The Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory
As Seen Here: UBC Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition 2013
May 02, 2013
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 2, 8:00 - 10:00pm. Runs May 3 to June 2, 2013.
The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is pleased to present As Seen Here, an exhibition of work by the 2013 graduates of The University of British Columbia’s two-year Master of Fine Arts program: Carlos Colin, Kate Henderson, Chris Howison, Erin Siddall, Tristan Sober-Blodgett, Stephen Wichuk.
Public Critique with Cate Rimmer, Curator Charles H. Scott Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Saturday, May 11, 12:30 - 5 pm
Carlos Colin is a Mexican-born artist whose research focuses on how “art objects” can create links between Latin American-produced art and Latin American societies, in particular in relation to Mexico. His work is an investigation into how artists use local knowledge, realities and histories in social movements, struggles and subversions as new expressions of social and cultural progress using language as
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SHELL GAME: Marina Roy and Natasha McHardy
May 23, 2013
Opens Thursday, May 23rd, 7-9 pm. To June 29, 2013.
Natasha McHardy and Marina Roy started working together to produce video works as the artist-duo Roy & McHardy in 2003. While maintaining their own separate practices over the past few years, their artwork continues to share an interest in materiality, craft, surreal and folk sensibilities, and gender/race/class issues. McHardy’s new body of work incorporates recurring motifs within a theatrical stage, including pools, cacti, palm trees, screens, animals, and kitsch icons. These surreal relief constructions combine abstraction and representation, drawing and collage, exoticism and colonial histories. Roy’s work explores the construction of grotesque emblems and rebuses, using an archive of images that recall her past animations. Human, animal, plant, mineral entities combine, breaking down taxonomic categories between living and non-living entities. Mining a naïve aesthetic, both of their practices question hierarchies
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About the Department
Art History and Visual Art were first taught at The University of British Columbia when noted Canadian painter, B.C. Binning, was appointed to the faculty of the newly-formed School of Architecture. The Department of Fine Arts was established as an independent department within the Faculty of Arts in 1955. Since its inception the Department has grown steadily and now includes 23 full-time members of faculty (13 art historians and 10 visual artists). In 2001, the Department changed its name from Fine Arts to the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory to better to encapsulate the innovative teaching and interdisciplinary research interests of the faculty.
The Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory comprises three streams of research-based learning and practice: Art History, with a particular focus on theoretical and critical discourses concerning the social impact of art and visual representation at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; Critical and Curatorial Studies, examining through research and exhibition projects issues in contemporary visual culture and display; and Visual Art, with an undergraduate curriculum placing art production, academic learning and a graduate emphasis on preparation for participation in the field of contemporary international art.
The Department’s faculty are actively involved in research and bring this strength into their teaching at all levels. Undergraduate and graduate seminars enhance student experience in advanced academic research and practice. As a result many of our graduates have established distinguished careers in the creative, scholarly and gallery fields.
The main goal of Art History, Visual Art and Theory is to foster critical and reflexive thinking within an inclusive and supportive environment. The Department thus maintains the highest standards of intellectual and administrative practice, seeking to be innovative in pedagogy and international in scholarly perspective.
Our Galleries
The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery
The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery has an international reputation for its exhibitions, publications and projects in the area of contemporary art. Its collections and archives are an invaluable resource for scholars.
Visit the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery »
The AHVA Library Gallery
The mission of the AHVA Library Gallery is to promote research and discourse in the field of visual art by facilitating collaboration and experimentation within the department, the university, and the community. The gallery is dedicated to providing resources and opportunities to students, faculty and the community through exhibitions, public programs, and providing a venue to engage in dialogue.
Learn more about the AHVA Library Gallery »
© 2006 - 2013 Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory - University of British Columbia