Tag: Visual Arts Alberta

Deadline approaching … a Call of Submissions

I posted about this a while ago – but I know how busy everyone is, so I thought it might be a good idea to post again, before the deadline is upon us all.

Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC is partnering with Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture to present an art-and-activism themed exhibition in June 2017.

This exhibition will coincide with the CARFAC National Conference, which we are hosting in Edmonton this year, on June 3rd.

The goal is to present Alberta – Based Artists who address political issues/advocacy/representation of under-represented voices.

Here’s an image of the Call (and a PDF).

Feel free to pass on to any Alberta Visual Artists that you feel would be interested!

Get the PDF HERE:  Call-for-Submissions-Trumpet

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TWO CALLS: for Alberta Artists

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Alberta | Trumpet: OPEN CALL to Alberta Artists that use visual art to change how people think about our world
Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC is partnering with Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture to stage a 3 – 5 person exhibition opening at the beginning of June 2017 at Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture in Edmonton.

Submission deadline: midnight Tuesday April 4th, 2017.

We are interested in artists that use art to question new political realities (locally, nationally, internationally) and who have a unique perspective that is under-represented or unrecognized within current exhibition and curatorial practices.  Special consideration will be given to artists operating from positions that may be termed marginalized or otherwise outside dominant cultural narratives.

To have your work considered for this exhibition: send in one email to carfac@visualartsalberta.com on or before midnight Tuesday April 4th, 2017. Please include the following items as attachments, and title the email RE: Trumpet submission.

  • Your c.v. (3 pages max. as a PDF or Word file).
  • 3-5 JPEG images (72 dpi, 1024 pixels on the longest side) of recent work that you would like to exhibit or that illustrates what you do.
  • Links to your website or other online material that features examples of your work.
  • Your complete Alberta address, telephone numbers, and email address.
  • A 1-2 page (PDF or Word file) artist statement that answers the following: who you are as a person and as an artist (if you consider yourself to be operating from the margins please explain how), what you are trying to achieve with your art, and how your work illustrates your intentions.

Exhibition Royalty Fees will be paid in accordance with the current CARFAC Minimum Fee Schedule.

Alberta | Call for Submissions: Ten Voices 2017 Photographic and Digital Works
Ten Albertan artists, working in photographic and digital media, will be selected to represent a cross-section of the approach that our Province’s artistic minds are taking as they embrace and use these rapidly-evolving technologies. These works will be shown in Calgary and Edmonton.

We invite all Alberta artists to submit images for the opportunity to exhibit their work in a group exhibition. All subject matter, styles and techniques are welcome.

Submission Deadline: Friday April 21, 2017 at 4 pm.

Exhibition Dates: in Calgary, from late August to mid-October, 2017 and in Edmonton, from mid-October to the end of November, 2017. Actual exhibition dates TBA. The work will be exhibited at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary (South) and Edmonton (North). Exhibiting artists will receive an artist fee.

For more information, including submission guidelines, download the Call and Entry Form(PDF)
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How to Start

Draw-More-Income-poster-for-website

I attended a terrific panel discussion yesterday called “Draw More Income” as part of the AGM programming for Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC. We had a great range of speakers: Derek Besant, Lee Deranger, Brittney Tough, and Kari Woo. Each of them addressed the practicalities of how they made a ‘go of it’ as artists, and what obstacles and setbacks they faced.

A common thread in the discussion was lack of confidence and fear – these being negative mindsets that held them and other artists back from achieving the success they wanted in their careers.  So it seemed incredibly fitting that I should find this in my inbox this morning:

To survive in this high-pressured, crazy world, most of us have to become highly adept at self-criticism. We learn how to tell ourselves off for our failures, and for not working hard or smart enough. But so good are we at this that we’re sometimes in danger of falling prey to an excessive version of self-criticism … we need to carve out time for an emotional state of which many of us are profoundly suspicious: self-compassion. We’re suspicious because this sounds horribly close to self-pity. But because depression and self-hatred are serious enemies of a good life, we need to appreciate the role of self-care in a good, ambitious, and fruitful life.

from: BrainPickings.org

It seems ridiculously obvious, but I do wonder how many of us in creative fields fall prey to exactly this type of thinking, and just how much it holds us back from all kinds of things.

Good food for thought.

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Draw More Income – a new Podcast on iTunes

Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC has just launched a Podcast! It’s a really interesting listen for anyone interested in the ways in which visual artists manage the realities for earning money to sustain their creative practice. And appropriately, it’s called “Draw More Income.”

Draw More Income poster

The podcast launch is part of the larger three-month  Draw More Income initiative that Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC is presenting to the community, as a way to stimulate conversations and provide awareness and information regarding the real circumstances of working artists in Alberta (and elsewhere in Canada).

You can find the podcast HERE on iTunes.

Become part of the conversation – it’s one we need to be having right here, right now.

Listen to what other artists have to say, and get in touch on Facebook, , twitter, tumblr, the website, or via email or phone. Tell Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC what you do to draw more income – or what’s holding you back from doing that from your creative practice.

 

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Draw More Income

One of the hats I wear in my professional life is that of board member for Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC. Our role in the province is to provide information and professional development opportunities to visual artists, and to advocate on behalf of visual artists for programs and policies that improve the socio-economic position of visual artists at various stages in their careers. We are the provincial affiliate for CARFAC National; so that means our members have access to the tools and support that CARFAC can provide as well.

Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC has a new project launching soon – called DRAW MORE INCOME – and I wanted to spread the word a bit about it, because I think it’s particularly important to be having conversations about the economic position of visual artists in Alberta right now – AND about the vital contribution art & culture make to the economy of the province and the country.

So … this is an open invitation to all the visual creatives out there: the artists, the illustrators, the new media artists, the graphic designers, the photographers, the printmakers …

Tell Visual Arts Alberta – CARFAC how you Draw More Income.

  • What are the difficulties you face in improving your income from your practice?
  • What strategies and ideas are you trying for making your creative life work better?
  • Are there NEW methods you are developing or trying out?
  • What would your practice look like if you were able to draw more income from it?
  • How would that change your work and personal life?

And – because we all work visually in some way – it would be really great if you’d share a little drawing or sketch or comment that represents your struggles and/or successes! There are picture-frame postcards just waiting for you to work on – and these will be gathered and posted in our community space attached to the office in Edmonton for the next 3 months.

You can get postcards from Visual Arts Alberta during office hours, or download one HERE.

I hope you make your voice heard!

Draw More Income poster

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New Territories … It’s Summer!

There’s so much going on in YEG in the summer months, it’s tough to keep up, let alone take part in as much as one would like. It’s something I love about this place – we take our investment in the brief summer seriously! Full-on, all-the-stops-out, all the things all the time!

So … a couple that I’ve got going on:

I’ll have a video work in the Member’s Show at Harcourt House – NEW TERRITORIES – opening on Thursday 18 June:

HH New Territiories SHow Info

I’ll be throwing my studio doors open for a while in the evening. So come  by and say hello if you have a chance! You’ll find me at the Harcourt House Gallery, or in my studio

… OR …

Across the hall at Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC!

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I also have the pleasure of being part of the presentation of the Eldon & Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize for 2015, taking place at Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC on June 18th at 7:30. So, while you’re in the Harcourt House building, pop in to Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC’s office and gallery, and raise a glass to the fine artists who made the short list for the Foote Prize, and see the work in the galleries too.

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Working on a Talk …

It seems I’ve become a desk jockey this last while!

I’ve been busy with a number of things that have kept me from the studio, but most of them have concerned getting things written (good thing I got me some “book-larnin’ ” in that department a while ago … never thought the English degree would be so useful!)

To what end have I been chained to my old desk, you ask?

This:

Lancaster in Sherwood ParkLooking forward to presenting this workshop very much.

… and now, back to the planning!

 

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… make your voice heard …

Although I’m on the other side of the country currently, I am still keeping some tabs on what’s going on back home. Something that’s been on my mind a great deal the last while is the upcoming October 21 civic election. And yes, I voted! I registered for an absentee ballot and cast my vote from here in Halifax. Gotta love that – just hope Canada Post was on-side and gets the ballot there in time!

There’s the potential for a great deal of change in this vote; our mayor is not seeking re-election, there are councillors retiring as well, others stepping up for a shot at the ‘big chair’ … . So, the city I return to in a few short months may have a considerably different political climate than when I left.

That’s important.

So much can change, and those changes could have direct impact on opportunities for artists like me, and for the fate of the arts community in general.  It is my hope that local artists and arts supporters in Edmonton engage with the political process (however silly it can be or jaded it can make us) … voting is an opportunity to help steer the direction city policy takes for the next few years.  I’m hoping we can make 21 October count for the arts, and for community and democratic process in general.

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It’s worth checking out the PACE website for information on candidates, and also heading over to their tumblr for info. There are links for Calgary and Lethbridge too at the Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC website.

PLEASE VOTE. It MATTERS.

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August Art Bus, and 501 Member’s Show

It’s been a terrifically busy time these last few weeks!

Marian and I have been doing several interviews about YORK and putting together exhibition proposals for that project, and I’ve been getting ready for some extended travel – packing up work and supplies and all the other things I’ll need for the next few months, which I will be spending in Halifax NS.

But, before I get on that plane and head East, there’s the Art Bus Tour, and the Member’s Show at Gallery @ 501 in Sherwood Park!

artbus

This month’s version of the Art Bus Tour travels to FIVE galleries:  In one afternoon we will visit Harcourt House Artist Run Centre, Visual Arts Alberta/ CARFAC, the Alberta Craft Council, Latitude 53, and Gallery @ 501.

The Tour Runs 12:30 PM – 5:30 PM, and pickup locations are Gallery @ 501 in Sherwood Park and Harcourt House Artist Run Centre in Edmonton. Details in the poster below:

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I am really happy to be going on this month’s tour for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it will be a great break from the packing and organizing I’ve been doing for days now!!

Since we are stopping in at Latitude 53, I will also be giving a very informal ‘mini-talk’ about YORK for the group on the tour. Should be fun!

There’s also going to be a button-making workshop at Visual Arts Alberta/CARFAC, which should be a blast … AND … we’ll also be seeing the Member’s Show at Gallery @ 501!

Members-Show-and-Sale-exhibition-evite

I have a piece in this show as well, and I’m looking forward to seeing the range of work in this exhibition – it’s the very first Member’s Show for this gallery, so it’s a community milestone!

I wish you all a great weekend – and I hope you get to see lots of art you love!

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Artists and the Flooding in Calgary

It has been a harrowing time for people in the southern part of the province in which I live.

Many of us have been glued to newsfeeds, facebook, and other media getting the latest information as the events unfolded and the scope of the flooding in Calgary and elsewhere in Alberta became clear.

Now the cleanup has begun – and the impact of all that water is becoming clear, and will be felt for a long time to come.

Thankfully, there has been some incredible work done to coordinate assistance and the long hard job of getting things back to where they were … and one of those initiatives is being facilitated through Calgary Arts Development and Visual Arts Alberta-CARFAC:

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VAA-CARFAC has requested that Alberta artists impacted by the recent flooding events to please contact them directly and pass on information. This process is part of an assessment of the impact of the flood on artists in the province, with an eye to coordinating support and assistance. Please see the information HERE>

VAA-CARFAC will be working with Calgary Arts Development, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Alberta Partners for Arts + Culture (APAC) and CARFAC National to gather the info, and Calgary Arts Development is coordinating a flood impact plan.

Wishing all the very best to everyone affected by the flooding!!

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