The Fredericton Arts Alliance marks its 20th year hosting summer artist residencies with a new format that pairs last year’s digital residency concept with new public pop-up engagements.
The Fredericton Arts Alliance marks its 20th year hosting summer artist residencies with a new format that pairs last year’s digital residency concept with new public pop-up engagements.
For the past several years, the FAA summer residency program made its home in the Barracks Square casemates on the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design campus. The arrival of COVID-19 forced many things to move online including FAA’s annual residencies, which saw last year’s participating artists creating and sharing their work through Facebook Live and other popular platforms.
As some restrictions are slowly being lifted, this year’s residencies will combine virtual and in-person events to create a series of hybrid residencies unlike any the FAA have hosted so far.
Over 10 weeks, painters, fibre artists, photographers, musicians and others will reflect on the theme of Looking Outward; Looking Inward, something FAA president Katie FitzRandolph calls, “an introspection forced on all of us by the constraints imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus.”
The summer series begins on June 27 featuring the work of photographer Melanie Courcelles who will create a series of self portraits while encouraging the public to capture and share their own.
Courcelles’ pop-up will take the form of a selfie station, installed in the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. The station will provide an opportunity for visitors to join Courcelles in her digital self-portrait project, reflecting on the impact of the pandemic by taking their own portraits using their cell phones at the station.
“When I think about looking inward/looking outward as a theme, I think about personal growth,” says Courcelles. “For some people it’s hard to express how you’re feeling inside. This project gives people an opportunity to be outwardly seen as well allowing them to see themselves inwards.”
The public are encouraged to follow both the FAA and photographer Melanie Courcelles on social media to learn more and engage with the project as it develops.
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