North Island College (NIC) fine arts students have been making waves of late in galleries around Vancouver Island and beyond.
Several graduates have shown their works in recent exhibitions, displaying their skills as artists as well as designers and curators.
“The Fine Arts faculty are very proud of all our graduates and alumni,” said Elizabeth Russell, chair of the School of Fine Art and Design.
Recent grad Gordon guest curates Campbell River show
Last spring, Zara Gordon showed work at NIC’s year-end exhibition, and in June she received her diploma. In the time since, she’s been working as a guest curator for the Campbell River Art Gallery (CRAG). She collaborated with NIC Fine Arts students Marlee Munro and Angelika Forray to exhibit their work at CRAG’s Satellite Gallery for Water’s Generosity, which uses sculpture, painting, video and sound.
“It is reverence for the gift, the element of water,” she says. “All life depends on water.”
Expanding on this theme, Gordon described the show as being about gratitude for water and respect for the environment. The show started in December and runs through March 9.
“Our show seeks to uplift the importance for the conservation of the ecosystems that surround us, specifically through appreciation for the element of water as it is the keystone that sustains all life,” Gordon says.
As Russell points out, Gordon’s experience as a paid guest curator at CRAG is an example of some of the high-level art opportunities that are available to NIC students.
“One of the benefits of a rural college like North Island College is the range of opportunities and experiences our students gain through our regional galleries and art industries,” she said.
ArtWrx opens doors for many artists
In November, the ArtWrx Studio Gallery held a show in Courtenay to show their work and those of others. The group includes several members who studied at North Island College: Maggie Ziegler, Elaine Smith, Jean Cockburn and Larissa McLean, who has also taught for both Continuing Education and Elder College.
The group existed as Art Alchemy Studio until about three years ago, but when the founder moved on, those left decided to make a change.
“We needed a new name,” says Ziegler. “We decided to form it as a member-funded non-profit. Right now, there are 10 individual working artists.”
The group holds their large show each year and invites others, including many NIC students and instructors, to participate. The Square Foot Show took place over three days in November, featuring an online exhibition as well. In all, 96 artists from Vancouver Island and across Canada took part, with 491 paintings available.
“For a lot of artists that come to that show, it’s their first show,” says Ziegler.
She described herself as always having a paintbrush in her hand, but her work with the group stretches beyond her own art, as she took DIGITAL Design + Development at NIC. Now, she does promotional work for the group, such as managing its online presence.
“The skills I gained allowed me to build website collateral and social media,” she says. “I’m the group’s marketing and communications.”
Berlin-based Moncrief featured in Victoria exhibition
Down island, the paintings of former NIC student Andrew Moncrief are featured in a show, In The Flesh, at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV), which runs through March 31. Drawing from the AGGV Collections, it includes nudes by Renoir, Rodin, Picasso and Henry Moore, alongside works by contemporary Indigenous and Canadian artists. The show’s curator had been following Moncrief for years and contacted him about taking part, and he is highlighted in the gallery’s show description online.
Originally from Comox, he went through the NIC Fine Arts Diploma program in 2006/07, then moved on to receive a BFA from Concordia in Montreal, where he lived for many years. A Canada Council grant in 2018 brought him to Vancouver for a residency after which he took a leap and moved overseas to Berlin.
“Andrew Moncrief is at the forefront of painting and is an upcoming and celebrated painter internationally,” Russell says. “It is incredibly satisfying for us to watch our students successfully navigate the art world both locally and internationally.”
Moncrief has worked around themes like queer male identity and body image, saying his subject matter chooses him rather than the other way around. As far as his style, he said it is not something you pick out like a piece of clothing but has evolved.
“It’s like a fingerprint of the artist and the result of repeatedly making marks over and over and over again,” he says. “Inevitably there becomes a pattern form and the touch of the artist’s hand becomes recognizable.”
For information about NIC Fine Arts or DIGITAL Design + Development programs, see nic.bc.ca/programs. To register with the NIC alumni, visit nic.bc.ca/about-us/alumni.