Perceptions
2021 BFA Graduating Exhibition April 17th to May 15th
Perceptions is Thompson Rivers University’s (TRU) 2021 Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) graduating class’ exhibition. This year, our graduates have taken a hybrid approach in showing their work in and around the TRU Art Gallery as well as at a number of off-site locations. This approach is motivated, in part, by the students’ collective interest in having a presence on campus—the usual gallery venue on campus—and in the broader Kamloops community. The use of community-based locations follows student learning of the wide range of alternative practices and venues that are an important aspect of contemporary art. Despite the challenges of the past year TRU has kept its studios open to the students and they, in turn, have created the artworks for our wider community.
The map below will guide you to Perceptions’ various locations and to information about each artist and their works. Careful consideration has been given to providing venues with little or no need for social interaction, such as street facing window spaces to social distancing and wearing masks in the TRU Art Gallery. During the exhibition TRU’s Art Gallery will be open during the following times: Tuesdays 2pm-5pm; Thurdays 5pm to 8pm; Saturdays 2pm to 5pm. Please watch for any updated information and links, as well as any COVID-19 updates. You can contact us at bfamoreinfo@tru.ca.
The 2021 BFA students would like to thank the faculty and staff of TRU’s Visual Arts program, Amplified Café, The Kamloops Museum and Archives, REpublic, the Rice Bowl Rose Garden, Home Depot, Finn Modder, Brendan Shaw, the TRU Student Society, the Visual Arts Student Society and TRU’s Learning Technology & Innovation team for their time and support in bringing Perceptions to fruition.
Artists
Elsie Joe
Elsie Joe is an interdisciplinary artist who grew up on the outskirts of Merritt B.C. Since childhood, she has had an interest in arts and crafts, often found creating works in mud and rocks or drawing and painting where she shouldn’t. At her mother’s urging, she enrolled in Thompson Rivers University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts…
Janet McChesney
Born in Vancouver, Janet McChesney spent most of her life in Toronto. After gaining an HBA in Economics and Political Science, she worked in various managerial roles with a global corporation and visited many areas of the world. This gave her the opportunity to learn about different cultures and art. Not until retirement did Janet…
Junxiang Ma
A Chinese international student, Ma Junxiang came to Canada in 2014. Through his Fine Arts studies, Jun found his niche in painting and his current body of work focuses on that interest. The first of his large scale series Observation Through Water, looks at water surfaces and how, even though transparent, the fluctuations of that…
Kaitlyn Heaney
Kaitlyn Heaney was born and raised in Kamloops and was fortunate to spend a year with extended family in the Yukon. After working fulltime for four years to fund her post-secondary education, she enrolled in Thompson Rivers University. There she furthered her skills in drawing and began painting. Drawing has always been a part of…
Laura Amethyst Mackenzie
Artist’s Statement Colour Digital Photo Series – Who’s Who of North American Wildlife My work questions land use and colonization using photo-based artwork in reference to realism and created mythologies. Through photography, my subject of animals in fabricated settings asks questions. Epic depictions of taxidermied wildlife in sculptural and painted scenes show the animals as…
Laurie Mackie
Laurie Mackie is an artist, photographer and writer currently residing in Barriere. After thirty-plus years in the accounting and taxation fields, she returned to school in 2011 determined to explore her love of words and the creation of story. Following the granting of her B.A. in Creative Writing and intrigued by the relationship between word…
Yue Li
An international student from China, Yue began her education at TRU in the BBA program. After two years, however, she returned to the arts which had been a major part of her life since childhood. Canada’s environment and geography broadened her artistic vision and concepts, giving her a new creative direction. Combining elements of Chinese…