July 14 – Sept. 22, 2018
Organized by Ken Guenter & Cam Russell, (retired instructors) Camosun College
Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Click here to view the exhibition catalogue
If you like design in wood, this exhibition is for you. In the past 30 years, the Fine Furniture program at Camosun College has produced over 500 graduates, many of which have gone on to contribute to the furniture-making industry on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Thirty-seven of these exceptional artists have been invited to create new works that celebrate the process of designing and building seating, a foundational component and tradition of the program.
The UVic Legacy Galleries has a longstanding relationship with the instructors and students of the program including hosting the first exhibition of local furniture-makers in 1982, which helped to found the Vancouver Island Woodworkers Guild and the renowned Camosun program. Visit us and get inspired by the latest in local furniture design!
Image: Cam Russell, Morning Coffee in the Sun – Afternoon Tea in the Shade, White Oak and Bicycle Parts, 2018.
Programming:
The Chair Experience
An interactive tour with curators Ken Guenter and Cam Russell
Thurs. August 9, 2018 | 5 – 6pm
Thurs. August 23, 2018 | 7 – 8pm
Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Join the curators from Making It: A Celebration of 30 Years of the Camosun College Fine Furniture Program to learn about furniture design in wood by west coast designers. This tour will have you moving around the exhibition to take a closer look and — in a bold move to bust museum stereotypes — to actually sit on a few of the innovative pieces in the show.
Performance
Open Action Collective Founders live performance in Making It
Sat. August 25, 2018 | 2 – 4pm
Legacy Downtown | 630 Yates St.
Performance artists and founding members of Victoria’s Open Action Collective, John G. Boehme, Judith Price and Grace Salez will perform live at the Legacy Gallery in the exhibition Making It. Join us during Victoria’s Integrate Arts Festival as they respond to 36 chairs designed and built by local woodworkers.
OPEN ACTION is a collective of performance artists based in Victoria, BC, Canada, dedicated to site-specific actions performed in public spaces. The first action was in June, 2010.
OPEN ACTION is comprised of an event that occurs once a month at a randomly selected location for a determined amount of time in and around the Capital Regional District (CRD) of Victoria, British Columbia.
OPEN ACTION is a free laboratory and all are welcome to participate.
John G. Boehme identifies as a cisgender white male settler of German and Scottish heritage and is an un-invited guest from the Kumeyaay territory now known as La Jolla and currently is an un-invited guest on the Lekwungen/Esquimalt, Songhees W?SÁNE? territory currently known as Victoria. His early art practice included painting, sculpture, performance video and digital technology, installation and photography. Boehme describes recent work as “trans-disciplinary” often employing performance, video, audio and objects in a number pieces simultaneously, Boehme is not constrained to any particular creative mode and therefore utilizes integrated approaches to realize the work. John continues to have exhibitions, screenings and participate in festivals across Canada, Australia, the Americas, United Kingdom, Europe and China. John is and Artist and Educator, teaching Performance Art, Ceramics and Sculpture as a continuing faculty of the Visual Arts Department at Camosun College.
Judith Price has maintained a transdisciplinary art practice for over 29 years since attending the University of British Columbia. (MFA1988). She also has a 30+ year background in modern dance. Her body of work includes performance pieces, performative videos, video installations, site-specific installations and short films. She merges parallel backgrounds in visual arts and modern dance to explore non-verbal physical and gestural language as tools of communication and intervention. She has participated in exhibitions, performance festivals, screenings, and symposiums and has both participated in and conducted workshops (most recently on performative video). The British Columbia Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the City of Victoria have funded her works and they have been shown nationally and internationally.
Her performances display her ongoing exploration of site-specific street actions, interventions, and interactive, collaborative and durational works. She has also done many solo performances in galleries and at festival events, which have included still images and video projections, found objects and sculptural objects. She also incorporates perfomance and video into installations.
Price lives on Vancouver Island where she is retired from teaching post-secondary courses in time-based art (performance, video, film) and visual culture. Judith is an uninvited guest on the Lekwungen/Esquimalt, Songhees W?SÁNE? territory currently known as Victoria.
Grace Salez has been engaged in a multi disciplinary art practice since graduating from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (BFA1998). Her body of work includes short unconventional films & videos, video installations, performance art, and documentation of artists and their practice. Grace’s art activities/processes are interventions into the ever-changing fabric of public/private space and public/private life. Her intention as an artist is to draw in the viewer to witness the work, and for the witness to create new unpredictable understanding of their experience of viewing work done by an artist – have the viewer challenge our collective perceptions, perspectives and assumptions. Her work has been seen in various venues: film/video festivals, art galleries, art non-profit spaces, museums, in public spaces, and in print. Grace is an un-invited guest on the Lekwungen/Esquimalt, Songhees W?SÁNE? territory currently known as Victoria.
Image: Courtesy of Open Action Collective