Mount Allison Fine Arts students work to connect Canadians with Nature

Exhibition opens May 18, 5-7 pm at Fundy National Park’s new Wolfe Lake Visitor Reception Centre, will be on display for 2018 season

SACKVILLE & ALMA, NB —Visitors to New Brunswick’s Fundy National Park will be able to enjoy the artwork of some of Mount Allison University Fine Arts students during the 2018 season. The exhibition, Observe, respond., featuring work created in response to the park by photography and sculpture students will open at the national park’s Wolfe Lake Visitor Reception Centre on May 18, 2018.

Ten Mount Allison students from two third-year Fine Arts classes taught by Leah Garnett and Karen Stentaford worked on site-specific projects at Fundy National Park during the winter semester. After visiting the national park, a first for many, the students creatively developed art proposals that reflected their experience in the natural environment and their relationship to the park. Then throughout development, students worked alongside a Parks Canada biologist, Indigenous guides, and environmental specialists in order to create their site-specific artworks.

“This experiential learning opportunity offers students the chance to work with an external organization,” says Stentaford, photography lecturer and technician at Mount Allison. “Through the project, they were able to engage in site-specific collaborative research, and to exhibit their work publicly in a professional context.”

All the students made at least one site visit to the park to develop project proposals and consulted with park staff about their research. In March, the entire group visited the park for a hands-on weekend work session. During this research-based weekend, students worked on proposed projects, guided by Garnett and Stentaford, as well as Fundy staff members. They continued their work on campus throughout the semester as part of their classes.

Mount Allison photography student Adrian Kiva participated in the class projects and similar ones previously. He says the park experiences have let him try new things, but also bring some of those ideas back to explore in his work in Sackville.

“Connecting Mount Allison art projects to the world of Fundy National Park enriches both organizations. It is more than just bringing art outside - it is bridging art and conservation, all while hopefully elevating the work done by park staff,” says Kiva. “I have enjoyed seeing the collaboration grow over three years, from camping and hikes to a full art show. I think it is especially rewarding for students to gain an understanding of the process of creating commissioned work from beginning to end and then to present their work to an audience outside of the university and outside of the art world.”

This exhibition builds on already established relationship between Mount Allison and the national park. In 2017, students in Stentaford’s Studies in Site and Place, open media course developed work in the Park for LandMarks2017, a nation-wide art initiative partnering artists, students and national parks to commemorate Canada 150. In 2015 the Department of Fine Arts developed a partnership with Fundy for students to participate in hands-on weekend work sessions and exhibition opportunities in the park.

“Canada’s national parks are gateways to nature, adventure, and discovery and this partnership with Mount Allison University will inspire Canadians to experience the outdoors in a new and creative way,” says Julie LeBlanc, Parks Canada Field Unit Superintendent for Southern New Brunswick. “Through an artistic lens, park visitors are given the opportunity to experience nature and connect with conservation, Indigenous knowledge, and local culture.”

Artwork can be found in both the Headquarters and Wolfe Lake Visitor Reception Centres, as well as site specific work along Black Horse Trail. The student artists featured in this exhibition are:

Visitor Centres

Curtis Coombs: Photography
Martha Elliott: Photography
Grace McLean: Floriography
Clara Patterson: Wood Carving + Photography
Jennifer McKelvay: Photography
Adrian Kiva: Photography

Black Horse Trail

Veronica Kerrigan: Audio
Sarah Noonan: Installation
London Silver: Installation
Agamemnon Kattis: Installation

Photo captions: Mount Allison student Adrian Kiva taking a light reading of classmate Grace McLean in Fundy National Park (photo credit: Jennifer McKelvay) . Mount Allison University students join talking circle lead by Anthony Bardwell during the Observe. respond. project preparation in Fundy National Park (photo credit: London Silver). Mount Allison photography student Jen McKelvey in Fundy National Park (image on homepage, photo credit: Adrian Kiva)