This paper is intended to serve as a supporting document for the exhibition This Site Is Under Construction that was held at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, University of Waterloo, April 17th – May 14th, 2010. The work explores the ways in which we constitute and mediate our specific place in a space that is constantly changing. It is concerned with notions surrounding how we make and perceive images now in our computerized visual culture and the ways in which we can mark a subjective painting aesthetic and visual vocabulary. The painting installation, “This Site Is Under Construction”, investigates the effects of new media and digitization on experiential perception, and the nature of making and re-configuring images. The title alludes not only to the on-line, virtual space of the computer, but also to the physical spaces of building and urban development sites. The subjects for the paintings are spaces in flux – specific locales of construction and building sites that are in-between states of development – placing emphasis on the mechanized devices that fabricate the new structures. The paintings themselves reveal seemingly spontaneous and optically warped immersive spaces; alternative architectural environments which subvert interpretations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms of visual presentation and recognition. The work aims to contrast outward appearance and illusionistic staging as it relates to both the picture and its support.

Physis presents eight digitally constructed photographic images and one video installation that were created through mixing and sampling a variety of representations of built environments, visual languages and processes. What results from this image compositing are ambiguous, dreamlike, in-between spaces that mine the relationship between nature and contemporary culture. Through the creation of poetic, ambiguous images viewers are able to form their own response to the individual images and the exhibition as whole. My approach of creating an experience that is more poetic than didactic was born out of a response to contemporary and historical photographs and writings, and to the directness found in images belonging to contemporary media culture. While Physis does allow for multiple interpretations, for me, this body of work references ideas of interconnectedness, transmission and the redefinition of space through connections between studio processes, the body, the digital and the visual.

This paper is intended to serve as a supporting document for the exhibition This Site Is Under Construction that was held at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery, University of Waterloo, April 17th – May 14th, 2010. The work explores the ways in which we constitute and mediate our specific place in a space that is constantly changing. It is concerned with notions surrounding how we make and perceive images now in our computerized visual culture and the ways in which we can mark a subjective painting aesthetic and visual vocabulary. The painting installation, “This Site Is Under Construction”, investigates the effects of new media and digitization on experiential perception, and the nature of making and re-configuring images. The title alludes not only to the on-line, virtual space of the computer, but also to the physical spaces of building and urban development sites. The subjects for the paintings are spaces in flux – specific locales of construction and building sites that are in-between states of development – placing emphasis on the mechanized devices that fabricate the new structures. The paintings themselves reveal seemingly spontaneous and optically warped immersive spaces; alternative architectural environments which subvert interpretations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms of visual presentation and recognition. The work aims to contrast outward appearance and illusionistic staging as it relates to both the picture and its support.

Physis presents eight digitally constructed photographic images and one video installation that were created through mixing and sampling a variety of representations of built environments, visual languages and processes. What results from this image compositing are ambiguous, dreamlike, in-between spaces that mine the relationship between nature and contemporary culture. Through the creation of poetic, ambiguous images viewers are able to form their own response to the individual images and the exhibition as whole. My approach of creating an experience that is more poetic than didactic was born out of a response to contemporary and historical photographs and writings, and to the directness found in images belonging to contemporary media culture. While Physis does allow for multiple interpretations, for me, this body of work references ideas of interconnectedness, transmission and the redefinition of space through connections between studio processes, the body, the digital and the visual.

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The purpose of this phenomenographical case study is to explore the ways in which a group of MFA students conceive of their learning as they are enmeshed within an MFA community. The research follows along two guiding research questions: 1) What does artistic learning involve for graduate students in an MFA community? 2) How is one's artistic practice shaped by one's active participation in an MFA community? The findings of this study have been presented as lines of artistic learning and help to show the various conceptions that MFA students have of their learning as artists while in an MFA program of study. Ultimately, it is in better understanding one's lines of artistic learning that MFA students can be better supported in their journeying to become professional, practicing artists.

This thesis examines the ways in which my artistic practice is creating a space for victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to share, gain catharsis, and spark discussions. As a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault, I have often felt there was no space for me to voice the many emotions that come with my experience. After creating and sharing autobiographical work about my story, many women have shared their stories of survival with me. Through these many conversations, I knew that we needed to create a space to share these stories. I have created this space through the To(get)her project. To(get)her is a collaborative performance and installation in which women from a variety of backgrounds destroy and transform wax guns with kitchen and cosmetic tools such as waffle irons, hair dryers, high-heeled shoes, curling irons, and meat tenderizers. These wax guns act as a metaphor for the violence that happens to many women on a daily basis. One in three women will encounter domestic violence and one in five women will be raped in their lifetimes in the United States. Not only are many of our bodies attacked mentally, physically and sexually, but the government also stakes claims on our bodies. With 138 representatives and 22 senators voting against the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and many of those same politicians also voting against stricter gun regulations it is apparent that these politicians do not see it as problematic that women’s bodies are so often targets. Further, in the current political climate it is imperative that people in the United States understand the importance of VAWA, and that it is a necessary bill that will be up for reauthorization in 2018. There have been six iterations of the To(get)her project. Through these performances, over 75 self-identifying women have been a part of the project, sharing their stories and igniting discussion about violence against women. When women come together, their connections are empowering, fierce, sometimes gentle and always meaningful.

Can the female feel at home in nature, myth and on screen, realms where she is so often laid to rest? "Pictures in an Exhibition" is a pastiche that exposes popular culture and art historical tropes in which ambiguous signifiers have become lost in a chain of referents. An installation of videos documents durational performances—filmed, edited and performed by the artist unaccompanied—that are humorous, satirical, aesthetic, historical, philosophical and psychological. Making simultaneous reference to art history, mass media, literature and mythology, "Pictures in an Exhibition" exposes the conflicted condition of a postfeminist 'self' striving to arrive at an exhibition of subjectivity.

As found in modern art and architecture during the 1950’s and 1960’s, North Americans were conditioned through advertising and media to adopt modernism as a new and better way of life. Modernist styles such as Abstract Expressionism were promoted as leading edge ways to make art that defined American culture. In architecture, modernism infiltrated the development of suburbs and represented a way of life that promoted consumerism, leisure and the nuclear family. Much of the urban and suburban spaces we live in have been influenced by modernism. I am interested in exploring the vocabulary of modernist abstraction through the language of contemporary figuration. I am influenced by late modernist Formalism, colour field painting, gestural mark making and Abstract Expressionism.

Transitions is a three part series, examining themes which define our human condition. Utilizing traditional, digital, and interactive media, including sound, video, clay, paper, polyvoile material, and electronic devices, I create responsive installation environments that allow me to share my personal stories with those of the viewers. Collaboratively and co-creatively we examine issues of existence, self-awareness, and embodied spatiality within an arena that incorporates stories, memories and histories. As the viewer engages and participates in the work, they become the conduit between the brief moments of the present and the fragmented illusory images of the past.