As UBCO’s first Woodhaven Artist in Residence for the season, Chantal Bilodeau will host a free community workshop on July 10.

Writer in Residence to spend six weeks at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre 

What: Workshop: “Envisioning a Better World Together”
Who: Chantal Bilodeau
When: Saturday, July 10, 9 a.m to 1 p.m.
Where: Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre, 939 Raymer Ave., Kelowna

UBC Okanagan’s Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre is opening its doors for its first Woodhaven Artist in Residence of the season.

Chantal Bilodeau will spend six weeks at the centre, where she will work on her art practice, engage with the community and offer an in-person workshop.

The Woodhaven Artist in Residence Program is run by UBCO’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. Woodhaven provides a paid residency opportunity for a diverse variety of visiting artists each year, including writers, visual artists, digital media artists and performance artists. For the 2021 season, applications were sought from writers of all genres.

Bilodeau is a Montreal-born, New York-based playwright and translator whose work focuses on the intersection of science, policy, art and climate change. In her capacity as artistic director of The Arctic Cycle, she has been instrumental in getting the theatre and academic communities — as well as audiences in the US and abroad — to engage in climate action through programming that includes live events, talks, publications, workshops, national and international convenings, and a worldwide distributed theatre festival.

“I love that the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre specifically supports writers who engage with climate change. I can’t think of a better environment to work on a play that is about this very issue, and many of its complex ramifications,” says Bilodeau. “I will certainly benefit from some time away from home, which is a little too full of distractions, making the kind of concentration needed for writing more elusive.”

Bilodeau’s residency will include a free community workshop, “Envisioning a Better World Together,” on Saturday, July 10^, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre.

“These days, it feels like we are going from crisis to crisis and it can be difficult to think past a sense of constant urgency. This workshop will take advantage of the beautiful Woodhaven setting to take a step back, go beyond our frustrations with the world as it is, and start to formulate visions of the world we want,” explains Bilodeau.

For the workshop, participants will use their imagination to articulate, in as specific terms as possible, what they hope to bring into existence for themselves and others. As a culmination of this envisioning exercise, the group will create a land art mandala.

During the residency, Bilodeau will work with Denise Kenney, Creative Studies department head and associate professor of performance. Kenney and Bilodeau have interacted in the past during the Artists and Climate Change Incubator in Alaska in 2019.

“I am thrilled that we have Chantal coming to visit our community,” says Kenney. “Giving artists the time, space and support to create new work in an artist residency is essential. We are fortunate to have her here with a chance for local artists, performers and writers to benefit from her knowledge in the field.”

This residency will also allow her to explore the possibility of bringing the Artists and Climate Change Incubator to UBC Okanagan in the future.

Space in the workshop is limited to 25. For more information about the residency or to register for the workshop, visit: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/artist-in-residence

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Syilx artist Sheldon Pierre Louis creates painting to represent unwavering strength

A new painting titled cax̌alqs — red dress by Syilx artist Sheldon Pierre Louis has been added to UBC Okanagan’s Public Art Collection. The painting depicts an Indigenous woman wearing a red dress and a face mask.

The Okanagan School of Education worked with Dr. Stacey Koosel, UBC Okanagan art gallery curator with the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, to commission the new addition.

“We are excited to add this new work to our collection, as Sheldon Pierre Louis is an important Syilx artist with tremendous talent, bravery and influence,” says Koosel. “This is the first work of his that we have the honour of adding to our public art collection.”

The painting is located in Tower One on the third floor of the Engineering, Management and Education building on campus.

“It is particularly important for the Okanagan School of Education community to recognize the significance of Indigenous histories, cultures, knowledges, and identities, reflected in the learning environment,” says Dr. Margaret Macintyre Latta, director of the Okanagan School of Education. “As the School is situated on the unceded and traditional territory of Syilx Okanagan Nation, the installation of Sheldon Pierre Louis’ painting significantly offers a cultural-visual-artistic expression by a Syilx artist. The painting marks an important opportunity for the school, campus and greater community, seeking together a new relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and the land; one based in honour and respect.”

Sheldon Pierre Louis wants to take the opportunity to use his platform as a vessel for change. Art, he says, can be an educational tool, a conversational opening as well as a political weapon.

“As a Syilx artist I have always sought to use my art as a catalyst for discussion, to create spaces where uncomfortable issues can be brought forward into the societal dialogue to be given a voice,” he adds.

This particular piece of work has many levels, he explains. The canvas highlights the current times, as the mask represents the pandemic, and in some cases has been seen as a symbol of the “oppression” society is experiencing. But Sheldon Pierre Louis says the viewer will see the Indigenous woman wearing a mask and standing strong. In her stance, she shows the mask in this instance does not hinder her strength or resolve. The elk teeth on the red dress are a symbol of her deeply rooted and celebrated importance and worth in Indigenous society. The red dress is a symbol for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S) Movement.

“By placing this image out into the public area of the campus it gives voice, and hopefully a sense, that the issues and concerns and spirits of our women will not be silenced and will not go unnoticed,” he adds.

With a focus on Canadian contemporary art and the Okanagan’s emerging local artists, UBC Okanagan’s Public Art Collection holds one of the largest collections in the region, says Koosel. UBC Okanagan is working towards building an art collection that is inclusive and celebrates Indigenous art and culture, she adds. The acquisitions policy of the Public Art Collection was recently updated to prioritize commissions by local Indigenous artists.

Sheldon Pierre Louis will host an artist talk online on Tuesday, June 22 at 7 p.m. He will talk about his art practice and the new commission and a Q&A session will follow. Register for the talk at: events.ok.ubc.ca/event/sheldon-pierre-louis-artist-talk

For more information about the piece, visit: gallery.ok.ubc.ca/public-art-collection

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Whess Harman to talk about their artistic practice and upcoming exhibition

What: Artist Talk
Who: Whess Harman
When: Tuesday, June 8, 1 to 2 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom

Whess Harman is UBC Okanagan Gallery’s Artist in Residence for 2021. During their residency at the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies they will create new works, give an artist talk, publish an art publication and open an exhibition of new works.

Harman is Carrier Wit’at, a nation amalgamated by the federal government under the Lake Babine Nation. Harman’s multidisciplinary practice includes beading, illustration, text, curation and poetry. Their ongoing Potlatch Punk series explores broader themes of homage, memory, identity and more specifically celebrates Indigenous identity, resistance, visibility and interrogations of wealth.

Whess Harman’s artwork, hanging outside the Vancouver Art Gallery with the current display of 215 pair of shoes symbolizing the death 215 Indigenous children, states how land acknowledgements are not enough and how they are the lowest bar in the process of truth and reconciliation for the Indigenous peoples.

“This residency is an opportunity to reflect upon the feelings of impermanence and disintegration following the pandemic, and the desire to refute the labour involved in a constant urgency to respond,” explains Harman. “Having the opportunity to work materially after a year of digital fatigue is a welcome exhale.”

Just as Harman arrived in Kelowna for their artist residency at UBCO, their work in the group exhibition The Vancouver Special at the Vancouver Art Gallery was presented prominently outside the building. The piece, titled the lowest bar, is text on vinyl, and expresses how land acknowledgements are the lowest bar in the process of truth and reconciliation for the Indigenous peoples and much more needs to be done.

Whess’ artwork was then accompanied by a spontaneous memorial installation of 215 children’s shoes placed on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery by Haida artist Tamara Bell. The shoes represent the tragedy of the 215 buried children recently discovered at Kamloops Indian Residential School. Together Whess and Bell’s poignant artworks bring the greater public’s attention to ongoing injustices towards Indigenous peoples.

Harman’s residency will finish with an exhibition in the FINA Gallery titled, Lossy: How to Save File for Future Transmission, curated by gallery curator Stacey Koosel. The work will be on display until September 10.

“Working with Stacey — especially in a way that has valued the building of a relationship over time — has been a crucial piece in practicing conscious relationality in the artist-curator relationship,” says Harman.

UBC Okanagan’s Art Gallery is a new organization formed within the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies to manage the on-campus FINA Gallery, UBCO’s Public Art Collection and a new gallery space in downtown Kelowna anticipated to open in 2024.

“Getting to build relationships and collaborate with artists like Whess Harman is definitely the best part of my job as a curator,” says Koosel. “Giving artists the time, space and support to create new work in an artist residency is essential. I’m grateful that the residency is supported by the BC Arts Council, and to have the chance to work with Whess.”

The UBC Okanagan Gallery Artist Residency is supported by the BC Arts Council and Harman is its first-ever artist in residence. They will give a virtual artist talk about their work on June 8 at 1 p.m. Register or find out more at: events.ok.ubc.ca/event/artist-talk-whess-harman

Lossy: How to Save File for Future Transmission will be on view at the UBC Okanagan FINA Gallery from Friday, June 11 to Friday, September 10. For more information, visit: artgallery.ok.ubc.ca/whess-harman

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Canadian poet and spoken word artist Shane Koyczan will address the UBCO graduating class of 2021.

Virtual ceremony recognizes more than 1,800 graduating students

UBC Okanagan is marking its second virtual convocation next week.

More than 1,850 graduates — including 1,600 undergraduates as well as more than 100 masters’ and doctoral students — will tune in to celebrate the success of their educational journey.

“This has been a remarkable year for our students and our faculty,” says Lesley Cormack, deputy vice-chancellor and principal of UBC’s Okanagan campus. “While the ceremony will be virtual, the remarkable achievements of our students are very real and worthy of recognition. I invite everyone to join me in celebrating the Class of 2021.”

There are also some new faces in the procession of dignitaries that will congratulate the graduates this year. UBC’s 19th Chancellor, the Honourable Steven Point (xwĕ lī qwĕl tĕl), will preside over the ceremony, his first since taking on the role of chancellor last year. And this will be Cormack’s first convocation since joining the university in July 2020.

“Coming to UBC Okanagan during a time when our students are learning remotely has indeed been interesting,” Cormack adds. “Through it all, our students have shown remarkable fortitude while learning and conducting research online. I commend them all for their accomplishments.”

Once the ceremony has begun, UBC President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J. Ono will address the Class of 2021 live, dressed in full academic regalia and graduates will have an opportunity to take a virtual selfie with President Ono. Along with a congratulatory message from Cormack, graduates will also hear inspiring words from student speakers Ali Poostizadeh, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and Blessing Adeagbo, who has earned a Bachelor of Human Kinetics.

Another highlight of the 50-minute ceremony will be a keynote address from Shane Koyczan. The Canadian poet and spoken word artist will honour the perseverance and resilience of the 2021 graduating class. His message, written from the heart, will inspire all viewers, Cormack adds.

UBC Okanagan’s graduating class will celebrate their accomplishments virtually on June 2, starting at 2:30 p.m. Students and their family members can watch the ceremony on YouTube, Facebook or Panopto, a platform that is accessible from many countries.

To find out more about the virtual convocation ceremony, visit: virtualgraduation.ok.ubc.ca

This year’s medal recipients

Governor General’s Gold Medal: Sandra Fox

Lieutenant Governor’s Medal Program for Inclusion, Democracy and Reconciliation: Aidan O’Callahan

UBC Medal in Fine Arts: Jade Zitko

UBC Medal in Arts: Michelle Tucsok

UBC Medal in Science: Jakob Thoms

UBC Medal in Education: Patricia Perkins

UBC Medal in Nursing: Alex Halonen

UBC Medal in Management: Breanne Ruskowsky

UBC Medal in Human Kinetics: Marika Harris

UBC Medal in Engineering: Rohan Ikebuchi

UBC Medal in Media Studies Sydney Bezenar

Site/ation, a laser etching on satin ribbon with wax, created by Tania Willard.

Month-long program offers courses, lectures, art shows and creative opportunities

UBC Okanagan’s Indigenous Art Intensive gathers artists, curators, writers, students and scholars to engage in contemporary ideas and dialogue rooted in Indigenous contemporary art. Since 2014 the intensive has been offered at UBC Okanagan, located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.

This year’s online Indigenous Art Intensive broadly engages the theme Site/ation, explains Tania Willard, assistant professor of visual arts in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. Participants will discuss ideas and ways to connect to place through Indigenous territoriality — to be grounded in land, voice and language, and reconnect to nurturing traditions and beyond.

The intensive also features a series of world-renowned speakers, a variety of related undergraduate and graduate credit courses including English, Indigenous studies, sound art, creative writing, and performance and studio arts.

“Indigenous contemporary art is a driving force of culture, exhibition and enriched programming,” says Willard, who is director of the intensive. “Our annual program brings together leaders, communities, students and scholars for deep conversations about the ways in which we learn through creative practice and contribute to wider communities.”

The month-long intensive has hosted many celebrities, such as the late performance artist legend James Luna and established leaders in Canadian contemporary art like Rebecca Belmore, Lori Blondeau and Adrian Stimson. In recent years, up to 25 artists and 200 students have participated in the intensive, sharing unique experiences like readings on the beach of Okanagan Lake, harvesting local berries, artistic exhibitions and an Indigenous hip-hop show in downtown Kelowna.

Taking place in May and June, the intensive will be online and feature artists creating new works and sharing those with UBCO students during class time. Exhibitions will include a showing in the FINA Gallery at UBCO and one in a unique mobile Indigenous art gallery at the Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA). These are in partnership with the RCA and the Thompson Okanagan Tourist Association.

Panels, artist talks and keynotes will delve into curatorial practice, decolonial aesthetics, land-based teachings, practices and performance. All of these sessions will be available to the public online via live stream and recorded videos.

This year’s artists include Scott Benesiinaabandan, Roxanne Charles, Camille Georgeson-Usher, Maureen Gruben, Suzanne Kite, Peter Morin, Christine Howard Sandoval, Kristabelle Stewart and Madeline Terbasket. Live-streamed keynote addresses will feature Leanne Betamasosake Simpson, Jolene Rickard and Bonaventure Ndikung.

For more information on the events and artists, visit: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/indigenous-art-intensive

Events, programming and artist take-overs will also be featured on Instagram at: instagram.com/indigenous_art_ubco

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Author Kevin Chong to speak about writing and teaching in a pandemic

What: Sharon Thesen Lecture
Who: UBCO Creative Writing Program
When: Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom

UBC Okanagan’s Creative Writing Program is hosting its second annual Sharon Thesen Lecture with Creative Writing Professor and author Kevin Chong.

Writer Kevin Wong will host UBCO’s Sharon Thesen Lecture virtually on Thursday.

Chong will give a virtual lecture titled “In the Middle of it All: On Writing, Teaching, And Middles During A Pandemic.” Told as an auto-fictional story about the rivalry between two middle-aged, mid-career writers, this lecture looks at craft, ideological and technological issues faced by writers and writing teachers in the pandemic.

“We are excited to once again be honouring Sharon and all that she’s done to establish the Creative Writing Program at UBC Okanagan,” says Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) Professor Nancy Holmes.

Sharon Thesen, a renowned Canadian poet and editor, was the first full professor in UBCO’s Department of Creative Studies and is now a UBC professor emerita.

Chong has written six books of fiction and nonfiction, and his most recent publication is his novel The Plague. His titles have been named books of the year by the Globe and Mail, National Post and Amazon.ca, and they’ve been listed for a CBC prize, a BC Book Prize, and a National Magazine Award. His writing has also been optioned for film and TV, as well as published in the United States, Europe and Australia.

“We are so pleased that while fairly new to our faculty, Kevin Chong is doing this year’s Sharon Thesen Lecture,” remarks Holmes. “Since he works in both fiction and non-fiction, we’re eager to see how he is going to combine all he knows about both of these genres in his lecture.”

“The event is a great opportunity for an accomplished writer to share a wealth of knowledge — it’ll be fascinating,” she adds.

The lecture is part of the FCCS Spring Festival of the Arts, and is free and open to the public. It will take place on Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m.

To register or find out more, visit: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/authors

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

There were more than 140 submissions for this year’s Okanagan Short Story Contest.

Judge Frances Greenslade congratulates the region’s many talented writers

What: Okanagan Short Story Contest winners to be announced
Who: UBCO creative writing program
When: Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m.
Where: Online via Zoom

It’s time for a virtual drum roll.

UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) is hosting an event Friday where it will share the winners of the 2021 Okanagan Short Story Contest.

The annual contest awards the best new short stories by fiction writers in BC’s Southern Interior, including residents east of Hope, west of the Alberta border, north of the US border and south of Williams Lake. Past winners have gone on to publish with Penguin Random House, Arsenal Pulp Press, NeWest Press as well as numerous magazines and journals nationally and internationally.

This year, a total of 140 short story entries were submitted for the adult category, along with 82 stories for the high school category.

“We were blown away by the number of submissions this year,” says FCCS Professor Nancy Holmes. “Maybe COVID-19 has given people a bit more time to stay home and write. Whatever the case, with the largest number of entries in years, it made the decisions tough.”

This year’s contest judge is Frances Greenslade, acclaimed Canadian author and English professor at Okanagan College.

“There were so many well-crafted stories to choose from,” says Greenslade. “Reading the shortlist submissions reminded me what a strong writing community we have in the Okanagan.”

For a look at the shortlisted authors, visit: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/okanagan-short-story-contest-shortlist-announced

The top three stories receive cash prizes of $1,000, $400 and $200; the first prize winner also wins a one-week retreat at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna. The top story by a high school student receives a cash prize of $200.

Co-sponsors of the contest are FCCS, TD and the Central Okanagan Foundation.

The event is part of the FCCS Spring Festival of the Arts, and is free and open to the public. It will take place on Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m. with a chance to hear readings from the winners. To register, go to fccs.ok.ubc.ca/short-story

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Bachelor of Fine Arts graduates present final work with a virtual show

What: UBCO Visual Arts Graduation Show: Up Close from a Distance
Who: Graduating artists in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program
When: April 12 to 26, 2021
Where: Virtual Exhibition

Each spring, graduating visual arts students at UBC’s Okanagan campus prepare a final exhibition as they complete their program. This year’s Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) show, titled Up Close from a Distance, will be shared as a virtual exhibition.

The BFA exhibition will highlight a wide variety of work created by 18 emerging artists during the course of the year. The collection will include sculpture, performance, installation, painting, drawing and animation.

 “Up Close from a Distance represents the intimacy that connected this cohort as they shared their varied and unusual studio situations, that crossed geographical borders and time zones, through Zoom,” explains Visual Arts Instructor Katherine Pickering.

The artworks showcased in the exhibition will examine themes based on identity, personal histories, cultural traditions and some that are spirituality-specific to individual world views.

“Some students saw this year as an opportunity to learn a new skill, and all of them took difficult creative risks as they created a space for themselves to work in this new reality,” says Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) Professor Renay Egami.

BFA graduating student Stephanie Tennert says the experience of creating art from home taught her more than just art.

“I believe this unusual learning experience has set us up for a lot of future success,” says Tennert. “Learning to do printmaking and large-scale drawings from my own bedroom is a wonderful asset. And seeing the range of works my classmates have been able to make from their homes is inspiring.”

“Travel and many of the usual opportunities to connect were severely limited, yet this class brought us into the world through their work,” adds Egami. “This year was more difficult than anticipated. But for this cohort making art has been cathartic and liberating as they acknowledge their own resilience and ability to overcome obstacles.”

The exhibition opens on April 12 and will run until April 26. The show is part of the FCCS Spring Festival of the Arts and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit: ubcovacu.org

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

UBCO’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies hosts annual spring festival

UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies’ (FCCS) Spring Festival of the Arts brings a myriad of exhibits and events to the Kelowna area. The festival covers a spectrum of artistic endeavours by students, faculty and staff including exhibitions of creative writing, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, short films and public art.

This year, in lieu of in-person events, student work from visual arts, creative writing, and media studies will be showcased in various venues around town where the community will be able to enjoy on their own time.

“Our goal is to avoid an overload of online engagement, so in addition to the virtual events, the festival will be exhibiting student work at the FINA Gallery on our campus, the Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA), the Alternator Gallery, and the Lake Country Art Gallery Town Wall and outdoor mural space,” says Denise Kenney, Creative Studies department head.

The creative writing program will host three virtual events as part of the festival. The first is the launch of this year’s Papershell anthology, which will showcase student work from the program. The launch will take place on Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m.

Creative Writing Professor Kevin Chong, will give the second annual Sharon Thesen Lecture on Friday, April 16 at 7 p.m. And the winners of the Okanagan Short Story Contest will be announced on Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m.

Fourth-year Bachelor of Fine Arts students will host an online exhibition, Up Close from a Distance, that will run from April 12 to 26. The graduation show will highlight a wide variety of artists’ works created over the course of the academic year. The collection will include sculpture, photography, drawing, painting, digital media and printmaking.

“We’ll also have street banners with student work hanging between the Kelowna Art Gallery and the RCA, postcards at local establishments created by our photography and creative writing students, and projections at the RCA that we will show student, faculty and alumni artwork,” adds Kenney.

Skin Hunger, an art history student exhibition, will be held at the FINA Gallery from March 4 to 26. The exhibit will discuss the effects of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic and will include virtual talks as well as digital tours and publications.

“Come out and see what’s been germinating over the winter,” says Kenney. “Whether online or offline, it’s time to soak up some art.”

The public is welcome to attend all events and exhibits. The FCCS Spring Festival is sponsored by TD, the Rotary Centre for the Arts, the Lake Country Art Gallery, the Arts Council of the Central Okanagan and the City of Kelowna.

For more information, visit: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/spring

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Celestial Bodies: Four Stories of the Night Sky, projections will be shown at the Rotary Centre for the Arts until February 28.

Public art adds beauty to the community and lets us reflect on what is in front of us

Public art can take many forms, from mural paintings to installations and exhibitions, to large scale sculptures. It can work to revitalize the urban landscape while supporting and improving the cultural, social and economic vitality of our local community.

UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) is deeply committed to community engagement, says Denise Kenney. Artists do not just make art for themselves, she says, but rather enter into conversation with their communities—public art and community engagement is the most honest and direct example of that.

Kenney is an educator, filmmaker, eco-artist and performer. She teaches interdisciplinary performance and film at UBCO and is currently the department head for Creative Studies.

Why is public art important?

I believe it is vital. I always ask my students, “If art and artists are really ‘fluff,’ then why do so many oppressive regimes target artists?” The way we converse with our communities is through our art. Art matters.

Every day we engage with art and aesthetics in some way. Everything from the way our cell phones are designed, to our toasters, furniture, films, books and what we have on the walls in our houses. It is all around us. But art is much more than just design—it builds resiliency in our communities and helps us to understand other points of view and perspectives.

How do FCCS students and faculty contribute to the vibrancy of our arts community?

We host a number of events where people share poetry, writing, performance work, installations and exhibitions. These events are essentially social practice projects where we engage in conversations with and for our community. Our art is sometimes a catalyst or a container for dialogue or community conversation, sometimes an offering of beauty and sometimes a provocateur or interrupter.

The university is able to leverage our resources, which are fresh young people who can teach us what this next wave is, what people are thinking, how these younger people see the world, and what their issues are. Having our students work in the community keeps us all on the pulse of emerging ideas and concerns. It keeps us vibrant.

What previous projects have UBCO students, faculty and alumni added to the public art in the community?

We see some of our faculty and alumni work on banners along Main Street in Lake Country as part of a public art commission done by that municipality. And the tree grates and light stands in downtown Kelowna, and the bronze sculpture of Chief Charlie swkn̓cut outside of the tourism centre are all done by Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts alumna Crystal Przybille.

Just last summer, through a painting course with BFA alumnus and current painting instructor David Doody, our BFA students created a large-scale mural on the back of a downtown Kelowna building. Students from the BFA program also worked on a mural design to transform University Way into an experimental public art piece.

The Living Things Festival presented The Collective Body which was a series of projections outside of the Rotary Centre for the Arts (RCA) that included work from our students and faculty. Currently, projections in this space showcase fascinating stories of the night sky in a new exhibit called Celestial Bodies.

During the pandemic, how is FCCS working to exhibit students’ work?

We are all struggling under the weight of the pandemic. And rather than students feeling like they are the victims of the pandemic, it is a great opportunity for us to say this is the time when artists have something to offer back. We have found a safe way for our students to experience their relevance and importance in the community and at the same time offer something that gives the community a moment of distraction, contemplation and aesthetic arrest in the context of the pandemic.

Along with our upcoming Spring Festival, our students and faculty are working on several online events including our BFA graduation show, the announcement of our Okanagan Short Story contest winners and the launch of this year’s Papershell anthology, showcasing student work from our creative writing program.

We specifically want to get away from so much online engagement, so in addition to those events we will be exhibiting student work in our FINA Gallery, through the Rotary Centre for the Arts, the Lake Country Art Gallery Town Wall and outdoor Mural space and in the Alternator Gallery. We will also be showcasing student work on postcards, street banners and digital projections.

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca