Beyond the Barley

100 Small Curators

Blog post written by the VAC Intern Team

Every December the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington (VAC) exhibits the 100 Small Artworks Show and Sale. The exhibition offers VAC members the opportunity to show and sell their artwork with 100% of the sale price going directly to the artists. The VAC is excited to wrap up 2019 with a celebration of local artists! This year’s exhibition was co-curated by our Young Canada Works Interns Carley Bruckner and Desarée Rosskopf, and they were asked to reflect on their experience. 

What approach did you take when curating the show? 
The show is a collaborative community process and we wanted to create a space that truly complemented and enhanced each unique work. We accomplished this through grouping artworks by a shared theme and feeling, rather than medium. These pieces are representative of the creative spirit of our community and we are honoured to showcase the artists and their stories. This year we’ve added a slight change to the title to include the many forms in which small works can exist, you will see a variety of pairings that bridge across mediums and techniques. 

We usually hear of people curating shows, but what is it like to co-curate? 
Co-curating was a wonderful and mutually beneficial experience because we had the opportunity to learn and grow from each, brainstorm ideas, and sometimes just be there to support each other. When you are curating it’s you and the pieces you want to present but when you are co-curating you’re approaching it as a team. We spent a lot of time together on the floor surrounded by artwork just running through different ideas! 

Did you experience any difficulties during the creative process?
We found that we have different approaches and viewpoints that influenced how we perceive the works. Carley comes from an Anthropological background, while Desarée is a historian. We also discovered that we have very different personalities, interests, and outlooks on life that influenced how we perceive each piece. Some might see these differences as an obstacle but we found they became the greatest strength in our curation process. It allowed us to experience new perspectives and designs. One of us would become stuck on how to present a particular piece and the other would come in with an alternative concept. We also found that we added new dimensions to each other’s ideas. 

We hope to see you at the 100 Small Artworks Show and Sale, it is running until 15 December, 2019.

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Marketing Intern: Madison Gulenchyn

My time at the VAC has been so interesting, I haven’t been stuck behind a desk, I’ve been able to explore the true potential and creativity social media holds.

I’ve spent my days researching my social media posts by documenting them in action. Like when I visited Marissa Sweet’s Acrylic Landscape Painting class.

​It was so interesting to see the class in action. Rather than assuming how Marissa taught her class, I was able to meet her, talk to her and learn how she was teaching.
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Photographing the class was a breeze, Marissa is so inviting and engaging. She’s so sweet and that shines through in her teaching. Connecting with teachers and professional artists has been an interesting aspect of this internship. 

Connecting with teachers and professional artists has been an interesting aspect of this internship. ​

I recently joined in on a lesson when Courtice Secondary School’s Arts and Culture Specialist High Skills Major students came to visit, and took one of our school programs.

​The program was lead by a former VAC Education Coordinator Intern, Sam Jones. She worked with us through the Young Canada Works Internship program helped create education programs from JK- Grade 12 for visiting schools. 

Urban Visionaries was designed to look at Canada’s history including the early buildings in Bowmanville, like heritage sites. The course uses printmaking to look at ways to redevelop them for the community to use and explore for the future.

Something else I was fortunate enough to photograph was the Ron Benner exhibition in the third floor Loft Gallery.

The exhibition, Trans/mission: Barley-Corn-Maize, has been something beautiful to document. From the intricacies in the design of the exhibitions to the interesting story behind it, and the VAC.

I’ve even been able to connect the exhibition to National Holidays that we can celebrate through our social media channels.

There are wonderful photographs included in this exhibition to detail the history behind it, which is why we’re using them for May, which is National Photography Month! Stay tuned on our social media channels.

Most recently, I was able to watch the installation of Sameer Farooq’s exhibition, Boop Museum.

It was so interesting to watch boxes full of deaccessioned objects, turn into a beautiful, creative display.
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Being an intern at the VAC allowed me to meet Sameer and even help him move dolls out of his way, while he was labeling the names of the dolls!

For sure not something I 100 per cent saw myself doing during this internship, but definitely an interesting, niche experience that I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else!

​Blog post written by: Madison Gulenchyn