Visual arts & new media

AFA Workshop - Community Support Organization Operating program

Both workshops are full. Thank you for your interest. 

Free live tutorial workshops:

  • Friday, February 4 @ 1:30 – 2:30 pm; or
  • Thursday, February 10 @ 1:30 – 2:30 pm
  • Please note that this workshop is intended for current applicants (i.e. already undergone eligibility assessment)

The workshop will focus on how to navigate through the new GATE Front Office online application system by going through each of the steps and required documents to submit your final report and complete a new application.

  • The GATE online application system went through a significant version upgrade, which includes a new design and look of the Front Office portal. Front Office is the name of the GATE portal you use to apply for an AFA grant or submit a final report.

The workshop will help you prepare for Community Support Organizations Operating Funding (March 1, 2022 grant deadline).

Space is limited and seats will be reserved on a first come, first serve basis.

To register for a session, please email your attendance request to Cynthia.Enzenhofer@gov.ab.ca.

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Free grant workshop in February for current applicants to the Community Support Organization operating funding program.

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AFA Workshop - Community Support Organization Operating program
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Free grant workshop in February for current applicants to the Community Support Organization operating funding program.

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Free grant workshop in February for current applicants to the Community Support Organization operating funding program.

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Survey Results | The New Experience Economy - Wave 6

This research was conducted in six waves over the course of 2020 and 2021. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the sixth wave of research are now available.

Findings for Alberta organizations from Wave 6 results include:

  • Comfort has developed into a very predictable pattern that follows case numbers and now vaccine rates.
  • Albertans will return at their own pace; participation hinges on personal comfort but also personal risk tolerance.
  • There is a consensus that there will be less of a return to “normal” but rather a new way of doing things moving forward.
  • Because Albertans have spent the past year and half discovering new things to do, the selection of what they can choose from now is quite vast.
  • Spending habits are in flux, and at this point it is difficult to predict where Albertans will direct their money in the short term.

What are the implications for Alberta organizations?

  • Even as restrictions have been removed, organizations still need to deal with comfort. As it stands, there is clear hesitancy in the audience and it will be important to communicate safety measures to make audiences comfortable when re-engaging.
  • Organizations should keep in mind that public sentiment is a more useful barometer over government announcements. Gauging expectations for increased participation to occur will be based on a combination of comfort and risk tolerance.
  • Organizations should expect more permanent (structural) changes to stick around – specifically related to organizational transparency, flexibility with refunds, new payment options, etc. These should be things that organizations consider keeping even if they are no longer required by the government.
  • The main consideration for organizations remains flexibility – in terms of payment options, participation options, etc. This will allow for consideration on different levels as Albertans suss out how they want to direct their spending.

Download the reports:

About the project

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative was funded by:

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6th and final wave of results of a long-term study to gauge Alberta audiences' attitudes towards returning to live arts and culture venues and events.

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AFA Artists and Education Funding Opportunity workshops

Join us for an an informative workshop at the Teacher's Conventions regarding our Artists and Education Funding opportunity that the AFA offers. AFA's Arts Development Consultant Jodie Vandekerkhove will discuss the guidelines, talk about how to make a rich proposal and discuss how the projects are evaluated through our adjudication process, which is highly competitive.

Register for the virtual sessions:


 

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Teacher's Convention workshop to learn more about the AFA Artists and Education Funding Opportunity and how to enhance your proposal.

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Residential Schools Memorial - government is seeking Indigenous Artists

On June 25, 2021, the Alberta government announced it would work with Indigenous communities to establish a permanent memorial on the Alberta legislature grounds for the victims of the residential school system.

Indigenous artists can submit a Expression of Interest for a memorial on legislature grounds to honour residential school students who never came home.

Funding

Up to $1 million.

Eligible applicants

This Request for an Expression of Interest is open to the following categories of Indigenous artists from or living in Alberta:

  • individual artist
  • artist-led teams
  • artist collectives
  • partnerships of artists

Recent familial connections to Alberta First Nations or with the Metis Settlements and Métis Nation Regions are required.

Deadline

Deadline to apply: July 29 at 2 pm MT.

For more info:

news release

Learn more on eligibility requirements and how to apply by clicking on the pink button below.

For further information or to set up an informational meeting please contact ir.rscrg@gov.ab.ca.

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The history of the AFA Art Collection

On September 29, 2022, we marked the 50th Anniversary of the AFA Art Collection. As part of the celebrations, we are sharing snippets from the history of the collection. Learn more about the celebrations

By Erin McDonald (former Manager of the AFA Art Collection) and Gail Lint

50 years ago, the Government of Alberta set aside $50,000 to fund annual art acquisition – a relatively small pebble dropped into the pond of Alberta’s finances. But the ripples from that pebble continue today through the AFA Art Collection, one of the strongest, most active provincial Art collections in Canada.

Beginning in 1972, the Alberta Art Foundation (AAF) Collection was proposed as an opportunity to support and encourage Alberta artists by purchasing original works, as well as creating a legacy collection for the people of Alberta. (The AAF was the first of three government arts foundations that were eventually amalgamated to form the AFA in 1991. Learn more about the creation of the AFA.)

To commemorate the creation of the collection, Minister Horst A. Schmid was the first donor of original artwork to the collection: Portrait of Don Getty, a print featuring former Alberta Premier Don Getty’s Edmonton Elks (formerly "Eskimos") player card. The artwork received the inaugural accession number, 1972.001.001.

Portrait of Don Getty, Unknown

Portrait of Don Getty, Unknown Artist

The collection began to grow after that initial donation, through the generosity of a number of donors, including artists Janet Mitchell and James and Marion Nicoll. The Nicolls were enthusiastic supporters of the collection for many years, including a 1981 donation of 421 artworks by both themselves and others represented in their permanent collection, including a landscape painting, by their peer Ted Faiers.

Untitled, Ted Faiers, 1947, oil on panel

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the art collection grew through the support of donors, and the art acquisition by submission program – which remains a cornerstone of our overall collecting program, the Art Acquisition by Application program. Another avenue for collecting was the Curatorial Acquisition Program. Notably, 1981 featured the purchased acquisition of The Alaska Highway Series by artists Evelyn McBryan and Eupehemia McNaught of Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge, Alberta. The series includes 34 sketches, coloured drawings and paintings documenting the construction of the Alaska Highway during World War II. The artists were granted permission by Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, to access the area. The artworks have been displayed in numerous exhibitions including the AFA Travelling Exhibition program (TREX).

Suspension Bridge, Peace River, (Alaska Highway Series), Euphemia McNaught, n.d., ink and pencil crayon on paper

Several programs were implemented to provide access to the collection, including the launch of the Travelling Exhibition (TREX) program in 1981, supporting publications with images from the holdings, and participating in major exhibitions. For example, the 1986 blockbuster effort Spaces and Places: Eight Decades of Landscape Painting in Alberta, which travelled across Canada and included new acquisitions such as this work by Dulcie Foo Fat.

Red Rock Canyon, Dulcie Foo Fat, 1978, oil on canvas

Of course, the creation of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts in 1991 resulted in renewed interest and passion for the collection. A curatorial purchase program, supported by annual allocations to the AFA, increased the holdings and continued to support artists directly and indirectly. By 1994, the AFA was in a position to take advantage of our status as a Category ‘A’ institution, and artworks were submitted for Cultural Property Certification through the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. Some of these became seminal works in our public art placement program, such as a 1995 estate donation of a welded steel sculpture by Peter Hide which stands today at the Misericordia Hospital grounds.


Squashed Freemason, Peter Hide, 1983-1986, welded steel  

In 2001, in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the AFA Art Collection, Alberta curator Mary-Beth Laviolette wrote a celebratory piece for Alberta Views magazine. The article is a testament to the importance of “the legacy of the collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA).”

From somewhat humble beginnings, through the ups and downs of the economy, the AFA Art Collection has continued to grow, and support Alberta artists. With more than 9,223 artworks in 2021, cared for by a team of dedicated professionals in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Edmonton, the AFA Art Collection today is the premier repository of original artwork created by more than 1,700 Alberta artists. The value of this collection for exhibition and research far exceeds its current insurance valuation of $17.4 million.

Through both a focused vision and the ability to seize opportunity, the collection tells a unique story of the visual art development and activity in the Alberta visual arts scene throughout the past 50 years. Any attempt to create a collection of this calibre and legacy could not be realized today.

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50 years ago, the GoA set aside $50,000 to fund annual art acquisition, the ripples from which continue today in the AFA Art Collection.

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Survey Results | The New Experience Economy - Wave 1

Like the rest of the world, Alberta is navigating a new reality brought by a pandemic that is changing public life and re-shaping our economy. Organizations in the arts, culture, sports, recreation, tourism and hospitality sectors, all which rely on live, group experiences, are grappling with new challenges. Organizations need to be prepared for a change in audience behaviour. The question is what that will look like, now and over the coming months.

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative is being funded by: 

This research is being conducted in six waves over the course of the next year with the first wave of results (based on surveys conducted between May 21 and June 2, 2020) now available.

This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the first wave of research are now available.

Download the reports:

You can subscribe to receive notifications when the new reports are available by visiting stone-olafson.com

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Alberta Artist Profile | Marigold Santos

Marigold Santos. Photo credit: Stacey Watson

Get to know an Alberta artist! There are more than 1,700 Alberta artists included in the AFA collection, and many of them are new or emerging contemporary artists. We are taking an opportunity to highlight some artists from the collection whose artwork is currently on exhibition or on tour. 

By Kimberly Van Nieuvenhuyse, Writer/Social Media Officer

Meet Alberta artist Marigold Santos

Born in Manila, Philippines and immigrating to Canada in the late 1980s, Filipinx-Canadian artist Marigold Santos is an interdisciplinary artist. Her practice ranges from drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and tattoo.

I had an opportunity to ask Marigold a few questions about her artistic practice, how her work as a tattoo artist influences her other artistic work and what her favourite part of the art-making process is!

Alberta Foundation for the Arts: How did you start making art?

Marigold Santos: I’ve always been creative and found myself drawn to making things ever since I was a child. I went through a period in my early post-secondary education where I stubbornly fought off my inevitable journey into art school by taking social sciences and religious studies in the first couple years of school. But when I realized that I was denying what comes most natural, I took some time off and went back to school to do my Fine Arts degree at the University of Calgary, and then I never looked back.

AFA: What is it like being an artist in Alberta?

MS: The art communities in Calgary and Edmonton are the ones I am the most familiar with as they are the cities I spend the most time in, and I find the people engaged and involved and quite open and supportive of each other. The greater public of Alberta also seem to be keen on supporting the arts.

Marigold Santos, Flight, 2013. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

AFA: What is a misconception people have about artists?

MS: There are two misconceptions that I find most often and they relate to each other. The first is that art making is easy and that the life of an artist is less tiresome than other professions. And the second would be that artists are able to ‘channel’ their negative (and positive) experiences into their work and therefore your art is always an outlet. To address the first one, art making involves so much personal management and discipline, research, exploration and experimentation, and a lot of trial and error that is not for the faint of heart. There is also so many behind-the-scenes aspects of art making, from grant writing and proposals and submissions, to art storage and shipping, to coordinating and communicating with galleries that require balance and attentiveness on the part of the artist. And in terms of the second misconception—if it were only that easy.

AFA: Tell me about your practice.

MS: My work is informed by my diasporic experience and is presented in many drawings and sculptures, paintings and installations that address self-hood and identity as a result. The focus is in the many ways our landscapes (social, geographical and psychological) can shape us and how in turn the multiplicity and fragmentation of self that can occur when navigating various experiences can be something celebrated and embraced.

AFA: What inspires you?

MS: Part of reflecting on my family’s immigration is considering what we ‘take’ with us and what we ‘leave’ behind, and in my situation because I was a small child, I realized that what I took with me was the folkloric stories of the Philippines that I was told as a child. Specifically, the character of the asuang (also spelled aswang), who is a scary and evil creature of folklore who takes on many shapes and personalities depending on who is telling the narrative and what region it comes from. In my work, the asuang becomes reconfigured from a malevolent creature, to one of strength and empowerment. And in my work, the asuang becomes a way for me to address contemporary issues of fragmented and multiple self-hoods. 

Marigold Santos, Of Wicker, acrylic on linen, 2016. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. 

AFA: You are also a tattoo artist—how does that influence your other artistic work?

MS: Tattooing came to me because it was another way to make a mark. I have been receiving/collecting tattoos since I was 18, and it was an important way for me to create an image-symbol on my skin that represented something important in my life along the way.

I didn’t consider being the person to give the tattoos until a couple years ago, and I decided I wanted to incorporate the technique into my practice, as it was a way for me to acknowledge the importance of ink in my pre-colonial heritage of the Philippines where there was a rich hand-poke tribal tattooing tradition. It was also a way for me to give access to my work in a different way than conventional ways, to open up my art-making practice where there is an intimacy between someone else and myself through the act of tattooing, as well as to enrich my knowledge base and to learn a new skillset through trading and sharing knowledge with other tattoo practitioners, who are, for the most part, women.

AFA: What is your favourite part of the art-making process?

MS: My favourite part of art-making is how selfishly absorbed I am in the process from beginning to end, and watching a work develop, and really only being able to digest it once it has been completed. Sometimes I am so hyper-focused when making a work that when it is finally finished, I often forget how I got there because, as silly as it might sound, I sometimes feel like I was in a trance!

AFA: What do you want viewers to take away from your work?

MS: That I am a feminist.

AFA: Your work is in the AFA art collection. How does that make you feel knowing that your work is part of an art collection that belongs to all Albertans?

MS: I think it’s very cool that I am part of the AFA collection, because it makes me feel woven with the culture and community that helped me create foundations in my art experience. It is rewarding to be recognized as a practicing artist whose dedication and commitment to their research, experimentation, and work creates an impact worth investing in.

AFA: Who is your favourite Alberta artist?

MS: I don’t have just one favourite, but to list some Alberta artists who I find hardworking and inspiring are Amy Malbeuf, Robin Arsenault, Kablusiak, Jane Trash, Stacey Watson, Foonyap, Nicole Kelly Westman, Tia Halliday, and Katie Ohe.

You can see Marigold Santos’ most recent exhibition, MALAGINTO at the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina. It is on view until January 12, 2020.

Explore the AFA Collection.

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Alberta Artist Profile | Karrie Arthurs

Get to know an Alberta artist! There are more than 1,700 Alberta artists included in the AFA collection, and many of them are new or emerging contemporary artists. We are taking an opportunity to highlight some artists from the collection whose artwork is currently on exhibition or on tour. 

By: Kimberly Van Nieuvenhuyse, Writer/Social Media Officer

Meet Alberta artist Karrie Arthurs

Karrie Arthurs is a Calgary-based artist who works with paper, ink and… skin! A long-time tattoo artist, Karrie says her two artistic practices influence one another—almost melding together.

I had an opportunity to find out more about Karrie’s artistic practice and why she has a special connection to the paper she uses in her artwork.

Alberta Foundation for the Arts: What is your background?

KA: I received a BFA with Distinction, major in Drawing, from the Alberta Art and College of Design (now the Alberta University for the Arts) in 2000. I’ve had representation with the Christine Klassen Gallery since 2012. I have been actively tattooing for almost 20 years and have had my own shop since 2007 in Calgary. 

AFA: How did you start making art?

KA: As far back I can remember making art was essential to survival. It assisted me in problem solving and trying to understand issues that effected me. It gave me a voice and a means of expression.

Karrie Arthurs, Locked Doors, mixed media on antique charcoal portrait, 2016. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

AFA: How does living in Alberta impact your art?

KA: I’m always inspired by my immediate surroundings and life experiences. Particularly in Alberta it’s the landscape and the people that effect my practice; the mountains, the vivid seasons, the harsh winters, the steadfast settlers, the driven pioneers.

AFA: What is like being an artist in Alberta?

KA: I have never lived anywhere else so being as artist in Alberta is all I know. Seems pretty great to be honest. There is a good community here.

AFA: What is a misconception people have about artists?

KA: That it’s hobby and not a career. And we are either brooding or whimsical.

AFA: Tell me about your practice?

KA: For several years now I have sourced and collected a large amount of “antique” paper, envelopes, documents, portraits etc. Some dating 150 years old or more. This is the material I drawn on with ink, charcoal and chalk primarily.

AFA: What inspires you?

KA: Everything inspires me. Music, a phrase of words, my personal relationships, the landscape, how I feel in relation to others, my childhood...everything.

AFA: You are also a tattoo artist—how does that influence your other artistic work?

KA: Being a tattooer and an artist I get a lot of visuals, sometimes it’s over-saturated. One bleeds into the other because I’m inspired by both. Since I’ve been doing both for so long now the two practices sort of meld into one another and they no longer look very separate. It’s all mark making in the end whether it’s commission based or for my own practice.

Karrie Arthurs, Family Revenants, mixed media on antique charcoal portrait, 2016. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

AFA: What is your favourite part of the art-making process?

KA: Probably when I’m in the process executing the image in my head into something tangible.

AFA: What do you think sets your work apart from other artists?

KA: I think what sets me apart is my relationship with the paper I’m using. It’s like a person. It’s been kept and treasured and had many hands on it, it almost has a soul. I like to keep the papers as much as I do use them to make art.

AFA: How do you want people to feel about your art? What do you want them to take away from your work?

KA: I want memories evoked. Past memories. When the viewer can see something in my work and relate it to a memory of their own that’s incredible. I want to viewer to also think about time, aging, death, tradition, transition and other things related to the past.

AFA:  Your work is in the AFA art collection—how does that make you feel knowing that your work is part of an art collection that belongs to all Albertans?

KA: When I was in college I was able to go through the AFA Collection in its entirety in person, alone. It was humbling and memorable. Having my work in this collection is a dream come true. To be recognized by Albertans to leave a mark for all Albertans is incredible. I’m very humbled.

Karrie Arthurs, Sleeping Ghosts, mixed media on antique charcoal portrait, 2016. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

AFA: Who is your favourite artist?

KA: I’m a Chris Cran fan.

AFA: Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

KA: Well I probably don’t look like any other artist in the collection. I have nice face tattoos and four gold teeth, haha!

AFA: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

KA: Just thanks a million, for liking my work enough and seeing something in it that you wanted to share with Albertans.

You can see Karrie’s work in person as it travels the province as part of the TREX exhibition Permanence of Ink. The exhibition is curated by Danielle Ribar of the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie and is on tour now through 2020.

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Survey Results | The New Experience Economy - Wave 3

This research is being conducted in six waves over the course of the next year. This is a community resource that is FREE to access and results from the third wave of research are now available. 

Findings for Alberta organizations from Wave 3 results include:

  • Community attitudes on comfort are becoming entrenched.
  • Risk tolerance provides a richer understanding of how Albertans will approach engagement.
  • Right now audiences indicate they need to hear experiences will be safe and fun.
  • Capitalize on desire for shared experiences but with a focus on innovation and intimacy.
  • The intersection of cohorts, shared experiences, and risk tolerance means audiences will engage, but appear to be doing so with their cohorts in mind - "will this put my friends/family at risk?". 

What are the implications for Alberta organizations?

  • Comfort with conditions and other people has dampened willingness to actually engage in their usual activities. It is likely this variable is an additional barrier impacting final consideration of participating in activities.
  • The benefits you offer and the messaging you broadcast must overcome that broader interpretation of risk. Whereas risk used to be overcome simply by appealing to the motivations of the individual, now we will have to assuage safety/health concerns that impact the people around the individual (i.e. safety measures are not just for you; they are for those around you.)
  • Knowing who you can reach, what to offer them and what to say will be critical as organizations plan how to engage audiences in the coming months.
  • Right now audiences indicate they need to hear the experiences they will have are safe and fun. This is critical for building confidence and organizations need to reinforce those dual messages of safety/comfort with enjoyment. The weight of each type of message will vary depending on how risk tolerant the audience is.
  • Audiences need to hear they will be able to have the desired shared experiences but that the experience is safe (for them and their cohort). To balance those needs of social, safety, and fun, organizations will need to develop and continuously reinvent (often many times over) the types of small group offerings that deliver this.
  • Opportunities exist for organizations in the experience economy to engage Albertans by balancing the notion of cohorts with shared experiences. Show them how to engage with their entire cohort or at least show the activity will not put their cohort at risk.

Download the reports:

You can subscribe to receive notifications when the new reports are available by visiting stone-olafson.com

About the project

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts is pleased to be a funding partner in this collaboration with Stone-Olafson and other community leaders to develop a long-term research investigation and evaluate how current conditions will reshape Albertans’ attitudes and behaviours towards social and group activities, across a variety of sectors. The purpose of this work is to give leaders of community sports, recreation, arts and culture, professional sports, active living, heritage, tourism or hospitality sectors relevant facts about local audiences that they will need to bring life back to our communities.

The initiative is being funded by: 

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Third wave of results of a long-term study to gauge Alberta audiences' attitudes towards returning to live arts and culture venues and events.

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Alberta Artist Profile | Allison Tunis

Get to know an Alberta artist! There are more than 1,700 Alberta artists included in the AFA collection, and many of them are new or emerging contemporary artists. We're taking an opportunity to highlight some artists from the collection whose artwork is currently on exhibition or on tour.  

By: Kimberly Van Nieuvenhuyse, Writer/Social Media Officer

Meet Alberta artist Allison Tunis

Allison has a life-long love for art going back to when she was a young child. She started embroidery and cross-stitching in her early teens as a hobby. When she was in her last year of her Fine Arts degree, she starting to combine the conceptual work she was doing with the cross-stitch embroidery she had loved for years.  

I had a chance to chat with Allison to find out more about her practice, what it’s like to work as an artist in Alberta and who her favourite Alberta artist is (hint: it’s our province’s first Artist in Residence!).

Alberta Foundation for the Arts:  Tell me about your practice.

Allison Tunis: I have two ways of working really, as I have two very different mediums that I work in. My embroidery practice is something that I have honed over the last 20 years, and while it is always improving still, it is a healing process for me and is designed to be a comfortable practice. I work in a big squishy armchair in my living room, with tea on hand, and I spend a lot of hours just sitting and stitching, with a bit of computer design and digital planning in the beginning stages.

However, I am also currently the artist-in-residence at Harcourt House, an artist-run centre, and my studio practice is quite a bit different. For this residency, I am developing a series of large-scale mixed-media paintings that involve gel photo transfers, text and embroidery, as well as an interactive installation to explore themes about our society’s use of language towards and about fatness and its effects on people, such as myself. This is a much more expressive practice for me, although this particular residency involves a fair amount of research and repetitive data entry in the beginning stages.

AFA: What’s it like being an artist in Alberta?

AT: Being an artist in Alberta is very exciting in my opinion. While we may not have the same reputation as some of the larger cities such as Vancouver and Toronto, the support artists get in Edmonton and Alberta is fabulous. I have been privileged to be offered some unique opportunities to have my work travel around Alberta, including with the TREX program, and bring my concepts and techniques to venues outside of large cities and to audiences that may not normally engage with art is an amazing feeling.

AFA: What inspires you?

AT:  I’m inspired by communities that form out of hardship and the resilience of people. The work I do is heavily influenced by real individuals in our (larger) communities and the need for diverse and authentic representation in art and media. The abilities of human beings to persevere and create positive change out of trauma and hurt is amazing, and I strive to use my art to heal, acknowledge and share from my own experiences.

Image Credit: Allison Tunis, Sam, embroidery on cloth, 2017. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. 

AFA: How do you want people to feel about your art?

AT: I don’t have a certain way I want people to feel about my art, but I do hope that my art challenges people to think about some of the ways our media and art has regulated what we consider to be beautiful, what we consider to be valuable, what we consider to be important. My work is asking questions, but not necessarily giving answers, and it’s up to viewers to decide how they feel and what they believe. I also hope that viewers that live in marginalized bodies are able to see themselves represented and validated in my works through literal visual representation and/or connections to broader human experiences and concepts.

AFA: What is your favourite part of the art-making process?

AT: My favourite part of the art-making process is the last hour of an embroidery piece. The sense of accomplishment after dozens (if not hundreds) of hours of work is wonderful, but also the details really only appear when you have all the stitches in place so it’s a beautiful moment of getting to finally see the whole picture of weeks and months of staring at blotches of colours.

AFA: Your work is in the AFA’s art collection. How does that make you feel knowing your work is part of an art collection that belongs to all Albertans? Note: Allison’s work came into the AFA collection through the Art Acquisitions by Application program.

AT: The fact that two of my pieces are in the AFA collection is almost surreal to me. I am so passionate about the work I create, and the fact that my province and home feel that my work is of the calibre that they would like to own it and show it to our communities is an honour. It’s also very exciting to think that these traditional techniques are still valued and can be used in ways to communicate new and impactful technology and concepts to Albertans and beyond.
 

Image Credit: Allison Tunis, Little Bear, embroidery on cloth, 2017. Collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

AFA: Who is your favourite Alberta artist?

AT: That’s a tough one! One of my favourites is Lauren Crazybull, the first Artist-in-Residence for Alberta. I’ve been familiar with her art practice and her work in the community for a while, and I am so excited to see that she has been selected for this new opportunity.

AFA: Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

AT: I was an abstract color-field painter for three out of four years of my Fine Art degree. I abruptly changed paths in my last year to focus on more conceptual works about bodies, sexuality and social issues.

AFA: Thank you for taking the time answer my questions, Allison!

AT: You’re welcome.

Allison has a BFA (2008) from the University of Alberta, with a focus on painting and drawing and also a Graduate Diploma from the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute (2014). In addition to her artistic practice, Allison also runs a Queer Youth Art Club for LGBTQIA2S+ youths twice a month. It’s a free space for young people ages 14-24 run out of the Alberta Sex Positive Education & Community Centre, where they can explore different art themes and materials, whilst building safe(r) communities.

Allison’s work from the AFA art collection can been seen in two Travelling Exhibition Program (TREX) exhibitions, including Real Women, developed by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Shane Golby. It will travel Alberta from now until August 2020. She is also has a new exhibition at Harcourt House that is on view until November 23, 2019.

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Get to know Alberta artist Allison Tunis! Learn more about Alberta artists included in the AFA art collection.

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