The art of BFA students Pip Dryden and Avery Ullyot-Comrie shares studio space with Professor Briar Craig in UBCO’s Fina Gallery during the Spring Festival of the Arts.
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 Thursday, April 29 at 7 p.m. And the winners of the Okanagan Short Story Contest will be announced on Friday, April 16 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
