One of Canada’s most iconic Aboriginal artists Alex Janvier will visit UBC from July 13 to 28.
Public talks, art exhibits, credit courses all part of the program
It’s called intensive for a reason. UBC Okanagan’s Summer Indigenous Art Intensive offers an educational series of courses, lectures, art shows—and opportunities to create art.
The Summer Indigenous Art Intensive, organized by the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS), means a jam-packed July. It features a series of world-renowned speakers, a variety of related undergraduate and graduate credit courses, and a group of resident artists who will be working to create new artwork.
Alongside the intensive residency, FCCS is offering additional courses in visual art, creative writing and performance. These run in conjunction with the Indigenous Summer Intensive with varying degrees of crossover, providing students the opportunity to connect with the keynote speakers and the resident artists.
The summer intensive is a unique program that brings international and national Indigenous scholars and artists together on campus to interact with students in a residency context, explains Stephen Foster, acting dean of the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.
“The intensive is a one-of-a-kind program and is a tremendous opportunity for UBC Okanagan students to work closely with and alongside artists and scholars as they produce, create and discuss new art and scholarship,” says Foster.
The public is invited to keynote talks each Wednesday at noon during July, in the University Theatre (ADM026). Keynote speakers include artists and theorists from across Canada, and some visiting from Australia and New Zealand. They include France Trépanier, Chris Creighton Kelly, Monika Kin Gagnon, Jeannette Armstrong, Shawn Wilson, Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Graham Hingangaroa Smith. All keynote talks will be livestreamed, and subsequently published in a monograph format.
In addition to the resident artists, the summer intensive will host two senior Indigenous artists James Luna, and recent UBC Honorary degree recipient Alex Janvier. Luna will open an exhibition at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art on July 7, present a performance on July 9 (location TBA), and conduct a two-day master class in Indigenous performance for the resident artists and students registered in the summer courses.
Janvier will visit from July 13 to 28. While here he will be painting in the FINA Gallery in the Creative and Critical Studies Building and will present his work at the end of the residency.
The Indigenous Summer Intensive has been operating at UBC Okanagan since 2014, growing out of the previous Summer Graduate Indigenous Institute, which started in 2005. It is coordinated and hosted by the Creative Studies Department and the Centre for Indigenous Media Arts (CIMA), and is supported by the FCCS and the Canada Council for the Arts.
For a full schedule of events and access to the livestream artist’s presentations, visit: rmooc.ca
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