SPRING 2005

A Publication for the Alumni, Students, Facultyand Staff of Ontario College of Art & DesignSKETCH

REFLECTION AND ANTICIPATION

SKETCHCOVERPRESIDENT RON SHUEBROOKPHOTO BY GEORGE WHITESIDE

FEATURESRon Shuebrook Comes Full Circle by Tanya Adèle Koehnke Page 6Picture the Performer by b.h. Yael Page 8IDEAS NEED SPACE: Campaign Countdown Page 12

Ontario College of Art & Design is Canada’s oldestand largest university for art and design. Its missionis to challenge each student to find a unique voicewithin a vibrant and creative environment, preparegraduates to excel as cultural contributors inCanada and beyond, and champion the vital role of art and design in society.

Sketch magazine is published twice a year by theOntario College of Art & Design for alumni, friends,faculty, staff and students.

President Ron ShuebrookVice-President, Administration Peter CaldwellVice-President, Academic Sarah McKinnonDean, Faculty of Art Blake FitzpatrickDean, Faculty of Design Lenore RichardsDean, Faculty of Liberal Studies Kathryn ShailerChair, Board of Governors Colin GrahamChair, OCAD Foundation James McMynPresident, Alumni Association David Berg

Produced by the OCAD Communications DepartmentDesigned by Hambly & Woolley Inc.Contributors for this issue Lauren Dando, Jessica Goldman, Tanya Adèle Koehnke, Laura Matthews, Laura Millard, b. h. Yael

Copyediting Maggie KeithDate of issue April 2005

The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the Ontario College of Art & Design.Charitable Registration # 10779-7250 RR0001Canada Post Publications Agreement # 40019392Printed on recycled paper

Return undeliverable copies to:Ontario College of Art & Design100 McCaul StreetToronto, OntarioCanada M5T 1W1Telephone 416.977.6000Facsimile 416.977.6006www.ocad.ca

SPRING 2005

A Publication for the Alumni, Students, Facultyand Staff of Ontario College of Art & Design

CONTENTS

COLUMNS On Campus Page 2Alumni Notes Page 16Profile of Recent Graduates

Nick and Sheila Pye by Jessica Goldman Page 20

ON CAMPUS

FROM THE PRESIDENTIn my final note to Sketch readers as the President of Ontario College ofArt & Design (OCAD), I want to share my excitement about the future ofpost-secondary art and design education in Ontario and, in particular,about OCAD’s future.

As I write, we anxiously await the 2005 budget from the Government ofOntario. Funding allocations to post-secondary education will largely determine the degree to which the recommendations of the Rae Commissionare adopted. Overall, the Commission followed an extremely thoroughprocess, and the results were heartening. At the core of the final review isthe commitment to a strong system of public access. This principle hasbeen at the heart of Ontario’s education sector and is one that Ontariansmust continue to hold dear.

Public education opened critical doors for me as a young artist, as it did for countless others. No society can be progressive and productivewithout ensuring that lack of economic means bars no “willing and able”student from education.

I am also heartened by the recommendation recognizing that a policyframework must support a differentiated educational system that allowsour institutions to develop their own distinct strengths in accordance with their particular missions. OCAD faces many resource challengesbecause of the specific requirements and necessary costs of providing ahigh-quality studio-based education. We are all hopeful that the RaeCommission has now opened up possibilities for dialogue and solutionsfor funding differentials.

Art and design education has an important place in the educational sector.Graduates of our programs greatly improve the quality of life enjoyed by all citizens. Through their professional practice, OCAD graduates enrichour culture and add value to the economy and our everyday experience. In advancing as a post-industrial society, we will especially need to develop students’ conceptual and critical-thinking skills—skills fundamentalto education in art and design.

I have been honoured to hold the position of President over the past fiveyears. I wish Sara Diamond and my colleagues all good fortune in OCAD’snext phase of growth. I also look forward to assisting in any way that I can.

—RON SHUEBROOK

A RESIDENCY CERTAIN TO INSPIREThis summer, OCAD will partnerwith the Association of CanadianInstitutes of Art & Design (ACIAD) in establishing the first-ever collaborative residency in mediaand visual arts. This residency, running for seven weeks at theBanff Centre, is spearheaded byLaura Millard, OCAD Chair, Drawing& Painting, and AICAD’s first co-ordinator. The program will bringtogether some of the best emergingartists and curators from OCAD, theAlberta College of Art and Designand the Emily Carr Institute of Artand Design to the Banff Centre inan annual summer residency.

Three graduating students and one faculty member from each institution, along with two interna-tionally known visiting artists, willtake up residence from July 18 toSeptember 3. The Banff Centreoffers a dynamic interdisciplinaryenvironment that will advance their professional arts practices,

expand and develop their skills andallow them to engage in culturalresearch and experimentation on aninternational level.

The students, chosen by jury, are awarded a $7,000 scholarshipfor the cost of personal studiospace with access to Banff facilitiesand technical support in printmedia, sculpture, photography,painting, ceramics and interactivemedia. They will also receive anadditional $1,000 towards traveland materials. These scholarshipsare generously provided by theBarford Family Fund.

The OCAD students selected to goare Jihee Min, Sculpture/Installation;Emmy Skensved, Drawing &Painting; and Nighthawk Bain,Sculpture/Installation. Rae Johnson,Drawing & Painting AssociateProfessor, will attend as OCAD’S faculty representative.

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SARA DIAMOND,PRESIDENT-TO-BE:‘ARTICULATE ANDPOWERFUL ANDSOMETIMESCONTROVERSIAL’On July 1, 2005, OCAD will welcome Sara Diamond as its new President. In his announce-ment of the appointment on March2, Board Chair Colin Graham spoke of the College’s “aspiration anddetermination to be a world-leadingcentre for graduate research andadvanced education in art anddesign.”

He described Diamond as ideallysuited to lead OCAD through itsnext phase of transformation,poised as it is for another tremendous advance. SaraDiamond is an artistic director, educator, researcher, critic, videoartist, television and new mediaproducer/director and curator. Shejoins OCAD from the Banff Centre,where she is Director of Researchand Artistic Director of Banff’s NewMedia Institute. She is credited withestablishing the Institute, generatingworld attention for Banff’s programsand research initiatives and bringingrecognition to new media as anarea of serious artistic investigation.

Diamond has earned an internationalreputation as an artist whose installations and video works havebeen collected by the NationalGallery of Canada, the VancouverArt Gallery, the Museum of ModernArt in New York City and manyinternational galleries, universitiesand colleges. In 1991 the NationalGallery of Canada presented a retrospective of her work.Diamond will bring to OCAD thecontrasting capabilities of a pragmatic administrator and avisionary artist. She is an institutionbuilder who forges alignments within organizations, across diverseareas of practice and among collab-orators at the international level.

Most important, she fully appreci-ates the fundamentals of studiopractice and their intersection withacademic knowledge and theory. Inan interview on CBC Radio withAndy Barrie, Diamond explained:“One of the great gifts of art anddesign is that it really comes frommaking things, and making thingsthat are articulate and powerful andsometimes controversial, like a newbuilding…. One of the things I hopeto do is…help to reinforce academ-ic knowledge that integrates wellwith that way of working and know-ing the world. In some ways, it’ssimilar to what creative engineersdo, when they physically makestuff, and then they analyze it andplace it within a larger social con-text. When we look at the role of academic learning within an artcollege, we have to be very carefulnot to destroy the fundamental baseand power of artistic expressionand making.”

Teaching and learning at the post-secondary level have been a largepart of Diamond’s career for morethan 20 years. Diamond holds a BA(Honours) in Communications and a BA (Honours) in History fromSimon Fraser University. She is currently completing her PhD at theUniversity of the Arts London’sSmartLab Centre, where herresearch focuses on the topicOnline Environments as CreativeCollaboration Spaces. She hastaught at the Emily Carr Institute,the California Institute for the Arts, Capilano College and the

University of California in LosAngeles, where she holds anappointment as Adjunct Professorin the Design/Media program. Onaccepting the position of President,Diamond commented: “I amdelighted to have an opportunity tohead this venerable institution ofcreative practice. OCAD combinesthe strengths of studio practice,critical thought and real-worldengagement. I hope to work withthe OCAD community to shape atruly inspirational learning, researchand graduate-studies environment.If I can, in any way, touch the heartsand minds of students and inspirethem to achieve great heights …that would be the touchstone formy tenure at OCAD.”

OPPOSITE PAGEPRESIDENT RON SHUEBROOKPHOTO BY GEORGE WHITESIDE

BELOWINCOMING PRESIDENTSARA DIAMONDPHOTOS BY TOM SANDLER

OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHTTHE BANFF CENTREPHOTO BYSCOTT ROWED

EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

WHODUNIT?The College’s signature fundraiserwas back with a bang in 2004.From the Preview Evening to thethree-day Public Preview and on tothe close of the packed PublicSale, Whodunit? 2004 proved morepopular than ever. As many aseighteen people camped outovernight, hoping to nab an originalwork of art from more than 750pieces available.

Once again presented by BMOFinancial Group, Whodunit? lastyear wowed the crowds and raisedover $100,000 for OCAD. NadaRistich, BMO’s Senior Manager,Corporate Donations, said,“Whodunit? has done it again! Thisyear’s event was better than ever.In addition to raising vital funds forthe College, the Whodunit? OCADMystery Art Sale demonstrates justhow important it is for art to beaccessible to everyone. BMO isproud to be a continuing supporterof this wonderful event.”

The Preview Evening auctions werea roaring success. The Blind andSilent Auctions gave guests theopportunity to bid on beautifullyframed artworks, while the ArtExperiences Auction offered amazing prizes, including a NewYork City/MoMa weekend; twobreathtaking Edward Burtynsky

photographs framed by GilderPicture Framing; a rare private tourof BMO’s superb art collection; anda trip to the Niagara studio of visit-ing artist Reinhard Reitzenstein, followed by a gourmet dinner forfour at Jackson-Triggs winery.

Brian Francis, Promotions Managerat NOW Magazine, said “Whodunit?is a lot of fun and clearly a popularannual fundraiser in Toronto. NOWMagazine is proud to again beassociated with this great event.”

Melissa Morris, Promotions Directorat 97.3 EZ Rock, said, “We receivedexcellent feedback for this event.Our listeners were really interestedin being able to attend Whodunit?and choose a piece of art.”

ON CAMPUSBELOWTHE “RED WALL” AT THE 2004WHODUNIT?FUNDRAISER.PHOTO BY TOM SANDLER

RON SHUEBROOK; MARTHA DIGBY BOYLE, CHAIR OFWHODUNIT? PREVIEW EVENING; AND GILLESOULLETTE, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVEOFFICER PRIVATE CLIENT GROUP, BMO FINANCIALGROUP.PHOTO BY TOM SANDLER

BIG IDEAS AT THE CORE OFNEW LIBERAL STUDIES Since degree programs were firstlaunched in 2003 at OCAD, facultyhave been refining and developingthe OCAD curriculum. In pursuit offurther enrichment, the Faculty ofLiberal Studies is about to adopt anentirely new approach to first-yearliberal studies. This coming fall, itwill undertake a pilot program thatintegrates three courses into one“super course” worth 1.5 credits.

According to Kathryn Shailer, Deanof the Faculty of Liberal Studies, thetraditional university introduction tofine arts is not adequate for OCAD.“Our students are already motivatedto become immersed in the world ofvisual arts. A simple survey of the artcanon is not broad or deep enough,given the level of knowledge andcritical-thinking and writing skillsthat our students need.”

LS One, the program’s working title,is inspired by approaches to teaching and learning at select universities across Canada, notablythe legendary Arts One program atthe University of British Columbia.This multi-disciplinary programgives students a broad introductionto visual culture, humanities andone of three options: literature, socialscience and natural science. It aimsto involve students with the mostinfluential ideas and images that haveemerged throughout human historyand, through this involvement, todevelop their communications andanalytical skills. Each course willtake a thematic approach with stu-dents choosing a theme from fouror five options.

“The themes will provide the coherence and make the materialcome alive,” says Shailer. Possiblethemes include Constructions ofSelf; Self, Identity and Society;Reason and Passion; Individualismand Community. “There isn’t a student in first-year art or design, for example, who isn’t concernedabout representation and the self.The themes give students theopportunity to select a way into the material that has a direct connection to their own interestsand studio work.”

LS One will engage the student, notjust because of its fresh approachto the material, but also because itwill provide more direct contact withfaculty. Each week, a student willattend one two-hour lecture with150 fellow students, two one-hourseminars with 30 students and oneone-hour tutorial with six students.The seminar and tutorial are taughtby the same faculty member, andthe lecture rotates among members

of a five-person faculty team. LSOne will also be supported by work-shops in research and writing skills.

Shailer explains that in most universities, students are farremoved from the faculty teachingliberal studies classes. LS One isstructured to immerse students morequickly in the learning environmentat OCAD, while making them betteracquainted with their faculty and acore group of classmates.

“We think this will become a realdistinguishing feature of OCAD anda key selling point for students.First-year studies can be extremelyalienating, especially the mandatoryliberal studies component, and this program gives students anopportunity to be a part of a smallerprogram … and to engage withmaterial they will find immediatelyrelevant both personally, and intheir art and design work.”

ABOVEKATHRYN SHAILERDEAN, FACULTY OFLIBERAL STUDIESPHOTO BY BRENT EVERETT JAMES

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We thank BMO Financial Group fortheir generous support as well asthe following who made this event asuccess: à la Carte, Burry SignStudio Inc., Canadian Art, ChairmanMills, Colourgenics, Curry’s Artists’Materials, 97.3 EZ Rock, FlashReproductions, The Globe and Mail,Grassroots, Hewlett-Packard,Jackson-Triggs, Lorella ZanettiPhotography, Newstalk 1010 CFRB,NOW Magazine, Roma Moulding,Soapbox Design Communications,Springfield Graphics, Steam WhistleBrewing, the Printing House,Toronto Life, Unisource Canada andWestbury National Show Systems.Thanks, too, to the many artists anddesigners who contributed theiroriginal pieces.

NEW CREATIONS WITH THETORONTO SYMPHONY In March 2005, OCAD’s Faculty ofArt collaborated with the TorontoSymphony Orchestra (TSO) on aprogram of music and art entitledNew Creations Festival. At the invitation of Peter Oundjian, MusicDirector of the TSO, a group of faculty, staff, and students from theFaculty of Art created site-specificinstallations. While independent ofspecific musical compositions,OCAD’s work was provocative in thespirit of cutting-edge new music.

“Both the TSO and the Faculty ofArt were enthusiastic about linkingthe worlds of contemporary musicand art through the creative interplayof image, sound and movement,”said Blake Fitzpatrick, Dean,Faculty of Art.

Incorporating a range of media thatincluded photography, video, soundinstallations, image projections, performance and sculpture, the cre-ative works were produced by fac-ulty members Peter Sramek, WendyCoburn and Wende Bartley withtechnician John Kuisma and students Christina Bourchard andStephanie Comilang.

Peter Oundjian’s vision is to buildthe New Creations Festival into an annual celebration of new music and contemporary art. Hehopes that by presenting world and Canadian premières of the highest calibre, this event willbecome a prestigious soundingboard for new works.

DOORS OPEN AT OCADOCAD will once again participate in Doors Open Toronto. If you’vemissed other opportunities to seeOCAD’s renewed campus, visit uson Saturday, May 28, between 10 am to 4 pm. For more informa-tion, visit <www.ocad.ca>.

GO WEST The Faculty of Art’s annual three-day multimedia exhibition of juriedselections of the best OCAD thesiswork will appear in more than 20downtown galleries in the QueenStreet West neighbourhood. Partgallery crawl, part celebration, thisexhibition provides an opportunityto view unique and inspired art,meet the creators and discuss thework of these rising stars. It willinclude sculpture/installation, photography, painting, integratedmedia, printmaking and material art and design. Film and videoscreenings will take place at theGladstone Hotel (at Queen andDufferin) on Sunday, April 24, at 7 pm. Gallery openings are plannedfor Friday, April 22, from 6 pm to 9 pm.

BIG TALK: COMMUNITY ANDCONVERSATIONS IN ARTAND DESIGN EDUCATION A two-day symposium (Friday, April29, and Saturday, April 30, 2005)explores new directions in post-secondary art and design educa-tion. This broad-based forum ofpanel discussions and lectures willaddress issues of studio-basedlearning, critical pedagogy and curriculum development. Guestspeakers include performance artist Charles Garoian, Director ofthe School of Visual Arts atPennsylvania State University; andIain Baxter&, winner of theGovernor General’s Awards in Visualand Media Arts, and ProfessorEmeritus at the School of VisualArts at the University of Windsor.

The symposium is open to scholars,designers and artists alike. Noadmission charge and no registra-tion required. For more information,visit www.ocad.ca.

GRADUATE EXHIBITIONSee it Here, Before it’s Everywhereis the campaign theme of thisyear’s graduate exhibition from May 6 to May 8, 2005. For 90 years, this OCAD tradition has featured the best new work of ouremerging artists and designers. The advertising concept was created by a third-year advertisingclass under faculty member RobertSaxon. The creative team wanted it understood that the exhibition is the place to discover new and exciting work before these creations become the cultural iconsof our collective memory, like somuch artwork absorbed into popu-lar culture. For more information,visit <www.ocad.ca>.

ABOVECONVERTOR TRANSLATOR2004-2005JOHN KUISMALIGHT, MIXED MEDIA ANDCUSTOM ELECTRONICS.PHOTO BY SUVI KUISMA

“This job is the pinnacle of my life,”he says. “It’s been a calling and aprivilege….” Under his auspices,OCAD has transformed itself fromcollege to university. About hiscontributions, Shuebrook says, “I helped develop a credibledegree program, the potential forgraduate programs,… research and[an enriched] curriculum…. I lovemy relationships with students. I’m there for the textile artists, the performance artists and theadvertising folks.”

Shuebrook’s most important earlyinfluences were his various elemen-tary and high school teachers whosaw beyond his “modest economicbackground” to his talent. In highschool, Shuebrook won a scholar-ship to study at the PhiladelphiaCollege of Art. Among the manyartists, art teachers and art admin-istrators who assisted in his devel-opment are Francis Merritt, found-ing director of Haystack MountainSchool of Crafts, and Myron Stoutand Fritz Bultman at the Fine ArtsWork Centre in Provincetown.

Shuebrook remembers gratefullythe “artists…[who] helped me toget accepted into a very good grad school.” He obtained his MFAin Studio Art from Kent StateUniversity, Ohio, in 1972, where he studied with the late MortonGrossman and visiting artists LeonGolub and R. B. Kitaj.

An abstract painter himself,Shuebrook is, however, uncomfortable with theoretical dictates. Commenting on his ownpractice as an artist, which he says“embodies my belief systems,” he notes: “In my art, I embrace art-historical precedent andimprovisation in much the sameway that certain self-aware contemporary writers explore theresonance of verbal language, literary forms and textualmetaphors. I pursue painting as avisual discipline that simultaneouslycarries with it a sense of culturalcontinuity and a belief in the imme-diacy of perceptual experience.”

Shuebrook is eagerly anticipating areturn to his home and studio inBlandford, Nova Scotia. “I intend tospend most of the sabbatical pursuing my studio practice,” hesays. “I expect to immerse myselfin my painting…and in the extraor-dinary beauty of the surroundinglandscape…. I also expect to renewmy long friendships in AtlanticCanada…,” where he and his familyhave had roots since 1973.

Before heading to the East Coastthis summer, Shuebrook will rediscover the tranquil, yet challenging, environment of theEmma Lake Artists’ Workshop innorthern Saskatchewan. As a juniorfaculty member at the University ofSaskatchewan (1972–1973), hetaught undergraduate courses andhelped co-ordinate the Departmentof Art’s summer program at EmmaLake, arranging invitations for several visiting artists, including thelate Greg Curnoe.

RON SHUEBROOK COMES FULL CIRCLE BY TANYA ADÈLE KOEHNKE

After seven years of leadership, outgoing OCADPresident Ron Shuebrook reflects on the personaland professional experiences that shaped him as aninternationally known artist and educator.

PRESIDENT RON SHUEBROOKPHOTO BY GEORGE WHITESIDE

PASSAGE AND FRAGMENTS2005 6’ X 4’

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Shuebrook will come full circle inhis career when he visits this“romanticized, sacred place from all those decades ago, not as anadministrator but as an artist.” Henotes: “My role with [co-leader andSaskatoon painter] Bob Christie willbe to serve as a catalyst for thecommunity of artists…pursuing theirwork together, but in accordancewith their individual priorities. I willmake my own paintings and draw-ings while seeking to lead andencourage informed discussion anddebate among the participants.”

In view of the important artists andcritics, such as Barnett Newman,Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella,Clement Greenberg and R.B. Kitaj,who have led past workshops atEmma Lake, Shuebrook finds theinvitation to lead the workshop“deeply gratifying.”

During the year ahead, Shuebrook’swork will be seen in various exhibitions, including Towards theSpiritual in Canadian Art at theVarley Art Gallery in Unionville untilJuly 31, 2005. One of Shuebrook’swall-based constructions from the Donovan Collection at St. Michael’s College at theUniversity of Toronto, is on display.

Indefinite Space: Ron Shuebrookand Bruce Taylor will run from April 23 to June 5, 2005, at SaintMary’s University Art Gallery inHalifax. Anna-Marie Larsen organized this exhibition for theUniversity of Waterloo Art Gallery.

On June 8, 2005, a solo exhibitionof Shuebrook’s new acrylic paintings, watercolours and charcoal drawings will open at theOlga Korper Gallery in Toronto.Shuebrook says, “These abstrac-tions continue a direction thatseeks to evoke psychological andsocial meaning and to engage theviewer through the integration of

formal pictorial properties andstructures with various materialsand processes.”

The group exhibition Spell, fromSeptember 2 to November 6, 2005,at the Mendel Art Gallery inSaskatoon, will also featureShuebrook’s new paintings. It is co-produced by the Mendel ArtGallery and the Robert McLaughlinGallery in Oshawa, where it will runfrom November 25, 2005, toJanuary 15, 2006. Shuebrook says,“This exhibition is conceived as asurvey of recent abstraction andwill include six artists from WesternCanada [Eli Bornstein, RobertChristie, Clay Ellis, Marie Lannoo,Jonathan Forrest, and Laura St. Pierre] and six artists fromEastern Canada [Ron Shuebrook, Ric Evans, John Kissick, JordanBroadworth, Elizabeth McIntosh,and Aleksandra Rdesk].”

Shuebrook expects further exhibi-tion opportunities in Halifax andBoston. He will also continue toserve as Vice-President of theRoyal Canadian Academy of Artsand as a Canadian advisor to theTriangle Artists’ Workshop, which isbased in Brooklyn.

Looking ahead to a busy, stimulatingyear, Shuebrook remains “open toopportunities.” While continuing togive back to his communities, hewill finally be able to take anextended and well-deserved periodof time for his own life and work.

At its graduation ceremony onMay 26, OCAD will award Ron Shuebrook an honorary doctorate in recognition of hislong career dedicated to art education. Shuebrook has beeninstrumental in shaping numerousuniversity programs acrossCanada and in bringing degreeprograms to OCAD.

INDIAN ROAD MONKEY ROPE(ORANGE), 2005 6’ X 4’

INDIAN ROAD MONKEY ROPE(FEBRUARY), 2005 6’ X 4’

PICTURETHEPERFORMER BY b. h. YAEL

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The moment I get Caught in the Act, I look at the pictures. They are vibrant,seductive and weighty. They are striking,iconic and complex. They provoke me tolook at them, not only as documentation,but as images in their own right. Theirvisual significance points to the embodiedmoment of their conception, the real timeand site of realization, and to the live artpractice, little documented and reviewed,of performance art. For someone likemyself who teaches contemporary art, this is a vital and long-needed text. Andfor you who are neither practitioners norteachers, how many Canadian perform-ance artists can you name off the top of your head—even if narrowed toOCAD’s instructors and past students? >

THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOMTANYA MARSPURE VIRTUE, COVER,T.O. MAGAZINE, 1986.PHOTO BY GEORGE WHITESIDE

OPPOSITE PAGEJOHANNA HOUSEHOLDER ANDHER DAUGHTER, CARMEN.A RECONSTRUCTION OF REMEMBRANCE DAY. FALL 2004.PHOTO BY GEORGE WHITESIDE

JOHANNAHOUSEHOLDER ANDTANYA MARSPHOTO BY BRENTEVERETT JAMES

JOHANNA HOUSEHOLDERSERIES 01 TO 06 FROM IN A DRUNKEN STUPOR,THE GLADSTONE HOTEL,DECEMBER 2003

PAULETTE PHILLIPSFIND THE PERFORMER,4 POSTERS, TORONTO, 1983.PHOTO BY GEOFFREY SHEA

Caught in the Act: An Anthology ofPerformance Art by CanadianWomen is the product of collabora-tion, as good performance can be,between Johanna Householder andTanya Mars. Professor Householderis currently Interim Chair ofIntegrated Media at OCAD; Marsteaches at the University of Toronto.Both performance artists have far-reaching practices that embodydecidedly feminist critiques andmuch humour; both have steppedinto the breach, becoming editorsand writers, having realized thedearth of materials and documentation on performance art.“When I first started teaching performance at OCA, it was one-third of a course,” Householderlaments. “And there were twobooks on performance art inCanada, both from the early 80s.”

In the book Mars writes: “I askedmyself, Why, despite Canada’svery rich contemporary art activity,were our images absent from theexisting literature?”

Caught in the Act includes six introductory and contextual essaysand 34 focused texts on Canadianperformance artists or collaborativegroups. Though often placed in thecontext of transgression, extremebody art or sensationalist sensibili-ties, performance art is an expan-sive practice that encompasses verydifferent forms, genres and possibil-ities. This is what has made it soattractive to the women profiled inthe book and still makes it exhilarat-ing today. There are not many rules.Though performance art is nowcoalescing into a disciplinary form,its attraction for many artists is thatit really imposes very few restric-tions. This freedom has resulted in a high quotient of interdisciplinaryexperimentation.

“When I first began, it was importantto make the distinction betweenperformance and theatre, andstand-up comedy,” Householdernotes. “And now the misperceptionis that it has become anyone who is ‘acting up.’ My own approach isto understand the body as material.The body, of course, also contains a mind.”

The early body-based work and thehappenings of the 50s and 60swere affected, and transformed byfeminism, gay activism and identity politics. “These made hugeincursions into converting perform-ance art for their own purposes,”says Householder. “Spoken materialand narrative then became moreimportant. Also of significance is theincorporation of media and the rela-tionship between early video work,which was turned towards the bodyand the artist’s self, and now theuse of telematics, which is the bodyprojected through space with newtechnologies.” Cyberspace has provided another venue for performance art.

All these media, as well as dura-tional work, dance/movement, spo-ken word, tableaux and many otherstrategies, have influencedCanadian women performanceartists. The centrality of the bodyand the constant desire to producea visuality embedded in reality ortime may be the only common element to performance’s manypractices.

As much as performance is increasingly being recognized as a disciplinary arts practice, itsunderlying political nature seeks to break down any ideas around disciplinarity, as well as challengethe notion that art is only worthwhileas a commodified object or out-come. “Performance art has aneconomic imperative,” saysHouseholder. It promotes the notion that the art experience issomething that can be shared (noadmission necessary), often leadingto socially engaged and sociallyinteractive works.

TOP ROW, LEFTTHE CLICHETTES ’81THE CLICHETTES IN HALF-HUMAN,HALF-HEARTACHE, 1981, AT THE VANCOUVER EASTCULTURAL CENTRE. PHOTO BY DAVID COOPER

TOP ROW, RIGHTLILLIAN ALLENPERFORMING IN MONTREAL, 1991.PHOTO, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

LOWER ROW, LEFTJOHANNA HOUSEHOLDERAND HER DAUGHTER, CARMENHOUSEHOLDER-PEDARI IN AMYGDALE AT IN.ATTENDANTNOW ZSA ZSA, 928 QUEEN ST. W.,AUGUST, 1997. VIDEO BY LOUISE LILIEFELDT

LOWER ROW, RIGHTJOHANNA HOUSEHOLDER AND b.h.YAELDECEMBER 31 2000“DAVE” EMERGES FROM THE AIRLOCK. VIDEO, 2001

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At OCAD, performance is introducedin the first-year course Time-BasedMedia and is also offered throughcourses in Integrated Media. Thisyear, for the first time, OCAD alsohas a liberal studies course,Performance and Performativity.The growth in interest reflects theburgeoning of performance studiesin the academy, a proliferation ofcourses informed by theory, specifi-cally gender studies and cultural studies. Householder tracesthis development: “Particularly the work of Judith Butler, as shewould have been one of the first totheorize. She identified that genderis performed and then, by exten-sion, if gender is performed, whatisn’t? What is it that we do that isnot performed?” The field of culturalstudies, also, considers culture andother social interactions as performative, as enacted and sometimes even as masquerade.

Performance at the College has along history, often incorporated andencouraged by many instructors inthe past, including Nobuo Kubota,Lisa Steele, Udo Kasametes, SuzyLake, Nora Hutchinson, ColinCampbell and Paul Dempsey, toname a few. If the list of artists, students and writers reflected inCaught in the Act, does anything, itattests to the fact that OCAD isinextricably linked with performanceart in Canada. Of course, the bookis a broad survey of work fromVancouver to Montreal and Halifaxas well, but the frame of OCAD alsoprovides a focus: All currently professors, Paulette Phillips, LillianAllen and Johanna Householdereach has her own profile in thebook, as does Rebecca Belmore,who studied at the College. Pastand current instructors Ian Carr-Harris, Dot Tuer and Barbara Fischerare also among the contributors andwriters. Of course, we can now look forward to a second volume ofCaught in the Act, as a fresh generation of artists has further

transformed and mined the parame-ters of live art practice. I could list awhole new set of performanceartists who have been working in thelast 15 years and contributing to thecontinued vibrancy of interdiscipli-nary performance art. Many of thisgeneration are OCAD graduates.

Performance is always vulnerable to the erasure of history, as it is anephemeral medium. Once a per-formance has happened, there is little evidence of its materiality, ofthe body that has acted and beenacted upon; it disappears into thepast. Its documentation is oftenflimsy, and it can be interpreted andtheorized about without evidence,as the art itself doesn’t exist any-more. Providing a document ofsuch work by Canadian womenartists, giving a context for thatwork and preserving some sense of the historical moments in which it has occurred is the wonderfuland vital contribution of Caught inthe Act.

b.h. Yael is Professor and Chair ofIntegrated Media at OCAD. She is a video and installation artist and sometimecollaborator with Johanna Householder on a series of videos titled Approximations.Yael’s most recent video installation, the fear series, will be at Harbourfront York Quay Gallery until May 15, 2005, aspart of the “Images Festival of IndependentFilm and Video.”

Householder was part of the “independent choreographers”revolution, fostered in the 1980s at15 Dance Lab, the Music Galleryand A Space, as dancers left therestrictions of choreography forperformance. With Louise Garfieldand Janice Hladki, Householderbecame notorious as part of thesatirical feminist performanceensemble the Clichettes, who were seen across Canada and inthe U.S. in a diverse range of circumstances throughout the1980s. She also maintained herown, often collaborative perform-ance practice.

Johanna Householder has givenperformances and produced other artwork in Canada since the late 1970s. Inspired at OberlinCollege by Yvonne Rainer and the Judson Church movement, she went to the London School of Contemporary Dance andToronto’s York University, then a hotbed of new music and new dance.

Householder began teachingIntermedia at OCAD in 1988 andever since has taught PerformanceArt, among other subjects. Shewas chair of the New Media pro-gram and founding chair of theIntegrated Media Program from1990 to 1996. Active in perform-ance art networks and a founder ofthe 7a*11d International Festival ofPerformance Art, a biennale held inToronto, she has brought manyinternational artists to the festivaland to OCAD. She is keenly interested in the histories of performance, current live-artpractices and the effect of performance on contemporary artand new media.

Householder’s most recent worksinclude a series of performativecollaborations with her daughter,Carmen, on the transmission ofaffect. Her video workApproximations, in collaborationwith b.h. Yael, has been collectedseveral times and screened inter-nationally, and her photographicinterventions have also beenexhibited and collected. Her workis represented in Prêt á Porter /Take Out: Performance Recipes forPublic Space (La Centrale,Montreal, 2004), edited byChristine Redfern. Householderwrites and speaks on performanceand new media whenever she can.

JOHANNA HOUSEHOLDER

ABOVEJOHANNA HOUSEHOLDERPHOTO BY BRENT EVERETT JAMES

OCAD’s pre-eminent position in Canadian visual culture isunquestionable. For nearly 129years, the country’s most significantnames in art and design have beenlinked with the College, either asgraduates or faculty. Of Canada’sfour specialized universities of artand design, OCAD is the largestand most distinguished. But to continue leading the way, OCAD’sresources must grow.

The IDEAS NEED SPACE campaignstill needs to raise $4 million. It cando so with the help of patrons whomake it their mission to ensure that

WANTED:PATRONSWITHPURPOSE

our legacy of fine arts is a livingforce for the future, as Rosalie andIsadore Sharp have secured ourheritage of design.

“Art is vitally important to our culture,” says Blake Fitzpatrick,Dean, Faculty of Art. Fitzpatrickexplains that the potential for art’scontribution to our future is enormous. Culture remains one ofthe few growth areas in a knowledge-based economy, and OCAD gradu-ates will be the cultural producersand generators of a creative revolu-tion that is taking place. “Yet, forOCAD to be an important player inresearch and exploration in the newmedia of 21st-century expression,”he says, “it needs substantialresources.”

A patron who makes a major naminggift to the Centre for Art—whichencompasses the entire ground-level building at 100 McCaul

Street—would be associated withan art program moving forward with graduate studies, research and education in teaching. Fitzpatrickadds, “Special patrons would bringinvaluable profile to art education at OCAD, and their name would beassociated with pioneering newwork in Canadian art.”

A naming gift would also serve toenhance the physical attributes ofthe Centre for Art, although theoverall facility has already benefitedfrom expansion and upgrades. Agift would allow for further, much-needed improvements such as aesthetic enhancements to theexterior and new, energy-efficientwindows to lower heating costs.Such a significant gift would be recognized on a large building signdisplayed on the front exterior wallof 100 McCaul Street, opposite the signage for the Sharp Centre for Design.

HIGHLIGHTS OF RECENT GIFTS AND PLEDGESGeorge E. Boake and Family $100,000GMF Flexo Prepress Inc. $ 50,000Krug Inc. $ 31,500Anonymous $ 25,000DDB Canada/Frank Palmer $ 25,000Gee Jeffery & Partners Inc. $ 25,000Tony and Helen Graham $ 25,000Grip Limited $ 25,000Torys LLP $ 25,000ZiG Inc. $ 25,000Whirlpool Canada Inc. $ 20,000

LEGS NAMED IN HONOUR OF $25,000 DONATIONSAnonymousMartha and George ButterfieldFrancine and Brian ChuDDB Canada/Frank PalmerMartha Durdin and Tony CaldwellNancy Lang and Roger MartinJames and Jane Amys McMynHonor and Michael de PencierJanet and Michael ScottJim Meekison and Carolyn Keystone

THERE’S STILL TIME…to make an important contribution to the future of art and design.

Call Sarah Eyton, Director, IDEAS NEED SPACE campaign.416-977-6000, ext. 486

PG13

Many areas and programs, in bothart and design, would benefit frompatronage great and small. In addi-tion to the Sharp Centre forDesign, we can boast of a numberof important spaces already namedin recognition of major gifts to theIDEAS NEED SPACE campaign:Butterfield Park, Beal ResearchCentre, Jane and Peter DalglishDrawing & Painting Centre,Joubin-Selig Material Art & Design Centre and the Michaeland Honor de Pencier Centre forLiberal Studies, as well as manystudios and gathering spacesthroughout the College, such as therecently named George BoakeDrawing & Painting Thesis Studio,Keith Muller Open Studio and theElizabeth and Goulding Lambert Lounge.

Spaces can be named in recognitionof corporate or private donations, in memory of a loved one or in

CAMPAIGN COUNTDOWN

honour of someone, as is the casewith the Franklin CarmichaelStudent Lounge, which was namedby the Barford Foundation as a trib-ute to the Group of Seven memberand former Head of Graphic Designand Commercial Art at the Collegein the 1930s and 1940s.

There are several of areas thatOCAD would be honoured to namein recognition of donor support:

• The Centre for Art, whichencompasses most of theCollege’s ground-level building at100 McCaul Street. The 172,000-sq.-ft. facility, linked to the SharpCentre for Design by a 13-storeycentral core, houses six fine arts programs, the Faculty ofLiberal Studies and importantCollege-wide facilities such as the Professional Gallery, theGreat Hall and the multimediaauditorium.

• The Great Hall, our primary gathering space and hub of campus activity. Adjacent to the main entrance of 100 McCaulStreet, this grand three-storey halloverlooks Grange Park.

• The Professional Gallery, anessential facility for artists anddesigners. The new gallery willprovide opportunities for curatedexhibitions of work by membersof the OCAD community, as wellas nationally significant artistsand designers.

• The Photography Centre, homeof a nationally pre-eminent photography program. The Centreprovides a unique educationalexperience that enables studentsto develop technical skills and a critical understanding of photography and photo-based art practice.

• The Communication & DesignCentre, encompassing studios forthe Advertising, Graphic Designand Illustration programs.The Centre offers students a much-expanded learning environment on Level 6, featuringmany new technologicalenhancements.

These and other facilities andspaces on the campus still awaitthe support of major gifts to fulfilltheir essential role within our visionfor OCAD.

OCAD, 100 McCAUL STREET.PHOTO BY TOM ARBAN

HIGHLIGHTS OF RECENTLY INCREASED GIFTS AND PLEDGESJim Meekison & Carolyn Keystone $25,000 (total $125,000)Gretchen & Donald Ross $17,000 (total $104,000)Publicis Canada Inc. $10,000 (total $35,000)Y & R $10,000 (total $35,000)Robert and Kathleen Rueter $ 5,000 (total $10,000)

IN-KIND GIFTSAdobe Systems Inc. softwareBenjamin Moore & Co. Ltd. paintBlackstock Leather magnetic wall-tile system Egan Visual & TeamBoard Inc. whiteboards Epson Canada Ltd. equipment Haworth Ltd. furniture Interface Systems (Canada) Inc. carpet tilesKeilhauer furniture Krug Inc. furniture KSI Sign Systems Inc. signs Nienkämper furniture Teknion Corporation furniture Wenger Corporation retractable racked seating Whirlpool Canada Inc. appliances

SERVICESDesigned Products design servicesGottschalk + Ash International design servicesHambly & Woolley Inc. design servicesLowe Roche creative servicesLowe RMP creative/design services

No one understands the importanceof investing in creative people better than the heads of advertising,design and communications firms.After all, these firms achieve theircompetitive edge through the creative thinking of their artists,writers and directors.

This fact may explain why the adver-tising and communications industryhas outstripped all others in industrysupport for OCAD’s IDEAS NEEDSPACE campaign. OCAD is tremen-dously grateful that 19 firms, to date,have made significant contributions.

At the end of every school year,OCAD finds itself an important hiringground for advertising and designfirms. According to Steve Quinlan,Assistant Dean, Faculty of Design,“It’s well known that our unique program turns out highly skilled artdirectors.” As a result, many of ourgraduates have been hired by topfirms and have progressed to senior

The equipment and facilities needed to support a contemporaryart and design curriculum are morecomplex than ever. Classroomsneed to be “smart” with connectionsto the Internet and sophisticatedprojection equipment. Time-basedor digital media work requires costly technology. Furnishingsought to enhance a professionaland creative physical environmentto showcase good design. As well, by attracting room rentals, well-equipped and furnished spaces can generate revenue that providesvaluable relief for the College’soperating budget.

Luckily, for OCAD, many business-es, both large and small, have

found donating in-kind gifts is an easy way to support the IDEASNEED SPACE campaign. Besidesmeeting the College’s needs, the business also receives a charitable receipt for the sale value of the benefit.

“In-kind gifts have been critical tothe success of our expansion project,” comments Peter Caldwell,Vice-President, Administration, andChair of the SuperBuild ProjectSteering Committee. “They havealready amounted to approximately$1 million in expenditures that theCollege would otherwise have hadto make or, in many cases, simplydo without. We’ve been very fortunate not only to meet many ofour furniture and equipment needsthrough donations, but also toreceive some gifts that are trulystate-of-the-art. And where betterto showcase the best of technologyand design than at Canada’s premier art and design university?We’re tremendously grateful to ourin-kind donors.”

A quick tour of the new OCADcampus highlights the impact ofthese in-kind donations.

The Rosalie Sharp Pavilion, OCAD’s administrative building at115 McCaul Street, glories in thelargest in-kind gift yet made to theCollege. Three entire floors of officesuites were furnished through adonation of $500,000 worth ofoffice furniture and systems byTeknion Corporation.

At 100 McCaul Street, Level 1, theLambert Lounge, named after Lizand Goulding Lambert for their cam-paign contribution, is in a primelocation by the auditorium, andopens to Butterfield Park. This areawill be transformed into an elegantreception and celebration spacethrough a gift from BlackstockLeather and furniture donated byHaworth Ltd.. The lounge is a per-fect showcase for Blackstock’smagnetic leather wall system, whichwon an award at the CanadianInteriors 2004 Best in Canada

Annual Design Competition, and forthe Haworth lounge furniture, whichis stylish and comfortable, yetdurable enough for OCAD’s activeenvironment.

One floor above, on Level 2, isOCAD’s principal conference room, generously furnished byNienkämper, which also donated conference tables for critique/presentation rooms in the SharpCentre. Eight custom-designedmodular tables in the conferenceroom are surrounded by 50 stylishexecutive and side chairs, a cre-denza and a lectern. These gifts

positions. Quinlan says that thesefirms have “a vested interest inOCAD’s future success: as our pro-grams prosper, so will they.”

Another explanation might be thevision and drive of well-knownadvertising executive GeoffreyRoche. Roche is an alumnus ofOCAD and has been working hardto enlist support for the campaignfrom his industry colleagues. “Hehas been like a bull – charging for-ward and not taking no for ananswer!” quips Allan Gee, Principalof Gee Geoffrey & Partners andsponsor of a Critique/Presentation

Room. Dom Carusso, while onOCAD’s Board of Governors, wasalso instrumental early in the cam-paign in securing communicationsand design firms as donors.

In Roche’s view, the agencies “simply CAN’T not do this.”

“It’s a great cause,” he says. “Peopledon’t appreciate how much of animpact creative thinking has, and will continue to have, on their envi-ronment: from the design of the chair,the fabric on the wall, to houses welive in, streets we drive on, our cars,the glasses we drink from, to thelogos on our coffee mugs… And inCanada, almost everything we touch and feel has in some way been influenced by the College.”

Roche emphasizes, “It’s not aboutphotography or advertising ordesign or any one program, but it’severything to do with all of thesethings together.”

A CAMPAIGN THEY CAN’T NOT SUPPORT...DONORS IN ADVERTISING, DESIGN &COMMUNICATIONS

BBDODDB CanadaCossette Communications Ltd.Envoy Communications GroupFoote Cone & Belding CanadaGee Jeffrey & Partners Inc.Gorrie Marketing ServicesGottschalk + Ash InternationalGrip LimitedHambly & Woolley Inc.john st.Leo Burnett Company Ltd.Lowe RocheMaclaren McCann AdvertisingOglivy & MatherPublicisJ. Walter ThompsonY & RZiG Inc.

A SHOWCASEFOR IN-KINDDONORS

ABOVENIENKÄMPER MEETING ROOMPHOTO BY TOM ARBAN

BELOWGEOFFREY ROCHE,CREATICE DIRECTOR,LOWE ROCHE

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make the room, named inNienkämper’s honour, a goodvenue for receptions and otherinternal or external events.

Deluxe appliances donated byWhirlpool Canada Inc. outfit theservery by the Nienkämper meetingroom, as well as the bar area connected to the Lambert Lounge,ensuring that these facilities canaccommodate professionally-runhospitality events.

On Level 4, digital imaging is nowmore thoroughly integrated withtraditional photography processes,

thanks to equipment donated byEpson Canada Ltd. The new Epson Imaging Lab has seven new scanners, two large-format inkjetprinters and other equipment.Students creating high-qualityscans from film or prints can outputthem as images up to mural size.Epson also equipped the AcademicComputer Centre on Level 3 andthe Grip Ltd. Media DocumentationCentre on Level 6.

On Level 5, a Liberal Studies class-room will be fitted with one of twonew Egan TeamBoards, donated byEgan Visual. These state-of-the-artboards connect directly to comput-ers, making them ideal for lecturesusing visual images.

The elegant meeting room on Level6, overlooking Grange Park, featuresthe Krug Virtu furniture line. Theconference table, chairs, wardrobesand a hospitality trolley will allow thespace to offer an inspiring and pro-fessional setting for meetings ofinternal or external groups.

Also on Level 6 is one of two new computer labs outfitted withworld-leading imaging and designsoftware by Adobe. Special studentrates and a donation of AdobeCreative Suite and Adobe VideoCollection have “helped to level theplaying field,” says Steve Quinlan,Assistant Dean, Faculty of Design.All students now have access tothe best software tools available.

The benefits of donated servicesare no less appreciated.Gottschalk+ Ash Internationalhas provided design services forthe new donor-recognition wallnear the entrance to the Great Hallon Level 2; Hambly & Woolley Inc.donated its design services for theexterior-signage program; and KSISign Systems donated 25 percent of fabrication and installation costs for new campus signage. Lowe Roche has donated creativeservices for campaign promotions.

Businesses can contribute toOCAD in countless ways throughin-kind donations. Especially high on our wish list are furnishingsfor student lounges and otherprominent spaces.

He believes the campaign is about “effecting change…to makea creative hot bed for this country”at OCAD.

Roche’s hope is that one day people around the world will say,“Look at all the amazing [creative]people coming out of Canada,” and will note that their natural giftswere honed at OCAD.

Another factor keeping Roche hoton the campaign trail is his own personal success hiring OCAD graduates. “Look who the Collegehas been responsible for inspiringand bringing forward. We hired an amazing woman, Karen Larmour.She was top of your advertisingclass last year, and she’s just recently been a key driver of the launch of our Virign Mobile campaign. [This new creative generation] is where the future is.”

OCAD marks the finale of its campus renewal project with ablast of creative energy to lift usto a new beginning. Join us foran unforgettable evening, as welaunch the “new OCAD” to theart and design community with awelcome from Sara Diamond, theCollege’s incoming President.

Enjoy an evening of eclecticmusic, live video mixing, per-formance art and a live auctionof 10 extraordinary experienceswith some of the most influentialartists and designers of our time.Dancing and entertainment willfollow the live auction.

7 pm to 9 pm: ambient groove,exotic drinks and chow, and anextraordinary live auction

9 pm onwards: dancing into thewee hours of the morning

Ticket Price: $150 for cocktailreception, auction and dance. $35 for dance only.

All proceeds from the event willgo towards the IDEAS NEEDSPACE campaign.

Visit www.ocad.ca for more information or call (416) 977-6000,ext. 1234.

JUNE 9:ONE BOLD BUILDING,TEN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES,ONE UNFORGETTABLE PARTY

UNBORINGTHE NIGHT OF THE

LEFTMACLAREN McCANN CRITIQUE/PRESENTATION ROOMPHOTO BY TOM ARBAN

ABOVEEPSON IMAGING LABPHOTO BY ANGELA DEL BUONO

ALUMNI NOTES

BELMORE AT THE VENICE BIENNALEFormer OCAD student and multi-disciplinary Anishinabekwe artistRebecca Belmore has been selectedto represent Canada at the 2005Venice Biennale, the world’s oldestand most prestigious venue forinternational contemporary art.Belmore, who was chosen at anationwide competition, will be thefirst Aboriginal woman to exhibit in the 51 years of the Biennale. “I wassurprised and thrilled to receive thisprestigious honour to representCanada,” Belmore says.

Belmore works in sculpture, performance art, installation andvideo, with a history of exhibitionsand performances across Canada,in the United States, Mexico, Cubaand Australia. Although she beganher career in performance art, hersculptures, videos and photographyare considered equally significant.

As a student at OCAD in the late1980s, Belmore studied in theexperimental art program. Movingfrom a small community in north-western Ontario to an urban environment was a “huge education,”according to Belmore. Exposure todifferent cultural experiences andstudents from all over the worldgreatly influenced her early develop-ment as an artist. During this period,she established the basis for herdistinctive approach to performancethrough her character, High TechTeepee Trauma Mama.

Drawing on her Aboriginal heritage,Belmore creates narratives thataddress issues of place, history and identity. Her work confrontschallenges for First Nations peoplesuch as cultural identity, displace-ment, racism, colonialism and environmental degradation. Using simple actions and material objects,her performances and installationscommunicate powerful ideas andleave her audience with ineradicable images.

OCAD ALUMNI FEATUREDThree OCAD alumni were featuredin the Best of 2004 exhibition,which showcased award winnersfrom Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibitionlast year.

Along with 17 other award winners,Shauna Born (Drawing & Painting,’04), Scott Griffin (Drawing &Painting, ’97) and OlexanderWlasenko (Drawing & Painting, ’95) displayed their work at theFirst Canadian Place Gallery in anexhibit of some of the most exciting contemporary art andcraft produced today.

The 44th annual Toronto OutdoorArt Exhibition takes place July 8, 9and 10, 2005, at Nathan PhillipsSquare in front of Toronto City Hall.

WINS AND SHORT LISTINGSDionne Simpson (Fine Art, ’00) wasawarded the top prize in the 2004RBC Investments Canadian PaintingCompetition in November 2004. Herwork, entitled Urban e_Scape 13,won the $10,000 prize and wasshowcased with the finalists at theMuseum of ContemporaryCanadian Art (MOCCA).

Simpson has been practicing full-time as an artist since she graduatedin 2000. She exhibits both nationallyand internationally, applying forgrants and competitions and volunteering as an art instructor atBaycrest Elementary School.

As the winner of this year’s competition, Simpson’s work willbecome part of the RBC Canadianart collection, where it will hangalongside works by such renownedartists as Jane Ash Poitras, EmilyCarr, Alex Colville, Christopher Prattand Jean-Paul Riopelle.

OCAD alumni Shaan Syed (Drawingand Painting, ’00) and OCAD facultymember Alexander Irving wereamong the 15 national finalistsshort-listed in the competition. Their work was also shown at theMOCCA exhibition.

BELOWDIONNE SIMPSONPHOTO BY ERIN RILEY

ABOVEREBECCA BELMOREPHOTO BY JAY THOMPSON

BELOW, LEFTOLEXANDER WLASENKODINNER TABLE 2004.PIGMENT ON PAPER121.9 cm X 182.8 cm

PG17PG17

2004 HUGO BOSS AWARD WINNERRirkrit Tiravanija (Experimental Arts,’84) was awarded the 2004 biennialHugo Boss prize, administered bythe Solomon R. GuggenheimFoundation. Juried by an illustriousinternational panel of museum direc-tors, curators and critics, the prize isgiven to an artist whose work repre-sents a significant development incontemporary art.

Selected from a group of sevenshort-listed artists, Tiravanija wasawarded $50,000, along with a2005 spring exhibition of his work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

According to the jury, “RirkritTiravanija emerged as a key figureduring the 1990s, introducing a newparadigm of interactivity that hasredefined the direction of muchrecent contemporary art. Global inoutlook, yet local in practice, hisworks translate from culture to culture with remarkable ease,

welcoming the regional traditionsbrought to the work by the contextin which it is presented. We foundthis sense of intercultural exchangeto be a critical component ofTiravanija’s practice and one of thedefining criteria for awarding himthe 2004 Hugo Boss Prize.”

Based in Berlin, New York andBangkok, Tiravanija studied atOCAD, the Banff Centre, the Schoolof the Art Institute of Chicago andthe Whitney Independent StudiesProgram and the Whitney Museumof American Art in New York.

He has exhibited at museums andgalleries worldwide, including at theMuseum of Modern Art, Muséed’art moderne de la Ville de Parisand the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.

In the Indian Factory performance in2000, for example, plaster-soakedjackets slowly solidifying representthe freezing deaths of fiveAboriginal men. In the installationWild—for House Guests: SevenArtists in the Grange, a bedcover ofbraided hair and fur becomes a metaphor for colonialism andcomforts enjoyed at the cost ofindigenous peoples.

From March 5 to April 30, the Pari Nadimi Gallery features TheCapture of Mary March, a majorsolo exhibition of installation and photographic work. Here, Belmoreexplores the idea of being a captivein one’s own country through the1819 narrative of the Beothukwoman, named Mary March by herEnglish captors. This work, inspiredby the phrase “taking by violenceand force,” uses fire as a centralimage and wood with heavy chains as a core material, and photographic paper has beenreplaced with canvas.

How will Belmore’s powerful language of image and action,which is often site-specific, connectwith the international audience ofVenice? Without revealing toomuch, Belmore says that her workwill not be as overt, although hertheme of water may speak to theplace. Her video installation willpresent ideas of the First Nationsthrough the tactic of using her ownbody. Asked whether she feels aninternational audience might posenew communication challenges,Belmore replies, “I won’t know whatthis means [for the work] until I am there.”

At its graduation ceremony on May 26, OCAD will confer an honorary doctorate on RebeccaBelmore in recognition of herextraordinary artistic career.

ABOVEREBECCA BELMOREWHITE THREAD, 2003INK-JET PRINT ON WATER-COLOUR PAPER.PHOTO BY DONNA H.HAGERMAN

BELOWRIRKRIT TIRAVANIJAUNTITLED 2002 (HE PROMISED).CHROME AND STAINLESS STEELAPPROX. 3m X 12 m X 6 mSOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, NEW YORKINSTALLATION VIEW, VIENNA SECESSIONIMAGE ,COURTESY GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK

ALUMNI NOTES

Currently the Membership Co-ordinator at Liaison ofIndependent Filmmakers of Toronto(LIFT), Mohamed is working on ananimated documentary thatexplores Caribbean ghost stories.This spring, Coolie Gyal will beseen at the London Lesbian andGay Film Festival in England andthe Images and ReelWorld festivalsin Toronto.

TWO UNTITLED ARTSAWARDS FOR THE OCADCOMMUNITY Two members of the OCAD community walked away with trophies from the 2004 Untitled Art Awards.

Best Solo Exhibition in a PublicGallery went to OCAD alumnusDavid Rokeby (Experimental Arts,’84), and the Emerging CuratorAward to OCAD faculty memberJessica Wyman.

In its second year, the Untitled ArtAwards celebrate and bring profileto Toronto-area artists, their workand the galleries that exhibit them.

KUDOS TO PUGENGeoffrey Pugen (Integrated Media,’04) was recently invited as a finalistat the 2004 International Digital ArtAwards. He is the recipient of arecently announced Ontario ArtsCouncil (OAC) Artists’ Film andVideo grant worth $25,000, and hisvideo Aerobia was featured atscopeNewYork in March 2005.

Pugen’s video Utopics was alsofeatured in February 2005 at theInternational Media Art Festival inBerlin, Germany’s most significantfestival for art and the creative useof digital media. Utopics representsan idealistic world presented in theform of an infomercial. The workexplores ways in which societalextremes, mass consumption anddistorted lifestyles are shaping howour bodies will behave and look inthe future. The narrative and visualsdissect the connections betweenmyth and modification to invent anew, perfect body.

FROM THESIS TO SUCCESSWhen Renata Mohamed, (IntegratedMedia, ’04) completed her thesisproject at OCAD, she had no ideathat it would catch famed Canadianfilmmaker Atom Egoyan’s attention.

Coolie Gyal, Mohamed’s seven-minute video and thesis project, is a coming-out story told through theletter that a daughter reads to herparents, expressing her expecta-tions and fears in a heartfelt narrative.

Coolie Gyal has been shown locallyand internationally at festivals inPortugal, U.S., and Belgium. Thispast January, it was featured as partof the South Asian Visual ArtsCollective’s film and video screeningat Egoyan’s new hot-spot loungeand screening room in Toronto,Camera Bar and Media Gallery.

ABOVE, TOPGEOFFREY PUGENAEROBIA 116” X 20”LAMBDA PRINT

ABOVE, BOTTOMDAVID ROKEBYSEEN (2002), INSTALLATION IN THECANADIAN PAVILION AT THE VENICEARCHITECTURAL BIENNALE. PHOTO BY DAVID ROKEBY

BELOW, LEFTRENATA MOHAMEDCOOLIE GYAL,VIDEO STILLCOPYRIGHT 2005.AHMEBA IMAGES

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHODUN?T

BMO FINANCIAL GROUP WAS PLEASED TO SUPPORT WHODUNIT? OCAD MYSTERY ART SALE

OLLA OCADIn February 2005, the work of threeOCAD alumni was showcased aspart of ARCO ’05 in Madrid. OscarCamilo de las Flores (Printmaking,’97, ’01), Michelle Bellemare andEdith Dakovic(Sculpture/Installation,’91) represented Canada at thiscontemporary arts fair.

ARCO highlights work from morethan 250 distinguished internationalgalleries, a variety of curatorial projects and an international symposium featuring leading academics, curators and art-worldleaders. The fair draws 120,000 visitors annually over four days ofevents, conferences and social gatherings.

Within ARCO ’05, the NewTerritories project was created toshowcase artists 40 years of age oryounger whose works explorethought-provoking new directions incontemporary art. Ten internationalcurators selected about 40 galleries,including nine in Canada, to partici-pate in this section of the fair. TheseCanadian galleries represented 27artists active in a diverse range ofmedia and thematic inquiry.

ABOVEMOCCA/ARCOPHOTO BY CAMILLASINGH, COURTESY OFTHE MUSEUM OFCONTEMPORARYCANADIAN ART

PG19

For OCAD photography studentNick Pye, working part-time in AVLoans meant extra money andaccess to the equipment he neededfor his art. But the job wasn’tstress-free, for Sheila would comeby to sign out equipment for herintegrated media work. And Sheila?

“I had an enormous crush on Nickfor about a year,” says Sheila. “But we never really talked.”

“I’d almost given up on her,” saysNick. “I was too nervous to ask herout and I was simply waiting andwaiting for something to happen.”

The two finally met and talked atthe opening of Art System, OCAD’sstudent-union gallery. “We’ve beeninseparable ever since,” says Nick.

The Pyes, who were married in2001, are personally and creativelycollaborative. “The minute we started dating, we started workingtogether,” recalls Sheila. “I started to incorporate photography into my films and we moved forward, creating these huge projects built for two.”

“We have an intense relationship,”notes Nick. “We share intellectualideas, ideas about creativity, aboutart, about life, and this strengthensthe art we make and is the basis forour practice together.”

The Pyes’ film, video and photography projects explorethemes of intimacy and emotionalinterdependence and gender signifi-cance. Over the past few years,their work has evolved from literal representations of these issues to an examination of self and thechallenges of being a couple.

NICK AND SHEILA PYE:‘BLURRING BETWEEN SUBJECT AND OBJECT’ BY JESSICA GOLDMAN

PG21

While the subject of their photo-graphic and video work is oftenthemselves, the Pyes in no wayclassify the result as portraiture.Instead, they see themselves as thestarting point—the idea that drivesthe work, rather than the subject.“We appear in our own work to further the fictions that photo-graphic and time-based works haveimbedded within them as mediums,”said Sheila. “Blurring between subject and object is always presentwithin our work. We are interestedin representing ideas through theuse of our bodies as models orvehicles for expression.”

The Pyes integrated film, video andphotography projects have beenexhibited in Toronto at AngellGallery, Image Works, Gallery 44and the First Canadian Place, andtheir 10-minute video The PaperWall received the award for bestexperimental short at the 2004Canadian Film Centre’s WorldwideShort Film Festival.

This past January the Pyes’ firstNew York exhibition enjoyed a highlysuccessful launch at SixtysevenGallery in Chelsea. At the openingreception to view the Pyes’ work, agroup of curators from theGuggenheim and the MoMa wereexcited by what they saw.

Last February the Pyes were invitedto attend the 2005 Berlinale, a.k.a.Talent Campus. This all-expenses-paid week of workshops for selectedyoung filmmakers runs in conjunc-tion with the Berlin InternationalFilm Festival, the world’s largestcinematic event. During their stay,the Pyes participated in intensiveworkshops with other upcominginternational film talents, as well ascreative professionals from everyarea of the film industry.

Both Nick and Sheila partially credittheir success to the education andcreative experiences they enjoyed atOCAD. “Working with the guidanceof professional artists while in schoolprepares you to get out into the real world,” says Nick. “At OCAD,students are encouraged to exhibitworks and think about the realitiesof the contemporary art world.”

For Sheila, OCAD not only offeredtools and preparation for a real artpractice, it also offered new ideas.“The diversity of the education Ireceived at OCAD opened up possi-bilities,” says Sheila. “I thought thatI wanted to be a painter and Iended up making films and workingin many other mediums.”

OCAD’s professors recognized thePyes’ experimentation and collaboration with awards on graduation. Sheila received theGeorge A. Reid Award, PhotographyFaculty Award and the Sir EdmundWalker Scholarship, and Nick gradu-ated with the Nick H.L. Rous Awardand Photography Faculty Award.

“Working in two separate areas ofthe College allowed them to develop individual visions thatstrengthened their unique partner-ship, creating a truly refreshing andchallenging vision,” says AprilHickox, Associate Professor andChair of Photography. “I am pleasedthey are now being professionallyrecognized for their artistic oeuvreand talent.”

The Pyes are currently crafting ascript for a feature film as well asworking on photographic ideas, setdesigns and video projects thataddress the human condition, socialcodes and other cultural issues.

This coming fall, New York comescalling again when the Pyes taketheir work to Rare Gallery. Perhapssoon it won’t be the MoMa comingto see them, but rather going to the MoMa to see the Pyes! We wish Nick and Sheila Pye continued success.

OPPOSITE, ABOVENICHOLAS AND SHEILA PYEFAULTY LANDSCAPE II, 200430" X 40" (1/3)CHROMOGENIC PRINT (FUJI CRYSTAL ARCHIVE PAPER).COURTESY OF ANGELLGALLERY

ABOVE, LEFTNICHOLAS AND SHEILA PYELANGUAGE, 200530” X 40”CHROMOGENIC PRINT (FUJI CRYSTAL ARCHIVE PAPER)

ABOVE, RIGHTNICHOLAS AND SHEILA PYETHE LOVERS II, 200440” X 50”CHROMOGENIC PRINT (FUJI CRYSTAL ARCHIVE PAPER)