Cedric Bomford joins the Visual Arts faculty
The Department of Visual Arts is proud to announce the appointment of two new members to their acclaimed teaching faculty. Joining Visual Arts from the University of Manitoba is sculptor and photographer Cedric Bomford, and stepping up from her longtime position as a sessional instructor is sculptor Megan Dickie.
“Cedric Bomford is leaving an Assistant Professorship at the University of Manitoba, a position that he has held since 2012, to join us at UVic to teach photography,” notes Visual Arts chair Paul Walde. “Professor Bomford’s career is on a upward trajectory as evidenced by an international exhibition record and his work being recently nominated for the prestigious 2014 Sobey Award.”
Bomford’s elaborate installation Bamberton: Contested Landscape ran locally at Open Space in January 2010. An immersive installation that reused materials from the artist’s building demolitions and previous work, the installation confronted land-use issues on the Vancouver Island site of Bamberton and Malahat Mountain through architectural references in the individual structures—which visitors were able to physically move through, over, under and around, allowing for a tactile interaction with the artists’ interventionist strategies and theme of contested space.
Bomford’s “Bamberton: Contested Landscape” at Open Space in 2010
“We believe Bomford’s high profile projects—most recently in Vancouver—will raise the profile of the Department and attract students to the program,” Walde continues. “Bomford’s practice is rooted in West Coast culture and he often collaborates with the brother Nathan and father Jim who live in on Vancouver Island. Additionally, Bomford is known for his curatorial projects, particularly his work with the collective aedc which produced a number of exhibitions in Berlin.”
And it’s a pleasure to see Megan Dickie move up to a faculty
position, after her many years teaching with the department. “Megan has been teaching with Visual Arts for 10 years now,” says Walde. “She is consistently one of
Megan Dickie teaching the Foundation class in Visual Arts
our most highly ranked instructors and is extremely popular with our students. In the past four years, Megan’s studio research has developed in new and innovative ways bringing her more exhibition opportunities both nationally and internationally.”
Known for her objects and images that are humorous, tactile and interactive, Megan investigates ideas of artifice by making sculptures out of sensuous materials that turn functional forms into exaggerated novelty gadgets. She finds novelty compelling in how it rejoices in excess and is truthful about its moral shortcomings; it’s a form that promotes curiosity over intimidation which allows the viewer to lean in and discover through touch. Through this tactile experience the viewer ends up struggling between their desire for amusement and their desire for reason.
Megan has exhibited her work across Canada and has had recent exhibitions at
Megan Dickie’s “The Gleamer,” last seen at Legacy Gallery
Victoria’s Deluge Contemporary, Vancouver’s Grunt Gallery, the Nanaimo Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Ministry of Causal Living and Saskatoon’s Kenderdine Art Gallery. She was also the recipient of a Canada Council emerging artist creation grant in 2004 and a BC Arts Council grant in 2007 & 2009. Most recently, she contributed a piece to Legacy Gallery’s In Session: One, an exhibit focusing on UVic’s sessional instructor
“Megan has also curated exhibitions in Victoria, which have contributed to the vibrancy of the community by bringing in the work of national and international artists,” says Walde. “And, for seven years, she has been leading our Foundations Program—we are currently looking to re-design this area, as was recommended by our Academic Program Review. Megan’s experience within the Department makes her a natural fit for this position. She will continue to work and develop our Foundations Program, but also teach video which is an increasingly important part of her practice.”