FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 10, 2017
Once Upon Water art residency in the Azores announces its twenty multidisciplinary artists selected from around the globe.
Artists from the Caribbean, New Zealand, Belgium, and across Canada and the USA will explore material and magical notions of water in this new art residency by Arts Unfold taking place in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, June 20 – 30, 2017.
Media contact: Teresa Ascencao info@onceuponwater.com
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Once Upon Water art residency in the Azores announces its twenty multidisciplinary artists and designers selected from around the globe. They are coming from as far as the Caribbean, New Zealand, Belgium, and across Canada and the United States to explore material and magical notions of water in this new art residency by Arts Unfold taking place in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, June 20 – 30, 2017.
The Artists will explore tangible and intangible concepts of water through media of their choice: Wade Comer a Canadian photographic artist will circumnavigate the island to create a “super-compressed” image of the entire coast; Valérie Delahaye a moving image and graphic artist from Belgium will explore an Atlantis based metaphorical world; Sue Pickernell-Crow born in New Zealand will create ad-hoc water distillation units from materials washed up on shore; Canadian artist Shelley Ouellet will research and expand on her beaded sculptures of water; Pankaj Brijlani an emerging Canadian photo and video artist born in India will work to find his voice amongst themes of water; Caribbean and conceptual photographer Nadia Huggins will explore fishermen’s lost and abandoned nets and lines in the ocean depths; Moses Hacmon an American artist and architect born in Israel is moving his controlled photographic lab technique to natural island locations to capture a hidden life of water; Liza Philosof an American visual artist and graphic designer born in Israel will create a live underwater artwork inspired by Watsu, a form of aquatic bodywork; Kimberly Collins Jermain an American painter will snorkel to create colour studies of the inter-tidal zone while underwater; Karen Curry a Canadian visual artist based on Gabriola Island will create paintings focused on how water is impacting the shorelines of Pico; June Burden a former high school teacher from the United States will work with paper pulp and embedded found objects; Judy Major-Girardin a Canadian painter and graphic artist will derive her imagery from transition areas between the land and sea; Jessica Lin a Canadian photo-based artist will collect photos and experiment to create artworks based on jellyfish; Jasmine Baetz a ceramics artist will work with inspirations of fire and water from her Zoroastrian ancient Persia roots; Holly McClellan is a Canadian photo-based artist who will examine seaweed by combining still life and painting within the camera; Helena Wadsley is a Canadian artist who will make sculptures of historical Azorean boats using local materials and traditional woad dye; Haley Uyeda a Canadian artist will use light to mimic water and express its affective, metaphysical and mysterious qualities in cut canvas paintings and works on paper; American photographic artist Felice Simon will be shooting “through” water – from below and from above – to evoke mystery and a sense of wonder; Camila Galofre a Latin American contemporary landscape artist born in Colombia and living Arizona will make a series of portraits of the transformational properties of water; and Alex Franz Zehetbauer an Austrian-American eco-feminist and performance artist will develop an aquatic vocal language inspired by ancient yodelling to communicate with Earth’s waters. For details on the artists visit OnceUponWater.com/artists-2017.
Once Upon Water is a ten-day art residency on Pico island, Azores, to create artworks about the material and magical notions of water. Water is in constant flow and yet may present itself as still ~ a mirror that mesmerizes. In this state its reflective surface invites gazing at our physical selves, but also beyond our bodies to contemplate both our inner experiences and relationships with the outer world. During Once Upon Water, resident artists socialize and integrate with people from Pico island in the town of Madalena through its assistant partner MiratecArts and the Azores Fringe Festival events. This thematic and programmed residency consists of facilitation by Multimedia Artist Teresa Ascencao, a guided ocean floor tour in the OceanEye glass bottom boat, a guest artist “water workshop” with Choreographer and Dancer Ana Sofia Sousa, and plenty of studio time at Centro de Formação Artística (Artistic Development Centre). There will be a closing event on Thursday June 29, whereby artists present their creative explorations about water to the public.
Once Upon Water is a creation of Arts Unfold, which produces art and design projects in Canadian and European communities to foster greater understandings of social and environmental conditions. Teresa Ascencao, the Art Director of Arts Unfold, is a Multimedia Artist and environmentalist who recently collaborated on Water Portals, an interactive work of digitally rendered water ripples triggered by live dancers bodies. She is both a Canadian and Portuguese citizen (of Azorean parents) and who lives and works in Toronto and teaches at OCADU.
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Residency dates: June 20 – 30, 2017
Closing event: Thursday June 29, 10am to 8pm
Where: Madalena, Pico, Azores
*Not all locations are wheel chair accessible. Please inquire about accessibility.
More information: OnceUponWater.com/artists-2017 and ArtsUnfold.com
Media Contact: Teresa Ascencao info@onceuponwater.com