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ALUMNI NEWSLETTER Fine Art (Visual Art)

Program Developmentsu While the degrees offered in Fine Art will remain a Bachelor of Fine Art General (BFA) and Bachelor of Fine Art Honours (BFH), Senate has just approved a change in the Plan name to a Major in Visual Art. To reflect this change, we will now include Visual Art in all listings of the program name. The reason we have made this change is to more clearly describe what is taught in the program and to help create a more recognizable identity for Visual Art at Queen’s.

Faculty Member Newsu Professor Ted Rettig has received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Teaching, presented by the AMS. Just twelve professors at Queen's received this certificate from a list of more than four hundred student entries. Congratulations Ted!

u Professor Rebecca Anweiler has received a grant from the Fund to Support Artistic Production (FSAP). For this project Rebecca will be producing a video that utilizes a form of ‘magic realism' in a conceptually engaging way to explore the growing phenomenon of animal telepathic communication. Intertwining imagery from the natural world, interviews with communicators, and testimonials from clients, the video will explore multiple layers of contemporary mysticism.

u Seven of professor Otis Tamasauskas’ large scale prints will be featured in the Biennale internationale d'estampe contemporaine (June 16th to September 8th). Presented in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, this biennale is the only exhibition of its kind in North America, with more than fifty-five professional artists from twenty-two countries.

PROGRAM UPDATES

2012-2013 EVENTSSeptemberu Erin Shirreff, Visiting Artist Lecture

October u North Adams Print Trip, Annual student workshop at Gravity Press

Novemberu Sophie Jodoin, Visiting Artist Lecture

Februaryu Team Macho, Visiting Artist Lectureu Art Attack at COGRO, 4th year show fundraiser

Marchu Joscelyn Gardner, Visiting Artist Lectureu Maverick Mentality: Pop-up Show, 4th year show promotion u Maverick Art Auction @ Red House, 4th year show fundraiser u New York Trip, Annual BFA Gallery Field Trip

Aprilu The Power of the Multiple: Art in the ARC, BFA print saleu Maverick Behavior, BFA Graduating Exhibition

Welcome to the second edition of the Fine Art Alumni Newsletter. Many of you are now receiving our monthly newsletter and I hope that you will enjoy the update on Fine Art program activities and Alumni news that are covered here. In particular, we are pleased to highlight the excellence and breadth of educational opportunities available to our students.

We enjoy hearing from Alumni. Since our first Alumni newsletter last summer, I have had the pleasure to meet and correspond with a number of you. If you're in the vicinity, I do hope that you will stop by Ontario Hall to visit us. Kathleen Sellars Director, Fine Art (Visual Art)

GREETINGS FROM THE DIRECTOR OF FINE ART

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2013 Graduating class (back) David Woodward, Emily Carlaw, Heather Halliday, Audrey Assad, Rosalind Breen, Monika Rosen, Anicka Vrana-Godwin, Kaisa Moran, Andrea Nesbitt, (front) Kelsey-Lynn Coradetti, Brynn Higgins Stirrip, Emma Fowler, Emma Kent, Jaclyne Grimoldby, and Melissa Smallridge. Not in photo: Nathalja Henkenhaf, Harmony Kan, Rachel Lee and Sarah Tomkins. Photo Credit: Emily Harmsen

The Fine Art convocation reception this year was held at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, attended by more than sixty guests including graduates, their families and friends, faculty and staff. BFA’09 graduate Kyle Topping gave a speech of personal experience and sound advice on career potential for new graduates, the first in a new tradition of guest alumni speakers at the spring Fine Art convocation reception. Thank you Kyle for your insight and inspiration. Many thanks also to Fine Art and AEAC staff for helping to make this event a great success. Congratulations BFA '13!

GRADUATING STUDENT EVENTS

See images of Maverick Behavior, the 2013 Graduating Student Exhibition and Reception, and the exhibition

catalogue. www.queensu.ca/bfa/aboutUs/yearEndShow

The Fine Art program is very pleased to have received two generous donations this year, to support the fourth Year Professional Practices Seminar and to purchase a new large format etching press. 4th year students will greatly benefit from the guest art professionals lined up to present on a number of topics identified by students as particularly relevant to their career development, such as grant opportunities and website construction. The new Takach press has already been well used and appreciated by the second year class and will importantly allow for more student production in all levels of the print area.

Thank you to all of our donors. Your gifts make a significant and positive impact on BFA student learning.

DONOR THANKS

Congratulations to David Woodward who is the 2013 recipient of the Medal in Art and to Emma Fowler who is the recipient of the Andre Bieler Prize, awarded annually to the BFA student with the highest achievement in visual art.

Ebonnie Hollenbeck BFA, was awarded the Nan Yeoman's Grant for Artistic Development. Congratulations, Ebonnie!

AWARDS

Kyle Topping BFA '09 addresses graduating students at the Fine Art Convocation Reception held at the AEAC. Photo Credit: Emily Harmsen

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VISITING ARTIST SERIES

The BFA Visiting Artist Series this year brought in four exciting artist guests; Erin Shirreff, Sophie Jodoin, Team Macho and Joscelyn Gardner, who gave presentations on their artwork, visited with students in their studio spaces, facilitated class discussions and delivered workshops. It was also great that students benefitted from seeing firsthand two of the artist's works: Erin Shirreff, Available Light exhibited at the AEAC (Sept-Jan); and Sophie Jodoin, Small Drama and Little Nothings shown at the Union Gallery (Sept-Nov). We look forward to collaborating with the AEAC and Union Gallery on guest artists again in the coming year. Watch for announcements in the monthly Fine Art Newsletter.

KOERNER ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

The Koerner Artist in Residence Program is an annual professional residency in the Fine Art Program and is made possible by the generous support of the Koerner Foundation. The residency program provides students with unique access to mentorship from a celebrated artist, and gives the artist a chance to share their expertise.

This year Fine Art hosted Geoffrey Farmer. During his time here, fourth year student Brynn Higgins-Stirrup had an opportunity for a studio visit. Brynn said that it was deeply rewarding to share her work and thoughts with Geoffrey and to enter into a dialogue about creativity, which she hopes to maintain.

"Throughout my four years in the BFA Program, the Koerner Artist Residency has consistently been a highlight, providing an important window into the lives of professional artists, which as a student could not be timelier." - David Woodward

ANNUAL TRIPS TO NYC & NORTH ADAMS

This year the New York trip was held in March because NY hotels now want an advance deposit for group bookings. The timing worked out great as the trip coincided with the Armory show, a leading international contemporary and modern art fair and one of the most important annual art events in New York. Another first and highlight of this years' trip was a stop on the way at MASS MoCa in North Adams, Massachusetts, where students spent a couple of hours engaging in the show "Oh Canada". A large group also traveled to North Adams for the annual print workshop at Gravity Press. In addition to the large-scale woodcuts, students also printed on cloth or attached fabric to their boards for texture. Some students also worked with artist and studio owner Brandon Graving to make unique mono prints. Many of the 4' x 8' woodblock prints were on display at the Common Ground from February to April for all to enjoy. Thank you Brandon for your many years of support and for providing this exceptional learning opportunity for BFA students.

Erin Shirreff presents a lecture to Fine Art students. Photo Credit: Kate Yüksel

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Robert Burden, The Holy Batman, oil on Canvas, 315 cm x 190 cm, 2013

TARA COOPER (BFA 1994)

In her artwork, Tara Cooper employs strategies of creative non-fiction, combining fieldwork and footnotes in a wide range of media including painting, photography, sculpture, video and bookwork. She has participated in many national and international artist residencies, and this summer will spend the month of August at The Wassaic Project in New York where her plan is to build a large weather station with a projection of a supercell as it progresses: lightning, hail, dark clouds and a tornado. Cooper received an MFA degree at Cornell University in 2008 and currently teaches printmaking, video, sound and contemporary issues in art at the University of Waterloo.www.taracooper.com

FEATURED ALUMNI

"Queen's taught me the philosophy of doing, a jump first and then learn how to swim sequence. It taught me to love printmaking — the materiality of wood, metal and stone, the smell of ink and the inherent potential of the multiple.” - Tara Cooper

Tara Cooper, Field Guide to Lightning, 13 cm x 15 cm (18 Pages), digitally printed bookwork, 2011

SAMANTHA MOGELONSKY (BFA 2006)

Samantha Mogelonsky completed her MFA at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in the UK, followed by international projects and residencies in London, France and Spain. Mogelonsky’s studio practice focuses on the manipulation of light-hearted, playful and naïve elements to uncover narratives which are often more serious than the materials reveal; utilizing assumptions brought to specific materials – from sequins and sparkles to neon lights - in order to pose questions about how these over-the-top artificial surfaces drive visual association within social contexts. Mogelonsky lives in Toronto where, when she is not working in her west end studio, she works in marketing, graphic design and social media, specializing in artist and gallery projects. www.sammogelonsky.com

Samantha Mogelonsky, Glitter Island World; wood, chicken wire, plaster, paper, foam, paint, glitter, glass, found objects, tinsel, ribbon, beads, glow wire, fimo, gold leaf, resin and robot; dimensions variable, 2011

FEATURED ALUMNIROBERT BURDEN (BFA 2005)Robert Burden lives and paints in San Francisco, originally moving to pursue an MFA in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, which he received in 2007. While in grad school he became influenced by the vibrant Lowbrow, Pop-Surrealist, and Street Art scenes that are prominent and lively aspects of California culture, elements of which continue to be evident in his paintings today. He teaches part-time in the Adult Continuing Education Department at the San Francisco Art Institute, and recently has taught oil painting at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA. www.robertburden.com

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