Visiting artist series at Malaspina

Althea Thauberger will be the first artist to visit Malaspina as part of the Spring 2008 Visiting Artist Series.

The Series will take part in February and March and will feature four artists giving public presentations of their work. The visiting artists talks are free of charge and open to the public. The Visiting Artist Series is a wonderful opportunity to view the work of contemporary artists working in a variety of media - from drawing and painting, sculpture and installation, to video and stop-motion animation - and whose art practices address a broad range of interests and issues. 

Thauberger, the first artist in the series, was born in Saskatoon in 1970. She completed a BFA in Photography at Concordia University and a MFA in Visual Arts at the University of Victoria. She began her art practice working in photography, but more recently she has been working in film and video. In 2004, she was short-listed for the Sobey Art Award, a major award for young Canadian artists. Since 2006, she has been working and living in Vancouver and Berlin. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Thauberger’s work addresses, and at times playfully pokes fun at, the grand myths of “nature” and its representations in visual and media culture. In the spirit of improvisation, she also works collaboratively with diverse communities and individuals in natural and, at times, decidedly unnatural settings. In several video projects, she has also cast herself as singer and performer.

Thauberger will be at Malaspina’s Nanaimo campus on Tuesday, February 12 from 4:30 – 6:00 pm in building 200, room 203.

The Visiting Artist Series will also include Xiong Gu (Feb. 21, 4:30 – 6:00pm) and Graeme Patterson (March 11, 4:30 – 6:00pm) with the final artist still to be announced. All presentations will take place in building 200, room 203 of the Nanaimo campus.

For further information, please contact Jan Gates at gatesj@viu.ca or Ellen McCluskey at mccluskey@viu.ca.