Biographies
Carin Covin is a visual artist living in the North Okanagan. She received an MFA from UBC Okanagan in 2009. Her current research involves the use of written and visual language as a methodology for investigating the concept of identity through the lens of memory combined with the lens of place.
“Local(i)ty” allowed for Covin to become “the viewer”, and frame these interests into an essay that analyzes the concepts embedded in the art works of Curiston, Feist, and Widmer. She agrees with Barthes, who suggests that the personal lens of an individual, formed through a unique set of experiences, defines how the individual sees and interprets the world around them.
Nora Curiston has an interest in investigating and then presenting issues of the fantastic. She is aware of her audience and presents ideas infused with humour and excellence. Curiston lives in the city of Grand Forks, which is close to the international border between Canada and the USA. She is active in the arts, both as a former board member of the public art gallery in Grand Forks called Gallery 2 and as an art educator. Curiston works with the youth of her community.
Brenda Feist is an MFA candidate at UBC Okanagan. She works at the Kelowna Art Gallery in the Public Programming Department and has created the critically acclaimed series of lectures titled “Engaging with Art”. Feist articulates how to understand the space between the image and the viewer. Through discussions and exhibition tours, she actively involves the viewer in a way that articulates and demystifies the complicated narratives of critical discourse. She speaks eloquently regarding the space between the spectacle and the spectator.
Laura Widmer has achieved many honours through her engagement with printmaking and has shown nationally and internationally. Widmer received First Prize Open Studio National Printmaking Award in 2010, the Muskat Studio Prize in the North American Print Biennial in 2011, and the UBC Okanagan Deputy Vice Chancellor Purchase Award in 2012.
“Local(i)ty” allowed for Covin to become “the viewer”, and frame these interests into an essay that analyzes the concepts embedded in the art works of Curiston, Feist, and Widmer. She agrees with Barthes, who suggests that the personal lens of an individual, formed through a unique set of experiences, defines how the individual sees and interprets the world around them.
Nora Curiston has an interest in investigating and then presenting issues of the fantastic. She is aware of her audience and presents ideas infused with humour and excellence. Curiston lives in the city of Grand Forks, which is close to the international border between Canada and the USA. She is active in the arts, both as a former board member of the public art gallery in Grand Forks called Gallery 2 and as an art educator. Curiston works with the youth of her community.
Brenda Feist is an MFA candidate at UBC Okanagan. She works at the Kelowna Art Gallery in the Public Programming Department and has created the critically acclaimed series of lectures titled “Engaging with Art”. Feist articulates how to understand the space between the image and the viewer. Through discussions and exhibition tours, she actively involves the viewer in a way that articulates and demystifies the complicated narratives of critical discourse. She speaks eloquently regarding the space between the spectacle and the spectator.
Laura Widmer has achieved many honours through her engagement with printmaking and has shown nationally and internationally. Widmer received First Prize Open Studio National Printmaking Award in 2010, the Muskat Studio Prize in the North American Print Biennial in 2011, and the UBC Okanagan Deputy Vice Chancellor Purchase Award in 2012.