VIVID: The NSCAD University Newsletter for Alumni and Friends
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What's Inside?
- A Message from President Peggy Shannon
- A Message from Alumni Association Member-at-Large Ken Rice
- Alumni Events
- Alumni News
- NSCAD in the Community
- Inside NSCAD
- Opportunities
Message from President Peggy Shannon, PhD
Dear friends,
March is always a transitional month at NSCAD. Students keep their heads down, working hard to see their creative projects bloom in the spring. Staff and faculty reflect on their own work while taking stock of the exciting opportunities ahead.
It really has been a year of success. In many ways, it has also been a year of rebirth for NSCAD.
Through the generosity of our supporters, we have seen a 300% increase in donations to NSCAD this year. Momentum is palpable, and these gifts provide tangible, invaluable support for our emerging artists. These funds help NSCAD lay a solid foundation for students and alumni to contribute meaningfully to Canada’s artistic landscape.
A $935,000 donation from Toronto’s Dalglish Family Foundation is our largest gift ever from a donor outside Atlantic Canada, and will provide materials for student projects, enhance the visiting artist programming, and purchase much-needed new photography equipment.
I have personally pledged $25,000 to launch the I.D.E.A. Fund – an acronym for equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism. From this fund, NSCAD will offer entrance bursaries for students in three under-served categories:
The Mi’kmaw Artistic Excellence BursaryThe African Nova Scotian Artistic Excellence Bursary
The Guardian Youth Bursary (offered to youth aging out of foster care)
These communities will make our university stronger, richer, and more vibrant. This is a matched gift opportunity, so stay tuned for an announcement with more detail on how you can join me in creating sustainable bridges between NSCAD and these historically marginalized Nova Scotian communities.
Finally, I want to acknowledge Kate Solar, one of our talented film students, whose short film Somewhere Real was selected to be premiered at the Recontres Internationales Traverse in France in March.
Kate’s film was inspired by her participation in a Summer Abroad Program to Hydra, Greece that I led with four NSCAD students this past summer. It’s inspiring to see a direct connection between travel and creative success. Congratulations, Kate!
Finally, while the muted colours of winter are gently replaced by the vibrant palette of green, pink, purple, and yellow flowers, please take a moment to stand in the sunshine and be grateful for the cycle of new life.
Peggy
Message from Alumni Association Member-at-Large Ken Rice
Well, we finally did it! I am so pleased to be writing this month’s segment for VIVID. As your elected Board of Governors Representative and Alumni Association Member-at-Large I bring your voice to the table at every meeting I attend. You may ask why it is important that NSCAD’s alum have a place at the table. We are the single largest constituent of the NSCAD community, and we have the full picture of what it is like to study and learn art at what I believe is Canada’s finest creative institution. Recently I attended a town hall hosted by President Shannon. Dr. Shannon discussed a variety of upcoming events as well as some aspirational plans to unite our students on a single campus. If you are of the same vintage as I am, we used to be on one campus and this closeness to
each other fostered a greater sense of community. I am interested in hearing from you; what do you think of when we say community? How did this concept of community drive your desire to create at NSCAD?
Most folks by now have heard that NSCAD plans to unify our community at the Port by intensifying the current iteration and expanding to a second neighbouring building. I look forward to learning more and sharing more with you as information is made available. NSCAD has a grand plan to see us on one campus by 2030.
Read more on our website and to stay connected with the latest news.
Ken
Art Work: Making Movie Magic
Join Head of Puppetry at Neptune Theatre and prosthetics maker Cassie Seaboyer (BFA 2017) & documentarian Amanda Burt (2000) as they shine a light on their experiences in film and theatre.
April 23, 2024 12:30 p.m. (Atlantic)
Register here.
NSCAD in Vancouver: Join Cathy Busby (BFA 1984) for an artist talk about HORIZONS a conceptual art project by Garry Neill Kennedy, which will be on display in the gallery. This exhibition will be paired with Of and About Posters: the Lawrence Weiner Archive. Afterwards join us upstairs for an alumni mixer with Interim Dean Jacqueline Warwick and Advancement Director Kara Holm, as well as old friends, and new. April 25, 2024, 5 p.m - 7 p.m. Vancouver Art Gallery, 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC. If you would like to attend, email us at rsvp@nscad.ca.
NSCAD University has received its largest gift from a donor outside Atlantic Canada: $935,000 from Toronto’s Dalglish Family Foundation, will provide materials for student projects, enhance visiting artist programming, and purchase new photography equipment.
This is a first-time gift to NSCAD from the Dalglish Family Foundation. The Foundation’s directors recognized NSCAD as an ideal recipient due to the family’s longstanding commitment to the arts as both practitioners and patrons.
“The Dalglish family is delighted to support NSCAD University and their work fostering creative thinking and education in Atlantic Canada. Our family has long believed in art as a driver for joy and expression in the Canadian psyche and the students graduating here will have beneficial impacts on our entire country.”
The gift supports three programs and initiatives that will greatly enhance the student experience at NSCAD. The Dalglish Family Foundation has funded the Photography Equipment Fund ($360,050), the Thesis Project Fund ($250,000), and the Visiting Artist Fund ($325,000).
“This generous donation marks a new chapter in nurturing young talent and the advancement of creative work in the NSCAD art community,” says Jana Macalik, NSCAD’s provost and interim vice-president for academics and research. Read more here.
Fundraiser: The Khyber’s 29th birthday, will feature a dynamic group exhibition and art sale fundraiser titled part of you. Works will be on view in the gallery and will be listed for sale online over March 12 - 31. Find works by members of the NSCAD community including students, staff and alumni: Jack Bishop (BFA 2007), Saba Blyden-Taylor, Christina Brock,
Kayza Degraff-Ford (BFA 2021),
Natalie Goulet (MFA 2022), Ivan Flores (BFA 2022), Eleanor King (BFA 2001), Arun Lal (BFA 2019), Lucy Pullen (BFA 1994), Jean Serutoke (BFA 2022), Lou Sheppard (BFA 2006), Gavin Snow, Peter Dykhuis, Lindsay Stewart (2010), Wren Tian (BFA 2020) & Mitchell Wiebe (MFA 1996). See the works here.
Exhibition: Ancestral Revolution, new metal sculpture by Cal Lane (BFA 2001) Opening: March 21, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Until May 10. C24 Gallery, 560 W 24th Street, New York, N.Y. Read more here.
Exhibition: Book Club, a book and text-based group show. Participating artists include: Robert Bean (BFA 1978), Catherine Beaudette (MFA 1998), David Clarkson, Thierry Delva (BFA 1985, MFA 1993), Peter Dykhuis, Eryn Foster, Barbara Lounder (MFA 1984), James MacSwain, Mathew Reichertz (MFA 1999), Sally Wolchyn-Raab and special guests Nova Scotia Book Arts Group, Amos Paul Kennedy Jr, Wiebke Schroeder (VAC 2017 & BFA 2020). Opening: Friday, March 22, 6 p.m. Until April 21.Hermes Gallery, 5682 North Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Read more here.
Exhibition: In Greens, artist Heather Savard (BFA 2019) explores how perception of social class is tied into the visual presentation of cultivated grass lawns. She questions how the idealized version of the North American lawn fits into the sociological games played between neighbours while being wrapped up. Until April 27. Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, #103 – 421 Cawston Ave, Kelowna B.C. Read more here.
Exhibition: THE IDLES OF MARCH, group exhibition, see works by: Eleanor King (BFA 2001), Alex Sutcliffe (BFA 2020), Jimy Sloan (BFA 2012), Ivan Murphy (ANSCAD 1990, BDes 1992), Jack Bishop (BFA 2007), James Kirkpatrick (BFA 2003), Jared Betts (BFA 2009), Joel Brodovsky-Adams (VAC 2021),
Kristina Sobstad (BFA 2010), Sara Caracristi (BFA 2006) & Toni Losey (BFA 2018). Until March 30. Katzman Art Projects, 5431 Doyle Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Read more here.
Exhibition: Promised Light, a solo exhibition by Luke Murphy (BFA 1988). For the last two decades Luke has wrestled with resolving the rude intrusion of the digital world into his love of painting. In the mid 1990s, he was one of the first digital artists to use the web itself, presenting pixels as both content and medium. He rejected using LEDs as screens, instead breaking them up and re-forming them as everyday objects: quilts, fires, chimneys, and towers.
Until April 13. Canada NY Gallery, 60 Lispenard Street, New York, NY. Read more here.
Exhibition: Vie maritime, Catherine Beaudette (MFA 1998), presents an amalgam of items collected over two decades of summers spent in Newfoundland where she began to catalogue and make installations with found objects. Until April 21. La
VITRINE, 2126 rue Rachel Est, Montréal, Québec. Read more here.
Exhibition: Hotel Stories, nine new paintings by Eric Fischl (DFA 2002), which will be on view in the New York gallery from 14 March – 4 May 2024. The exhibition will mark the debut of his new series. Until May 4.
SKARSTEDT Gallery, 20 East 79th Street New York, NY . Read more here.
Workshops: Lens Magic, Transforming Ordinary Scenes Into Extraordinary Images, with Steve Farmer (BFA 1989) July 31 - Aug. 2 The Magic of Monotypes: Explorations in Printmaking, Charley Young (BFA 2009) Aug.12 – Aug.16
Lunenburg School of the Arts,
6 Prince Street, P.O. BOX 610
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Read more here.
In Memorium: James W. Arthurs
February 18, 1942 - February 19, 2024
'A solitary man, he enjoyed music, art, reading, gardening, DIY projects, outdoor activities with family and friends.' Jim was the second youngest of nine children born at home in Sifton, Manitoba. He attended the University of Manitoba, graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, and was a retired member of Boilermakers Lodge 359. A solitary man, he enjoyed music, art, reading, gardening, DIY projects, outdoor activities with family and friends. Jim is mourned by his wife of 38 years, Doreen MacLauchlan, her family and numerous nieces and nephews. Special thank you to Dr. John Hourigan and the nurses at Sechelt Hospital. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Sechelt Hospital Foundation would be appreciated.
Public Lecture Series: In this talk NSCAD visiting artist Cheryl L’Hirondelle will share how her interdisciplinary art and music practice brings together relations between language, land, and the more-than-human. Her work combines Indigenous language(s), music, audio, video, VR, sewn objects, the olfactory, audience/user participation and community engagement to create immersive environments towards ‘radical inclusion’ and decolonization.
Mar. 26, 7 p.m. Halifax Central Library, O’Regan Hall 5440 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS Read More here.
NSCAD Student Film: Animated text, poetic narration, and manipulated footage of the Aegean Sea comprise Kate Solar’s Somewhere Real, a five-minute short film that takes her to Toulouse, France. The experimental travelogue is screening in
the
Recontres Internationales Traverse, which has been celebrating and showcasing experimental cinema and video art for more than two decades.
Read More here.
NSCAD University Film Festival Presented by TD Insurance: Save the Date. Tickets on sale April 1st! See a variety of films from alumni & students as well as alumni panels.
Screenings:
April 30, 7 p.m. - Three Thousand, Mary & Myself, Flawed, Avenuers, Feature: Spring & Arnaud, Q&A with Marcia Conolly (BFA 1995) and Katherine Knight (BFA 1980)
May 1, 7 p.m. - Annie Pootoogook, Feature: War Room, Q&A with Chris Hegedus (BFA 1973)
May 2, 7 p.m. - NSCAD Student Films: Somewhere Real, Annie, Are You OK, Eye piece, Not My Children, Mika, ANWAR, Thirsty, Lost Thread & Cycles
Tickets go on sale April 1st In person and virtual screenings. Live screenings at Cineplex Parklane, 5657 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax, NS
Alumni Panels:
May 1, 1 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. - Talk with Michael Donovan and Chris Hegedus moderated by Stephen Reynolds.
3 p.m. - Alumni film panel moderated by Darrell Varga, with Katherine Knight, Heather Young (BFA 2009), Marcia Connolly.
Bell Auditorium, Fountain Campus
NSCAD, 5163 Duke St., Halifax NS
Annual Report: The 2022 - 2023 Annual Report is now live online. See what the NSCAD University community has been up to over the last year! Update from President Shannon, faculty achievements, alumni and student art. Read more here.
Call for Nominations: Nominate the exceptional individuals who inspire us, challenge us, and shape the world around us for NSCAD University's prestigious Doctor of Fine Arts (honoris causa) and Life Fellow awards. Deadline: May 15, 2024
Read more here.
Public Talks: NSCAD MFA Symposium. This debut series will feature panel discussions on nature & ecology, art & science, as well as queer identity & space. Alumni participants include Arjun La (BFA 2019) & Devon Pennick-Reily (BFA 2020). Come out and support our MFA students, free and open to the public ALL WELCOME! March 13, 20 & 27, 6 p.m. Academy Campus, room 208. This space is not accessible, stairs upon entrance. 1649 Brunswick St, Halifax, NS
Call for Proposals: Artist for a Day 2024. Are you a NSCAD student, alumni, technician, staff or faculty member? Do you have an idea for an interactive art idea? We would love to hear from you. Every year we open our doors to the community to engage with art, this free event draws would be artists of all ages and skill levels. Participating projects receive a $300 materials fee, lunch for all their team members and the latest NSCAD volunteer tees designed by alumni. Submit your idea here: Students, Staff & Faculty or Alumni. Event date: May 11, 2024, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
TD Insurance: Take advantage of your alumni benefits. As a trusted partner, the TD Insurance Meloche Monnex Program is dedicated to helping NSCAD alumni get access to preferred insurance rates on car, home, condo and tenant coverage. For more information or to get a quote here.
Info Session: Arts NS is on the road this month! Join them for an info session about the April 15, 2024 Art Bank deadline. We will be at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft, March 26, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. This year the Art Bank will be open exclusively to artists who are African Nova Scotian and/or Mi’kmaq. Read more here.
Workshops: Develop your skills with NSCAD Extended Studies! Miss the studios or regret not taking that one class? Extended Studies can help with that! Take a look at our recently released online and in-person Spring courses for classes in anything from drawing to quilting to web design. And better yet, alumni get 20% off all Extended Studies courses!
make.nscad.ca register today!
Call for Nominations: The Hnatyshyn Foundation is now accepting nominations for the William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists 2024.The prizes consist of three awards of $10,000 dollars each. The purpose of the awards is to support young emerging visual artists whose practices show potential and who are deemed to have the determination and talent to contribute to the legacy of art in Canada. Nomination Deadline: May 6, 2024, 11:59 pm EDT Submission Deadline: June 3, 2024. Read more here.
Call for Proposals: Stair public artworks. Canadian Heritage is seeking a dynamic, impactful image that conveys the theme “Call and Response.” A term best known for its use in music, it refers to two phrases that reply to each other, as in spoken conversation. This theme asks artists to consider the conversation between artist and location, and viewer to artwork. In Canada’s Capital Region, Successful proposals will receive a $5000 budget. Deadline: April 19, 2024, at 4:00p.m. Read more here.
Call for Proposals: The Mary E. Black Gallery is pleased to receive proposals from artists/craftspeople, community groups, cultural groups, guilds, and curators for exhibitions in 2026. We strive to host a selection of exhibitions that educate the public about craft while promoting traditional and contemporary fine craft created by emerging and established artists.
Deadline: May 7th, 2024. Read more here.
Call for Artists: StreetARToronto Outside the Box Program and the upcoming StreetARToronto Concrete Barrier Program art calls. program provides an opportunity for local artists to create works of art on traffic signal boxes across Toronto.
Applicants must reside in Toronto. Info Session March 26 Deadline: April 11, 2024 Read more here.
Call for Submissions: The NSCAD Online Gallery accepting submission from students, alumni and faculty! Submissions can include 2D and 3D artworks. Please note that due to the special events happening throughout the month of May, we have a unique opportunity to promote the gallery and sell works in person. The NSCAD Online Gallery will have a table of works for sale at the Student Art Awards Gala and the Convocation reception. If you would like to have your works on site during these events please let us know by email no later than April 15 to make arrangements.
Deadline: April 1 Read more here.
Call for Submissions: Vector Festival 2024. An experimental media arts festival dedicated to showcasing digital games and creative media practices. Artists are encouraged to explore artworks that remind us that all is cosmic, symbiotic, interconnected, intersected and intertwined. Deadline: April 19, 2024 Read more here.
Call for Submissions: Hell is ... a group exhibition curated by Kirsten Littlewood (BFA 1999). This exhibition is a contemporary investigation into Sartre’s oft-misinterpreted quote ‘Hell is other people’ from his play ‘Huis Clos’ (‘No exit’). I am interested in seeing my colleagues’ interpretations of the quote, even if they are unfamiliar with its true meaning. Deadline: April 12, 11:59 GMT. Fringe Art Bath, Read more here.
Call for Submissions: The 2024 Photo Review 39th Annual International Photography Competition is now accepting applications. Selected artists' work will be in print and online. Prize-winning photographers will be chosen for an exhibition at Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia.
Deadline: May 15 Read more here.
Call for Applications: Medalta International Artist in Residence Ceramics Program 2024. Artists can attend Medalta for a one-month, FLEX (2+ months), or Year-Long (September – July) artist. We have 12 semi-private studio spaces that foster open dialogue, skill sharing, and community building – while also providing artists with a dedicated space of their own to build, experiment, and workshop new ideas. Deadline: April 15, 2024, 11:59 p.m. (MT) Read more here.
Free Workshop: Introduction to Craftivist Zines artist Cora Parago in creating zines to raise awareness! Through using collage techniques that are then photocopied, participants can make their own accessible publication about a social cause of their choice.
March 23, 2024, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design, 322 Charlotte St Sydney, NS
Read more here.
Call for Submissions: Have you ever wanted to share your experience and/or help inspire future creatives?
Now is your chance! NSCAD Alumni and CEL have frequent engagement opportunities and are looking for interested alumni. We are dedicated to providing opportunities to engage, celebrate and support you at every stage of your career. Sound like something you are interested in? Read more here.
New Alumni Benefit:
Young Drivers of Canada is offering NSCAD Alumni A free program with the purchase of a full driving course OR a complimentary 50% discount on a program of your choice. For more information email alumni@nscad.ca
Employment: Operations Manager,
the Atlantic International Film Festival is currently accepting applications for the position of Operations Manager. Duration of role, May 2024 - October 2024, $42k - $50k. Role is to oversee the production of the 44th Atlantic International Film Festival and its concurrent events including the AIFF Partners industry conference.
Deadline: April 2nd, 2024. Read more here.
Employment: Inuit Art Foundation is seeking a Development Coordinator and Development Director. Both of these roles are hybrid, work from home and in office in Toronto. An Inuit-led charity providing support to Inuit artists working throughout Inuit Nunaat and beyond. Positions are open until filled.
Read more here.
Work at NSCAD: NSCAD is hiring! Check out our careers page to see the open opportunities.
Stay in Touch
We want to hear from you! Please send us your news. What are you working on? Where are you living? What inspires you? Any recent achievements? Use the online form, and tag your work on social media with #keepcreatingNSCAD.
Email us at alumni@nscad.ca if you are interested in being profiled for your work or business.
Header image: Lichen Baby in Turquoise, Toni Losey (BFA 2018) image courtesy of the artist.
