Always an exciting part of each semester, the long-running Visiting Artist program in the Department of Visual Arts has announced their fall lineup. Organized by Visual Arts instructor Doug Jarvis and MFA candidate Dani Proteau, all these illustrated talks take place at 7:30pm in room A150 of the Visual Arts Building — and all are free and open to the public. Come join us in exploring the wider visual arts world!
Wolfgang Weileder
September 19
Wolfgang Weileder is an artist whose practice is primarily concerned with the examination and critical deconstruction of architecture, public spaces and the interactions we have with the urban environment. His works are investigations into the relationship between time and space, the interface between permanence and transience, and how these can be explored to question our understanding of the landscape, both built and natural. His work engages with the world through large-scale, temporary site-specific installation and sculpture; temporal recordings of spaces and environments through photography; film, performance and sound installation.
Daniel Kohn & Heather Spence
October 3
Daniel Kohn
Daniel Kohn and Heather Spence first met at the NAKFI Discovering the Deep Blue Sea conference in 2016 and began to form collaborative projects around the intersection of art and ocean science and the concept of Ocean Memory. Their previous work in interdisciplinary collaborations as well as background in fine arts (Daniel) and music, marine bioacoustics and neuroscience (Heather) have brought them to think of artmaking and research as simultaneously collective and personal pursuits. They come to Victoria to explore collaboration with Ocean Networks Canada, to use ONCs audio archive and live data capabilities, and with a wish to connect to local efforts and projects seeking to remap the way in which we think of – and engage with – the ocean.
Cindy Baker
October 17
Cindy Baker is an interdisciplinary and performance artist whose work is informed by a fierce commitment to community engagement and critical social inquiry. Drawing from queer theory, gender culture, fat activism and art theory, Baker’s research-based practice moves fluently between the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Baker considers context her primary medium, and works with diverse materials and techniques from the low-craft (such as latch-hooking) to digital fabrication and perfor-mance, emphasizing the theoretical, conceptual and ephemeral aspects of her work. Cindy Baker completed her MFA at the University of Leth-bridge in 2014, and she lives and works between Lethbridge, AB, Canada and Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Rachelle Sawatsky
October 24
Rachelle Sawatsky is an artist and a writer based in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Her solo and collaborative work encompasses painting, writing, ceramics, drawing and movement. Recent solo exhibitions include China Art Objects, Artist Curated Projects, Harmony Murphy Gallery in Los Angeles and at the Material Art Fair in Mexico City. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Tate St. Ives, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and Galerie Mezzanin in Vienna as part of the Curated By Biennale. She is a Lecturer at the University of California, Riverside.
John Eisler
November 7
John Eisler completed his MFA at the University of Guelph (2018). He received his BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1997, with a concentration in painting. He has had a number of solo exhibition at Paul Kuhn Fine Arts (Calgary) and Diaz Contemporary (Toronto), including : Fountain (2013) and Observatory (2013). Recent group exhibitions include : More Than Two (Let it Make Itself) at the Power Plant (Toronto) ; 60 Painters at Humber Arts and Media Studios (Toron-to) ; softcare Hard Edge at East and Peggy Phelps Galleries in Clare-mont, CA and the Art Gallery of Calgary ; 2×2 at the Keyano Art Gallery in Fort McMurray in Alberta. His works are held in collections of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Macdonald Stewart Art Center, TD Bank Group, as well as numerous private collections.
Farheen HaQ
November 21
A still from Farheen HaQ’s “Endless Tether”
Farheen HaQ is a South Asian Muslim Canadian artist who has been living on unceded Lekwungen territory (Victoria, BC) for 20 years. She was born and raised in Haudenosanee territory (Niagara region, Ontario) amongst a tight-knit Muslim community. Her multidisciplinary practice which often employs video, installation and performance is informed by interiority, relationality, embodiment, ritual and spiritual practice. Farheen has exhibited her work in galleries and festivals throughout Canada and internationally including New York, Paris, Lahore, Medellin, Buenos Aires, and Hungary. She received her MFA from York University (2005). In 2014 she was nominated for Canada’s Sobey Art Award.