Oxygen Art Centre 

Departure, Fall Semester, Fundraiser, Upcoming, O2, and more Donate! Support your artist-run centreDEPARTUREOxygen Art Centre’s Staff and Board of Directors bid a sorrowful but celebratory farewell to Education Coordinator Natasha Smith who leaves her role with the artist-run centre on October 3, 2024. A founding member of the Nelson Fine Arts Centre Society (Oxygen Art Centre dba) in 2002 with fellow former writing and visual arts faculty at the Kootenay School of the Arts, Smith stepped into the role of Education Coordinator over ten years ago to support the artist-run centre’s educational focus and programming.Oxygen is known for providing rigorous, inclusive, and responsive arts education for adults and youth across the two eight-week semesters each year. During her tenure as Education Coordinator, Smith worked with Oxygen staff and faculty to deliver classes, workshops, camps, and events with emphasis on incubating and supporting emerging artists and sustaining our vibrant arts community. In addition to her work at the centre, Smith is a practicing artist and instructor, often offering printmaking and multi-media art classes in the region. Her background brought a unique sensibility to the program, supporting instructors and students alike with generosity, care, and professionalism that will be keenly missed. While Smith steps out of this role, she will continue to be an ardent member and supporter of Oxygen Art Centre. We thank her for her time and lasting impact on the arts in the community and wish her the best as she begins a new, exciting phase! Thank you, Natasha <3 EDUCATIONOxygen’s Fall semester registration deadlines are quickly approaching! Sign up today for classes and workshops for the second half of the fall semester! The semester is taught by our incredible faculty featuring professional artist instructors who live and work in the Columbia Basin. Taking place at Oxygen’s facility and online from September to mid-November 2024, don’t miss your chance to learn a new technique or re-engage your artistic practice alongside your creative community! Oxygen’s Education program is a long-standing and well loved program founded upon a desire to share arts education opportunities for folks of all experience levels and interests. Please note the registration deadline for each class. As an artist-run centre, we require a minimum number of students to run each course. Deadlines are set to provide enough preparation time for both instructors and students. Learn more about our policies and guidelines.Letters to the Beyondwith Rayya Liebich IN PERSON 1 Class: Oct 27th Sunday: 10 – 11:30amTOTAL FEE: $10/$15/$20  Registration Deadline: Oct. 25REGISTEREmbossing – For the Love of Paperwith Hildur Jonasson IN PERSON 1 Classes: Nov 3 Sunday: 10 am – 3:30pmMaterial Fee: $30 (all materials provided)       Course Fee: $90 TOTAL FEE: $120 Registration Deadline: Oct. 25REGISTERMagic of Memory 2with Rayya Liebich ONLINE 4 Classes: Nov. 5, 12, 19, 26 Tuesdays: 6:30 – 8:30 pmTOTAL FEE: $105 Registration Deadline: Oct. 29REGISTERRemembrance Luminariawith Myra Rasmussen IN PERSON 1 Class: Oct. 27th Sunday: 12 – 2pmTOTAL FEE: $10/$15/$20 Registration Deadline: Oct. 25REGISTERHumour and Satire Writingwith Sophie Kohn ONLINE 6 Classes: Oct. 10, 17, 24, 31 Nov 7, 14   OR 8 Classes: Oct 10, 17, 24, 31 Nov 7, 14, 21, 28 Thursdays: 7 -9pmTOTAL FEE: 6 Week Course: $158 OR 8 Week Course: $208 Registration Deadline: Oct. 3REGISTERONLINE Figure Drawing 2(No Instruction) ONLINE 5 Classes: Nov. 6, 13, 20, 27 Dec. 4  Wednesdays: 6 – 8 pmTOTAL FEE: $95 Registration Deadline: Oct. 30REGISTERLEARN MOREFUNDRAISERMany thanks for the incredible support from our community towards the water heater fundraiser! With your donations we successfully reached our goal (and before Oct. 1st, at that!)! We’re looking forward to cozy temperatures throughout at the centre. With thanks & warm hearts,  Oxygen Art Centre <3<3<3UPCOMINGSF HoResidency: 13 November – 18 December 2024Exhibition: 15 January – 8 March 2025 Oxygen Art Centre is delighted to welcome artist SF Ho in residence from November 13, 2024, to December 18, 2024, in preparation for their exhibition,  TRIPLE BURNER FLOWER FIELD. An origin point for this body of work is a pictograph for the word “no”, said to represent a calyx, a root, or a bird flying into the sky. Interrogating how this image and its meaning came together invites an open and responsive way of being in the world. This new/old fluidity underlies the linguistic, therapeutic, and ecological frameworks that run through the residency and exhibition.A line of inquiry travels between the meeting points of various binaries and examines the complexity that emerges from their energetic confluence. These dualities include the contrast between emptiness and negation, separation and wholeness, and value as it is understood within the sacred and within capital. The space we make attends to the slow, cyclical temporality of common plants significant to traditional Chinese medicine and the age of imperialism. It includes interviews on healing and agriculture that move from the Cultural Revolution to the current wave of diaspora from Hong Kong, arriving and unsettling without finality on unceded lands. TRIPLE BURNER FLOWER FIELD will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from January 15, 2025, to March 8, 2025. This project is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the RDCK ReDi program.SF Ho is an artist, writer and organizer. They have been living as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ peoples for over fourteen years. Operating somewhere between words and whatever words can’t be, their work is informed by feminist methodologies, land-based practices, and grassroots community networks. Ho has presented their artwork and writing both regionally and internationally. They published a book about love and aliens called George, the Parasite.ABOUT THE ARTISTO2 EXHIBITIONOxygen Art Centre’s fifth exhibition in the window project entitled O2, features new works by Hannah DeBoer-Smith from8 August – 10 October 2024. Located on the Stanley Avenue side of the Nelson Trading Company building (430 Baker Street) in downtown Nelson, B.C., O2 is a window-turned-gallery.  Hannah DeBoer-Smith, sometimes Mamma G., sometimes Tubby Lady, does a lot of art in many forms, from sculptural projects like interactive lanterns, digital art, comics, textiles, tattooing, drag, music and doing silly drawings of herself because she’s bad at taking selfies (Tubby Lady). This program is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.LEARN MOREJOINSupport 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.