OXYGEN HOSTS REMOTE RESIDENCY FEATURING ANNA DAEDALUS AND KERRY DAVIS

Remote Residency: 2 – 28 August 2021

Oxygen Art Centre is pleased to announce Anna Daedalus and Kerry Davis as Artists-in-Residence throughout the month of August. Daedalus and Davis are a multi-disciplinary, collaborative artist team and cofounders of Roll-Up Gallery, an artist-run, contemporary exhibition space in Portland, Oregon.

Having relocated in 2019 from Portland, Oregon to a rural hamlet on the Grays River, the artists are fortunate to live and work next to 55 acres of Sitka spruce swamp protected by the Columbia Land Trust. Over the past year Daedalus and Davis have been working with local organic materials and photographic processes to initiate a new body of work about this relatively obscure corner of the natural world.

The artists state, “We are grateful for the opportunity the residency affords us to develop this work and deepen our intimacy with this place through our artistic practice. More than capturing moments, we imagine the project as witnessing flowing time and meditating on impermanence, both in process and outcome.”

During their remote residency, Daedalus and Davis will transmit updates through Oxygen’s website and social media channels to share a close view into their methods, mediums, and practice. Conceived under the title, “Palus,” the Latin word for marsh, the residency is a continuation of their work with the Columbia River through alternative photographic processes such as photograms, diazotypes, cyanotypes, and fugitive plant-based processes such as anthotypes of lichens, ferns and other flora and fauna.

These alternative photographic explorations and their embodied, experiential reflections will later compose an artist monograph wherein Daedelus and Davis’s residency will be further considered alongside authors, ecologists, and poets. The book will be available to the public in Fall 2021, accompanied by an online book launch and artist talk, which will be announced at a later date.

Anna Daedalus and Kerry Davis will be Oxygen Art Centre’s Artists-in-Residence from 2 – 28 August 2021. The work and experiences developed throughout this month will be published in book form as an artist monograph. To learn more information about the artists, the residency, and the monograph, visit www.oxygenartcentre.org or contact info@oxygenartcentre.org.

Artist Bio: Anna Daedalus and Kerry Davis are a multi-disciplinary, collaborative artist team and cofounders of Roll-Up Gallery, an artist-run, contemporary exhibition space in Portland, Oregon. Davis studied photography and filmmaking at Portland State University and Oregon College of Art and Craft. Daedalus earned her BA from Reed College. They began working together in 2011 as part of 13 Hats, a collective of artists and writers in Portland. The team’s first major collaborative project, “Shadows,” was developed with the help of a 2013 grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council; and their related projects, “Leaping Darkness” and “Columbia River Shadows,” showed at Portland State University’s Littman Gallery in 2015 and The Schneider Museum of Art in 2016. Their 2017 project, “Bas-Relief,” was supported in part by a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council. Their individual work has been featured in numerous publications and exhibited throughout the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.

Image Credit: Torii Tidal Screen, Diptych, May 2021, Courtesy the Artists

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.

Overburden Exhibition Hosts a Weekend of Programming

 
Oxygen Art Centre in Nelson BC and Kootenay Gallery of Art in Castlegar BC announce a unique collaborative group exhibition. Overburden: Geology, Excavation and Metamorphosis in a Chaotic Age will take place in two art centres in two rural communities, with exhibition schedules as follows: Oxygen Art Centre: 1 June – 10 July, 2021, Kootenay Gallery of Art: 18 June – 21 August, 2021.
A weekend of special online programming featuring artist panels, performances and workshops will be held on Saturday June 19 and Sunday June 20, 2021. All events and workshops are free and open to the public. To register for events, please visit www.overburden.ca. Programming events will be recorded and accessible online following the live events. 
Please find full schedule and descriptions here:
Saturday June 19, 2021:
10:45-11:00 – Opening words from curators Maggie Shirley and Genevieve Robertson 
11:00 – 12:00 – Keynote Speaker – Patti Bailey
Patti Bailey, qʷn̓qʷin̓x̌n̓ is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation sn̓ʕay̓čkstx (Sinixt), in Inchelium, Washington and practices traditional and contemporary weaving. The last twenty years of her career were spent working as an Environmental Planner for the Colville Tribal government to develop and implement strategies and cooperative working relationships to deal with decades of impact to river communities, Tribal people, and natural resources from Columbia River pollution sources in Canada. Patti Bailey shares this story through a discussion of downstream toxicity, environmental advocacy through citizen science, and lack of corporate accountability.
1:00 – 4:30 – Panel Talks
Panel 1: 1:00-2:30 
Documenting Change: Place-based knowledge, resource extraction and shifting climate patterns
Artists Tara Nicholson, Carol Wallace, Sarah Nance, and Gabriela Escobar Ari
More information on each artist’s work found at: www.overburden.ca  
Panel 2:  2:45-4:30
Imaginaries: Speculative and embodied ways of relating to rock, mineral and mountain
Artists Jim Holyoak + Darren Fleet, Randy Lee Cutler, Asinnajaq, Keith Langergraber
More information on each artist’s work found at: www.overburden.ca  
4:30-4:45 – Closing remarks
 
Sunday June 20th
 
11:15 am – Zoom Window Open
 
11:30 – 12:00 pm – Marseille Tidal Gauge Aria performed by artist Sarah Nance
Marseille Tidal Gauge Aria is a vocal performance composed from tide level data collected over the past 130 years from a tidal gauge in the bay of Marseille, France. The artist converted each yearly average tide level into a note within her vocal range and set the resulting atonal composition to a poem from Rasu-Yong Tugen’s Songs from the Black Moon. Nance performs the piece operatically, drawing on the genre’s propensity for magnified human emotion; the rising sea levels in the bay can be heard in the increasingly higher pitches of the aria.
 
1:00 – 2:30 pm 
Writing Workshop: ‘Listening to the Stones’ with Randy Lee Cutler 
This writing workshop engages with mineral specimens for the purposes of condensation and displacement. What this means is that we will listen to a collection of geological formations through a series of responses, writing genres and breathing exercises. By collapsing these approaches together, our aim is to connect with deep time, unknowing as well as those informal knowledge practices that might shift our thinking to one of interdependence in a more than human world.
 
3:00-4:30pm
Comic Workshop:  ‘Storytelling Across Deep Time’ with Jim Holyoak and Darren Fleet 
After introductions and a brief presentation, participants will be guided through the process of an ‘856’ writing circle, with an aim of generating spontaneous, free-associative creative writing. Selections of this will be used as material for dialogue and narration within comics, drawn in the second half of the workshop. This drawing segment of the workshop will also include stretching, warm-up exercises focusing on mark-making, line weight and techniques for drawing comics. Please come prepared to share, with several sharpened pencils and a pad of paper.
Organized by artist and curator Genevieve Robertson on behalf of Oxygen Art Centre and Kootenay Gallery curator Maggie Shirley, the exhibition will feature eleven artists, including 2020 Sobey Art award winners Tsēmā Igharas and Asinnijaq. Other participating artists are Gabriela Escobar Ari, Patti Bailey, Randy Lee Cutler, Darren Fleet, Jim Holyoak, Keith Langergraber, Sarah Nance, Tara Nicholson and Carol Wallace. The included artists are from the Kootenays, across Canada, and the US.
The title of the show, Overburden, references the topsoil and vegetation that is removed before mining takes place. It also references our earth’s current condition and the psychological burden that many people experience in the face of climate and other ecological changes. 
 
Overburden brings together a group of artists whose shared concerns address geology and its relationship to shifting climate patterns and resource extraction, in both a regional and global context. Artists respond to mining histories in the Kootenay area, arctic ice melt that is uncovering paleontological data, mining reclamation practices and glacial seismic events. While some artists bear witness to harmful extraction practices and an ever more unstable world, others seek to find caring, embodied and imaginative ways to come into relationship with the geologic material under our feet and interwoven into our everyday. 
For further information contact Oxygen Art Centre at info@oxygenartcentre.org or the Kootenay Gallery at kootenaygallery@telus.net. 
Oxygen Art Centre and the Kootenay Gallery of Art would like to thank the primary funders, Canada Council for the Arts, the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, British Columbia Arts Council and the Government of British Columbia, as well as sponsors Teck and Columbia Power. 
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Image Credit: Patti Bailey qʷn̓qʷin̓x̌n̓, Photo by Diane Beals
For more information contact:
Maggie Shirley
Curator, Kootenay Gallery of Art
250-365-3337
kootenaygalery@telus.net
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COLLABORATIVE CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION ON GEOLOGY TO OPEN THIS SUMMER

 
Oxygen Art Centre in Nelson BC and Kootenay Gallery of Art in Castlegar BC announce a unique collaborative group exhibition. Overburden: Geology, Excavation and Metamorphosis in a Chaotic Age will take place in two art centres in two rural communities. It features an online exhibition with virtual tours, information about the artists and their work, links to exhibition programming, and more. 
Organized by artist and curator Genevieve Robertson on behalf of Oxygen Art Centre and Kootenay Gallery of Art curator Maggie Shirley, the exhibition features eleven artists, including 2020 Sobey Art award winners Tsēmā Igharas and Asinnijaq. Other participating artists include Gabriela Escobar Ari, Patti Bailey, Randy Lee Cutler, Darren Fleet, Jim Holyoak, Keith Langergraber, Sarah Nance, Tara Nicholson and Carol Wallace. The included artists are located in the Kootenays, across Canada, and the US.
The title of the exhibition, Overburden, references topsoil and vegetation that are removed before mining takes place. It also references our planet’s current condition and the psychological burden that many experience in the face of climate and other ecological changes. 
 
Overburden brings together a group of artists whose shared concerns address geology and its relationship to shifting climate patterns and resource extraction, in both regional and global contexts. Artists respond to mining histories in the Kootenay area, arctic ice melt that is uncovering paleontological data, mining reclamation practices, and glacial seismic events. While some artists bear witness to harmful extraction practices and an ever more unstable world, others seek to find caring, embodied, and imaginative ways to develop relationships with geologic materials. 
 
The respective exhibitions take place on different dates but overlap between June 18 and July 10 for those who wish to experience the complete physical exhibition at both sites. Local residents will be able to visit the Oxygen exhibition from June 1 to July 10, 2021. The Kootenay Gallery of Art exhibition will open June 18 and run until August 21, 2021. Please consult each gallery to learn about hours of operation and COVID-19 protocols. 
The exhibition will also be accessible online through the domain, www.overburden.ca. The site offers the exhibition experience virtually, launching May 15, 2021. In addition to the online exhibition, a series of online events take place throughout the weekend of Saturday June 19, 2021 and Sunday June 20, 2021. The online events feature panel talks, workshops, and performances. Please consult the website for the full schedule and registration. Recordings will be made available following the live events on the website. 
An exhibition catalogue featuring the artists and their artworks, curatorial statement, and exhibition essay will be published in August 2021. It will also be available digitally at overburden.ca.
For further information contact Oxygen Art Centre at info@oxygenartcentre.org or the Kootenay Gallery at kootenaygallery@telus.net. 
Overburden: Geology, Excavation and Metamorphosis in a Chaotic Age will be on view at Oxygen Art Centre from June 1 to July 10, 2021 and Kootenay Gallery of Art from June 18 to August 21, 2021. Educational and artistic events take place via Zoom from June 19 – 20, 2021. The online exhibition will be on view beginning May 15, 2021.
Oxygen Art Centre and the Kootenay Gallery of Art would like to thank the primary funders, Canada Council for the Arts, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance, British Columbia Arts Council and the Government of British Columbia, as well as corporate sponsors Teck and Columbia Power. 
 

Image: Overburden exhibition poster, 2021
For more information contact:
Maggie Shirley
Curator, Kootenay Gallery of Art
250-365-3337
kootenaygalery@telus.net

OXYGEN ART CENTRE ANNOUNCES SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: GALLERY ASSISTANT (CSJ)

 
Oxygen Art Centre is currently looking for a Gallery Assistant to add to our dynamic team this Summer 2021.
Deadline to apply: Friday, May 21, 2021, 5:00 PM 
Application requirements: Cover Letter + Resume, stating Canada Summer Jobs eligibility via e-mail

Gallery Assistant Job Description:

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Gallery Assistant engages in all aspects of Oxygen Art Centre’s programs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gallery Assistant will conduct the following tasks and responsibilities at a distance, utilizing online platforms such as Gmail, Google Drive, Zoom, and Hootsuite, as well as digital platforms such as Word, Excel, and Adobe Creative Suite.
This position is funded by Canada Summer Jobs. Additional administration through the CSJ Federal Government portal will be required at the beginning and end of employment contract.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Oxygen’s Gallery Assistant will assist in everyday arts administrative tasks, as well as assisting with Virtual Exhibition and Education Programs.
Exhibition Program
The Gallery Assistant will assist the Executive Director to promote and document exhibition programming taking place during their contract, as well as assist in the creation of a publication for an exhibition and an artist monograph. They will also assist the Executive Director in facilitating adjunct programming, research, and publication preparation for forthcoming exhibitions.
Education Program
The Gallery Assistant will assist the Executive Director and Education Coordinator in facilitating online arts education programming via social media and Zoom platforms, as well as assist in preparing education programs for Fall 2021.
Operations
The Gallery Assistant will also be responsible for assisting with day-to-day operations of the Centre and its programs, including membership updates and outreach. The Gallery Assistant will be responsible for assisting in residency preparation, exhibition publication, and virtual artist talks and/or events taking place during their contract. Gallery Assistant will also engage with Oxygen’s Education program by assisting in the registration and outreach of online arts education programs, as well as assisting instructors in delivering programming. They will also be invited to attend monthly Board of Directors meetings via Zoom.
Communication
The Gallery Assistant will be responsible for maintaining Oxygen’s online presence via HootSuite including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Communications will involve developing the membership drive, notifying the public about programs and events, and creating and posting content related to contemporary art and education programming. They will also be responsible for maintaining the CRM (Little Green Light) and Mailchimp databases.
Research
Individual research project to take place over the duration of contracted employment. The Gallery Assistant will develop a research project related to one facet of Oxygen Art Centre’s structure (e.g. Exhibitions and Residency, Education, Communication, Volunteers, Membership, Archives, Publications, etc.). The topic can relate to the employee’s interests, academic pursuits, and/or future aspirations in the arts, and will be developed in conversation with Executive Director at the beginning of employment. They will create a final report summarizing their research findings.
This position will be multi-faceted and offer experience throughout all aspects of Oxygen Art Centre under the supervision of the Executive Director and assistance of the Education Coordinator.
Due to the pandemic some aspects of the position have been altered to ensure a safe working environment for the employee. It is possible that on site programs have been cancelled or postponed during employment. The Gallery Assistant will be responsible for working from home, tracking hours and work plans, maintaining Google Doc files and documentation, online and phone meetings with supervisors, and facilitating digital administration from a far. Necessary alterations will be made to the employee’s work plan should pandemic restrictions alter during the employee’s contract.

Nature and Scope of Position:

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Gallery Assistant engages the public in discussions about Oxygen Art Centre’s exhibitions and programs, assists in exhibition and residency coordination, and assists in administration of the education program.

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate:

• – Is enrolled in a post-secondary program in Art History, Art Education, Visual and/or Media Arts, Museum Studies or a related discipline;
• – Demonstrates a keen interest in contemporary art and/or museum practices;
• – Is comfortable interacting with members of the public;
• – Is responsible, hard-working, enthusiastic, and dynamic;
• – Has a proven ability to communicate effectively.

The Summer Gallery Assistant position is dependent on funding from Canada Summer Jobs program. Candidates for the position must:

• – Be legally entitled to work in Canada;
• – Be a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident, or have refugee status in Canada (unfortunately, non-Canadian students holding temporary work visas or awaiting permanent status are not eligible);
• – Be between 16 and 30 years of age at the start of employment;
• – Intend to return to full-time studies in the fall of 2021.

*Funding currently pending. The listing and candidates will be updated regarding our funding status.

Employment Details:

$16.00/hour
9 week contract
30 hours/week
Position duration: TBD (Summer 2021)
*Employment details subject to change in relation to funding

Application deadline: 21 May 2021, by 5:00 PM

Please submit cover letter and resume to info@oxygenartcentre.org with the subject line: “ATTN: Summer Gallery Assistant Application”
Oxygen Art Centre is an equal opportunity employer. We thank all applicants for their interest, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
 
CUTLINE: Employment Opportunity Promotional Image, 2021; Text overlaid image of an Oxygen Art Centre drawing class
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OXYGEN OFFERS FREE ONLINE COMMUNITY DRAWING PROGRAM, THE BIG DRAW

The Big Draw

May 2021

Oxygen Art Centre presents an online community drawing program, The Big Draw throughout May 2021. The Big Draw Festival is a worldwide celebration of drawing where the language of drawing is used as a tool for learning, expression, and invention.

The 2021 theme for The Big Draw is “Make the Change.” The festival states, “In 2021, we want to take action, to explore and discover ways to live in balance with the world around us, to reconnect with each other and demand a better world for future generations.”

Participants are invited to pick-up a free art supply kit at Oxygen Art Centre on Saturday, May 1, 2021 from 12:00pm – 3:00pm until supplies last. Kits include the sketchbook crawl calendar and drawing materials. Oxygen is located at #3-320 Vernon Street, Nelson, BC, alleyway entrance.

Weekly exercises will be released throughout the month of May 2021 through Oxygen’s social media channels and website, as well as a live online event held via Zoom on Saturday, May 29, 2021 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm. Everyone welcome to attend. R.S.V.P. to the event by emailing info@oxygenartcentre.org

Oxygen’s The Big Draw Facilitator, Anita Levesque, developed a series of all-ages community drawing exercises inspired by the theme, “Make the Change.” Exercises will be available online for community members, families, and drawing enthusiasts to learn new skills, share documentation of their work online, and explore the connections between activism and creativity through the act of drawing.

The Big Draw is a free community drawing celebration taking place throughout May 2021 via Oxygen’s online channels. Weekly exercises will include a mixture of drawing exercises to explore in both your homes and outside in nature. A final Zoom event will celebrate the month-long drawing festival on Saturday, May 29th from 1:00 – 2:00pm. Drop in anytime or join us for the entire hour of drawing. R.S.V.P. to attend by emailing info@oxygenartcentre.org.

The Big Draw is generously supported by Osprey Community Foundation, Nelson and District Credit Union, and Nelson Lions Club.

Facilitator Bio:

Anita Levessque

Anita Levesque, a long-time Oxygen Art Centre member and current board member is excited to facilitate, yet again, The Big Draw at Oxygen Art Centre. Levesque has exhibited her work at various art galleries across Canada, predominantly drawing and installation art. She is the co-founder of Oxygen Art Centre’s successful children’s art camps and co-founder of SelfDesign Learning Community’s annual Art Intensives for high school youth. Levesque has spent the past nine years focused on family life, while also working as an educator and program coordinator with the SelfDesign Learning Community. She has also offered a host of Artist Trading Card events throughout the community and online. Of arts programming for children, Levesque says: “Art is essential. It connects us and brings great joy to our lives. By making and creating, we become problem solvers, exercising both sides of our brains.  It is a celebration of beauty, a mode to express what is deep within, and a tool to better understand our place in the world.”

Image Credit: Oxygen Art Centre, The Big Draw, Calendar of events, 2021

OXYGEN ANNOUNCES SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: RESEARCH ASSISTANT (YCW)