Current Students

  • MIWSFPA Offers Unique Visual Arts course during COVID-19 pandemic

    Friday, April 03, 2020 | Posted by

    image: Fischli & Weiss: Equilibres / Quiet Afternoon, 1984.

    In response to COVID-19, and the suspension of all face-to-face classes, the Department of Visual arts is busy reinventing one of their very popular Spring and Summer session courses, VISA 2F05 Introduction to Sculpture.

    Instructor/artist Donna Akrey will launch the new original online course in sculpture beginning the week of May 04, 2020.

    Donna remarks,“This is hard but a great opportunity to think about how to deliver content this way and to still get students to think and problem solve. I am hopeful about it all.”

    VISA 2F05 – Introduction to Sculpture

    Do you have a laptop, phone, computer and consistent use of the internet?

    Do you have a table?

    Do you have everyday objects like scissors, tape, paper, recycling material?

    Are you up for the challenge of working solo and thinking sculpturally?

    Are you interested in problem-solving, ingenuity, DIY, working with what you have and collaboration? Come and experiment with us!

    For more information about VISA 2F05 Introduction to Sculpture please see the Academic Calendar and the Registration Guide.

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  • CrissCross, a new student exhibition at the MIWSFPA

    Wednesday, March 04, 2020 | Posted by

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This exhibition is unavailable for viewing until further notice. It is closed as part of Brock University’s ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the community in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Please check here again.

    CrissCross, a new student exhibition at the MIWSFPA

    March 5 – 28
    opening reception: March 12th, 5 p.m.
    (This is also the reception for the Artist Talk by the Walker Cultural Leader, Landon Mackenzie.)

    VISA Gallery and Student Exhibition Space, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, L2R 0B5.

    The gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
    An exhibition by students from the Studies in Arts and Culture and Visual Arts programs. Our hybrid assemblages celebrate incongruity and unfettered associations. Whether abstract or figurative, paintings, or texts, they are intended to trigger reactions, prompt comparisons, and challenge the usual. Beyond the immediate effect of surprise, they provoke, their apparent disparateness nevertheless generates, on closer view, a semblance of overall coherence.

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  • Sacred Spaces: a student exhibition about mental health, at the MIWSFPA

    Saturday, February 01, 2020 | Posted by

    Sacred Spaces:Student Exhibition

    Feb. 6 to 29, 2020
    Opening reception: Feb. 12, 2020 — 5 to 8 p.m.

    VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space, MIWSFPA
    15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines

    The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

    With a focus on mental health, an exhibition about understanding emotional vulnerability and self-reflection, while unpacking the human need for comfort. Featuring Visual Arts students Kaitlyn Roberts and Chardon Trimble-Kirk.

    see the review in The Sound by Bart Gazzola.

    Sacred Spaces – Artist Statement
    Kaitlyn Roberts and Chardon Trimble-Kirk

    Mental illnesses often destroy from the inside out. It is a sickness that is hidden through the action of covering oneself from the world, in fear of discovery. Doctors will prescribe medication in an attempt to cure mental illness; medication that comes with dizziness, fatigue, loss of appetite, bruising, sexual dysfunction, and countless other side effects. All of which to shut out the voices from inside one’s mind. Voices that proclaim that you are not good enough, you do not deserve to be happy, you do not deserve to eat. I would much rather stay in bed. If I stay in bed, the medication isn’t necessary. The demons and monsters can be let out and no one will ever know.

    When living with mental illness, it is living a double life. One must hide behind a mask, only finding true relief in the intimate space of the bedroom, amongst the comfort of bedding. Only within these spaces is one truly allowed to express the realities of mental illnesses, whilst finding safety in the sacred spaces of the bed.

    Each work represents the safety and intimacy found within these spaces, whilst offering a juxtaposition between the covering and uncovering realities of the illnesses. The uncovering comes from personal texts written across these spaces, as well as the exposure of the body, and curiously the covering of the eyes in each figurative work. The text which is a direct thought, and nude figures which are an indirect representation of vulnerability, invite viewers into the sacred spaces of one’s true thoughts. The vague figures and various text will resonate with viewers, bringing awareness to mental illness, its prevalence, and its resonance within many.

    The works aim to de-stigmatize some of the most serious and misunderstood mental illnesses, all within the sacred spaces of our beds.

    download poster

    Kaitlyn Roberts is currently in her fourth and final year at Brock University, achieving an Honours Bachelor of Arts with a major in Studio Art. Her artistic education birthed an attraction to explore autoethnography. Roberts’ studio practice, specifically, surveys the complexity of mental illness translated through visual art while highlighting how it affects both the artist and the viewer.

    Roberts is currently using her practice to investigate the relationship between the mind and the body, through the artistic process of ‘mapping’. This includes research into the connections between mental illnesses and the physical sicknesses that follow, including trauma.

    Roberts has shown her work in juried shows around Ontario including, St. Catharines City Hall’s Transformations, Niagara Artist Centre’s Fortune Favours, and the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington’s The VAC 39th Annual Juried Show where she was the only student, and youngest person to be accepted. Roberts has also shown her work in exhibitions including; Niagara Artist Centre’s Small Feats, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine, and Performing Arts’ Art Block: BAC
    on the Block, as well as many exhibitions hosted by Mahtay Café.

    Roberts will be showing her thesis work titled, Dear Euodia, in April 2020 at Rodman Hall in St. Catharines, Ontario alongside co-artists Chardon Trimble-Kirk, Brianne Casey, Rachel McCartney, Zach White, Kira Pretty, Curt Richard, and Jess McClelland. Opening reception is Friday, April 3rd at 7 pm.

    Roberts is planning on pursuing a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts once she graduates from Brock University.

    Chardon Trimble-Kirk is a Canadian painter based in St. Catharines. Through the use of figuration and pattern making, themes of femininity and gender roles are explored within her work. In addition to this, Trimble-Kirk is interested in the themes of sexuality, vulnerability, repetition and mental health, and their intersections within femininity. Thematic and aesthetic contrasts are often included within the work, allowing viewers to interpret the work individually while also thinking critically about the concepts presented.

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  • Imagined Urban Gardens opens at Rodman Hall Art Centre

    Saturday, February 01, 2020 | Posted by

    Imagined Urban Gardens: Student Exhibition
    Jan. 30 – March 1, 2020

    download the poster

    Rodman Hall Art Centre
    109 St. Paul Crescent, St. Catharines, ON

    Responding to the explorations of urban architecture and its materials in Teresa Carlesimo and Michael DiRisio: more light than heat (on exhibition at the Rodman Hall Art Centre), Imagined Urban Gardens also reflects on today’s global warming and how we could live in the future.

    We dream of green spaces and pleasantly warm cities.
    Students in Visual Arts and Studies in Arts and Culture envision in text and image what could be in a livable world.

    See the YourTV Niagara video spotlight about this exhibition, featuring interviews with the artists and curators.

    Read the article by Bart Gazzola in The Sound STC.

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  • 300 MINUTES: A One Night Exhibition on Nov. 27th!

    Thursday, November 21, 2019 | Posted by

    300 MINUTES is a public show brought to you by the VISA 3M90: Advanced Art Practice students. The collection of self-directed works by 3rd/4th year students are comprised of paintings, sculpting, drawings, installation work, performative work, sound and video displays. As viewers we value your thoughts, questions and opinions about the works, therefore open critique forms will be provided at each work site to capture your input which is greatly appreciated.

    300 MINUTES, the time length of the exhibition, is being held during the ‘new moon’ lunar phase. This phase, the first of its many phases, depicts the moon positioned between the sun and moon at the 12:00 o’clock beginning station. This lunar anecdote relates to the students and their first public exhibition which will provide inspiration as they move through their artistic phases like the hands of a lunar clock.

    The exhibition is a mid-year event for the class, which will lead the students towards their final show at the Marilyn I. Walker Gallery in April. Hope to see you there as well.

    DATE: November 27, 2019
    TIME: 4:00PM – 9:00PM
    WHERE: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts building
    15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines

    COST: Free

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  • An Instrument of Colour: Student Exhibition at the MIWSFPA

    Wednesday, October 30, 2019 | Posted by

    A curated exhibition of student work exploring colour as language, organized by Visual Arts Professor Shawn Serfas.

    Participating artists include:

    Danielle Booker
    Sarah Cecchini
    Rea Kelly
    Lindsay Liboiron
    Ashleen Mohaupt
    Krista Nap
    Lillian Pasqua
    Taylor Sorensen
    Shania Anne Thompson
    Cree Tylee
    Blake Wilson
    &
    Various Artists Representing Geographies of Process

    exhibition:  Nov. 1 to Nov. 29

    Reception Nov. 6, 2019 — 5 to 8 p.m.

    VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space,
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts,
    Brock University

    The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 pm
    and for special events.

    see the ExpBU calendar listing

    see the video produced by YourTV

     

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  • Colourful new mural reflects Brock’s international connections

    Wednesday, September 04, 2019 | Posted by

    Fourth-year Visual Arts student Chardon Trimble-Kirk completed the new International Centre Global Commons mural over 240 hours this summer.

    (From: The Brock News, TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019 | by Mike Morrison)

    Before graduating from Brock University next year, Chardon Trimble-Kirk hoped to leave a vibrant mark on campus.

    And after committing more than 240 hours of work to a project at Brock’s International Centre this summer, the fourth-year Visual Arts student has done just that.

    Trimble-Kirk was drawn to a request for proposals posted in April that sought someone to create a mural in a commonly used community space within the centre. She had an idea, which she named “Connections,” and submitted a scaled-down version for review.

    Fourth-year Visual Arts student Chardon Trimble-Kirk worked from June to August to complete the new mural in Brock’s International Centre.

    Her vision featured chrysanthemums flowers, which are “symbolic of friendship and well-wishing,” she said. “Connecting them to a variety of countries intends to showcase the friendship that can be found in individuals regardless of their country of origin.”

    Leigh-Ellen Keating, Director of Brock International, said the design chosen for the project had to meet certain criteria, including being reflective of the entire Brock community, including faculty, staff and students from more than 100 countries around the world. It also needed to highlight the importance of internationalization and globalization, a key part of the University’s new Strategic Plan.

    After careful deliberation by a committee of Brock University representatives, Trimble-Kirk’s design was selected for the project and she began the painting in June.

    The newest symbol of Brock’s growing international community now stands more than 15 feet wide and nine feet tall in the Global Commons, a student lounge inside the International Centre that’s home to events and activities open to the entire Brock community.

    It is by far the largest project that Trimble-Kirk has ever worked on. Her previous record was four six-by-three-foot paintings for a third-year class.The experience led to a number of firsts for the artist.“

    I used scaffolding for the first time to complete the higher sections,” Trimble-Kirk said. “I had also never painted directly on brick walls and found myself learning to work with the texture rather than fight it.”

    The mural will be officially unveiled during Brock International’s Open House on Wednesday, Sept. 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the International Centre.

    Trimble-Kirk, who will continue doing freelance paintings after she graduates, plans to apply to a Master of Fine Arts program in the coming years.

     

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  • Home, from above: an exhibition by Kira Pretty

    Sunday, August 25, 2019 | Posted by

    The first exhibition of the year presents the work of Brock Visual Arts Student, Kira Pretty.
    This solo exhibition is the culminating project for an independent study course, VISA 3F99 featuring photography and video work.

    Sept. 4 to Sept. 30, 2019
    Reception: Sept. 4, 2019 5-7 pm

    VISA Art Gallery and Student Exhibition Space,
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts,
    Brock University

    The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 5 pm
    and for special events.

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  • Students transform trash into treasure for new art exhibit

    Monday, June 24, 2019 | Posted by

    Visual Arts major Caroline Holroyd, 67, works away at her plaster of paris sculpture for the upcoming exhibition, Material World.

    (From The Brock News, June 24, 2019 | By: Sarah Ackles)

    In a world where both packaging and products are marketed as disposable, Brock Visual Arts students have been challenged to rethink the concept of materialism.

    As part of instructor Donna Akrey’s Sculpture VISA 2F05 course, students were tasked with collecting various everyday items to be used as the basis for their final art projects.

    Everything from Styrofoam packing material to masking tape was fair game as students sculpted their works, which are featured in the upcoming exhibition Material World, on view from Friday, June 28 to Friday, July 19.

    In the process of creating, experimenting and working with their hands, students questioned society’s relationship to disposable materials. They also explored the often-overlooked aesthetics of simple, everyday objects, while being conscious of how everyday “stuff” is treated.

    Artist Caroline Holroyd, for example, repurposed an old speaker and plastic hockey stick handle for one of her pieces.

    “It’s an important topic because there’s so much waste all around us,” she said of working with found objects for this exhibition. “We’re showing creative ways to reuse that waste in this exhibition, but there is still so much more that we can do to combat this serious issue of waste in our society.”

    The 67-year-old Visual Arts major has been completing her degree on a part-time basis and said that working on projects like Material World alongside other artists is one of her favourite parts of the program.

    “They make me feel young,” she said with a laugh.

    Other participating artists in the show include Lindsay Allen, Meagan Benner, Kendra Bosse, Peri Goodman, Erica Greshuk, Rea Kelly, Ang Li, Sarah Martin, Ami Okafor, Harvind Sekhon, Taylor Sorensen, Miles Stanley, Jamie Tomao-Martin and Jessica Turk.

    Material World runs from Friday, June 28 to Friday, July 19 in the VISA Gallery and Student Exhibition Space at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    An opening reception will take place Friday, June 28, from noon to 3 p.m.

    The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

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  • Summer student employment opportunites at Rodman Hall

    Thursday, April 25, 2019 | Posted by

    Rodman Hall Art Centre has three summer student positions available, please check the link below for details on these positions:

    https://brocku.ca/rodman-hall/community/#1556118960648-db092170-9704

    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, Future Students, In the Media, News

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