and use it as an under-painting. The subjects are often unknown to me and I wonder what they may have been thinking at the time their picture was taken. I invent a story for them to tell by altering their image and surroundings with acrylics — sometimes adding found objects or ephemera. I often like to use a bit of humour in my work. My goal is always to entertain. It’s not unusual for me to write poetry and rhymes to accompany the work and the writing helps me to develop the visual for the idea. Incorporating these things into the work is more than satisfying to me as it brings many of my loves together.

Bits and Pieces

Last spring, I participated in a group show called Home To Roost; collaborated with a basket maker on a few pieces; and tried to get some work ready to have for sale during the summer/fall seasons. After a bit of a break I’m now busy creating a body of work for an upcoming show this year.

Altered Egos

I am having an exhibition, opening in November 2013 at the Craig Gallery in Dartmouth called “Altered Egos” featuring mixed media paintings of individuals who wish to show their ‘second selves’ that have been coaxed out by me with a bit of paint. These egos will take on all sorts of forms: fur and feathered creatures, the seasons, storybook characters, various occupations, and emotions, and the odd sign of the zodiac.

SOLD OUT

April 19th – 21st, 2013
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Keynote Lecture on Art Writing by Sylvie Fortin
Friday April 19th at 7 pm
Windsor Foundation Lecture Theatre, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Admission is $5, or free for symposium registrants, students and the unwaged.

Sylvie Fortin is former Editor-in-Chief and Executive Director of Art Papers, an international art magazine based in Atlanta Georgia, and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Day-long Symposium on Art Writing
Saturday April 20th, NSCAD University

Tickets: $40 regular / $25 for students and the unwaged.

Symposium sessions will be held in the NSCAD, Bell Auditorium, 4th Floor, at 5163 Duke Street, from 9 am to 4:30 pm.

Registration

Advance registration is required, and includes admission to Friday’s keynote lecture, Saturday’s symposium sessions, a reception Saturday evening, and a tour of Halifax galleries on Sunday. To register, go to www.cmagazine.com. For further information contact info@cmagazine.com

Session Schedule:

Each session will consist of a series of presentations by invited writers, editors, and curators, followed by a conversation between presenters and symposium participants.

9:00 – 10:30

Art Criticism and the Ecology of Art

Why do we (not) write art criticism? This panel will consider how art criticism fits into the ecology and economics of the art world.

10:45 – 12:15

Existing Models for Art Writing

In this session, each speaker will address how different kinds of publications, including newspapers, web publications and print magazines, each operate. Editors and publishers will do a show-and-tell of how they make money and where it gets spent.

1:15 – 2:45

Professional Practice for Writers

This session will cover different kinds of writing, including exhibition texts, catalog essays, reviews, interviews, profiles, columns, and features. How does one establish oneself as a writer? What are the different relationships that artists, galleries and writers each have with publications and how do writers avoid conflicts of interest? What different venues are available to writers, what is the role of research, and how does one write for different audiences?

3:00 – 4:30

Alternative Models for Art Writing and Publishing

Invited speakers discuss their top ten innovative models for art writing and publishing. Guests will also look at alternative models for generating revenue, and ways of publishing without it.

6:00 – 9:00 pm

Reception at The Khyber Centre for the Arts, 1588 Barrington St.

Publications and Printed Matter Showcase:

There will be a publications and printed matter showcase, throughout the symposium, in room D241.

Gallery tour organized by Visual Arts Nova Scotia

Symposium Presenters:

Ray Cronin is Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. He is the author of several catalogue essays, as well as numerous articles for Canadian and American art magazines. He has also worked as a visual arts columnist for several Atlantic Canadian newspapers, and in 2000 was recipient of the Christina Sabat Award for Critical Review in the Arts.

Sylvie Fortin is an independent curator, critic, editor, and art historian who seeks  to operate as a cultural decontamination agent. She has worked as Editor-in-Chief  and Executive Director of Art Papers, an international art magazine based in Atlanta Georgia, Curator of the 5th Quebec City Biennale, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Ottawa Art Gallery, Program Coordinator at la chambre  blanche in Quebec City, and a long-term collaborator with OBORO in Montreal. Her critical essays and reviews have been published in catalogues, anthologies, and periodicals across the Americas and Europe, including Artforum, Art Press, C Magazine, Espace, Fuse, NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art and Parachute. She is currently Curator of Contemporary Art at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where her curatorial research looks into hospitality and the existence of something like a non-aligned aesthetics.

Lizzy Hill is an internationally published writer and editor, who has contributed to publications including Canadian Art, This Magazine and Halifax’s alternative weekly, The Coast. She is a columnist for The National Gallery of Canada’s online magazine (ngcmagazine.ca), the editor of Visual Arts News and the Halifax correspondent for Akimblog.

Richard William Hill is Assistant Professor of art history at York University and an independent critic and curator. Hill’s essays on art have appeared in numerous books, exhibition catalogues and periodicals. He has a long association with the Canadian art magazine Fuse, where he was a member of the board and editorial committee and remains a contributing editor. He is currently working on a book on the question of agency in the art of Jimmie Durham.

Mike Landry is Arts & Culture Editor at the Telegraph-Journal, New Brunswick’s provincial newspaper, and founder of Things of Desire, a national online art magazine. He has been writing about visual art since 2008 and has worked for Visual Arts News, The Coast and The Walrus. He lives in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Amish Morrell is Director of Programs at C The Visual Art Foundation and Editor of C Magazine. He is also Special Lecturer in Visual Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga and has written for publications including Art Papers, Ciel Variable, Fuse Magazine, History of Photography and Prefix Photo. He has also organized exhibitions and public art projects in Inverness County Cape Breton, including The Frontier is Here, works about landscape and identity by contemporary Canadian and international artists, and Nightwalks with Teenagers, by Mammalian Diving Reflex.

Gabrielle Moser is a writer and independent curator. She regularly contributes to Artforum.com, and her writing has appeared in venues including ARTnews, Canadian Art, Fillip, n paradoxa, and Photography & Culture. She has curated exhibitions for Access Gallery, Gallery TPW, the Leona Drive Project and Vtape. She is a PhD candidate in art history and visual culture at York University, where she also teaches.

Leah Sandals is a professional writer and editor based in Toronto, and online editor at Canadian Art magazine. Her writing has appeared in Art Newspaper, Flash Art, Sculpture, Border Crossings and C Magazine. Her work has also been published in newspapers including the National Post, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the Halifax Chronicle-Herald.
____________________________________________________________________
The Atlantic Symposium is organized by C The Visual Arts Foundation and Visual Arts Nova Scotia, with funding from The Canada Council for the Arts and the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. C The Visual Arts Foundation and Visual Arts Nova Scotia are grateful for additional organizational support from the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, NSCAD University, the Anna Leonowens Gallery, the Atlantic Provinces Art Galleries Association (APAGA) and the St. Mary’s University Art Gallery.

Duncan Ferguson, 2nd Degree Attempted Murder, New York City Subway, mixed media, 2012

Court Rooms
Duncan Ferguson
March 5 – 27, 2013

Emerging artist Duncan Ferguson presents a series of drawings illustrating high and low profile court room proceedings held in Halifax and New York City. The exhibit is on view in the corridor gallery from March 5 – 27. Describing the work, Ferguson explains:

Court Rooms is a survey of drawings rendered while sitting in on a myriad of trials in Halifax and New York City from 2011-2013. They cover high and low profile cases from petty violence, larceny, military espionage, marital homicide, gang violence, subway attacks, etc. Given that some of these illustrations are geared for media consumption and others are the product of my practice, there is a distinct difference in the focus and handling of time, space and content. In their bias none are any more accurate than the others, and instead hinge on the paradoxical relationship between the traditions of courtroom illustration and the concept of accurate documentation.

Duncan Ferguson is a interdisciplinary artist born in London Ontario, and received his BFA from NSCAD University in ’12. He often makes large volumes of paintingsĀ  or sculpts highly produced objects that deal with questions of reality and evoke a dark humor in regard to contemporary life. He currently lives in the North End of Halifax.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) office at the Halifax Seaport, since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

For further information regarding the Corridor Gallery or this exhibition, please contact:

Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
902.423.4694Ā  1.866.225.8267Ā  f: 902.422.0881
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca