Stories from the Creative Edge
Awards
Aaron Richmond named new JRSP resident artist
The Jefferey Rubinoff Foundation and the Faculty of Fine Arts are pleased to announce that Canadian artist, scholar and curator Aaron Richmond has been selected as the 2026 Recipient of the UVic/Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Artist-Scholar Residency.Aaron’s practice...
Roy Henry Vickers awarded Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts
Roy Henry Vickers is a celebrated Indigenous artist, author, printmaker and storyteller of Tsimshian, Haida, Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxv and English descent. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, the Order of BC and a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2019,...
A perfect GPA means Writing student Caitlin Pierce wins the Victoria Medal
Each year, Fine Arts presents the Victoria Medal to the student who earns the highest grades. This year, we are pleased to honour Caitlin Pierce, who not only graduates with a BFA in Writing but has also achieved a 9.0 grade-point average: in other words, a perfect...
Eeman Masood’s digital tree grows in New York City
New York City’s “Midnight Moment” is the world's largest and longest-running digital public art program. Since 2012, over 100 contemporary artists have presented their work to millions of viewers on one of the most iconic public canvases: the electronic billboards of...
Three instructors earn teaching accolades
Congratulations go out to three Fine Arts instructors who earned accolades for their teaching this month: Ambreen Hussaini (left) won the Andy Farquharson Teaching Excellence Award at UVic's REACH Awards, while Michael Reed received the Fine Arts Award for Teaching...
Research funding focuses on Indigenous artistic responses to plastic pollution
While there is a growing awareness of the global impact of plastic pollution, the most ubiquitous visuals we have of the harms of litter and microplastics alike may be of tropical sea turtles, polluted beaches, and damaged coral reefs. Few consider the critical impact...
Research funding focuses on developing innovative Indigenous robotic technologies
Carey Newman working on his Totem 2.0 system developed with Camosun Innovates (photo: Camosun College)Department of Visual Arts and Art History & Visual Studies professor Carey Newman was announced on May 13 as the recipient of new funding from the Social...
New competition prize for School of Music
Let’s say it’s 1912 and you’re a young, musically inclined girl who enjoys whistling . . . but your father says it isn’t “ladylike“ to whistle: what do you do? If you’re Eleanor Gray, you embrace the song in your heart and pursue singing lessons instead. Fast-forward...
Take our Spring 2026 student survey!
1969 was a year of transformation: the moon landing, the Stonewall riots, Woodstock, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre opens, Margaret Atwood publishes her first novel, Canada becomes officially bilingual . . . amidst that time of change, Fine Arts emerged as UVic’s...
A Bridge Between Two Worlds: Kirk McNally’s new ADCARA role
While new hires are a regular part of faculty life, it’s rare that we see the creation of entirely new administrative roles. One of the Faculty highlights of 2025 was the inauguration of two brand-new Associate Dean positions: Associate Dean Indigenous, held by...
2025: Year in Review
It’s hard to believe 2025 is already over: some years crawl like watching paint dry on a canvas, while others speed by at the rate of a can’t-put-it-down bestseller. Given that the 2000s will likely come to be known as the century when attention spans reduced faster...
Uplifting Indigenous voices on Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is coming up fast on December 2! We encourage you to join UVic's campus community and grads from around the world by pitching in to support student success, health, well-being and the programs that help make UVic the special place it is. This year, the...
Two students win 2025’s Community Impact Awards
Sophie Hillstrom (left) with Dean Allana Lindgren and Sage Easton-LevyCongratulations go out to the recipients of our fifth annual Faculty of Fine Arts Student Community Impact Awards: just-graduated School of Music student Sophie Hillstrom and current Theatre student...
Robert Amos receives Honorary DFA
An artist, art historian, author and arts writer, Robert Amos has dedicated most of the past four decades to documenting — both journalistically and visually — Victoria’s visual arts scene, whether with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Times Colonist newspaper...
Writing professor wins Bill Good Award
Congratulations go out to UVic Writing professor Sean Holman on winning the Bill Good Award at the 2025 Webster Awards on Nov 3! The Bill Good Award is presented to a BC individual or organization that makes a significant contribution to journalism in the province, or...
Call for grad student proposals: 2026 ONC ArtScience Fellowship Program
UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) are now calling for graduate student applications for the paid 2026 ONC ArtScience Fellowship program. The application period closes on December 23, 2025. The ArtScience Fellowship strengthens connections...
Meet Music’s 2025 Concerto Competition student winners
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...
Deb Miller Landau makes a name with her crime story
Every journalist is always on the lookout for their next great story. For Vancouver-born Deb Miller Landau, a magazine article on a cold case in the American South became the assignment of a lifetime, leading Landau to write an entire book on the explosive,...
Visual Arts MFA student earns Audain Award
Edith Skeard (centre) receiving the Audain AwardCongratulations go out to Visual Arts MFA candidate Edith Skeard on being named one of five BC graduate students to receive a $7,500 Travel Award from the Audain Foundation on Sept 26. As a complement to the prestigious...
Inaugural JRSP residency showcases new sculptural work
A sculptural installation by Canadian artist Siobhan Humston will be on view exclusively at UVic from October 9-14, showcasing the results of a new artist-scholar residency created in association with the Jeffrey Rubinoff Foundation and UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts....
2025 ONC ArtScience Fellow debuts exhibit
When Parvin Hasani applied for the 2025 ArtScience Fellowship with Ocean Networks Canada — the sixth Fine Arts graduate student to hold this position — she proposed exploring the extreme ecosystems of deep-sea hydrothermal vents via her sculptural practice. Now, after...
New competition prize for music students
Let’s say it’s 1912 and you’re a young, musically inclined girl who enjoys whistling . . . but your father says it isn’t “ladylike“ to whistle: what do you do? If you’re Eleanor Gray, you embrace the song in your heart and pursue singing lessons instead. Fast-forward...
Celebratory theatre empowers acceptance
Theatre students Simran Kang (left), Isabella Derilo & Alynne Sinnema in the 2024 production of Salty Scent of Home (Photo: Dean Kalyan)It can be hard for people who never experienced immigration to understand the challenges faced by immigrants and refugees, but...
Climate professor receives $2.5 million grant to document stories globally
Fires rage, floods devastate, storms surge: every day we hear about the impacts of climate change, with ever-increasing casualty counts and infrastructure damage tipping into the billions. But all too often, climate politics and media reporting favour the voices of...
Sean Holman wins BC journalism award
Congratulations go out to UVic Writing professor & Climate Disaster Project founder Sean Holman on being named the 2025 recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation's Bill Good Award. Presented annually by Western Canada's preeminent journalism foundation, the Bill...
UVic theatre grad headed to London for MFA
El Newell receives the Spirit of the Phoenix Award from professor Peter McGuire (photo: Sadie Kupery)With over 200 students graduating from Fine Arts on June 12, we're not able to profile everyone but Theatre student El Newell is an outstanding representative of her...
Climate Disaster Project play wins award
Congratulations go out to the Climate Disaster Project on winning Silver in the "Environmental and Climate Change" category at the Canadian Association of Journalists Awards on June 1 for Eyes of the Beast:Climate Disaster Survivor Stories, a documentary play about...
Hidden networks spark ONC artistic residency
From the human body’s neural connections to unseen water channels sustaining life in arid landscapes, the mysterious nature of invisible systems has always fascinated artist Parvin Hasani. “Hidden networks have always sparked my imagination and fueled my exploration...
Inaugural JRSP Artist-Scholar Residency announced
In partnership with the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park (JRSP), Fine Arts is pleased to announce that Canadian artist Siobhan Humston has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the UVic/JRSP Artist-Scholar Residency for 2025-2026. During her time at the Rubinoff...
Instructor & Lehan Lecturer wins $25K award
Congratulations go out to Theatre instructor and 2025 Lehan Family Activism & the Arts Lecturer d’bi.young anitafrika, who has been awarded a $25,000 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. An internationally acclaimed Black-queer-feminist non-binary dub poet,...
Writing grad Kyeren Regehr is Victoria’s newest Poet Laureate
Once again, the City of Victoria's Poet Laureate position has gone to a Department of Writing alumni. Writing grad Kyeren Regehr was recently appointed as the City of Victoria's latest Poet Laureate. Regehr (MFA ’13, BFA ’11 + a Fine Arts Victoria Medal recipient) is...
Distinguished Alumni Awards: Tania Willard
We congratulate 2025 Presidents’ Alumni Award recipient Tania Willard, a mixed Secwépemc and settler artist whose research intersects with land-based art practices. A graduate of the Department of Visual Arts (BFA, 1998), the work of Kamloops-born Willard activates...