#nscadmfa

Despite a a few last-minute changes in scheduling, we are grateful to have had the chance to exhibit our work at the @annaleonowensgallery for this winter's MFA group show, and/and/and.

Rena and Susan have made a detailed video walkthrough for those of you who couldn't make it out to the gallery.

If you missed the artist talks (or were blown away and would like to watch them again!), they are now online for you to view from the comfort of your home.

Both the walkthrough and the talks can be found here:

https://kaltura.nscad.ca/channel/2022%2BMFA%2BGroup%2BExhibition/244327972

Special thanks to the amazing curaturial committee for all of their hard work & to the team at the Anna who patiently answered all of our questions and helped make this happen!

Check out our next featured 2nd year MFA photographer and digital artist: Hossein Khodabakhsh!!!!

Hossein is an Iranian photographer and artist who works mostly using digital tools. He is mainly interested in documentary style and counter-monuments to show hidden subjects and feelings including similarities and differences of communities and cultures. His works are regularly about humans without showing them directly. Embodying human vices and looking at humans as animals is a part of his works. Photography with the definition of creating a moment or a period is now fascinating for him. Recently he has been working on 3D creation to bring his photos and ideas to life, for the most part in the virtual world. He has a background in computer science and is trying to create his works in a place between these two worlds.

Find out more about Hossein and his work on our Blog or his website http://hosseinkhodabakhsh.com/ or his Instagram @hosein.khoda

Hossein is currently working in Tehran, Iran. We asked him to tell us about his studio work.

Since last year I’ve worked on creating AR art pieces as counter-monuments. Working on MITACS with NSCAD faculties as RA helped me through this way. I use satellite images and photogrammetry software to create 3D objects from the history of specific locations, mostly crime scenes. I then mix these objects with photos I took from the land.

Do you keep a special object in your studio?

On top of cameras, computers, and equipment related to my medium, I actually hate to have a studio bigger than a backpack, to be able to make anywhere my studio temporarily. I think I can say that in Tehran my motorcycle is my portable studio.

Read more about our next featured 2nd year MFA interdisciplinary designer and artist: Sonia Chow!!!!

Sonia Chow is an interdisciplinary designer and artist from Ontario. She was based in Tokyo and Hong Kong for 16 years where she ultimately worked as creative director and event curator/organizer before returning to Canada in 2018. The design/build of an art suite at Icehotel Sweden nudged her to pursue her MFA Studio in 2019.

Find out more about her work on this blog or her website Website: chowpourian.com and Instagram: @this.is.skatt

We visited Sonia in her studio at Port Campus and ask her to tell Us more about her studio practice.

My practise orbits: communication and codes; word-based art; identity; tactile objects; the exploration of process and materials, both digital and analogue. While I tend to be happiest making things with my hands, I'm also keen to learn how to make use of tools which offer speed and precision.

My studio is at Port Campus and I’m really happy to have a proper space there. It has tons of natural light and a beautiful view of Georges Island. When I can’t get into Port, I work from home or – when possible – outdoors on nice days.

Currently juggling different ideas which take turns at the forefront, depending on what I have access to. Whether investigating materials, processes, function or form, I let the work inform me, both as mentor and muse.

Do you keep a special object in your studio?

St Brigid’s Cross – a souvenir from Ireland from a friend I met in Intro Weaving class as an undergrad. St Brigid is the patron saint of weaving, and the cross is a talisman against harm.

Our next featured 1st year MFA artist is painter and photographer: Matthew Kratz!!!!

Matthew (he/him) is a painter, student, and photographer who likes to wade knee deep in online encyclopedic articles researching everything that interests him (usually nostalgia, conspiracies, science, and history). He recently received his BFA at the Alberta University of the Arts (AU Arts). His work explores nostalgia, memory, experience, and image creation / recreation.

If you want to know more about Matthew check out his website matthewkratz.ca or his Instagram: @matthew_kratz

We are excited to announce the NSCAD MFA Group Exhibition unpunctuated and its great website launching today!!!

January 19th - February 11th, 2021 

Anna Leonowens Gallery, Ecology Action Center, Victoria General Hospital, Vacant lot on Willow St & Windsor, Dawson Printshop, Art Bar + Projects and virtual projects

The NSCAD MFA group exhibition, unpunctuated, represents a diversity of practices and content during a time that leaves process and expectations open ended, not unfinished but ongoing – a reflection of the state of flux we all currently experience. As a continuing event, in multiple locations, unpunctuated demonstrates the ability of our practices to adapt and thrive in fluctuating circumstances, despite the obstacles of a pandemic. A story in the process of telling.

Featuring works by:

Jordan Beaulieu, Félix Bernier, Grace Boyd, Sarah Brooks, Justin Carter, Sonia Chow, Suzie Cochrane, Emily Davidson, Ali Dixon, Luke Fair, Megan Fitzgerald, Heidi Friesen, Natalie Goulet, Bonita Hatcher, Takashi Hilferink, Hossein Khodabakhsh, Matthew Kratz, Yifan Liu, Sarah Lucja Ratsoy, Natasha Martel, Christian McGinty, Carrie Phillips Kieser, Marie-Soleil Provençal, Bijan Ramezani, Wiebke Schroeder, Zehua Sun

https://unpunctuated.nscad.ca

Our next featured 1st year MFA is photographer and interdisciplinary artist: Natalie Michelle Goulet!!!

Natalie Michelle (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Halifax, NS. She holds a BFA in photography and film studies from the University of Ottawa, and is currently an MFA candidate at NSCAD University. She has shown work in Canada, the United States, and Iceland. Her practice, although rooted in analog photography, consists of diverse material explorations including the use of found objects and performance. Her work often revolves around the concept of instability, and seeks an empathic approach to destructive human tendencies.

Check out this blog and her website www.nataliemichelle.ca or Instagram @nataliemichelle.ca

Natalie Michelle, what would you like to tell us about your studio practise?

I feel like my practice has been centered more around walking than making lately. I’ve been thinking about relationships to place, attachments, collecting, and the photographic object. I always seem to have a Polaroid camera with me,and some cyanotype chemicals or pre-treated surfaces. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on my relationship to water, analog photography’s own liaison to water, and ocean-centric climate solutions. I’ve been collecting impressions of the tide and imprints of rain water through the form of cyanotypes and transferring polaroid emulsions onto found objects in an attempt to deconstruct notions of displacement and interpret various sensory experiences through a lens of blue.

Do you keep a special object in your studio? 

I generally view my studio as a Wunderkammer (“room of wonders”/cabinet of curiosities.) It contains an assortment of special objects; mostly rocks, shells, leaves, some dead things. As mundane as some of the objects may seem, they all have their own walk or story attached to them.