Becka Barker and Stacey Cornelius Lead Professional Development Workshops for Visual Arts Nova Scotia

Becka Barker and Stacey Cornelius lead professional development workshops at Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) in October and November.

Becka Barker leads VANS grant writing
workshop October 17 & 20

Becka Barker’s Grant Writing workshop focuses on improving grant and proposal writing skills. 

Participants will learn how to write convincing project descriptions for Arts Nova Scotia and Canada Council creation grants as well as other applications. 

There will be two sessions: October 17 in Halifax, and October 20 in Sydney.

Becka received Talent Trust scholarships for film studies. Her work has been supported by the National Film Board of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, and the Halifax Regional Municipality. 

Becka’s films have been shown at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Seoul’s EXiS (winner 2007, Best International Film), Images Festival (Toronto), Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal), KunstDoc Art Gallery (Seoul), Echo Park Film Centre (Los Angeles), Toronto Animated Images Society, WNDX (Winnipeg), and Struts Gallery (Sackville, NB). 

She's been on the faculty at NSCAD University since 2005 and was visiting foreign faculty in the Film and Animation Department at SoonChunHyang University in South Korea from 2008-2012. To learn more about Becka, visit her website at beckabarker.info.

Grant Writing workshop

Wednesday, October 17, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

VANS boardroom
1113 Marginal Road
, Halifax
Registration Deadline: October 11



Saturday, October 20, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design
322 Charlotte Street
, Sydney
Registration Deadline: October 13

For a full workshop description and to register, visit the VANS website.

Stacey Cornelius teaches technology & social
media workshop for VANS Oct 20 and Nov 3

Stacey Cornelius’s Websites, Social Media & Technology: Creating your Brand workshop takes a no-nonsense look at website building tools, email marketing and newsletter services, search engines, and social media. 

The three-hour session focuses on building a professional brand using the tools that work best for you, and knowing how to use those tools well. Participants will learn concepts and skills they can use with multiple tools and across platforms so they can work smarter, not harder.

Stacey received a Talent Trust scholarship to support her studies in visual arts. Her work has been in shows at the AGNS, Mary Black Gallery, and Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery. Stacey’s used her experience as a jewellery designer and maker to help other artists build their own professional creative practices. 

She currently works at the Talent Trust as Communications Coordinator, Scholarship Program Coordinator, and Events Coordinator for our 75th anniversary celebrations in 2019. To learn more about Stacey, visit agencyofwords.com.

Websites, Social Media & Technology: Creating your Brand
Saturday, October 20, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. 

Halifax: Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road

Registration Deadline: October 22



Saturday, November 3, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Parrsboro: Main & Station
168 Main Street

Registration Deadline: October 29

For a full workshop description and to register, visit the VANS website.

NAT chantel Selected as Media Arts Scholar for Centre for art Tapes Class of 2018-19

NAT chantel. Photo: Kate Ward

NAT chantel is a hardworking artist. She's been selected as a Media Arts Scholar for the Centre for Art Tapes (CFAT) class of 2018-19.

The CFAT scholarship program is an intensive six months of education and mentorship for artists who will make a media art piece in a medium where they have little to no experience. 

CFAT scholars will learn new art-making skills during the program, and are responsible to complete their projects by the program deadline.

NAT is a primarily self-taught artist who engages repetitive processes to recall memory and personal history as a way to reclaim the body and voice.

NAT chantel's work from NSCCD residency exhibition, Echoes

She was a participant in the 2017-18 VANS Mentorship Program, and the 2018 Summer Professional Development Residency with the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design. 

During the summer of 2018 NAT studied with artist Kate Ward, where she deepened her exploration into textiles.

NAT holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English Literature, and received Talent Trust scholarships to assist with her studies in painting and mixed media art. She’s an active member in the Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, and Nova Scotia Basketry Guild.

During her time at CFAT, NAT will incorporate sound and visual art, and will present a performance piece during Nocturne, Halifax’s art at night festival.

To see more of NAT’s work, visit natchantel.com. 

NAT chantel and Lux Habrich in VANS Mentorship Exhibition

NAT chantel and Lux Habrich are among the artists in Conversations, Visual Arts Nova Scotia’s 2017-18 Mentorship Exhibition. 

NAT chantel is an African Nova Scotian emerging artist in multimedia, textiles and sculpture. Her work speaks to imposed societal structures that inform identity, and the erasure of body and self through communication, and conditions within the environment. 

NAT was a contributing artist and instructor for the Peace Warriors Art and Wellness Festival in 2015, and participated in the group installation The Unkindness at IgNight the Night Art Festival that same year. 

She received a Talent Trust scholarship in 2017 to study privately with interdisciplinary artist Kate Ward. NAT had her first solo exhibit MUD at Afterglow Bridgewater Festival on September 30, 2017. 

Lux Habrich moved to Atlantic Canada from Montréal in 2012 to complete an Interdisciplinary BFA at NSCAD University. She received the NSTT Charlotte Wilson-Hammond/VANS Award in 2016. 

Lux finds frequent inspiration in her urban upbringing, mixed race identity and immigrant legacy. While at NSCAD, she discovered the immense narrative potential in craftwork, with its highly political nature as a domestic, feminine and often undervalued form of production. 

Founded in 2006, the VANS Mentorship Program pairs emerging artists with established artists in a 10-month mentorship. This working relationship provides emerging artists with an exceptional opportunity to develop both their creative process and professional skills, enabling them to build a foundation for a successful career in the visual arts. 

Conversations 
The Craig Gallery, Alderney Landing, Dartmouth, July 12 - 29 Opening reception: Wednesday, July 11, 6 - 8pm 
Mentee Artist Talk: Saturday, July 14, 2pm

This story originally appeared in the Talent Trust June newsletter. Click here to subscribe!

Alice MacLean, visual artist in the VANS Corridor Gallery May 11-28, 2015

Alice MacLean

Alice MacLean at www.alicemaclean.com

semblance of a connection

May 11-28, 2015

The Corridor Gallery
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax

Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

Recently, Alice returned from a year abroad in Scotland where she took part in an Artist in Residence, and exhibition opportunities in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Since returning to Nova Scotia, she has renovated a studio space in Dartmouth. She has upcoming opportunities planned in Halifax, teaches from her studio and is participating in the Halifax Art Battle finals in June.
Find more about Alice at http://www.alicemaclean.com/

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) office at the Halifax Seaport, since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

M.E. Sparks at VANS Corridor Gallery

Image: Google Images (detail), 2014, charcoal on paper, 24 x (8” x 15”)

VANS

corridor gallery Image M.E. Sparks June 5 - 26, 2014

Emerging New Glasgow based painter M.E. Sparks exhibits a series of drawings derived from Google Image searching a previous work, on view in the corridor gallery from June 5 – 26. Describing her process of abstraction, Sparks explains:

Google Images is created using Google’s reverse image search capabilities. The source image for each drawing is derived from googling a digital image of an existing drawing, resulting in a series of progressively disparate images (much like the game “Telephone”). While Google Images does not recognize the subject matter of each drawing, “visually similar images” are found through recurring formal and abstract qualities. Through the removal of original context and connotation, the images are further objectified and abstracted by Google Images’ search engine algorithms. This work explores the idea of instant and universal access to unlimited imagery, illustrating the ever-growing gap between past and present modes of image sourcing.

M.E. Sparks holds a BFA, 2013 from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax, NS. She is currently an artist in residence for the 2013-2014 NSCAD – New Glasgow Community Studio Residency Program. In September 2014 she will begin her Master of Applied Arts at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, BC. Sparks is a current recipient of Arts Nova Scotia Creation Grant and Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship, as well as the Gordon Smith Painting Scholarship (Sept. 2014). Her recent work explores the categorical grey area between abstraction and representation. As a painter, she is interested in the relevance, persistence and variability of the medium.
www.mesparks.com

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) office at the Halifax Seaport, since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia advances the visual arts through leadership, education, and communication.

For further information regarding the exhibition, please contact:
Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
902.423.4694    1.866.225.8267   f: 902.422.0881
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca