T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss speaks at Activism & the Arts lecture series

by | Feb 13, 2026 | donor, Events, indigenous, Research, School of Music, Visual Arts

Save the date for our annual donor-funded Lehan Family Activism & the Arts Lecture Series: this year, we present ethnobotanist, artist and community-based educator T’uy’t’tanat- Cease Wyss speaking on the topic of “Diaspora of Ancient Technologies and the Future Herstory of IndigiFuturisms”.

Technology has been part of humanity since the earth was formed, yet many people have lost their connectivity to “temexw” or “earth” and have attempted to find their way through digital technologies. But the connections have always been there on both ends of the technological spectrum: how we play and create today reflects this, and how we interact is our connection to the beginning.

All are welcome to join us for this free public talk in UVic’s gorgeous new Indigenous Law Wing: 5pm Wednesday Feb 25, in room B142 of the Fraser Building.

T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh/Sto:Lo/Hawaiian/Swiss) is an Indigenous matriarch and interdisciplinary artist who works with digital media, writing, performance and land-based remediations in her multi-disciplinary arts practice. A community-engaged public artist, Indigi-Futurisms developer and ethnobotanist/permaculture designer, for more than 30 years her works have focussed on sustainability, permaculture techniques and Coast Salish cultural elements, including themes of ethnobotany, Indigenous language revival, Salish weaving and digital media technology. She currently holds the MST Fieldhouse artistic residency in Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

Wyss is currently working on bridging the healing sounds of plants and fungi with Indigenous languages, and creating conversations between them all using biosonification with modular synthesizers. During her time on campus, she will also be visiting various classes and engaging with our students.

Wyss and her IM4 Media Lab — which cultivates Indigenous innovation at the intersection of tradition and technology — will also be holding a ReciprociTea & VR Workshop from 1-4pm Tuesday, Feb 24, in UVic’s Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab in the Visual Arts building. Come experience her storytelling told through a ceremony of tea and seen through an oculus lens.

Previous guests in our Activism & the Arts series include Charles Campbell, Gord Hill and d’bi.young anitafrika, and you can watch their public talks here.

Join us for student wellness day Feb 9

by | Feb 5, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, indigenous, School of Music, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Need a break between classes? Don’t miss Fine Arts Student Wellness Day, running 8:30am-4:30pm Mon, Feb 9. Everything’s free! Activities and events will be happening around the Fine Arts complex, so drop in for whatever best works for your schedule.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s going on:

Drop-in activities (all day)

  • Wellness Info Fair (Fine Arts lobby)
  • Adult colouring pages (Fine Arts 108)
  • Comedy on loop (Fine Arts 106)
  • DIY puzzles (Fine Arts 115)

Timed activities (various locations)

  • Morning bird walk: 8:30 – 9:30am (Finnerty Gardens)
  • Dog café/pet therapy: 11:15am – 12:30pm (Fine 
Arts 104) with Pacific Animal Therapy Society
  • Nature journaling: 12:30 – 1:30pm (Finnerty Gardens, meet at Multifaith Centre) with Angela Wood
  • Somatic Sanctuary: 1:00 – 1:20pm (Fine Arts 108) 
Qi Gong movement with Catherine Harding
  • Dance/movement session: 1:00 -3pm (Theatre 136) 
with DJ Codex (Christine Walde, Fine Arts Librarian)
  • Art meditation: 1:30 – 4:30pm (Visual Arts 146)
  • Yoga For Meditation: 3:30 – 4:20pm (Multifaith Centre)

Wellness Info Fair (Fine Arts lobby)

  • Healthy snacks table
  • DIY gratitude messages
  • Wellness messages & reminders
  • Office of Student Life info & campus resources

 

Sounding Grounds festival debuts

by | Jan 22, 2026 | Alumni, Events, Faculty, Graduate, School of Music, Visual Arts

Sounding Grounds is a gathering of new music, experimental sound and interdisciplinary art. Running Jan 30-Feb 1 at UVic’s School of Music, this multi-day festival is a meeting place for UVic’s most adventurous creators. Featuring student and faculty composers, improvisers, builders, thinkers, and listeners, Sounding Grounds invites you to explore the curious and ever-evolving terrain of contemporary sound.

Schedule of events:

Fridaymusic: New works by student composers

A concert of bold new works by UVic student composers that spans acoustic, electronic and hybrid forms. Expect unexpected sounds!

12:30 – 1:20pm Friday, Jan. 30 • Phillip T. Young Recital Hall • Admission by donation • More info

 

UVic Orchestra: Nobles, Smetana, Schumann

Conductor Yariv Aloni leads the UVic Symphony Orchestra in a dynamic program that journeys through vivid musical landscapes, from operatic drama to symphonic grandeur. Featuring Jordan Nobles’ Apollo—an evocative, contemporary work exploring light and motion.

8pm Friday, Jan. 30 • Farquhar Auditorium, Jamie Cassels Centre • Tickets $15-$28, free for UVic students • More info

 

Sonic Improvisation Workshop

Bring your instrument, voice, or just your curiosity. A low-pressure, high-reward space for spontaneous sonic exploration. No experience necessary.

1:30-3pm Sat, Jan. 31 • room B037, MacLaurin Building • Free • More info

 

Faculty Concert Series: Local Currents

UVic faculty and staff share original works that highlight the depth, range, and individuality of our community’s artistic voices. The program features Anthony Tan’s bound/woven for electronics; a collaborative laptop and video performance by Megan Harton & Isaiah Doyle; Taylor Brook’s Hypha for electric guitar with electronics and video projections; Sarah Belle Reid’s Brittle Stars for voice and electronics; Lauren McCall’s work for flute and electronics; Ajtony Csaba’s Wind Drumming for piano and live electronics; and Kristy Farkas’s In this light for piano.

7:30pm Sat, Jan. 31 • Phillip T. Young Recital Hall • By donation • More info

 

VR Experience: The Witness Blanket

Explore Carey Newman’s powerful national monument through virtual reality. Inspired by a woven blanket, the Witness Blanket is a large-scale work of art. It contains hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada. This is a space for listening, remembering, and honouring truth and reconciliation.

2-5pm Sunday, Feb. 1 • CReaTeLab, room B004, MacLaurin Building • More info • Free, but reservations recommended: book a time here

 

Shapes for Sounds Vol. 04 Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Part gallery, part playground, this annual variety throwdown transforms space through sculpture, sound art, noise, and performance. A tribute to the Merz art movement, the evening brings together action painting, voice, video, power electronics, and embodied performance—exploring the relationships between sound, the body, materials, and architecture. Featuring the Puppets Forsaken troupe: Hermit, Agnes, Alex Taylor-McCallum, Edith Skeard, Kegan McFadden, Ciel Boehme, John Boehme, Paul Walde, Grace Salez, Evan Locke, Mitch Renaud, Derk Wolmuth, and Lesley Marshall.

2-5pm Sunday, Feb. 1 • Phillip T. Young Recital Hall • By donation • More info

Upcoming Indigenous events & workshops

by | Jan 22, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, indigenous, School of Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing

Fine Arts Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator Karla Point has been busy organizing her latest series of workshops, lunchtime talks and special guest visits for the Winter semester. Here’s what’s coming up, but more will be added as details get solidified.

Fine Arts Haahuupa Lunch Series

Meaning “to share the teachings” in Nuu chah nulth, the continuing Haahuupa series offers a chance for us to digest some Indigenous knowledge along with our food. Please bring your lunch to these talks, which are free and open to anyone.

Carey Newman (Feb 2) is a multi-disciplinary artist, filmmaker, master carver and author who strives to highlight Indigenous, social and environmental issues in his artistic practice as he examines the impacts of colonialism and capitalism, harnessing the power of material truth to unearth memory and trigger the necessary emotion to drive positive change. He is UVic’s Impact Chair in Indigenous Art Practices, and a professor in the Visual Arts and Art History & Visual Studies departments. 

• 12:30-1:30pm Fine Arts room 106: more details here.

Heather Igloliorte (March 24) is an internationally-renowned curator and art historian whose work centres circumpolar Inuit and other Indigenous arts and knowledges within global art contexts (contemporary art exhibitions, public art installations, museum collecting practices, new media art, film productions). She is UVic’s inaugural Canada Research Excellence Chair in Decolonial & Transformational Indigenous Art Practices, and runs the Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab in the Visual Arts department. 

• 12:30-1:30pm in Visual Arts room 134: more details here.

Marion Newman (April 10) is a critically acclaimed and award-winning mezzo-soprano, and a voice professor in the School of Music. A driving force for truth and reconciliation within the context of classical music, she is leading colleagues and audiences through long overdue discussions about the very nature of what it means to call something “Canadian music”. As well as being one of Canada’s most accomplished operatic singers, she is the long-running host of the national CBC Radio show, Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. 

• 12:30-1:30pm in Fine Arts room 106: more details here.

Monthly workshops

Karla’s monthly workshop series is based around three key sessions — REDress: Calls for Justice, Territorial Acknowledgement and Pathways to Reconciliation — which repeat monthly at different times and days to accommodate shifting schedules.

REDress: Calls for Justice workshop: learn more about the REDress movement and the critical ongoing issue of genocide against Indigenous Women & Girls & LGBTQ2S+. Very little progress has been made on achieving the 231 Calls for Justice since the release of the Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women & Girls National Inquiry report in 2019. Learn more about the REDress movement and the critical ongoing issue of genocide against MMIWG2S+ people. All Canadian citizens have a role in addressing this and a responsibility to affect change for those who are suffering through the systemic factors of racism and misogyny. “This report is about these beautiful Indigenous people and the systemic factors that lead to their losses of dignity, humanity and, in too many cases, losses of life. This report is about deliberate race, identity and gender-based genocide,” noted Chief Commissioner Marion Buller, who is now UVic’s Chancellor.

• 9:30-10:30am, Thurs, Jan 29 (Fine Arts 106)

• 11:30am-12:30pm Tuesday, Feb 24 (Fine Arts 106)

• 9:30-10:30am Wed, March 4 (Fine Arts 108)

• 10-11am Tues, April 28 (Fine Arts 106) 

Territorial Acknowledgement workshop: in this age of Reconciliation with Indigenous People, land acknowledgements are a great way to do your reconciliation work. Learn about why land acknowledgements matter not only for Indigenous People, but for you too! You will also get some insights into how to do your own acknowledgements in everyday life.

• 9:30-10:30am Feb 9 (Fine Arts 106)

• 11:30am-12:30pm Thurs, March 12 (Fine Arts 108)

• 2:30-3:30pm Mon, April 13 (Fine Arts 106)

Pathways to Reconciliation workshop: The Truth and Reconciliation Report and its 94 Calls to Action was released in December 2015, and is a detailed account of what happened to Indigenous children who were physically and sexually abused in government boarding schools, where an estimated 3,200 children died from tuberculosis, malnutrition and other diseases resulting from poor living conditions. Chief Justice Murray Sinclair estimates the death toll to be much higher because burial records were “so poor”. The number of deaths due to abuse were likely not recorded.

• 10:30-11:30am Wed, Feb 18 (Fine Arts 106)

• 9:30-10:30am Wed, March 18 (Fine Arts 106)

• 12:30-1:30pm Thurs, April 23 (Fine Arts 106)

Special guests

Coming up this spring are faculty visits by Indigenous artist, educator and ethnobotanist T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss (Feb 25) and Indigenous filmmaker Harold C. Joe (March 24). Watch for more info coming soon!

 

About Karla Point

Karla Point Hii nulth tsa kaa is the Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator for the Faculty of Fine Arts. She guides the Faculty’s responses to the TRC Calls to Action, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Action (DRIPA) Plan.

Karla also develops and delivers faculty-wide workshops that gives insights on decolonizing teaching and curriculum, and integrates Indigenous Resurgence initiatives for Fine Arts faculty, staff, students and the UVic community. She consults with Indigenous staff, faculty, local Elders and other knowledge holders when necessary, while also providing support and advocacy for Fine Arts Indigenous Students. Part of the Hesquiaht First Nation, Karla is a life-long learner and UVic alumna with a BA (Humanities, 2003) and LL.B (Law, 2006).

Paul Walde exhibit focuses on weather & water

by | Jan 12, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, Faculty, Research, Visual Arts

Opening on January 15 at downtown’s Legacy Gallery is Paul Walde: Weather Conditions, a double exhibit of site-specific video installations by Visual Arts professor Paul Walde, curated by the Art History & Visual Studies department’s Williams Legacy Chair,  Carolyn Butler Palmer. Both these installations reflect art history in unique ways, highlighting remembrances of famed Canadian painter Tom Thomson and American artist Geoff Hendrix, notably of the Fluxus art movement. Walde rarely exhibits locally, so Weather Conditions offers the chance to see his work in a gallery setting — with two pieces that have never before been shown in Victoria.

“This is an opportunity to give the community a taste of the work I’ve been doing in relation to environment, landscape, performance and the human body,” says Walde. “I really wanted to share these works, particularly because they haven’t been seen a lot: they’re both made for audiences, they’re not meant to be scrolled away somewhere.”

On view will be the 55-minute Tom Thomson Centennial Swim (2017-2019) and the 30-minute Of Weather (for Geoff Hendricks) (2018-2024): two video installations which showcase one-time, site-specific performances and both featuring soundtracks for which Walde composed the music himself.

“A lot of my work takes a while to do,” he explains. “It takes a lot to initially stage the events and then to reimagine them into standalone artworks that can operate on their own. You can’t reproduce the live performances, but you can use that raw footage as material to make something new.”

Recent work on view

The Tom Thomson Centennial Swim (shown right) is a bold, real-time video installation of Walde’s 2017 site-specific swim across Canoe Lake in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, where Thomson died, accompanied by a team of synchronized swimmers and a canoe-based brass band, both of which are featured in the video alongside footage shot both from his perspective and from a distance.

Of Weather engages with issues of climate and ecology by featuring people struggling to carry large-scale photographs of clouds, bringing weather down to a very human level. Legacy will also offer two performances (Feb 28 & March 28) where people will handle the images while accompanied by Walde’s live score.

“I would say Tom Thomson is more like me confronting the myth around his death, literally putting my body in that space on the very anniversary of his drowning,” says Walde. By approaching it like a sporting event — with branding, a band and surrounding performances — he also acknowledges some of the competition and the hierarchies within art history itself.

Human impact on climate

Of Weather, however, speaks more directly to how humans are affecting weather. “Because of the warming oceans, the greenhouse effect is affecting the type of clouds that are being produced: we’re getting more high-level clouds that actually trap heat and less low-level clouds that reflect heat,” Walde explains.

That concept is shown in the exhibit via the size of the images his team are carrying. “We have the weight of responsibility to struggle with these things, and using art handlers to do that also shows some of the invisible workforce that goes on behind the scenes to make the art world mobile. Right now, we have mobile biennials and art fairs happening all over the world, and there’s an environmental impact to that.”

Be sure to save the date for a pair of live performances of “Weather Conditions” as well: 2pm Sat, Feb 28 and 2pm Sat, March 28, both at downtown’s Legacy Gallery.

“Of Weather Movements” will feature the pictures in the exhibition being activated by a team of art handlers in a live performance based on motion-picture camera movements and editing techniques, accompanied by a live performance of the Of Weather music score by a string quartet.

Coming up next

Currently, Walde is working on his latest video installation — a new opera, Forestorium, which he calls “the best thing I’ve ever done” — the filming for which undertaken in July 2025 when he took 100 people into the unpopulated traditional Ma’amtagila village site of Hiladi on the east coast of Vancouver Island (near Campbell River). which will hopefully be seen in 2027.

Meet Music’s 2025 Concerto Competition student winners

by | Oct 28, 2025 | Award, Events, School of Music, Undergraduate

This year’s UVic Concerto Competition celebrates exceptional musicians whose talents span genres, generations, and geographies. The competition finals were held in April 2025 and we can’t wait to hear them perform their winning concertos with the UVic Symphony Orchestra and UVic Wind Symphony in our 2025-26 concert season. Congratulations go out to School of Music students Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer, Olivia Pryce-Digby and Ethan Page!

Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer

Violinist Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer is a vibrant and versatile artist whose musical life bridges classical performance, traditional fiddle, jazz vocals, and even silver jewelry design. Currently completing her degree in violin performance under the guidance of Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, Tamsyn brings her creative spirit to every note.

Before coming to UVic, Tamsyn studied at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and has received numerous accolades, including awards from the GVYO, Musicians Performance Trust Fund, and Early Music Vancouver. She’s participated in prestigious programs such as PRISMA, Quartet Fest West, and Victoria Baroque, and was invited to the 2024 Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Competition in Whitehorse.

A Playful Mozart with Serious Demands

Tamsyn won the competition with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major which she will perform with the UVic Symphony Orchestra on November 1. “I love the playfulness in Mozart’s writing,” says Tamsyn. “He was only 19 when he wrote this concerto, and you can hear his youthful spirit in every phrase. It’s a very joyful experience to perform.” 

Despite its cheerful nature, the piece demands incredible finesse. “The precision required to play any Mozart concerto is always a challenging ambition. It took a lot of careful study to bring it to life. There were no answers in the ink. With the guidance of my instructor, I had to figure out how to bring meaning to the music,” she says. “I composed all my own cadenzas for the performance, which pushed my creativity even further.”

Blending Traditions, Finding Her Own Voice

At UVic, Tamsyn has found a space that nurtures artistic freedom and cross-disciplinary exploration. “I used to think classical music was about finding one ‘correct’ sound. UVic has shown me that our unique voice on our instrument is just as important. There’s deep value in blending tradition with self-expression.”

Beyond classical music, Tamsyn performs with Celtic group Aràen and folk group The Four Folks, and shares her handmade jewelry through Juliet Creatives.

On her playlist: Djaliya by Ablaye Cissoko, Hideous Towns by The Sundays, Finn’s Rescue by The Foreign Landers.

Watch her perform here or follow her creative worlds on Instagram: 
@araen.theband, 
@thefourfolks
, @julietcreatives

Olivia Pryce-Digby

Whether singing in cathedrals, Off-Broadway productions, or multidisciplinary operatic showcases, soprano Olivia Pryce-Digby is a storyteller at heart. A fourth-year voice student studying with Benjamin Butterfield, Olivia brings a deep emotional sensibility to her performances, grounded in both classical training and creative curiosity.

Olivia has worked with some of Canada’s top vocal ensembles, including the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Vox Humana, and That Choir, and serves as a choral scholar at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. Her theatrical experience includes featured roles in The Little Mermaid and Fearless, as well as a collaboration with South African dancer Gregory Maqoma in Broken Chord. Olivia also recently created March Madness, a bold, multidisciplinary work reclaiming the narrative of the “hysterical woman” through operatic performance.

Finding Depth in Barber’s Knoxville

Olivia will be performing Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber with the UVic Symphony Orchestra on November 28.
“I still remember the first time I heard this piece — it was enchanting and emotional from start to finish,” Olivia says of Barber’s Knoxville. “The poem is a love letter to family, to home, to the magic of the everyday. It may simultaneously break your heart and heal something deep within.”

With its lyrical complexity and emotional nuance, the work is both technically demanding and richly expressive. “My biggest challenge has been managing my breath efficiently while maintaining the effortless storytelling quality that the piece demands,” she says. “Working in small sections and using breathing exercises has been my strategy.”

Olivia came to UVic after encouragement from Professor Butterfield and says her time here has reshaped her understanding of music. “I thought I knew a lot before, but I was just scratching the surface. UVic has fostered a deep curiosity and a love of detail that will stay with me forever.”

As she prepares to graduate, Olivia is aiming for graduate studies and a future in opera and oratorio, with a growing interest in teaching and mentorship.

On her playlist: Everything from medieval troubadour dances to Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder — and she was one of the top 0.01% Mozart listeners in 2024!

Follow her journey on Instagram: @livprycedig

Ethan Page

Percussionist Ethan Page is in his fifth year of Music Performance at UVic, where he is a 4-year Entrance Scholarship recipient and a leader across ensembles. As section leader in both the Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra, Ethan plays an impressive range of instruments — from timpani and snare drum to vibraphone and marimba (his personal favourite). He has performed widely in Victoria’s music community with the Canadian College of Performing Arts, Ensemble Laude, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra.

A Rare and Radiant Marimba Voice

Ethan chose Séjourné’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings for its rare combination of neo-romantic lyricism and virtuosic brilliance. He will perform the piece with the UVic Wind Symphony on March 27.
“There aren’t many pieces like this in the marimba repertoire. I love how dynamic and colourful it is — from the melancholic and cathartic first movement to the energetic, lively second movement,” describes Ethan.

Though captivating, the concerto comes with technical hurdles. “The eleven-tuplet runs were especially tricky,” Ethan explains. “I spent many hours practicing slowly with a metronome and I’ve gotten to the point where I’m fairly comfortable with those sections now.”

Studying at UVic has been transformative for Ethan, expanding his percussive horizons beyond drum kit to mallet instruments and chamber repertoire. “Seeing my professor and peers play marimba with four mallets inspired me immediately. With my instructor,  Aaron Mattock’s guidance, I’ve developed a work ethic and technique I never thought possible.”

Looking ahead, Ethan plans to continue performing and collaborating in Victoria while also pursuing a second degree in Computer Science.

All 3 concerts will take place in the Farqhar at UVic. Tickets are available through the UVic Ticket Centre and at the door. UVic students with a valid ONECard can attend for free, and special ticket pricing is available for school groups.