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Yours Truly, VASA Favourite VASA Memories Learn about

VASA ExperienceFollow VASA on our

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VASAVisual Arts Students’ AssociationMonthly Newsletter

April 2011Edition 1 Issue No. 8

Annie Hong

Kathryn Alder Dustin BronsAnnie Liang

Photography is a big part of who I am. I have always been interested in capturing objects in an unusual perspective, giving it a new mean-ing. The moment you click the shutter, the image will forever be alive; not just in its own form, but the way I see it. The images I cap-tured here are my ways of challenging the unusual, visually and cognitively. Life Amongst the Dead is one of my latest on-going series, an attempt to give the dead, forgotten logs a “second life”.

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:VASA worked hard to put together at the end of each show and events such as our Wall to Wall Sale and MESH. My favourite VASA mem-ory is when we enjoy the successful outcome of these efforts.

Life Amongst the Dead, Digital photographs, 2011.

ADELA CHAU

Conceptually, I enjoy working with notions on how the natural environment connects us; Whether it be from our individual or collective experience of the sky, or that we are all just animals.

VASA EXPERIENCE:I enjoyed working within the VASA group, it made the Visual Art experience more intimate.

SHELLEYFEARNLEY

Daybreak, Oil on canvas, 2011.

Big Paw, Digital photograph, 2011.

KATE FINCHMy work tends to deal with a few main themes: The stereotypes of women juxtaposed with violence and art as a cathartic or ideational act. I am interested in drawing and performance. Often my work finds its significance in the process in which it was created, in much of my art one can find me dressing up as femininely as I can while using violent acts to create my artwork. I also enjoy drawing abstracted repetitive patterns and forms while exploring ideational drawing. The act of repetitive, cathartic actions is dominant throughout my entire art practice.

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:My favorite VASA memories were the meetings!

Domestic Bliss, Video, 2011.

Violent Night, Copper plate relief print, 2011.

YORIKO GILLARD

Untitled (After hair cut performance at the AMS Gallery), Chair, 8 people’s hair, 2010.

I am interested in the metaphysical understanding of ‘what things are’ to individual people. My practice and research are based on the relationship between art and society. I enjoy reflecting on how our cogni-tive processes connect with our daily activities, past experiences and knowledge. The concepts of what I create are related to my subconscious (subliminal mind) and personal memories, thus my challenge is to have a dialogue with my audience in a variety of ways. I call this process ‘Seeding my Art’.

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:My favourite VASA memory was to be able to share thoughts, time and space with great executive mem-bers who worked very hard this past year 2010-2011. Each time we had a new challenge, we got together, talked and solved it as a team. And without their support, VASA could not have succeed in every new initiative, such as the monthly VASA newsletter, Wall to Wall Sale, MESH and other fundraising events. My favorite are the people I worked together with!

Untitled (Process of making ART), Digital photographs, 2011.

ANNIE HONG

Through an interdisciplinary approach to art making, I am interested in the conditions of contemporary art, the symptoms of images and its dissemination in visual culture via structures of ‘truth’, and the relation between language and culture, especially its interac-tions within the third space.

My practice is not identifiable with one/two medium(s), but, rather, the concepts and ideas dic-tate the medium of choice. In particular, through the medium of painting, I explore the existential anxiety of the pluralistic art making created by the tension between the freedom of contemporary art and its indefinite meaning after the tropes of modernism.

VASA EXPERIENCE:Working as part of VASA has been a great experi-ence. It provided a chance to get involved with the Visual Arts community at UBC, an opportunity to connect with students and professors, and a space to learn and develop working skills. But without the hardworking and dedicated VASA members, the student initiatives (VASA Newsletter, Wall to Wall Sale, and Mesh) would not have been possible. Thanks guys! What we need is a stronger sense of commu-nity, which, hopefully, VASA has contributed and will continue to grow for future students.

Untitled, Acrylic, Fluid medium, Nails, 2011.

45 kg of Borrowed Dirt, Dirt from my institution, 2011.

JOY KIM Storytelling has always been a high interest of mine. There is something about lost and hidden stories that I love and feel passionate about! Perhaps it is my own personal complicated background that led to it. Well, anyway, my interest has narrowed into nationalism through the lens of personal narratives of immigrants, and the world created in the imaginations of young children. I primarily use paint and mixed media; although, I like to play with the bound-aries of these materials - and pretty much use anything. I am currently completing a Bach-elors of Arts degree with a specialization in English Literature and Visual Arts at this institu-tion (UBC).

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:Getting to know other VISA students through all the events!

New Citizenship, Tea bags, 2011.

ALISON LAU My works are often seen as personal, vernacu-lar and nostalgic. Materials come from every-day encounters, objects kept in the attic, or trivial things lying around home. Using traces from daily life in art making, I celebrate the mundane and the ordinary, as well as engag-ing viewers in a dialogue about my experienc-es and memories. Fragments of memories are preserved in series of works, which in a sense is an extended self portraiture. These personal narratives are explored using a variety of me-dia, such as photography, print media, video, sculpture or a combination thereof.

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:The talks and laughs while setting up for events and printing newsletters!

Circle Series (Kitchen 1), Inkjet prints, 2011.

LISA LEU

In recent years my artistic practice has become consumed by ongoing exploration of self portrai-ture, cognitive processes and culture. Interested in psychoanalysis and the construction of self, I see my practice as an indexical process through which I may map and materialize my experiences. Combining the physical and mental, natural and synthetic, I am interested in exploring transitionary states, and the development of fragmented narratives.

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:Hanging out and eating cake!

Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 36”, 2009.

Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 49”, 2010.

BRENDA MATTMAN

How then shall we live? Considering our genetics, our technologic capabilities, our natural world? Intricate genetic codes define us in a primordial sense. Ex-panding technologic capabilities empower us. Our natural world spawns us, melds with us and sustains us – yet cringes into darkness against our bright, blind-ing technologic prowess. Is humanity’s future limited? By our primordial genetics? By the finite resources and tolerance of nature placed in opposition to the ever expanding / polluting open Pandora’s box of technology? Tidal waves confront us. With this roar of doom in our sights, Brenda Mattman asks the ques-tion: how then shall we live? She uses a multitude of artistic techniques to explore this central question. Her works hint at the answer; the medium - Creativity! In creative ways, we can enhance our social structure, and ultimately our social relations with our neighbours in the natural world, to enable a viable future for humanity. This enlightened society will be hard won and will take time. The first step, in this journey of 1000 miles, is to reach back to our earliest stages of de-velopment and learn to live anew. We can start by examining our first creative impulse – to draw with a stick – it is beautiful and harmless.

VASA EXPERIENCE:This was an amazing opportunity to be involved on all levels of these successful VASA events. As Treasurer, I gained valuable experience with financial aspects. Also, I enjoyed being a part of this community: we worked together as a team in order to accomplish much more than individually.

Lost Streams, Ceramic and sand, 2011.

The Drawing Stick, Digital print, 2011.

KAVIN NII always have a fascination with drawing, as I consid-er the activity an expression of the body. A drawing is an art product yet, at the same time, an extension of the body. The inability to create a satisfying art prod-uct has created an existential angst in me regarding my role as an aspiring artist, and what is a better way to reflect that angst in drawing? This work is an instal-lation of drawings, an expression of my body and angst, taking over a space, becoming larger than life.

The work consists of me situated in sheets of nothing but drawn straight lines arranged in a grid pattern, products of physical and visceral actions. A line is the most basic component of drawing, and the attempt to draw a straight line involves a coordination of the body and mind. On sheets, these lines were drawn, forming a grid, and ultimately an extension of me. The sheets extend over the space, spilling out. Drawing becomes a manifestation, but also a witness.

FAVOURITE VASA MEMORY:My favorite VASA memory is, of course, communicat-ing with everyone and getting support when I need it. To have a closely bonded group means you can rely on friends, and they will help you in unexpected ways. If I have to say a single event, then it would be the Wall to Wall sale. As the installation coordinator I had several grueling days in overseeing the installa-tion, but I learned much from it and I appreciate that.

Me and Myself II, Photograph, 2011.

Detail

JULIE WONG

Art has the ability to encapsulate every concept there is and can be transformed into something spectacular through the artist’s creative mean to communicate, a process too attractive to turn away from. I use drawing, painting and photography as my primary mediums to explore the many interests I have come to engage with, in particular I am interested in the strange, the uncanny and the mysterious. I enjoy experimenting with new strategies to create new concepts while trying to make sense of everything I have already learned. Through the process of creat-ing I am able to understand the inner workings of my fascination, and to discover more in depth of my find-ings. Therefore, I must make, make, and make some more.

Want to meet the new VASA team for next year? Check out our blog at:

blogs.ubc.ca/vasa

Editor: Joy KimGraphic Designer: Alison Lau

VASA is an undergraduate club of the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory.

VASA EXPERIENCE:Being a part of the students association allow you to understand the inner workings of the student body, it is also a great place to work with a variety of people towards a common goal. This was the first time work-ing under an AUS student association and I’ve come to learn quite a few things. Sometimes the work is difficult and it takes more effort than meets the eye, but to see a project through is worth all the sweat I’ve shed. Having a partner to work with helps, as you support each other through your strong and weak points. From this process I’ve learned more about my-self: What I like, what I don’t like, what I can do, and what I can do better; it has also urged me to become a part of the change instead of waiting for it.

Untitled (figure study), Multimedia, 18” x 24”, 2009.