| J.E.A. Crake Art Critics at LargeThe Owens Art Gallery is pleased to announce a new student mentorship project—the J.E.A. Crake Art Critics at Large program. This professional development initiative is designed to give aspiring student writers the opportunity to work with an experienced art critic under circumstances similar to those of professional, independent art critics. Students work independently and as part of an editorial team developing content for an online art magazine that will be launched on Convocation Weekend (May 2021). During this internship, students will work under the supervision of Emily Falvey, Director/Curator of the Owens Art Gallery. Their work will be professionally edited and copyedited and they will receive feedback and mentorship in the fundamentals of art writing. They will also have the opportunity to discuss professional art criticism with several practicing art critics. The J.E.A. Crake Art Critics at Large for 2020-2021 are Shivanya Albas, Jordan Arsenault, Laika (Pollock) Dadoun, and Noah Lubendo. |
| Shivanya Albas is a second-year Bachelor of the Fine Arts student at Mount Allison University, with minors in Art History and Sociology. She was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley where, with the assistance and inspiration of committed helpers and family, she developed a burning desire to contribute something of value. Albas has risen to a position of leadership, citizenship, artistic and academic achievement in her community. She is a member of several groups across campus, including the Indigenous Student Support Group (ISSG), and is part of the Bennett House Executive as a Residence Assistant. Through the visual arts and courageous, inclusive storytelling, she is committed to creating a voice for those on the margins seeking the light. Her motto is, “If you’re destined to be a little odd, you might as well defy the odds.” Jordan Arsenault is currently a student at Mount Allison University who hopes to find work in the environmental field. He recently moved to Sackville from just outside Vancouver, British Columbia. In 2018, he was a volunteer with Katimavik in Winnipeg and Nanaimo. The following year, he was selected to attend the ECOSOC Youth Forum in New York with UNA-Canada, as well as the Prime Minister’s Youth Summit in Ottawa. While he isn’t entirely sure where he is headed in life, he knows there will be many amazing adventures along the way! Laika (Pollock) Dadoun is a third-year student in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Mount Allison, with a minor in Museum and Curatorial Studies. Her career aspirations shifted to arts and culture management in 2017, after volunteering as a curatorial assistant at Canada’s Penitentiary Museum, where she also worked subsequently as an attendant. This will be Dadoun’s second occasion working with the Owens, as she served previously as the J.E.A. Crake ArtsWork Accessibility Intern in 2019. Her academic and studio achievements include the Laura Sophia Wood Prize, which she received consecutively in 2019 and 2020. Noah Lubendo is an emerging writer based in Vancouver, Canada, and a student at Mount Allison University, where he majors in Political Science and minors in Sociology. As a poet and essayist, Lubendo is concerned with cultural hybridity, post-colonial thought, and Blackness as it relates to his Congolese heritage. His writing is influenced primarily by Ta-nehisi Coates, Jericho Brown, and Kendrick Lamar, and he hopes to publish a full-length manuscript soon. Although still improving his craft, Lubendo recently won the regional IPAC Student Thought and Leadership Award and was selected for publication by Vancouver Poetry House. |
| The J.E.A. Crake Art Critics at Large program was made possible with the generous support of the J.E.A. Crake Foundation and Mount Allison University. J.E.A. Crake ArtsWork Internships are intended to provide Mount Allison University students with opportunities for experiential learning and to enable them to explore career options in the Arts. |
| We would like to acknowledge, honour, and pay respect to the traditional owners and custodians—from all four directions—of the land on which we live. It is upon the unceded, ancestral lands of the L’nuk (Mi’kmaq) that the Owens Art Gallery is located. While this area is known as Sackville, New Brunswick, it is part of Siknikt, a district of the greater territory of Mi’kma’ki. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship,” which the Mi’kmaq Wolastoqiyik, and Peskotomuhkati first signed with the British Crown in 1725. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the physical spaces of the Owens Art Gallery and Colville House are currently closed to the public. To find out more about our online, onscreen, and off-site programs, please visit mta.ca/owens and umbrellaprojects.ca. |