Naive Botany: A Natural History Guide to Installation Practice

Instructor: Sarah Alford
When: August 16-19 (Thursday-Sunday)
Where: Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre
Times: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Price: $550.00

Materials Not Included.

Registration Deadline: July 16, 2018

Supported through funding from private donors, the Critically Acclaimed Artist Program (CAP) is designed to attract high calibre national and international practicing artists to Sunbury Shores as instructors.

Sunbury Shores is dedicated to exposing practising artists and arts enthusiasts to the teachings and works of acclaimed Canadian and international contemporary artists in order to support the development of the arts in New Brunswick and plant new creative seeds in our communities.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In the nineteenth century, ‘botanizing’ became a craze. It was something you did on the seashore, in the meadows, or on the sidewalk. It was the act of observing, collecting, and identifying, in an attempt to understand the world in terms of its almost infinite myriad forms and faces. It was a way to become both lost and found. With botanizing as its framework, this course explores ways in which we might translate our daily observations and practices into another space and form such as a gallery installation. As starting points, this might include re-inhabiting the routine of a daily walk, identifying unconscious collection practices, or ways to rethink an already existing art or craft practice in terms of scale and experience. We will spend the course in discussion over examples and theories of installation, and take advantage of the natural setting of Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre to immerse ourselves in the creation of individual, barely begun, well-conceived, yet wildly imagined, installation proposals.
Participants do not need prior experience, but would need to bring materials that would help record their observations such as: a camera, notebook, drawing supplies, materials for samples, or anything that would help communicate their observations and ideas to the rest of the class.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:
Sarah Alford is a practicing artist and perpetual student with undergraduate degrees in Jewellery/Metalsmithing and Art History from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD). She was awarded a Fulbright to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned an MA in Visual and Critical Studies, and an MFA in studio through the department of Fibre and Material Studies. She taught art history and studio classes at NSCAD before becoming a PhD candidate in Art History and Art Conservation at Queen’s University, Kingston. She has exhibited across Canada, Scotland, and the United States, including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.