Emergence 2022 by Vernon Public Art Gallery

EMERGENCE Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3 250.545.3173 vernonpublicartgallery.com

Vernon Public Art Gallery May 26 - July 19,2022

EMERGENCE Amanda McIvor Ari Sparks Avery Ullyot-Comrie Fiona Firby Hana Hamaguchi Mackenzie Beeman Maura Tamez Sofie Lovelady Susan Protsak

Vernon Public Art Gallery May 26 - July 19, 2022

Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3 www.vernonpublicartgallery.com 250.545.3173

This publication was produced in conjunction with the exhibition: Emergence Vernon Public Art Gallery, May 26 - July 19, 2022 Production: Vernon Public Art Gallery Editor: Lubos Culen Cover image: Amanda McIvor: Sonic Studio in Wave Form, 2022, screen-shot from Adobe Audition - entire piece Printing: Get Colour Copies, Vernon BC, Canada ISBN 978-1-927407-68-4

copyright © 2022, Vernon Public Art Gallery All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the Vernon Public Art Gallery. Requests for permission to use these images should be addressed in writing to the Vernon Public Art Gallery, 3228 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3, Canada. Telephone: 250.545.3173 - fax: 250.545.9096 - website: www.vernonpublicartgallery.com The Vernon Public Art Gallery is a registered not-for-profit society. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee/RDNO, the Province of BC’s Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, British Columbia Arts Council, the Government of Canada, corporate donors, sponsors, general donations and memberships. Charitable Organization # 108113358RR

Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3 250.545.3173 vernonpublicartgallery.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Director’s Foreword · Dauna Kennedy

Curator’s Introduction · Lubos Culen

Message from the Co-Instructors · Andreas Rutkauskas and Renay Egami

Artists and Their Works in the Exhibition

Amanda McIvor

Ari Sparks

Avery Ullyot-Comrie

Fiona Firby

Hana Hamaguchi

Mackenzie Beeman

Maura Tamez

Sofie Lovelady

Susan Protsack

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S FOREWORD

Emergence 2022 Each year the VPAG provides the opportunity for select graduates from the Bachelor of Fine Arts/Media Studies with UBC Okanagan to participate in a group exhibition featuring the a unique selection of works to share with the public. Selected from UBC Okanagan’s BFA and BMS 2022 year-end exhibition titled When This Is Over, this year VPAG’s exhibition features artwork by 9 students with mediums ranging from paintings and photography to an immersive sound installation and participatory film making. The variety and ingenuity of these graduates always provides us with a glimpse into the minds of our future artists. We hope you enjoy this iteration of Emergence and join us in exploring the work of these emerging artists. I’d like to thank Lubos Culen, Curator for the VPAG for his critical selection of works for this exhibition and the codirectors of the 4th year course Andreas Rutkauskas & Renay Egami for challenging these young artists through the creative processes which have resulted in the works contained within this exhibition and publication. I would also like to acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia, the Regional District of the North Okanagan, and the BC Arts Council, whose funding enables us to produce exhibitions such as this for the North Okanagan region and interested parties across Canada.

Dauna Kennedy Executive Director Vernon Public Art Gallery

CURATOR’S INTRODUCTION The exhibition Emergence features the works of nine artists who have completed their studies at UBC Okanagan’s Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Media Studies programs in 2022. This exhibition exemplifies various approaches to research and studio practice and asserts an active hands-on attitude while creating their work. This exhibition includes painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation, immersive sound installation and participatory experimental film. Emergence 2022 participating artists: AMANDA McIVOR Amanda McIvor is a sound artist with a focus on sound design. She creates immersive environments for the viewers to experience the sound as the primary sensory contact within the immediate surroundings. Conceptually, McIvor‘s artwork is based on the notion that our society is in constant visual overload through various media, advertising, and popular culture. Her work inspires the viewers to slow down and try to eliminate other sensory input. The artist‘s research is focused on the space that is the connection between listening and being. ARI SPARKS Dismemorialization, a neologism used by Ari Sparks, is the contrary expression to the process of preserving memories of people or events. The artwork Ari Sparks creates is inspired by their childhood memories. They explain that psychological and emotional trauma is still residual and for Sparks an opportunity to deal with the memories of their childhood. Their methodology is innovative and employs a scanner to distorts images of childhood photographs which they in turns use as source materials for their compositions. AVERY ULLYOT-COMRIE Avery Ullyot-Comrie’s sculptural artwork is married to Minimalist aesthetics in the use of materials and presentation. For her sculptural installation titled Express Checkout 15 Items or Less she selected the ubiquitous shopping baskets installed on a grid on the wall with their bottom facing the wall. This conceptual strategy already denies the presumed form and function of a shopping basket and her concept is further fortified by placing Plexiglas sheets in the top part of the basket. The use of the shopping baskets references all current issues surrounding food availability and food security. FIONA FIRBY Rapacity is Fiona Firby’s experimental and participatory film. The viewer can select different directions at bifurcations in the narrative by pushing the physical buttons/switches provided. Firby created a non-linear film narrative about greed with its various outcomes. In her film making, Firby contemplates how a narrative can be captured and later manipulated. In the film titled Rapacity, she created an interactive arrangements to engage the viewer in choosing their own directions and hence influence the multiple narratives’ and their outcomes.

HANA HAMAGUCHI Hamaguchi’s research addresses the notions of inhabiting, using and sharing cyberspace. In her body of work titled Love Bug, she base her source imagery on a malicious software ‘worm’ which was released in 2000. It was initiated through an e-mail attachment in an anonymous love letter. Consequently the computer worm caused severe damage in public and private sectors. In creating the images, Hamaguchi uses visual elements that signify the computer screens and heart shaped helium balloons. By producing a physical object (UV screen-print), Hamaguchi objectifies the otherwise virtual experience communicated through the computer screen. MACKENZIE BEEMAN Mackenzie Beeman’s artwork inspiration combines her pursuit of rock climbing and photography. Her series of works titled In Touch explore the dynamics of the physical aspect of rock climbing, but also in overcoming the fear in the pursuit of a difficult ascent. Some photographs document the physical pursuit of climbing while others portray groups of climbers at the base before or after the ascent. Yet in some photographs, Beeman captures the serenity of climbers in their intimate moments with the actual materiality of the landscape. MAURA TAMEZ Maura Tamez’s work draws inspiration from her Native American ancestry. She specifically references the medicinal properties of the cattail plant (Typha Latifolia) and their uses as medicine for various health conditions. Tamez produced sculptural objects that employ various materials ranging from aluminum to objects produced from cattail plants through the rendering of the fibers and shaping them into objects which reference contemporary and traditional uses of these plants. SOFIE LOVELADY Sofie Lovelady’s work accentuate the Feminist critique of the stereotypical view of the female gender. Her artwork embodies the critical view on social issues and how women are portrayed and represented in popular culture. In addition to her pictorial elements of the female body, Lovelady uses text juxtaposed over figurative elements. The text is often composed in an ambiguous proposition, a phrase seemingly contradictory, but a closer scrutiny unveils the right message which is a critique of patriarchal society. SUSAN PROTSACK Susan Protsack’s installation includes sculptural elements and music displayed in a low level light environment. The sculptural objects are free-flowing amorphic abstract sculptures. They are a result of a process-oriented construction of a sculptural object without a premeditated outcome of its form. Some of the sculptural objects are anthropomorphic in appearance evoking a strong association of human body parts. The installation has many layers of associations and creates a space for contemplation and open interpretation for every viewer. Lubos Culen Curator Vernon Public Art Gallery 7

MESSAGE FROM CO-INSTRUCTORS OF ADVANCED ART PRACTICES Following two years of online learning and virtual exhibitions, we were thrilled to present the graduation exhibition When This is Over at UBC Okanagan this April. A fitting transition can be found in this exhibit titled Emergence, as the cycle of endings and new beginnings, hard work and celebration, failure and success are attributes that will define an artist’s practice throughout their career. 2022 also marked a new collaboration between UBC Okanagan’s Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Bachelor of Media Studies (BMS) programs, and we are happy to see this collaboration extend into the Emergence exhibit, which showcases the work of seven BFA students and two from the BMS program. The ideas behind these exceptional students’ works are as varied as their media, including investigations of selfhood, post-capitalism and commodification, sustainability and environmentalism, Indigenous ways of knowing, Feminism, aphantasia and meditation. The curator’s vision brings these individual works together in a way that generates new meaning, and presents a platform for their works to reach a wider audience and supports growth. It has been a pleasure to work with Lubos Culen and the staff of the Vernon Public Art Gallery on this project. Congratulations to this next generation of artists, who are emerging from a difficult period in history. May your resilience carry you forward into sustainable careers! Andreas Rutkauskas and Renay Egami Co-Instructors of Advanced Art Practices Courses Faculty of Creative Studies University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus

ARTISTS AND AND THEIR WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

AMANDA McIVOR Sonic Studio My relationship to, and my passion for sound has been a driving force in my life that began in childhood. During the media studies program, I have focused on sound design and how one can be affected by it. I developed ‘Sonic Studio’ as an immersive sound experience that envelops the audience in a blanket of sound, in an attempt to eliminate all other sensory organs. Drawing attention internally, it grounds the body and showcases the connection between listening and being. I believe the world is oversaturated with fast and flashy visuals; my piece focuses on slow media and meditative practice. This project is important because people need to slow down and attain self-awareness to understand our ears’ capability to connect our minds with our bodies. Listening is often overlooked, and I believe this is mainly due to the fact that hearing, in our everyday lives, is passive. We often forget to take a moment and listen. But, by focusing on active listening one can discover things about themselves and the world around them. References: (1) Kimura, D. (1963). Left-Right Differences in the Perception of Melodies. From the Montreal Neurological Institute. (2) Muehsam, D. & Ventura, C. (2014). Life Rhythm as a Symphony of Oscillatory Patterns: Electromagnetic Energy and Sound Vibration Modulates Gene Expression for Biological Signaling and Healing. Global Advances in Health and Medicine. (3) Salselas, I. & Penha, R. & Bernardes, G. (2020). Sound Design Inducing Attention in the Context of Audiovisual Immersive Environments. Springer-Verlag London Ltd.

Software and Workspace screenshots, GarageBand & Arcade, Adobe Audition, Notes - work in progress, 2022

Sonic Studio in Wave Form, screenshot from Adobe Audition - entire piece, 2022

ARI SPARKS Dismemorialization Dismemorialization is a body of work that conjures up the manifestation of trauma as a disturbance or glitch through haunted images of memories. In my paintings, I alter photographs of my childhood self, using analogue manipulation on a flatbed scanner and digital photo collage. The resulting warped photo references are the basis for my paintings. The viewer experiences these images of my younger self through a lens that expresses the trauma that occurred during this period of my life as a distortion. In essence, the psychological and emotional trauma that haunts the subject is conjured and given visual language within these paintings. The paintings depict warped and twisted versions of myself in bright contrasting colours. This creates an underlying conflict within the colour theory and energetic vibrations through the juxtaposition of opposing hues. By using unrealistic colours I intentionally open up the interpretation of the work to be depicting something intangible. Through my methodology, Dismemorialization interacts with the history of image making and representation through various technologies: photography, performative and digital interferences of the image, and oil painting. The performance of the image refers to my body physically moving the photograph as it is digitally scanned, thus influencing the photograph’s appearance. The use of myself, a queer person, as the subject of my paintings necessitates readings of the work to include queer identity and fluidity. This builds upon my previous figurative work that explores the relationship between queerness and themes of horror, monstrosity, and haunting. Specifically in this context, I am using depictions of my queer body as a site of exploration through which human beings experience and enact identity, the abject, eroticism, horror, and death.

1999 Problems (Smile for the Camera Kid), 2022, oil on canvas, 42 x 30 inches

In Your Head, 2022, oil on canvas, 42 x 30 inches

Only We Know, 2022, oil on canvas, 42 x 30 inches

AVERY ULLYOT-COMRIE Express Checkout 15 Items or Less! My work is conceptually grounded in minimalist principles focusing on elements of form, repetition, and colour. Using shopping baskets and shopping carts as found objects, the installations re-contextualize the items by inserting them into the gallery space in repeating structures and mass quantities, while also utilizing various physical interventions. I chose to work with the shopping basket and the shopping cart because they serve as consumer tools, recognizable even outside of their normal placement. The formation of the found objects and their modifications invite the viewer to consider their previously held relationship to the items in the installation. Both objects serve the single purpose of carrying goods which is disrupted through physical interventions such as barriers, placement in the space, and cross-sectioning. The shopping baskets are hung in a series of lines adhered by their base, each covered with an acrylic sheet that acts as a barrier between the basket and its ability to carry goods. The barrier and configuration on the wall disrupt the relationship between the viewer and the object by challenging its purpose, thereby reducing the object to its formal qualities. Similarly, the shopping carts are cross-sectioned and placed on the gallery floor, creating an illusionary effect as they recede into the surface, inhibiting their ability to fulfil their purpose and minimizing the object to its form. Colour acts to unify the shopping carts and baskets to draw attention to the repetition within their grid pattern configuration. The quantity of the objects is intentional as it creates an awareness of mass as the carts and baskets are spread apart, deviating from their known ability to nest into one another. The installations use found objects from consumer environments, allowing the viewer to connect with the installation materially and reflect on their relationship to the items displayed. As objects created to fulfil a single purpose, their existence is challenged by this re-contextualisation that inhibits their ability to assist in consumption, reducing them to their formal aspects.

Express Checkout 15 Items or Less!, 2021 - 2022, mixed media installation (shopping baskets and Plexiglas), dimensions variable

FIONA FIRBY Rapacity I have been passionate about film and movies for as long as I can remember- always fascinated by how a moment can be captured, rewatched, and manipulated. The nonlinear and interactive film project, entitled Rapacity focuses on temptations of greed. The project uses a choose your own adventure as a device not only to communicate the message but also to engage the viewer further in choosing their own path. Viewers will be able to go through multiple scenarios which will lead the protagonist to experience alternative outcomes. The interaction within the film narrative will depict either a lonely, isolated life; or they will be successful leading to a full life where the character does not overindulge with their wishes. Through my time in the Media Studies program here at UBCO, I have furthered my expertise in filmmaking, creative coding, graphic design, and interactive media. This project was created for my media studies capstone class and is a culmination of all of the skills and interests I have developed through this program. Throughout my degree, I have been given the opportunity to expand on my prior interests such as film and further explore other creative mediums and methods. One of the new interests that I discovered through my time at UBCO was interactive media and design. Through this project, I have been able to combine my main focus and passion for videography with my new interest in interactivity; leaving my final footprint at UBC with my two passions.

Rapacity, 2022, interactive film, production still

HANA HAMAGUCHI Love Bug I have always been fascinated with the way we learn and navigate through digital spaces and the various digital specific interactions that we can have online.The development of concepts such as controlled anonymity, access to a hivemind of sorts, and various malicious exploits are some of the things I find interesting about the digital realm. I wanted to make a series of work highlighting the category of malicious exploits on the internet and explored various computer viruses. These viruses are created with malicious intent, and they navigate a space that the average person knows little about and parasitically use us for things such as our personal data and advertisement profit. I also find the way they evolve interesting as public knowledge of these types of malicious actions become common sense and these programs must adjust in order to hide themselves from our detection. My first series of work, Love Bug, is based on a computer worm of the same name that spread in 2000. The worm would spread through the use of a love letter attachment to an email that upon opening the file, would run malicious code. It was originally created by a student who was experimenting and removed the safeguard geolock on a whim. The worm went on to shut down several different private and public sectors and caused millions in damages. The student was then charged with wire fraud as computer crime did not have a precedent in the justice system in their country of origin. I find this story fascinating and I wanted to visually represent some of these concepts through printmaking to reflect the replicability of the original computer worm. Screenprinting allows me to re-contextualize these visual elements that often exist purely on digital screens. I enjoy the process of deconstructing these visual elements that make up the peripheral of our digital experience and using a very physical process like screenprinting to make a final image. I find the permanence of the physical object contrasts the ever changing nature of the digital space and I enjoy the interesting dynamic it creates when we see an object that was purely meant for a digital space represented in a physical space.

Book of Faces, 2022, UV screenprint, 30 x 22 inches

ILOVEYOU2, 2022, UV screenprint, 30 x 22 inches

ILOVEYOU, 2022, UV screenprint, 22 x 15 inches

MACKENZIE BEEMAN In Touch Rock climbing has shaped who I am as a person and as an artist. I started climbing six years ago, and my passion for the sport has continued to grow ever since. It is difficult to determine what I love more, photographing the sport or participating in the sport. Climbing requires so much focus and attention to detail that it completely consumes you for those moments that you are on the wall. Fear is also a significant aspect of climbing and learning to overcome it is never a straight trajectory. However, there are precious moments when the fear seems to subside and the action of moving up the wall becomes pure bliss. In these moments, I feel as though I have become engulfed in the grandeur of the landscape and the gratitude for my surroundings intensifies. I have always strived to visualize and represent climbing in unique and endearing ways by capturing the excitement of the sport, but also the more mundane moments. As much as I love hanging on the wall, being right next to the action, I also love to take a step back and create space to let the natural landscape guide the photograph. It is often at this time when I feel as though I have captured that moment of bliss. In September 2021, I began exploring the relationship, connection, and engagement between the climber and the land. Over the past seven months, this series has taken on many different photographic journeys. Symbiotically, what lies beneath it all is the contemplation of the impact that climbers have on the land and the effect the land has on climbers. In Touch visualizes both the physical and mental changes that occur within the climber and the land. It is when I am climbing and photographing climbing that I feel truly in touch with myself and the environment around me.

In Touch - 3, 2021, photography, 17 x 22 inches

In Touch - 2, 2021, photography, 17 x 22 inches

In Touch - 1, 2021, photography, 60 x 40 inche

MAURA TAMEZ Daánzho, my name is Maura Tamez. I am Ndé, and an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Band, Southern Plains Dene, Texas. Ndé are linguistically and culturally tied to the Dene Nation in Canada, US and Mexico through land-memory. My work represents ongoing research on hadntn, the Ndé word for cattail pollen, and is informed by Ndé science, culture, and contemporary life. Ndé peoples, particularly women, hold hadntn in high regard as a medicine and food. Hadntn, found in ecosystems globally, is a primary Ndé identity plant due to how Ndé utilize it in Ndé coming of age ceremonies for young girls. It is key to Ndé life-sustaining cultural continuity connecting us to Niguusdzán (land mother/ north america). The presence of cattail in my work is manifested as raw materials I’m giving shape to using aluminum to make sculpture. In Hadntn Still, the aluminum’s malleability is a quality I’ve adapted to create new forms. These aluminum shapes echo the grace and movement of cattail during harvesting processes I’ve experienced in numerous Ndé community harvesting-processing activities over my lifetime. Similarly Land Tampon, made with hadntn, mimics the form of a current-day menstruation product. Maxi Pad Lightbox is a piece that uses light to draw the eye to intricate interlacing of cattail fibers after being cooked down. In my fiber-related research with Indigenous artists (Barb Marchand, Mariel Belanger), I have learned how to cook cattail. The cattail plant has emmenagogue qualities; it could stimulate menstruation in bodies with ovaries. Other medicinal traits (i.e. being mildly diuretic and hemostatic) are further evidence of the plant’s capabilities. As an invited guest who has harvested hadntn in Syilx territory and Secwepemc territory, this work is informed by my reflections on my relationships and roles as a guest in other Indigenous Peoples’ lands where a Ndé culturally significant plant thrives. This highlights parallels and intersections between diverse Indigenous harvesting practices in marshes outside my traditional territory, and amplifies knowledge of my Ndé Elders and mentors. Shaping hadntn stories and knowledge through sculpture energizes Ndé knowledge in current-time and for future Ndé peoples’ navigating oppression.

hadntn still, 2021, aluminum, dimensions variable, 6 feet high

hadntn still (detail), 2021, aluminum, dimensions variable, 6 feet high

SOFIE LOVELADY In my work, I express critical views on social issues, with a focus on feminist perspectives. I am interested in the ways women are represented in popular culture and media, and how those materials can be manipulated to critique the flaws in their original contexts. My practice revolves around collage and the reconfiguration of magazine advertisements, song lyrics, and public messages to create new, provocative, or prodding statements. By recontextualizing and ridiculing the original source material, the processes of both collage and print act as an exercise of reforming the ideas present in past representations. The work Girl Talk consists of a long list of complimentary and insulting descriptions that are often directed toward women. This expresses the familiar bombardment of the labelling and intrusion on women and their bodies through the use of demeaning language. The large scale of the prints stresses that these terms and judgements are never-ending, overwhelming, and a part of something larger than you or your control. The collage work, Biting My Tongue, expresses the displeasure of holding back thoughts and feelings for the sake of someone else’s convenience. The figure sits before the meal of a tongue to convey how physically repulsive it can feel to hold back words that should be said. Altogether, my work is an amalgamation of personal experiences that I aim to relate to broader social narratives. One statement by Wangechi Mutu that has materialized itself in my work is that “Females carry the marks, language and nuances of their culture more than [others]. Anything that is desired or despised is always placed on the female body”. This hypocrisy of women being both exploited and shamed for the objectification of their bodies is extremely prevalent in popular media, and is ultimately what I aim to deconstruct through the altering of said media.

Look at Her!, 2021, digital collage, 50 x 31 inches

Nothing, 2022, digital collage, 30 x 22 inches

Girl Talk, 2022, UV screenprint, 50 x 31 inches

SUSAN PROTSACK Deposition I: The Bridge These amorphic sculptures, that are positioned in a darkened environment, are intended to evoke the generation of memories and emotions. Music, commissioned for this installation; as well as directed and ambient lighting, enhance the multisensory experience. While the work holds personal and layered significance for me, the intention is that it will create an experience that is open to the unique interpretation of each viewer. The forms were created using an original, iterative technique, in which fine mesh is gradually encased in multiple layers of compound, eventually producing a solid form from what was once completely malleable. The flexibility of the underlying mesh, and the unpredictable ways in which it settles into its own form makes it impossible for me to envision the final work until it is well underway. I am fascinated and compelled by this process, whereby the work slowly and autonomously seems to reveal itself, progressively generating its own spirit and being. The process involved in the creation of these works is analogous to my personal experience with the neurological condition, aphantasia. This condition, affecting 1-2% of the population, involves the inability to see images in the “mind’s eye’ and is related to other conditions like prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces). Someone with extreme aphantasia, if asked to visualize an object, may only be able to conjure the vague essence of a form occupying a three-dimensional space. It is often described as sensing an “aura”; perceived, yet, invisible. In addition to parallels between the creative process and aphantasia, the topographical shapes of the works also embody what I ‘see’ when I try to manifest images in my mind. Physically representing ethereal thought is an impossible undertaking; this work takes that impossibility further in its attempt to depict the absence of thought. The music accompanying the installation, created by Andrew Stauffer and Nicholas Denton Protsack, is based upon their interpretation of the sculptural component of the installation—along with minor additions of melodic fragments or sounds I have requested be incorporated for their personal meaning and relevance to the work.

Deposition I: The Bridge, 2021 - 2022, installation (sculpture and sound) aluminum mesh, joint compound, acrylic medium, acrylic paint; audio

EMERGENCE Vernon Public Art Gallery 3228 - 31st Avenue, Vernon BC, V1T 2H3 250.545.3173 vernonpublicartgallery.com

Vernon Public Art Gallery May 26 - July 19,2022