Saturday, October 15, 2022, from 1:00 – 4:00 PM Oxygen Art Centre celebrates their 20th anniversary on Saturday, October 15, 2022, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. The artist-run centre invites the public to join the celebration! The event will take place along the alleyway behind Baker Street between Stanley Street and Kootenay Street at the 300 block. Everyone welcome to attend! Admission is free. Oxygen Art Centre was founded as the Nelson Fine Arts Centre Society in 2002 by former writing and visual arts faculty at the Kootenay School of the Arts. The centre spent its first two years establishing its educational focus and in January 2005, the society opened the Oxygen Art Centre in downtown Nelson. After twenty years of arts education and contemporary art programming we want to celebrate our rich past and welcome new community members to contribute to Oxygen’s future. Oxygen’s volunteer Fundraising Committee coordinated this family-friendly, fun afternoon event featuring local artists and performances, art-making stations, music, and refreshments. Committee Chair, Carol Wallace, says of the event, “It will be a great opportunity to celebrate twenty years of arts programming and all the wonderful artists in our community that support our organization!” To commemorate the 20th anniversary, specially designed tote bags by Jonathan Ramos will be available for purchase at the event while supplies last. The event is generously supported by Nelson Home Hardware Building Centre, Kootenay Co-op Grocery, Nelson and District Credit Union, and Oso Negro Coffee, as well as individual community donations. Please contact the gallery with any questions about the event or your visit. Oxygen’s 20th anniversary party takes place on Saturday, October 15, 2022, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM along the alleyway outside of Oxygen’s facility, #3-320 Vernon Street, Nelson, BC, Canada.
Lucie Chan’s exhibition opens at Oxygen Art Centre on Saturday, September 3
Schedule of Events:
Exhibition: 3 September – 1 October 2022
Artist talk: 8 September 2022 at 12:00 PM (Zoom) To attend, register via EventBrite here or join us directly through the Zoom link via Oxygen’s website.
Oxygen Art Centre is pleased to offer a new exhibition, How to be 57 by visual artist Lucie Chan. Lucie Chan was born in Guyana, and currently resides on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ/selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations otherwise known as Vancouver, BC where she maintains a multi-disciplinary visual art practice and teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
Chan just completed a three-week residency at Oxygen Art Centre. During the residency she was immersed in installing her large body of work, How to be 57. The work was created over a six-year period, and first shown in 2018. The installation includes watercolour and ink drawings, handwritten text, and textural and found materials.
During her residency she also conducted interviews with community members investigating experiences of racialized violence, and in particular, the varying experience of people of colour and immigrants today. These intimate conversations inspire and fuel her work.
Critical to the development of How to be 57 was the artist’s conversation with two women, one a Dutch immigrant in France who finds herself interrogated in her home despite her innocence, and the other, an unarmed civil servant who suffers from racialized violence when her apartment is mistakenly raided. The work departs from the stories and emotions of these important conversations.
How to be 57 is situated in the historic and contemporary struggle of the diasporic peoples, of women and of people of colour to find justice in a world ripe with systemic violence and injustices. A powerful body of work that both confronts and subdues the viewer. For Chan this work is a way of honouring the individual who is often forgotten in the collective experience of being human, and of conjoining individuals through sharing stories around culture and identity.
Much of the installation is paper-based, which the artist has used to create scrolls of rich colour and texture, cloud-like forms, passages of handwritten text and figurative watercolour and ink drawings. Immersed in her residency, Chan has thoughtfully unpacked and installed the hundreds of individual pieces of worked paper that form this body of work.
The exhibition is an immersive experience. A banner-like installation of text hangs diagonally across the gallery space from which the artist has attached layers of handwritten text. The tactile nature of the papers with their yellowing tones and the use of the ink is reminiscent of the delicate papyrus sheets of ancient texts such as, the Dead Sea scrolls. Words and quotes from a variety of sources are written across the sheets of paper, for example, I really think the range of emotions and perceptions I have had access to as a Black person and a female person are greater than those of people that are neither by Toni Morrison remind us that these issues are not new to society.
During her residency, the artist gathered clothing from the community in shades of beige. She hung these articles of clothing on the gallery walls in clusters around her paperwork. These Chan says, serve to remind us that prejudices and stigmas are placed on people of non-white skin tones. Interesting to note that beige an unpopular colour and is often used for uniforms and work-related clothing and perhaps in this way holds a class-like demarcation.
To attempt to grasp the multilayered emotions and messages of this exhibit is a daunting task; however, like wandering in dream imagery we find amongst the many elements that which speaks and resonates with us. Several figurative drawings hold the abstract and textural pieces. They are scattered throughout the installation almost as if they are hiding waiting to be discovered, for the smallness of scale does not contain the loudness of their voice, and the pathos that is at the heart of this work.
How to Be 57 will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from 3 September to 1 October 2022 on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1:00 – 5:00 PM.
Admission is free. Everyone welcome to attend.
The artist will give an artist talk about the exhibition and her research on September 8th from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. The event will be held on Zoom. Register to attend via EventBrite or access the Zoom link via Oxygen’s website. Closed captioning will be available for the event.
Due to rising COVID cases in the province, we ask that all visitors to the space wear a mask. Maximum capacity is limited to ten persons at a time. Please contact the gallery with any questions about your visit.
Image credit: Lucie Chan installing How to Be 57 at Oxygen Art Centre by Deborah Thompson 2022
Artist Biography:
Lucie Chan (b. Guyana) teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She holds a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design and a MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University with a specialization in drawing. She has shown nationally in various group and solo exhibitions and has undertaken artist residencies at ARTerra in Lobão da Beira, Portugal; the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts in Canning, Nova Scotia; Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta; Museum London in London, Ontario; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and the Foreman Art Gallery in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In addition to receiving numerous provincial and national grants, including the Canada Council for the Arts, she has been long-listed twice for the Sobey Art Award (2005, 2010) and was a recipient of the VIVA Award from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation (2020).
Oxygen Art Centre is preparing to open the upcoming exhibition entitled How to Be 57 featuring an installation of drawings by artist Lucie Chan from 3 September to 1 October 2022.
Prior to the exhibition, Chan is artist-in-residence from 3 – 27 August 2022. During her residency, Chan is hoping to meet with community members to discuss experiences of racialized violence in the West Kootenay region.
The discussions will take place at Oxygen Art Centre from 15 – 19 August 2022 from 1 – 3 PMand will contribute to Chan’s artistic practice and research on the topic. Interviews will be informal. Participants can expect to chat, draw, and spend up to an hour with the artist.
Note: The artist has asked that all visitors wear a mask during their time at Oxygen/ Outdoor interviews can also be arranged.
Interested volunteers are invited to contact info@oxygenartcentre.org for more information. Please share this notice with anyone you think might be interested.
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.
REGISTER NOW for Oxygen Adult Education Fall 2022 Art Courses
Oxygen Art Centre (OAC) expands its educational offerings this Fall offering seventeen courses in a myriad of disciplines including writing, film, photography, singing, acting, and digital and visual arts. The semester is longer than in previous years running from September to December allowing for a variety of different course formats from one-day intensives to 8-week courses with outdoor, online, and in-person options.
“Oxygen is excited to be expanding the educational opportunities available at the Centre” says Education Coordinator Natasha Smith “after spending the summer with our families and in our gardens, the Fall is the perfect time to nurture creativity” says Smith.
Practice the art of drawing en plein air, learn the fundamentals of drawing with ink, build your painting skills, try out lino printing, bind some books, record your life story,photograph your artwork, get creative on your iPad, learn16mm Low-tech film processing, add your voice, be an actor, be a clown, and write it all down! There’s no doubt there’s an OAC class for you! What’s your creative calling?
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.
Contribute to artist-in-residence Lucie Chan’s research during the month of August.
Schedule of Events: Residency and Exhibition
Residency: 3 August – 27 August 2022 Exhibition: 3 September – 1 October 2022
Open Studio: 12 – 13 August 2022 from 1:00 – 3:00 pm Participant Interviews: 15 – 19 August 2022, scheduled
Oxygen Art Centre is thrilled to announce visual artist, Lucie Chan as artist-in-residence for the month of August. Chan was born in Guyana, and currently resides on the unceded and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ/selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations otherwise known as Vancouver, BC where she maintains a multi-disciplinary visual art practice and teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
While artist-in-residence, Chan will conduct research towards the creation of future work that explores the experiences of racialized violence. This work continues her interest in exploring race-related, immigrant experiences. The public are invited to visit Chan during her Open Studio sessions on 12 + 13 August 2022 from 1-3 PM. Volunteer participants are invited to engage with her in one-on-one interviews during scheduled sessions from 15 to 19 August 2022. In what Chan sees as a collaborative process, interviewees will be invited to draw, write, and make sound together. Interested participants can schedule an interview by emailing info@oxygenartcentre.org.
The artist will carry the stories gathered during the interviews into her practice, and the manifestation of new material. In considering the stories, Chan says, they “inspire, transform and give shape” to the development of the project. In this way her research and subsequent work become a visual conversation. Chan’s attentive listening to the stories of those she interviews forms a seminal part of her artistic practice. A practice that includes multi-layered drawings, photography, sculpture, text, audio, and video elements which she orchestrates into installations.
For Chan her interdisciplinary practice reflects the complexity of being human. Although a self-confessed shy person, Chan embraces what has been a “long career of interviewing strangers.” Chan goes on, stating “I am interested in these interactions when something is revealed that we don’t necessarily have every day like a sense of connection or intimacy.” For Chan this work is a way of honouring the individual who is often forgotten in the collective experience of being human, and of conjoining individuals through sharing stories around culture and identity.
The residency will then be followed by an exhibition of a previous body of work, How to Be 57 (2018), which includes drawings, text, and sculpture. The work is an example of a similar research and creation processes that Chan will employ during her residency.
In How to Be 57 the artist works intimately with two women who have radically opposing experiences with the police. One, a Dutch immigrant in France finds herself interrogated in her home despite her innocence. The other, an unarmed civil servant, suffers racialized violence when her apartment is mistakenly raided. The work considers dynamics of age and otherness and can be seen as a lens into systemic violence and injustice that are pervasive for diasporic communities in Canada.
How to Be 57 might be understood as a hypothetical guide to experiencing a precise moment of transformation in a stranger’s life, a reminder that living is an act of perpetual inscription. The work is a complex portrait, and a non-linear exploration at these common racialized narratives.
The public are invited to drop in during the Open Studios on the 12th and 13th of August between the hours of 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM. Expressions of interest to take part in the interview process can be sent to info@oxygenartcentre.org by Wednesday, August 3, 2022 @ 5:00 PM PST. Please also share any specifics regarding your access needs or any questions.
How to Be 57 will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from 3 September to 1 October 2022 on Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1:00 – 5:00 PM. Admission is free. Everyone welcome to attend.
Due to rising COVID cases in the province, we ask that all visitors to the space wear a mask during Chan’s residency. Maximum capacity is limited to ten persons at a time. Please contact the gallery with any questions about your visit.
Image Credit: Lucie Chan, How to Be 57, drawing and watercolour, 2018
Artist Biography:
Lucie Chan (b. Guyana) teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She holds a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design and a MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University with a specialization in drawing. She has shown nationally in various group and solo exhibitions and has undertaken artist residencies at ARTerra in Lobão da Beira, Portugal; the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts in Canning, Nova Scotia; Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta; Museum London in London, Ontario; the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and the Foreman Art Gallery in Sherbrooke, Quebec. In addition to receiving numerous provincial and national grants, including the Canada Council for the Arts, she has been long-listed twice for the Sobey Art Award (2005, 2010) and was a recipient of the VIVA Award from the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation (2020).
DIG A HOLE IN THE GARDEN OPENS AT OXYGEN ART CENTRE 11 JUNE 2022
Oxygen Art Centre is excited to announce the opening of dig a hole in the garden, a duo exhibitionfeaturing artists Shannon Garden-Smith (Tkaronto/Toronto) and T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss (Skwxwu7mesh/Sto:Lo/Hawaiian/Swiss) on Saturday 11 June 2022.
Taking its name from Yoko Ono’s CLOUD PIECE (1963), dig a hole in the garden is an exhibition that explores plant collection as a material and cultural practice, with an interest in plant uses for pleasure, community resilience, and healing. The exhibition features works by artists Shannon Garden-Smith (Tkaronto/Toronto), and T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss (Skwxwu7mesh/ Sto:Lo/ Hawaiian/ Swiss), as well as a temporary library presented both online and in person that will be linked with an online reading group.
The exhibition features Garden-Smith’s pigment-stained gelatin lamp shades, “In a hare’s form” (2021), and a new site-specific gelatin installation that will shift throughout the exhibition’s duration. Through a form of alchemy, Garden-Smith transforms plant materials from detritus to sculptural blossoms. Theresa Wang describes the decorative light fixtures as suspending “various dried and pressed flora collected on the artist’s walks over the seasons, bringing (once) living things into the living milieu. In this way, these works consider ornamentation as not only a way to confound the passage of time, but also as a record of the durational and interspatial acts of foraging, gathering, and conserving” (2022).
Artist, ethnobotanist, educator, and activist T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss will develop an herbarium during their time in the region. The herbarium will feature plant matter Indigenous to the region, as well as printed takeaways for visitors to create their own herbarium at home. In addition, Wyss transforms the small garden bed outside Oxygen’s facility, extending the exhibition outdoors.
In writing about Wyss’s permaculture space in “x̱aw̓s shew̓áy̓ New Growth《新生林》” (2019), Oscar Domingo Rajme observes that it “is a space where alternative forms of working and being together are not only made possible through the garden’s intention of being a communal place, but especially through what its existence implies. For a moment, it has broken the city’s colonial architectural desire to normalize the theft of land and to erase the histories and traditions of the Coast Salish peoples” (2020).
dig a hole in the garden also features a temporary library in the gallery space featuring texts that will be discussed through a reading group that will meet all five Wednesdays throughout the exhibition. Notes from the reading group discussions, as well as access to readings will be available on Oxygen’s website and on site.
The exhibition isco-curated by Greta Hamilton and Julia Prudhomme, andwill be on view from 11 June – 16 July 2022. Oxygen Art Centre is an artist-run centre located at #3-320 Vernon Street, Nelson, BC via alleyway entrance. The exhibition will be open to the public Wednesdays to Saturdays from 1:00 – 5:00 PM. Prior to your visit please review Oxygen’s COVID-19 prevention protocols on their website.
This exhibition is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, and Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance.
Image Credit: Shannon Garden-Smith, In a hare’s form (series), pressed plant clippings, watercolour pigment, gelatin, wire, lamp cord, lightbulb, 2021 Press Contact: Julia Prudhomme Executive Director Oxygen Art Centre info@oxygenartcentre.org
Artist Bios: T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss Skwxwu7mesh/Sto:Lo/Hawaiian/Swiss
T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss is an interdisciplinary artist who works with digital media, writing, performance and land based remediations as her multi-disciplinary arts practice. She is a community engaged and public artist and ethnobotanist. Her works range over 30 years and have always focussed on sustainability, permaculture techniques, Coast Salish Cultural elements and have included themes of ethnobotany, indigenous language revival, Salish weaving and digital media technology. Cease has focussed on connecting her Polynesian roots to her Salish roots through weaving and digital media projects and on raising visibility towards land based works.
Her collaboration with Anne Riley with “A Constellation of Remediation” and “For the Radical Love of Butterflies” have been tremendous examples of how indigenous communities need to unite through a cultural lens in order to raise awareness about sustainability and protecting species at risk, as well as recognition of our part in the colonial destruction as well as the potential remediation and restoration of ecosystems. Anne and Cease were long-listed for the 2021 Sobey Art Award for their work on “A Constellation of Remediation” and “For the Radical Love of Butterflies”. Cease dedicates time to the IM4 Lab at ECUAD as both an advisor and developer, where she has been expanding her practice of animation and Futurisms projects, building on AR [Augmented Reality] development using Blender, Unity and Spark AR. Shannon Garden-Smith Shannon Garden-Smith (she/her) is an uninvited settler of Scottish, Irish, and British heritage and an artist living and working between Tkaronto/Toronto and Stratford, Canada. She completed an MFA at the University of Guelph (’17) and a BA at the University of Toronto (’12). Working primarily in sculpture and installation, Garden-Smith’s recent projects focus on the surfaces that clad contemporary built space and their material-social impact. She has recently shown work with The Bows (Mohkínstsis/Calgary, AB), Franz Kaka (Toronto, ON), Gallery TPW (Toronto, ON), Christie Contemporary (Toronto, ON), Pumice Raft (Toronto, ON), Modern Fuel (Kingston, ON), and TIER: The Institute for Endotic Research (Berlin).
