Articles tagged with: Sarah Beattie

  • Brock graduate wins national art award

    Sarah Beattie's winning painting of a woman sneezing

    Sarah Beattie’s winning painting of a woman sneezing.

    Sarah Beattie grabs her camera and tries to capture the moment – at least a re-enactment of it – and use it as a muse for her next painting.

    She seems to have found the perfect inspiration. Beattie has been chosen as the regional winner in the BMO 1st Art! Awards for her painting of a young woman sneezing.

    “It’s pretty unreal,” Beattie said. “I didn’t think I had that good a chance of winning because the competition could have been any form of art.”

    Now in the 10th year, the BMO 1st Art! Awards is a national competition for artists graduating from university. Entrants are chosen by Deans and instructors based on student skill and imagination.

    In the end, one national winner and 12 regional winners – one from each province or territory – are selected by a panel of judges.

    The award comes with a $5,000-cash prize. The winners’ work will also be on display at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto from Oct. 3 to 28 and be published in Canadian Art magazine.

    It’s critical exposure for a young artist embarking on a professional career and trying to make a name for themselves, said Beattie, who graduated with her bachelor of arts this past spring.

    Her winning painting is one of a series of six called Say Sneeze that Beattie painted during her honours studio class earlier this year at Rodman Hall. Each work captures someone on the verge of sneezing that she photographed up to 100 times first.

    “A photograph is an instantaneous thing, just like a sneeze,” she explained.

    The series is a work in progress and will eventually include a self-portrait of Beattie herself on the brink of eliciting a ‘Bless you.’ Beattie hopes to eventually do a solo exhibition of her work.

    “I’d like to have 10 different ones, like a big simultaneous sneeze,” Beattie said.

    Prof. Donna Szoke, who taught Beattie during her honours studio class, called her a gifted painter who stands her ground when it comes to how she creates.

    “She’s very insightful in her own process and she trusts her process implicitly. That’s unusual for a young artist,” Szoke said. “She’s very determined.”

    Keri Cronin, chair of the Department of Visual Arts, said the award is well-deserved.

    “Sarah is a hard-working, innovative young artist who excelled in her classes at Brock,” Cronin said.

    Cronin predicts there will be more accolades for students, particularly once the new Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts moves to its new space in downtown St. Catharines in 2014.

    “We have excellent instructors in the Department of Visual Arts and our small class sizes allow for students to receive a lot of one-on-one instruction and mentorship. This kind of environment plays an important role in allowing students to grow as artists and to achieve their full potential,” she said. “This dynamic coupled with the state-of-the-art facilities we will have in our new downtown building will lead to more of these sorts of awards and honours for our students.”

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    Categories: Alumni, Current Students, News

  • VISA Honours Exhibit: PERCEPTIONISTS

    Rodman Hall Art Centre
    109 St. Paul Crescent St. Catharines,
    ON L2S 1M3 

    April 21 – May 6, 2012
    Opening reception: Friday, April 20, 2012 at 7 p.m. 

    PERCEPTIONISTS, the 2012 edition of the Brock University Visual Arts Honours Exhibit features artworks by three graduating honours students from the Department of Visual Arts: Sarah Beattie, Danny Fast, and Carrie Perreault.

    This exhibition is the culmination of eight months of work where students pursued the creation of a body of artwork. Under the mentorship of Visiting Artist Donna Szoke, and Assistant Professor Duncan MacDonald, students individually explored diverse mediums ranging from video, performance, painting, photography, and installation.

    Irene Loughlin, an interdisciplinary artist and instructor at Brock University writes, “The works in this exhibition engage both the artist and the viewer, underscoring the complex relationships between illusion and representation, obsolescence and contemporaneity, technology and biology, difference and normativity. These three artists give concrete form to some of the outstanding contradictions inherent in our contemporary lives, challenging established perceptions while opening a space that might allow for the emergence of new subjectivities.”

    The Department of Visual Arts has a long tradition of presenting work of graduating students mentored in its Honours Studio program. Students accepted into this course develop a cohesive body of work that will support their entry into graduate school MFA programs and act as a strong portfolio for future artistic endeavours.

    Such exhibits from the Department of Visual Arts are key to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate to connect the community with the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.

    Join us for the opening reception of PERCEPTIONISTS on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 7 p.m., held at Rodman Hall Art Centre. Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday: 1 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; closed Mondays and statutory holidays.

    Promotional Video:

     

    PERCEPTIONISTS on Facebook
    PERCEPTIONISTS on Cogeco

    Media day: Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at 2 p.m., held at Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Crescent, St. Catharines, ON.

    Media inquiries:

    Marie Balsom, Communications,
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts,
    Brock University
    T: 905-688-5550. x4765 | E: mbalsom@brocku.ca | W: brocku.ca/visualarts

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    Categories: 4F06 Honours Exhibition, Events, Exhibitions