artists in residency

The Artist in Residency program brings print-artists from around the world to Malaspina Printmakers to work in the studio and exhibit their work in the gallery.  This program facilitates discussion and learning about unique approaches to printmaking and the transfer of technical expertise between visiting artists, our members and the community.

Visiting Artist Program

Printmakers and Print-based artists from around the world and invited each year to submit proposals to the Visiting Artists Program.  As with all selections, the jury considers the relevancy of the artists work to the activities of the Malaspina Printmakers and to the Centre’s artistic mandate.  Visiting Artists have 24 hour access to the studio during the one-month residency and an exhibition of their recent work.  Individuals participating in the Visiting Artist program also conduct demonstrations and artists talks.

Next call for submissions: March 2008

Upcoming Visiting Artists

Karen Kunc

• Residency: June 1 – June 30, 2008
• Exhibition: June 2 – June 15, 2008

During her residency, Karen Kunc has proposed to continue work on a series that she is beginning in New York.  Her intention is to create a visual vocabulary that can be juxtaposed with her own core imagery, which has come from conceptualization of her rural surroundings in Nebraska.  Her work in New York will initiated the development of this visual vocabulary as she is situated in the unfamiliar urban setting.  She will continue her work at Malaspina by investigating the language further while experiencing Vancouver’s own contrast of nature and metropolis.

Kunc hails from Nebraska where she is Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She has taught at such institutions as the Fine Art Academy in Helsinki, The Centre for Book Arts in New York and the Kala Institute in San Francisco.  She recently won the Southern Graphics Council “Printmaker Emeritus” award and has exhibited across the United States and Europe.

Thomas Iksiraq

• Residency: November 1 – November 30, 2008
• Exhibition: November 4 – November 23, 2008

Thomas Iksiraq will be traveling to Vancouver to share his unique stone relief printing skills and experience at the Baker Lake Print Cooperative with the British Columbia community. He will work in the Malaspina studio for a one-month period creating a suite of prints in addition to hosting demonstrations and talks.

Baker Lake has a rich history of Printmaking. Originally established in 1970 with the assistance of renowned artist and educator Sheila Butler, the Baker Lake print workshop produced highly acclaimed art for the following decade. However, it declined in activity and was eventually shut down. Last year, Toronto-based Sheila Butler became involved as an unpaid mentor in the cooperative's renewal and oversaw the revival of the print cooperative. This is an exciting opportunity to increase knowledge of the history of printmaking within the Baker Lake Community.

Thomas Iksiraq is an experienced artist, printer and the committed Director of the Baker Lake Printers Cooperative in Nunavut.

Print Research and Exploration Program

Malaspina Printmakers is dedicated to increasing its relationship with the Vancouver visual arts community and presenting our studio facilities to a wider audience of practicing visual artists.
This program has been developed to achieve the following:

• Give artists a facility and the expertise to explore print media in their projects and encourage contemporary artists to use printmaking in their practice
• Create a discourse between multi-disciplinary contemporary artist and artists versed in complex printmaking techniques and knowledge
• Create a diverse and lively studio environment that facilitates discourse and experimentation

The pilot project pairs an artist with an expert printmaker to work on an identified project for the artist.  This unique program allows interdisciplinary artists to consult with technically literate and highly versed print-artists to work out the possibilities of the mediums and discuss opportunities in creating a body of work produced at the Malaspina Studio.

Upcoming participants:

Artist: Elizabeth Zvonar
Printmaker: Vanessa Hall-Patch
September 17 - December 17, 2007

Elizabeth Zvonar’s practice considers concepts of hope, utopia and progress. Central to these possibilities and limitations are the potential for social, political, and aesthetic transformation. Works have spanned a variety of mediums, from performances and interventions to installations, and most recently, sculpture, digital collages, and text-based works. Zvonar’s role as an artist is similar to that of a catalyst, and her research-based projects have often examined informal cultural traditions, histories, and geographies. These interactions form vital ways to foster discussion and dialogue, and frame her work as part of a continuing discourse dependant on subjective relationships and local knowledge.

Elizabeth Zvonar is a graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design.  Her most recent exhibitions include Parallel Dimension at Artspeak Gallery (Vancouver), Fade Away and Radiate at the Cohan and Leslie Gallery (New York), and Concrete Language at the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver).  Zvonar has participated in professional development initiatives at the Banff International Curatorial Institute and was the winner of the Vancouver Art Development Award in 2007 from the Vancouver Foundation and the Contemporary Art Gallery.

Vanessa Hall-Patch will be working with Zvonar on this project.  Hall-patch received her MFA in Printmaking from the University of Alberta under the supervision of professors Walter Jule and Sean Caulfield and earned her BFA from Queen’s University. In her art practice Vanessa applies a combination of printmaking, photography and collage to create multi-layered large-scale images. Hall-Patch currently resides in Vancouver, where she works as the head Studio Technician and printmaking faculty for the Continuing Studies Department at Emily Carr Institute.

Next Call for Submissions: June 2008