Past Exhibition
INSIDEout
Mary McLeod
Morgan Kamocki Allaby
Sofia Stanidis
Lisa Perlman
Fiona Freemark
Annie Fraser
Joshua Carey
Gordon Bond
Jessica Bigda
Emily Andrus
January 2012
In keeping with our annual outreach to art universities and colleges, we start 2012 with an exhibition of graduating students from the School of the Arts at McMaster University in Hamilton. The works of these new generation artists will highlight the changing currents of innovation and exploration that fuel the evolution of art discourse and practice.
Curated by painter/printmaker and faculty member Judy Major-Girardin, "INSIDEout can be seen as a metaphor for the learning process inherent in these explorations and is meant to reference the way artists scrutinize information or turn it inside out in order to reveal alternative ways of looking or knowing." Major-Girardin has selected these students for their shared sensibilities and connections with the theme of the exhibition. They also demonstrate a broad range of media and approaches and express strong individual voices. Sculpture, painting, printmaking and collage serve to elucidate the artists' ideas about the body, home, landscape, myth, memory, text and metamorphosis.
The School of Arts encourages students to immerse themselves in a diverse creative matrix by emphasizing the value of research and interdisciplinary dialogue. This broadening of perspective is evident in the scope of the ideas the artists tackle.
McMaster has offered a four-year Honours program in Studio Art for many years. In 2011, the Ministry approved their proposal to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The program is a small and highly selective one, with an entrance cap of twenty-five students per year. Students enjoy easy access to resources at the McMaster Museum of Art, a facility right on campus that is unparalleled in the country in its quality and breadth. Each year the School of Arts works in tandem with the McMaster Museum to host ten to fourteen visits by professional artists and individuals involved in the business of art from across Canada. In addition, Hamilton's rapidly evolving arts community provides many opportunities for learning experiences outside the classroom. McMaster's studio program is also proactive in the area of environmentally responsible studio practice and explores the best practices available in terms of materials, processes and alternatives that are safer for the body and for the planet.
"Even though new approaches and technological advances will continue to change and evolve our discipline," says Judy Major-Girardin, "we believe that hands-on engagement coupled with the ability to question, research and communicate ideas with confidence will best equip our students for success. The power of art is its ability to be shaped not only through the intentions of artists or curators but through each viewer's response and we welcome you to contribute to expanded interpretations of these works."