What it’s like to be an installation artist
Sage Sidley is a Kelowna-based artist. She studied at UBC Okanagan, where one of her drawings is part of the permanent public art collection. Her next exhibit, which will explore themes of art, technology, and surveillance, opens at the Vernon Public Art Gallery on January 4, 2018. When I was doing my research for my BFA final exhibition, I was inspired by a lot of street artists and this idea that art can be anywhere — that it doesn’t necessarily have to be in a gallery space in order to be viewed as art. I like everything to fit, and think of it almost as a Rubik’s cube. The first thing that comes is the space, and then the ideas for how it can all fit together; then, in the end, how the viewer will be approaching the work within the space. [As an installation artist,] sometimes I
find I do a lot more administrative work. My studio time is much more research and conceptually connected, more than drawing and then throwing out the drawing and then redoing the drawing. It’s not so much physical problem-solving as mental problem-solving. It’s definitely a good motivator to get exhibitions rather than just have it in my space, too — to get another exhibition so I can continue this idea of finding a problem in the space and then trying to solve it visually. We don’t really work with curators through school, so it’s been a nice learning experience, and kind of like having a partner in crime. And a lot of the curators have much more experience than I do with the spaces and with installing, so … they’ve taken my art to a new level. They’re also the connector between the public and my work.