Joshua Vettivelu: Surface Tension (or What Holds an 'Us' Together)
Artist Talk with Joshua Vettivelu and curator Kailey Bryan
Saturday May 4th @2pm
Perhaps you’ve heard about the 40 tonnes of sand that made its way into Eastern Edge’s new studio space last week, and the many hands that assisted in this monumental sculptural undertaking. On Saturday, May 4th from 2 – 4 pm, join us for the unveiling of the finished installation followed by a talk with the artist Joshua Vettivelu and curator Kailey Bryan.
The artist will discuss the process of the project: five weeks of intensive research in St. John’s and along the Southern Shore including conversations, consultations, articles, and news footage that framed the landing of 155 Tamil migrants in Admirals Beach 33 years ago. Through a combination of surreal, dreamlike video footage, monumental sculpture, and critical text, Vettivelu asks complex questions around community, citizenry, and empathy. What are the limits of humanity we extend to others, and what delineates who receives that care, and who does not?
Of their practice, Vettivelu says “I consider the process of building relationships to be as important as the fabrication of physical art objects. This process of discursive engagement often reaffirms that there is poetry and healing in being able to share our frustrations, limits, and longings.” This continues to ring true throughout the process of this exhibition, where myriad members of our local community arrived with curiosity and thoughtfulness to contribute not only to the construction of a sculpture, but a conversation.
But conversations are best with plenty of voices, so please join the dialogue with us as we tease out the science and poetry of "Surface Tension (Or What Holds an 'Us' Together)".
Main Gallery & EE Studios
Joshua Vettivelu: Surface Tension (or What Holds an ‘Us’ Together) Main Gallery and EE Studios
April 26 – May 24
Joshua Vettivelu’s Surface Tension (or What Holds an ‘Us’ Together) is the culmination of a 5 week research and creation residency facilitated through Eastern Edge Gallery and guest-curator Kailey Bryan. Surface Tension poetically explores how myths of resource scarcity have been used to enforce national borders as the limit of empathy. This residency and exhibition is the inaugural launch of the Eastern Edge Residency Studios.
In Eastern Edge’s Residency Space, Vettivelu’s large-scale sculpture uses the physics of surface tension (how sand holds itself together), to create a metaphor of how citizenship (or the creation of an “us”) becomes foundational to who we are able to extend humanity to. In Eastern Edge’s Main Space Gallery, Vettivelu will exhibit a large scale video projection, ruminating on how the horizon becomes a site of longing, imagined pleasure and miscommunication.
Joshua Vettivelu is an artist, programmer, and educator working within sculpture, video, installation and performance. Their works explore how larger frameworks of power manifest within intimate relationships. Recently their practice has been looking at how desire and language build the world. Currently, Vettivelu is an instructor in the faculty of Art and Faculty of Continuing Education at OCADU and is the previous Director of Programming of Whippersnapper Gallery.
rOGUE Gallery
Teresa Connors: Patterns
rOGUE Gallery
April 26 - May 24, 2019
Patterns is one of a series of audiovisual installations by Teresa Connors that explores the environment of Newfoundland. Developed from field recordings captured off the East Coast, Patterns uses computer vision, sonification and improvisation to create this nonlinear work. Constructed in Max 8, a “video fabric” is realized using six videos on simultaneous play routed onto a 10x10 grid. Video placement in the grid is governed by a series of transcoded files extracted from NFLD heritage knitting charts and environmental data-sets, which randomly change during the installation.
Teresa Connors is active as a creative coder, acoustic/electroacoustic composer, opera singer and audiovisual installation artist. Her creative works have received awards and support from the Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council and Bravo Fact, and have been presented at international conferences, film festivals and galleries. In 2017, Teresa returned to St. John’s to conduct creative research with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). This research expands on her use of environmental data as a co-creative device in nonlinear audiovisual installations. www.divatproductions.com
David Tuck Memorial Library
Kevin Melanson: Locations
David Tuck Memorial Library
April 26 - May 24, 2019
Locations is an ongoing series of text-based embroideries. Each one features a three-word description of the locations where the embroideries are made. Kevin Melanson is an artist/writer from the Maritimes who recently moved to St. John’s because he needed a change. His work mainly consists of drawings and embroideries of found objects and experiences.
This summer Eastern Edge Gallery is looking for a Communications Assistant for its 20th Annual HOLD FAST Contemporary Arts Festival. This position will assist the Festival Manager with the fundraising and promotion of the four-day festival. Bringing together 5 headlining visual artists from across Canada to St. John’s, Newfoundland, the festival strives to deliver accessible, meaningful and critically-relevant contemporary art programming across an array of media including: installation, performance, screenings, artist talks, dance, community events and artist-led workshops for people of all ages.
The ideal candidate would have strong local interests and the ability to connect with a diversity of communities within Newfoundland & Labrador. HOLD FAST Festival is a fast paced and exciting event that requires an energetic personality that can remain calm and positive in high intensity work environment. Teamwork is key to the success of the Festival and being able to communicate, engage, and promote the Festival to a wide audience will be a major responsibility of this position. The Communications Assistant will be working closely with the Festival Manager in creating promotional material, engaging audience through social media platforms, assisting with welcoming the artists to the festival and aiding with the many projects, events, and workshops hosted by the Festival.
For more information on this position, click HERE.
This summer Eastern Edge Gallery is looking for a Gallery Attendant for the summer months and leading up to the 20th Annual HOLD FAST Contemporary Arts Festival. This position will help animate the Gallery programming and Hold Fast Residency. Bringing together 5 headlining visual artists from across Canada to St. John’s, Newfoundland, the festival strives to deliver accessible, meaningful and critically-relevant contemporary art programming across an array of media including: installation, performance, screenings, artist talks, dance, community events and artist-led workshops for people of all ages.
The ideal candidate would have strong local interests and the ability to connect with a diversity of communities across Newfoundland & Labrador. Eastern Edge has fast paced and exciting programming that requires an energetic personality that can remain calm and positive in high intensity work environment. Teamwork is key to the success of the Festival and being able to communicate, engage, and promote the Festival to a wide audience will be a major responsibility of this position. The Gallery Attendant will be working closely with the Eastern Edge Team in creating dynamic events and engaging audience through social media platforms, assisting with welcoming the artists to the festival and aiding with the many projects, and workshops hosted by the Gallery.
For more information on this position, click HERE.
Eastern Edge Gallery seeks local, national, and international artists for our 20th anniversary Contemporary Arts Festival – HOLD FAST!
HOLD FAST is a celebration of contemporary art practice held in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, a festival dedicated to immersive contemporary art and is the longest running in the province. The festival delivers accessible, meaningful and critically-relevant contemporary art programming across an array of media including: installation, performance, screenings, artist talks, dance, community events, and artist-led workshops for people of all ages. HOLD FAST presents opportunities for established works to expand into our communities through a residency program, workshops, artist talks, and culminating in a performance/installation based Art Crawl event! We hope to see proposals with engaged and informed artistic practices that can challenge or explore the ways in which art can make an impact.
Professional fees for performance/installation, artist talk, and workshop will be paid when applicable. Eastern Edge Gallery covers some travel expenses and seeks to provide billeted accommodations for exhibiting artists.
We are dedicated to cultural diversity in our programming and encourage applications from contemporary artists and curators of diverse communities and backgrounds.
EVA Award Nominations Deadline Extended: May 3rd, 2019 @ 5pm
The VANL-CARFAC Excellence in Visual Arts (EVA) Awards celebrate the achievements of visual artists and recognize the significant contribution the visual arts make to the vibrant and dynamic culture of Newfoundland and Labrador. The 2019 EVA Awards will take place at The Rooms on June 14th, 2019 beginning at 8PM.
Anyone can submit nominations for any of the awards which include: The Endurance Award, The Milestone Award, The Emerging Visual Artist Award, The Mary MacDonald Award, and The The Critical Eye Award.
Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Exhibition Openings
Friday May 3, 5:30-7:30pm
On Friday, May 3rd , 2019, from 5:30 – 7:30 PM we invite you to the opening reception of three new exhibitions at the Craft Council Gallery: in our main space Woven Woods by Lorraine Roy (BC) & In Our Hands by Wendy Shirran - This two-woman show combines the textile mandalas of Lorraine Roy and ceramic vessels by Wendy Shirran–both with a message of interconnectedness and consequence. In the Annex gallery Ice Flows by Clare Fowler, presents sealskin locked together with thread forms and evocative, suspended landscape, hovering in the gallery like ice on water. The Opening Reception takes place at the Craft Council Gallery, 275 Duckworth Street. Refreshments will be served and everyone is welcome.
Exhibitions run May 3rd – June 7th.
Google AdWords with Sheldon Payne from Newfound Marketing
presented by Business and Arts NL
May 8th, 2019 1-4pm
We invite Sheldon Payne back for another info filled session that will cover Google AdWords. Bringing a laptop is highly encouraged. This will be a hands on workshop that is three hours in length. More info coming soon!
St. Michael's Printshop Don Wright Scholarship Deadline Extended: May 15th, 2019
Each year, St. Michael’s Printshop invites applications from emerging artists who wish to come to work at St. Michael’s Printshop for one year under the Don Wright Printmaking Scholarship.
First awarded in 1991, the Don Wright Scholarship was established in recognition of visual artist Don Wright for the valuable contribution he made to the development of St. Michael’s Printshop and the visual arts in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Call for submissions: Western Newfoundland: People, Landscape, Culture
Tina Dolter Gallery (Corner Brook)
Submission Deadline: May 24, 5pm
In conjunction with the City of Corner Brook’s Come Home Year, the Tina Dolter Gallery will host a juried exhibition which celebrates the people, landscape and culture of Western Newfoundland. The exhibition will take place from: July 10th to August6th, 2019
Artists are invited to submit up to 3 works in any medium which explore aspects of the theme for consideration. To submit, please send jpeg files and image list to: whitney@rotaryartscentre.ca
CB Nuit Call for Submissions
Deadline: May 31, 2019
On the West Coast of Newfoundland, nestled at the mouth of the Bay of Islands, you will find a small community that boasts a large creative spirit. Situated in Corner Brook, CB Nuit is a multidisciplinary after dark festival that aims to engage artists in the creation and installation of site-specific and participatory contemporary works. In its launching year, the festival was visited by nearly 3,000 spectators and won the 2017 Ace award for “Event of the Year”.
CBNuit’smandate encourages the cross pollination of art disciplines though not compulsory. Participants will create art experiences across a range of media or combinations thereof: visual, performance, site-specific, video, sound, projection, theatre, film, dance, and music. Please let us in on your inspiration, sequence, procedure and implementation of your activity/project.
*New this year, we are inviting artists to create a workshop connected to the project delivered in the festival. An additional honorarium will be remunerated for workshops delivered the night before the festival or during the day leading up to the festival’s main event.
For the full call for submissions or for more information check out the CB Nuit website at www.cbnuit.com or email cbnuit@gmail.com, or click HERE.
“Grounded in Memory” will be a collaborative exhibition with a curatorial theme of local plants and their connection to memory. Works by members of both the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, curated by Susan Furneaux, and the Botanical Art Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, curated by Margaret Walsh Best, will be chosen for exhibition in concurrent exhibitions of art and craft at two St. John’s, NL locations: MUN Botanical Garden and Craft Council NL Gallery.
Please click HERE for more information, or contact Susan Furneaux (Craft) susanfurneaux@gmail.com or Margaret Walsh Best (Botanical Art) walshbest@gmail.com for more information for submission.
VANL-CARFAC is excited to be launching our new ART=WORK toques!
The Art = Work initiative is a partnership with the Mary MacDonald Foundation. This joint fundraiser will support visual artists, curators, and art workers living in Newfoundland and Labrador through programs and awards distributed by our retrospective organizations.
Toques and other Art = Work merch is available now at the VANL office and online here.
Not a member?
Become an ee member!
Membership continues to be an vital component of Eastern Edge Gallery. With your support, we are able to continue to bring you the best of local, national, and international contemporary art through the programming of our Main Gallery, the Rogue Gallery, and our newly re-named summer arts festival, HOLD FAST. Eastern Edge also facilitates over forty creative events annually, including artist talks, workshops, members’ events, music nights and much more!
