VCAD Students Display Work at Local Gallery

Take a visit to the Rails End Gallery soon and you’ll see the journey of art that the current students of the Visual and Creative Arts Diploma at Fleming College are taking. Every piece is distinctly different yet all together they represent a progressive and raw look into the work of artists that are exploring their new found freedom of choosing what art medium they decide to investigate.
Although sometimes challenging the journey the students are taking is displayed for all to see at the gallery and that’s something that curator Laurie Jones admires: “This is a brave choice. It’s hard to unzip yourself into public viewing, for me that is very brave.” 2010 is the second year that the Rails End has presented a peek into the world of the VCAD students. Laurie Jones met with Darlene Bolahood, full-time program co-ordinator for the VCAD program, after the gallery had a short window space and soon the gallery showing was built into the program for the students. In the VCAD program students can learn numerous differing
art mediums such as ceramics, glassblowing and even blacksmithing.
The current art on display involves photography, fabric, ceramic tiles, balloons and even drinking straws. It’s important to note that the work isn’t finished; it is part of the concept development portion of their semester. Once the students had finished with the theory side and learnt conceptual methods they took one area they had previously enjoyed and then focused on a specific material or technique.
Anything they wanted to explore they could. Twenty three students offered their art work to the walls and were given five feet of space to display their work.
One medium displayed in the gallery that isn’t regarded as a conventional artistic material was colourful drinking straws. Sarah Gucciardi explored 2D and 3D forms by investigating the drinking straws. How did she come to use such an unusual
medium? “It was really spontaneous, I started playing with the straws in class and cutting them up and then cutting them diagonally. I explored many realms of what I could do with them. It was cheap material too so that was a bonus!” laughed Sarah. Delicate shapes are crafted from the straws and Laurie commented, “She’s turned drinking straws into shapes that are very organic and that’s very interesting.” Sarah played with lighting her art work and then studied the shadows that her pieces had created. The beauty of the work Sarah created conveyed
the true progressive nature that the students develop through the VCAD program. Sarah hopes to delve deeper into other art forms such as pottery, photography and glassblowing after she finishes the VCAD program. Another student decided to play with technology to create her work. Patricia Harris used Photoshop to manipulate a number of photographs she had taken. She started out with a clear
photograph and then manipulated it through Photoshop to create an entirely new subject. The students had already been taught some areas of Photoshop in their classes and then Patricia chose to study and investigate the different techniques the program offers. Photographs of woodland scenes were transformed into new shapes and colours. The method Patricia used saw no boundaries for what she could eventually create. Laurie noted that the work on display highlights the “collective minds of everyone, you see the personalities of the students
through the work. Some are still developing their personality and others are clear and confident of their voice. When the students were installing their pieces it was a very supportive atmosphere. They are all at different stages of their artistic life; some are already established as artists whereas some have just graduated
from High School.” One student, Heidi Hunter, who had moved from
Thunder Bay to attend the VCAD program, hopes to come back next year to study ceramics at the college. Heidi’s work that was on display showed the different
methods and development of her art through the ceramics she had created. Heidi stated that enrolling in the program “after being out of High School for a
number of years was the best decision of my life.” Laurie lastly commented that “the art on display is progressive and exploration work. It would be interesting
to find out if the student’s work changed or differed once they knew what they were exploring would be shown in a public gallery. They are very vulnerable at this stage of their careers.” The VCAD art work will be on display until March 17th. You can meet the students at an opening reception at Rails End on March 11th from 5-7pm.