AIR Program 2019
2019 Artist in Residence Karl Mattson
View Karl Mattson’s Thoughts of Love Meditations on Violence exhibit catalogue
2019 AIR Mentored Artist mary mottishaw
Listen to mentored artist mary mottishaw discuss her exhibit
View mary mottishaw’s meander exhibit catalogue
2019 AIR Mentored Artist Barbara Swail
Listen to an interview with mentored artist Barbara Swail
View Barbara Swail’s solastalgia exhibit catalogue
2019 AIR Exhibit Posters (opening August 7 at the Dawson Creek Art Gallery)
Artists Around the Table – Thursday December 12, 2019
The Peace Liard Regional Arts Council together with the Dawson Creek Art Gallery are pleased to present this free workshop as part of the Artist in Residence Program:
Artists Around the Table Workshop
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Rolla artist Karl Mattson selected for PLRAC’s inaugural Artist in Residence Program
Rolla artist Karl Mattson has been named the Peace Liard Regional Arts Council’s Artist in Residence for 2019.
This program, administered by the PLRAC with support from the BC Arts Council, provides a northeast BC artist with concentrated time to work on their art in a studio setting along with mentorship from a professional artist/curator culminating in a solo exhibition.
The program, which the PLRAC hopes will become an annual opportunity, was developed to assist the region’s artists in gaining time for their practise as well as furthering their exposure and professional status.
This year’s submissions to the Artist in Residence program were adjudicated by Paul Crawford, curator of the Penticton Art Gallery, and nationally renowned artist Peter von Tiesenhausen from Demmit, AB.
“It’s always exciting to be afforded the opportunity to discover the work of a new group of artists in a way that allows you to not only explore their practice, but also gain insight into how they want to push their practice forward in the future,” says adjudicator Paul Crawford, who will also serve as the 2019 mentor for the program. Crawford applauded the new program, saying, “It’s hard enough being an artist, and harder still being able to dedicate yourself full time to your practice, and I can’t express enough how important opportunities such as these are.”
The adjudication of submissions took place over the the course of two weeks where adjudicators looked at, read and revisited each of the artist’s applications with careful consideration to the criteria and intent of the program. Many of the submissions were deemed worthy and the final decision was not an easy one. But in revisiting each of the shortlisted candidates, it was felt that Karl Mattson best fit the spirit of the program.
“I am excited to work with Karl and help him further explore his practice and I hope find greater opportunities to exhibit his work further afield,” says Crawford.
The adjudicators acknowledged all of the artists who “took the time to submit their portfolios and in doing so bared their souls and shared their work and vision with us. Through their tenacity, hard work and commitment to their vision they have proven you don’t need to live in an urban centre to be a successful artist, making relevant and powerful art.”
The program will also provide an opportunity for community members to visit the Artist in Residence and to take part in a one-day professional development event open to all interested community members in the region (further details to be announced).
The PLRAC sincerely thanks Paul Crawford and Peter von Tiesenhausen for the care and attention they gave to the jurying process.
Meet the Jurors:
Paul Crawford’s journey into the world of art has been anything but a traditional one, one that has built the belief that a work of art is a piece of social history and its cultural and commercial value lies in the stories it tells with each piece serving as a bookmark in time, documenting the life of its creator and the world in which they lived and worked. Growing up in a household with little interest and engagement in the arts, Paul’s education came through firsthand experience starting with a string of inspiring teachers, public art installations, community public art projects, stamp collecting and the connection between an object and its story. It’s been a non-conventional journey and one that when I started reached back to the foundations of our western tradition of art here in British Columbia right up to the present day.
Over the past twenty years Paul Crawford has worn many hats in British Columbia’s rich cultural community, volunteering as a co-producer and curator of the ArtsWells Festival, founder and producer of the International One Minute Play Festival, publisher with BC Musician Magazine and has produced and hosted numerous concerts and productions across British Columbia. He has served on the boards of Island Mountain Arts, in Wells and the Okanagan School of the Arts in Penticton, Boundary District Arts Council, The Victoria Arts Council, the City of Penticton’s Public Arts advisory Committee, owned a commercial gallery, served as a private art consultant and is often invited to serve as a juror and lecture on BC Art History and his collection. His current day job is the Director/Curator of the Penticton Art Gallery 2006, arriving here after serving in the same position at the Grand Forks Art Gallery from 2002 – 2006.
Paul will also serve as mentor for the 2019 AIR Program.
Peter von Tiesenhausen’s multi-media work deals with concepts of time, life, voyage, death, spirit, nature and humanity. His practice has grown from landscape painting to sculpture, performance and complex media installations. These are often an expression of where he finds himself and a utilization of what is at hand. Peter claims copyright on his land as an artwork. In the early 90s he started making boats of ice on bodies of water surrounding his studio and home, now no longer possible due to the wildly fluctuating climate. His film Island explores the meaning and significance of the human compulsion to strive in the natural world despite its changing ecosystems.
Peter has lived and worked in the boreal forest of northwestern Canada for most of his life, where he pursues his interest in sustainability. Peter has exhibited across Canada, in Europe and in the U.S. in public galleries and throughout the landscape. In 2016 he participated in Watershed+ Embedded Artist, City of Calgary, the Banff Centre Leighton Studio Residency; and led the CO2 Residency in Demmitt, AB. Peter received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2015. In 2018 Peter’s solo exhibition, Songs for Pythagoras at the Art Gallery of Alberta was accompanied by a significant hardcover publication with texts by Lucy Lippard, Natasha Chaykowski and Ellie Epp.
