KPU Fine Arts Department

via @dbarenscott ... The visual evidence of the Trump-fueled insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th continues to pour in and shape the conversation around both the seriousness and severity of the event, but also about how to read what actually happened, and how it will be archived and maintained for future audiences. See more details in my weekly round up of art and visual culture links (link in bio) Image: Adrian Ghenie, Untitled (2019). Ghenie, a Berlin-based contemporary Romanian artist, has created several evocative portraits of Donald Trump. His practice has been described by Ocula as partly figurative, partially abstract, richly textured paintings that grapple with deep, dark personal and historical states of mind. #adrianghenie #contemporaryart #painting #avantguardianmusings #roundup #arthistory

Welcome back and Happy New Year from the Fine Arts Department! Let’s learn from 2020 and make 2021 a year of new beginnings and fresh starts we’ve got this! Image: Edward Ruscha, Start Over Please (2015) @dbarenscott

Congratulations on a warm, inviting and tasty exhibition at Unit 17. Thanks @tobin_gibson . Please check it out while you can. Think of it as an antidote to Black Friday..

Three art history courses on offer by Dorothy Barenscott in Spring 2021-- check them out :)

You are all cordially invited to the virtual book launch of Canadian Culinary Imaginations taking place this coming Monday, November 2nd from 4-5pm! It has been a long four year journey for co-editors @dbarenscott Dorothy Barenscott (KPU Fine Arts) and Shelley Boyd (Associate Dean and KPU English) to see this publication project to fruition with McGill-Queen's University Press, and although we had hoped for an in-person celebration to launch the book (featuring 20+ contributo...rs, ranging from artists, curators, journalists, academics, and poets/writers), we will attempt to maintain the spirit and energy of such an event in these Covid times through virtual means. To attend, send an email to [email protected] to RSVP and have the event link sent directly to you. We hope to see many of you from our KPU Fine Arts community there--- your support is always very much appreciated! We are also delighted to be featuring BFA grad Jay Cabalu @jay_klmnop at the launch, whose striking artwork graces the book's cover, and Jason Wright @the_wright_jason who has written a chapter titled Playing With Food for the book! @kpuarts @kwantlenu @dbarenscott

I was stopped dead in my tracks when I took a turn onto Thurlow street and looked up the scale, the colour contrasts, the powerful content, and that ethereal light. *This* is the power of well placed street art @dbarenscott Artists: James Harry and Lauren Brevner #vanmuralfest #streetart #vancouver #firstnationsart #indigenousart #urbanart @jamesharryart @laurenbrevner #coastsalishart #coastsalishterritories

"Canadian Culinary Imaginations is a compilation of essays, interviews, and visual art assembled and edited by KPU Faculty of Arts Associate Dean Dr. Shelley Boyd, and Fine Arts instructor Dr. Dorothy Barenscott. The book is an interdisciplinary collection that combines the work of artists, academics, and writers from across Canada, and it delves into various topics including Indigeneity, geography, queerness, literature, politics, and even the colonial and nationalist history behind the taboo of eating beaver meat." The cover art for the book project provided by KPU BFA Grad Jay Cabalu, who was also interviewed and included in the book's Introduction. Read more below.

Thanks to the Burnaby Art Gallery for a wonderful tour to a great show! @bbyartgallery @jenniecane @the_wright_jason

#Repost @dbarenscott Few things in this crazy year would compel me to re-emerge from my summer blogging hibernation, but I am doing just that to promote another year of the Vancouver International Film Festival. See my 10 quick hot picks with descriptions, links to trailers, and more info (see link in bio). And since VIFF is mostly online this year, you can watch ALL THE FILMS via streaming (Netflix style) on your AppleTV or computer for as low as $30 if you are a full...-time student, and $60 for the rest of us. This is an insane deal and will support the continuation of this magical event. IMAGE: Memories of VIFF from years past on my Instagram. I truly miss the ritual of picking up the signature VIFF programme and marking my selections with post-it notes, but this year, as with all things, the show must go on in new ways. @viffest #viff2020 #viff #vancouverinternationalfilmfestival #filmfestival #vancouver #cinephile

via Surrey Art GalleryJoin Surrey Art Gallery as we celebrate 15 years of Sylvia Grace Borda’s commissioned photographic artworks and the publication of Shifting Perspectives, a book comprised of essays and photographs that address Borda’s practice in South of the Fraser and beyond. Visit Surrey Art Gallery’s Facebook page or YouTube channel on Saturday, October 3 at 2:30pm to learn more about the changing nature of digital art and agricultural production. The virtual convers...Continue reading

#kpufinearts #kpu

Visited Kent Monkman’s Shame and Prejudice show at MOA after hearing his artist talk earlier today and teaching his work in my Indigenous Art History course this summer. An absolute must see show for everyone, especially Canadians. Monkman proves that, in the right hands, history painting can be successfully subverted and made to speak truth to power. These are also the artworks that belong in our Canadian history textbooks, and the ones I am sure art historians a century from now will be studying. A real tour de force! Now if only I could travel to NYC to see his current monumental paintings and show at the Met! @dbarenscott #kentmonkman #moa #contemporaryart #historypainting #vancouver #arthistory #indigenousart #shameandprejufice #firstnations #canadianhistory @ Museum of Anthropology

Newly published book by KPU’s very own Dr. Dorothy Barenscott and Dr. Shelley Boyd through McGill-Queen’s University Press! Congratulations Repost @dbarenscott with @get_repost Look what was waiting in the mailbox for me when I arrived home from vacation? Four years gestation, lots of morning sickness, and a tough delivery, but all worth it as Canadian Culinary Imaginations comes into the world at just over 2lbs (2.6 for hardcover) and 412 pages! Thank you to my partner... and co-editor Shelley Boyd for persevering through this project and leading the charge, to @mcgillqueensup McGill-Queen’s University Press and our passionate editor Khadija Coxon for navigating us through the publishing process, to all 21 contributors for their patience and vision, and special thanks to @jay_klmnop for providing the eye catching and critical cover art! Now please go out and adopt and read this fantastic book as our Intro conclusion implores, Pull up a chair, stir the pot, and prepare to feast #bookstagram #newlypublished #mcgillqueensuniversitypress #canadianculinaryimaginations #canada #canadaeats #arthistory #literature See more

Amela Butcher‘s wonderful ceramics show "Sister Worm is still up at the Seymour Art Gallery. If you have the opportunity, check it out! @amelia.butcher @seymourartgallery @the_wright_jason

#Repost @dbarenscott with @get_repost I am happy to be joining forces once again with art historian, fine arts appraiser, and art advisor Dr. Lara Tomaszewska of Openwork Art Advisory to co-chair a session at the upcoming 2020 Universities Art Association of Canada Conference this fall. Our session’s title is The Price of Everything: Commerce, Aesthetics, and the Value of Contemporary Art and extends on ideas, themes, and approaches that we first explored at UAAC ba...ck in 2014 in a popular dual session we hosted titled At the Intersection of Art History and the Art Market: Navigating The Business of Art. This time, we are focusing squarely on recent transformations in the contemporary art world and art market that have challenged the ways in which art is valued (literally and with respect to cultural capital) and welcome submissions (300 words max) from researchers, art advisors, curators and/or those interested in the study of contemporary art valuation. The full call for paper proposals can be found in the link in my bio. Contact me directly if you have any further questions. #uaac #arthistory #conference #contemporaryart #artmarket #artvaluation #artcollecting #callforpapers #avantguardianmusings See more

#Repost @dbarenscott Arguably the most significant and strategically placed work of commissioned street art conceived this century this one will be in the history books (Images via @cnn) #urbanart #arthistory #washingtondc #blm #murielbowser #streetart #mural #protestart

#kpuexposed2020 . . . #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu

Thank you to everyone who has supported the BFA 2020 Grad Show and the KPU Fine Arts Department over these past few weeks as we worked to transition EXPOSED onto an online format. The pandemic has already brought many lessons to all of us in the arts community-- lessons in cooperation, quick thinking, last-minute planning, and the will to keep showing everyone the importance of producing, exhibiting, and creating conversations about and through art at moments of global crisi...s and social distancing. The artists of the 2020 Grad Show will always hold a very special place in our department’s history, and we thank and congratulate Japneet, Carly, Leah, Celesta, Sara, Reggie, Roselina, Amanda, Amiee, James, and Winnie for all of their hard work and perseverance to see their final exhibition through to the end. #kpuexposed2020 . . . #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu

Congratulations to the talented artists of EXPOSED and the BFA 2020 Grad Show! We in the KPU Fine Arts Department are so very proud of your personal and collective achievement and we wish you every success as you move onwards and upwards in your artist journeys. #kpuexposed2020 . .... . #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu See more

As we end our showcase of individual artists of the BFA 2020 Grad Show EXPOSED, we want to pause and reflect on the collective talents, hard work, and achievements of Japneet Bal, Carly Copeland, Leah Coray, Celesta De Roo, Sara Freitas, Reggie Graham, Roselina Lal, Amanda Moorcroft, Amiee Risby, James Weis, and Winnie Williamson. If you have joined us mid-way through the exhibition, we invite you to go back now and explore the artworks presented over the past two weeks as we... prepare to close the exhibition and offer our final congratulations. #kpuexposed2020 . . . #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu

Carly Copeland Untitled Ink Portrait, Two (2020) Ink 22x30 ... Not Alone, Three (2020) Charcoal 38x50 Not Alone, One (2020) Charcoal 22x30 Untitled Ink Portrait, Three (2020) Ink 20x26 In my experience as an artist, I have explored a wide array of mediums, but my passion often leads me back to the fine details that charcoal is able to provide, as well as the natural and expressive elements ink has to offer. Early on I came to the realization that my work would constantly involve the people in my life, along with the sense of memory that these individuals would evoke. In my series Not Alone (2020), I used charcoal to search within and examine my feelings about how depression has affected the people in my life; exposing not only the admiration and love that I feel for these people as I join them in their journey moving forward, but also the raw and difficult emotions when someone may be at their worst. In my series Untitled Ink Portraits (2020) I produced self-portraits in ink to explore the material and create visual balance against stark geometric shapes, exposing the beautiful quality that ink has to offer. #kpuexposed2020 . . . #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu @ Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Celesta De Roo 1. Burrow and Veins (2019) Ceramic 46 cm height x 22 cm diameter// 18.5 x 8 ... 2. Wood #1 (2019) Acrylic paint, mixed media, found objects 97cm x 141 cm// 38 x 55.5 3. Wood #2 (2019) Acrylic paint, mixed media, found objects 87 cm x 141 cm// 34 x 55.5 My work explores my relationship with the land through personal experiences, visual interests, and through my cultural background. I investigate and explore formal elements in nature, recreating my own interpretations and studies of naturally occurring textures and patterns. My process is very intuitive, often resonating with the rhizome theory developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Rhizome theory can be ascribed to something that has no structure, hierarchy, nor set of rules. In my art practice, I observe rhizomatic structures in the materiality of various media, such as looking at how clay tears away naturally when carved, or seeing how acrylic paint pools and builds up on different surfaces. My work is also inspired from my visual archive of the various places I’ve been. People read and interact with the land differently, according to their interests and desires, and are influenced by the land around them. I wish to provoke a curiosity towards nature and encourage people to observe the landscape more carefully. #kpuexposed2020 . . . #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu @ Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Japneet Bal Fusion (2020) Fabric on canvas 47"x 51"... My current work centers on showing the cultures that I have been brought up with, and how I understand their collective purpose. In particular, I began to play around with the concept of exhibiting the Indian and Western culture through fabric. In the beginning, my work relied on showing not only the two cultures working together, but also in complete difference. Now, my practice has evolved to focus on making the cultures fuse together and work more organically. Instead of knowing how the piece of fabric is going to look beforehand on the canvas, I let myself intuitively pin and place the fabric in an abstract form to my liking. The large scale of the canvas also encourages me to work differently than with the much smaller canvases I was used to. I use different fabrics and place them in shapes that alter but also mimic other pieces. This allows me to make a finished work that looks more unified even with the range of colours and different types of fabrics. #kpuexposed2020 . . . #textileart, #fabricart, #gradart and #abstract #artistlife #artstudentlife #artstudent #gradshow #grad2020 #gradshow2020 #fineart #kpu #kpugradshow #kpuartists #art #kpufina #2020grads #artschool #wemadeit #BFA #bacheloroffinearts #contemporaryart @kpuarts @kwantlenu @ Kwantlen Polytechnic University