Meet BFA ’08 grad Natalie Doonan: Exploring 18th century Mexican portraits, mental illness and identity
18th century Mexican portraits, mental illness and identity are Natalie Doonan’s focus. “I’m interested in identity-formation and the compression of identity of both the subject and the artist, within the making of a portrait,” she says, “at the heart of identity-formation are issues of control, power, and independence.”
Meet BFA ’07 grad Shireen Cotterall: Inspired by surroundings
Shireen intends to continue to inspire and guide young people in tandem with her own artistic endeavors. Shireen studied visual arts under the guidance of Barbara Zeigler and Philip McCrum, at UBC and Otis Tamasuskas at Queens University. She graduated in 2007 with a BFA in Visual Arts and a BA Minor in Spanish. Shireen […]
Meet Leah Clark: Global perspectives on art history
Throughout the various voyages of her childhood, Leah Clark (BA Hons ’04) was exposed to a variety of art forms around the world, including Rajput painting ateliers in India, Mola embroidery in Panama, Mayan excavations in Honduras, Moai statuary and cave painting on Easter Island, Gauguin’s studio in the Marquesas, and numerous museums and art galleries around the globe.
Creative Writing alumnus Paolo Javier named Queens Poet Laureate
New York City is a long way from Vancouver. And Vancouver is a long way from the Philippines. But they have all been home for Paolo Javier, a self-described “nomad”, who has not only taken his BFA in Creative Writing more than halfway around the world, but has also taken it into the undiscovered country of digital media.
Meet Morgan Sillers: Interning to end cancer
Name: Morgan Sillers Major and year at the time of internship: Second year of Arts: Sociology & Psychology Internship position title and organization: Revenue Development Intern at The Canadian Cancer Society Why did you apply for an Arts Internship? To get ‘real world’ work experience, without prolonging my degree. Tell us about your internship? What […]
Meet Katrina Lo: English research, eh?
By Katie Fedosenko Undergrad investigates Canadian lingo alongside professors Anyone who has ever wrestled with an American spell-check knows very well that Canadian English is different. We have extra ‘u’s in ‘colour’ and ‘humour’, we’re travellers, not travelers, and we have the dignity to end our alphabet with a zed, as the Queen intended. But […]
Meet Jordan Wilson: Bringing research back to the community
FNSP offers a research practicum in which students partner with a community and do research based on the community’s needs. Jordan worked with the Museum of Anthropology and his band, Musqueam, to research unpublished material housed in the Museum of Anthropology for the Musqueam Indian Band archives. For his research, Jordan interviewed anthropologist and UBC Professor Emeriti Michael Kew and as a result created a catalogue for Kew’s 1981 exhibit “Visions of Power, Symbols of Wealth.”
Meet Colin Miner: Captured in the moment
Absence and presence, from the cast to the negative, Colin Miner finds himself in stillness.
Vancouver looked like a promising city to develop a photographic-artistic practice with a strong visual arts and art history faculty working at UBC. Colin will continue to pursue and develop his artistic practice and theoretical research within the MFA program under the guidance of Ken Lum and John O’Brian.
Colin returned to Canada having worked for three years in Beijing China, an experience that allowed him to learn more about Chinese culture and art. “I was very fortunate to have spent that time overseas,” he says, “to see a country literally changing before my eyes, to experience parts of its immense potential for growth and cultural influence.”
The first year at UBC in the MFA program was quite challenging in a variety of ways. “My knowledge and practice, both artistic and academic, have developed in unanticipated directions. Notably, my research on the iconic figure of Dracula as represented within Bram Stoker’s novel.”
The theme of absence and presence was his next inquiry, in which he examined the different works of Rachel Whiteread, Thomas Demand, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Jeff Wall. Colin’s own work has focused and developed on the themes of stillness, an entrapment of time, the cast and the negative, and falseness.
From AHVA website.
Meet Tina Wang: A taste of real life
By Stephen Satterfield Ting Wang, Visual Arts major, readily admits she doesn’t have a specific career plan. UBC Arts Co-op led her to communications-related jobs, a field she now finds interesting and rewarding. A student in the visual arts, Ting found that her design skills were a great asset to her resume. Many employers are […]
Meet Helen Bell: Looking to the past
Helen Bell came to UBC to pursue a bachelor’s degree, but will be walking away with much more than a piece of paper: learning to conduct research has opened the door to a wealth of knowledge — and her own identity. “The research component at this institution is excellent,” says Bell. “The respect, integrity and recognition of the uniqueness of First Nations people has really stood out for me. It’s crucial for me that we’re doing research for and with First Nations people, not studying them like specimens under a [magnifying] glass.”