Oxygen Art Centre

Canisia Lubrin + Jessica Johns to read at next event

5 April 2023 @ 4:00 PM PST (Zoom) Canisia Lubrin Jessica Johns Register via EventBriteWe are thrilled to welcome Canisia Lubrin and Jessica Johns at Oxygen Art Centre’s Author Reading Series on Wednesday April 5th at 4:00 PM PST on Zoom.Acclaimed poet, editor and writer Canisia Lubrin’s work explore ideas of social justice and the limits and possibilities of art, form, and language.Polyvocal in register, Lubrin’s second book, The Dyzgraphxst (M & S, 2020) mines meanings of kinship through the wide and intimate reach of language across geographies and generations. Against the contemporary backdrop of intensified capitalist fascism, toxic nationalism, and climate disaster, the figure Jejune asks, how have I come to make home out of unrecognizability. Marked by and through diasporic life, Jejune declares, I was not myself. I am not myself. My self resembles something having nothing to do with me.The Dyzgraphxst (M & S, 2020) won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry and the overall Literature prize, the Griffin Poetry Prize, and the Derek Walcott Prize. That same year, she was awarded the Canada Council’s Joseph S. Stauffer prize for literary achievement and the Windham-Campbell prize for a body of work. Among other honours, her writing was finalist for the Governor General’s Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and Trillium Book Award for Poetry.Accompanying Lubrin is writer, editor and nehiyaw auntie, Jessica Johns with her debut novel, Bad Cree (Harper-Collins, 2023), where dreams, family and spirits collide.Bad Cree (Harper-Collins, 2023) follows Mackenzie, a Cree millennial, when she wakes up in her one-bedroom Vancouver apartment clutching a pine bough she had been holding in her dream just moments earlier. When she blinks, it disappears. But she can still smell the sharp pine scent in the air, the nearest pine tree a thousand kilometres away in the far reaches of Treaty 8.Mackenzie continues to accidentally bring back items from her dreams, dreams that are eerily similar to real memories of her older sister and Kokum before their untimely deaths. As Mackenzie’s life spirals into a living nightmare—crows are following her around and she’s getting texts from her dead sister on the other side—it becomes clear that these dreams have terrifying, real-life consequences. Desperate for help, Mackenzie returns to her mother, sister, cousin, and aunties in her small Alberta hometown. Together, they try to uncover what is haunting Mackenzie before something irrevocable happens to anyone else around her.Haunting, fierce, an ode to female relations and the strength found in kinship, Bad Cree is a gripping, arresting debut by an unforgettable voice.The evening will also feature a reading by student writer from the Selkirk College Creative Writing Program.Join us on Wednesday, April 5, 2023 @ 4:00 PM PST on Zoom to participate in the second instalment of the Author Reading Series featuring Canisia Lubrin and Jessica Johns. Admission is free or by donation. Register via EventBrite to attend.This event is generously supported by this Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance. Special thanks to Oxygen’s Author Reading Series committee.ABOUT THE AUTHORSCanisia Lubrin is an acclaimed poet, editor and writer. Her writings explore ideas of social justice and the limits and possibilities of art, form, and language. Her books include the story collection, Code Noir (Knopf, 2023). Her first book Voodoo Hypothesis (Wolsak & Wynn, 2017) was named a CBC Best Book. Her second book, The Dyzgraphxst (M & S, 2020) won the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Poetry and the overall Literature prize, the Griffin Poetry Prize, and the Derek Walcott Prize. That same year, she was awarded the Canada Council’s Joseph S. Stauffer prize for literary achievement and the Windham-Campbell prize for a body of work. Among other honours, her writing was finalist for the Governor General’s Award, the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and Trillium Book Award for Poetry. Anthologies that include her fiction were finalists for the Toronto Book Award and the Shirly Jackson Award. She was twice longlisted for the Journey Prize. Lubrin is a 2022 Civitella Ranieri Fellow and has held writer residences at Queen’s University and the appointed inaugural 2021 Shaftesbury Writer in Residence at Victoria College, University of Toronto, where she has taught creative writing. Lubrin previously taught at the Banff Centre, multiple community and literary organizations, and universities and colleges in Toronto. Her work is widely published and anthologized and has been translated into four languages. In 2021, the Globe & Mail’s named Lubrin Poet of the Year. She is poetry editor at Canadian press McClelland & Stewart. Jessica Johns is a nehiyaw auntie with English-Irish ancestry and is a member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. The former managing editor of Room magazine, she co-organizes the Indigenous Brilliance reading series. Johns’s writing has been published in Grain, Glass Buffalo, SAD magazine, Red Rising Magazine and Canadian Art, among others. Her debut poetry chapbook, How Not to Spill, was a co-winner of the bpNichol Chapbook Award, and her short story “Bad Cree,” upon which her novel is based, won the Writers’ Trust of Canada Journey Prize and a silver medal at the National Magazine Awards. Johns’s “Bad Cree” (2022) is a haunting debut novel where dreams, family and spirits collide. Mackenzie, a Cree millennial, wakes up in her one-bedroom Vancouver apartment clutching a pine bough she had been holding in her dream just moments earlier. When she blinks, it disappears. But she can still smell the sharp pine scent in the air, the nearest pine tree a thousand kilometres away in the far reaches of Treaty 8.  19 April 2023 @ 4:00 PM PST (Zoom) Kathy Friedman Erin Robinsong Register via EventBrite Join us for the last event for the Spring 2023 Author Reading Series program featuring Kathy Friedman and Erin Robinsong. Everyone welcome to attend. Admission is free. Learn more on our website.MOREEDUCATIONArt Speak – Peer to Peer Work Sharing Facilitated by Emilie Leblanc KrombergIN PERSON 4 Classes: Mar. 27 – Apr. 17 Mondays: 5:00 – 6:30pm *UPDATE*Artists of all disciplines (professional or not) are invited to share their work in a safe space and engage in contemporary art dialogue with other open-minded art loving individuals. Themes will be proposed as a potential starting point for exchanges and artistic practices to grow collectively. The objective for this workshop is for artists to make, share, discuss, and learn together.TOTAL FEE: $40 Low-tech Printmaking w/ Natasha SmithIN PERSON 4 Classes: Mar. 28 – Apr. 18 Tuesdays: 5:30 – 8:30pmExplore the basics of low-tech printmaking to investigate processes that can be done without the use of a printmaking press. Simple plate-making and image transfer methods will be demonstrated and students will learn a variety of printmaking techniques including monoprinting and collagraphy. This is a very fun, process-based course and is appropriate for artists of all levels.Material Fee: $20 + Material ListCourse Fee: $170TOTAL FEE: $190 Intro to Screen Printing w/ Marcus DénomméIN PERSON 4 Classes: Mar. 29 – Apr. 19 Wednesdays: 6-9pmIntro to screen printing is an open and welcoming course to all folks regardless of creative and artistic experience. It will take place over four sessions and cover every step involved in the screen printing process. Each member of the class will leave with a limited edition run of their artwork printed on a variety of substrates and a thorough understanding of how to silkscreen.Material Fee: $60Course Fee: $170TOTAL FEE: $230 Intro to Bolex Camera, Film Processing + Cameraless Animation w/ Brian LyeIN PERSON 2 Classes: Apr. 1 & 2 Sat. 10am – 4pm & Sun. 10am – 3pmIn this two-day, hands-on workshop participants will be introduced to the Bolex film camera and how to process black and white 16mm film using a non-toxic, homemade film developer consisting of instant coffee, washing soda, and vitamin C powder. In groups of three, participants will shoot and hand process two 100-foot rolls of film in a DIY darkroom. Participants will also learn and experiment with cameraless animation by drawing directly on clear 16mm film. The course is suited to those curious about film and/or wanting to process film at home.No experience necessary. Material Fee: $55Course Fee: $155TOTAL FEE: $210 Lino Printing – Reduction Technique w/ Myra RasmussenIN PERSON 1 Class: Apr. 15 Saturday: 10am – 4pm (1hr lunch)In this class students will use one lino block and print it multiple times, carving a bit away each time. Through this process we will create a print with multiple colours, each layer overtop the previous one. This class is appropriate for all skill levels, whether you have experience with relief printing or if this will be your first time.  Material Fee: $20Course Fee: $80TOTAL FEE: $100 The Open Studio – Making time for the Actor’s Work w/ Valerie CampbellIN PERSON 1 Class: Apr. 22 Saturday: 10am – 5pm (1/2hr lunch)This workshop will offer a rare opportunity for actors–one that is the norm for visual artists–a full day in an open studio setting to work and play with an emphasis on process over product. Explore your art, work on your craft. Flex your creative expression muscles, loosen up your imagination, and cultivate responsiveness, spontaneity, and authenticity.Suitable for experienced and aspiring actors with an interest in creative process and for those looking for a place to practice away from the constraints of a production.TOTAL FEE: $95 Magic of Memory w/ Rayya LiebichONLINE 4 Classes: May 23 – June 15 Tuesdays: 6:30 – 8:30pmWe often recall memories in fragments. By accessing our scattered memories and borrowing from the container of non-linear structures we can record our life stories in authentic and innovative ways. Each week we will take a deep dive into a different literary form (prose poetry, flash non-fiction, epistolary writing, and the hermit crab essay) to enter our material sideways and find new shapes to unpack our experiences. Each class will include a study of the craft, guided writing prompts, and readings by authors who push the boundaries of hybrid creative non-fiction (CNF) forms. If you are working on a difficult memoir or looking for new ways to tell your familiar stories, this series will give you a chance to play, experiment, and come back to the magic of memory and the importance of meaning-making.  TOTAL FEE: $95REGISTERFALL SEMESTERPlan ahead! Oxygen’s Fall 2023 Semester is now open for registration. Continue learning a medium, explore a new one, dream, sing, and gather together, make your own screen printed artist book, and learn to paint! Learn about the classes, instructors, and how to register via our website. Spaces limited. Contact Natasha Smith (Education Coordinator) with questions or registration support.REGISTERJOINSupport your artist-run centre by becoming an Oxygen Art Centre Member. Oxygen Memberships run from $2 (Senior/Student) to $5 (Single) to $10 (Families) and significantly help our organization. Become a member today! MEMBERSHIP BENEFITSEvents, Tours and Artist TalksVolunteer, Networking and Mentorship ExperienceRegular mailings and newslettersVoting Privileges at Oxygen Art Centre’s AGMAccess to current Exhibition Publications and CataloguesArtist-in-Residence and Exhibition ToursRegister ONLINE or by MAIL Already a Member? Consider making a Donation.REGISTERImages (top to bottom): (1) Composite image of two book covers: Canisia Lubrin (L) + Jessica Johns (R); (2) Canisia Lubrin (L) + Jessica Johns, photo by Madison Kerr (R); (3) OAC ARS poster, 2023; (4-10) OAC Spring semester promotional images, 2023; (11) OAC 2023 Spring and Fall Semester promo image, 2023; (12) “Become a Member” text overlaid on an image documenting an installation in progress at Oxygen Art Centre, 2015;

Oxygen Art Centre info@oxygenartcentre.org #3- 320 Vernon St. (alley entrance) Nelson, B.C. V1L 4E4 Canada 250-551-6329 Facility access information Hours of Operation:  Wednesdays – Saturdays, 1:00 – 5:00pm (during exhibition run) Admission by donation Oxygen Art Centre acknowledges with gratitude that we are located on the tum xula7xw/ traditional territory of the sn̓ʕay̓ckstx/the Sinixt People. As uninvited guests we honour their ongoing presence on this land. We recognize that the Sinixt Arrow Lakes, Sylix, Ktuxana, and Yaqan Nukij Lower Kootenay Band peoples are also connected with this land, as are Métis and many diverse Indigenous persons. We are grateful for the financial support we receive from Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, BC Gaming, Province of BC, Government of Canada, Vancouver Foundation, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, Columbia Basin Trust, United Way, Osprey Community Foundation, Nelson Lions Club, and Nelson and District Credit Union. We offer thanks to Elephant Mountain Literary Festival and other key partners including Hall Printing, Speedpro Signs, and Selkirk College for their support. We especially thank all of our volunteers, donors, and members. Oxygen Art Centre is committed to ensuring all exhibitions, programs, and events are accessible to visitors. Our facilities are wheelchair accessible and equipped with an all-genders washroom. Please contact Oxygen if you have any questions or concerns about your visit.