Starting in the S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery, visitors saw featured artwork from VA 404 studio participants, including paintings, prints, and sculptures. Further into Building D, there was a creative writing workshop, a series of storytelling performances from the THEA 250 class, and an interactive video installation by Jie Yang that caused the image on a life-sized screen to light on fire when a person walked in a certain spot.
In Building D’s black box theatre, the enchanting Pages of Time was performed. This performance piece, devised by the THEA 452 class, was a multimedia event including projections, lighting, and sound alongside sculptures. Alex Simpson, a second-year student and actor in the show, enjoyed challenging the ideas around what theatre is.
“This was meant to be a performance, not a play, and we wanted it to be immersive. We wanted it to push some boundaries and do things that are a little bit different than would be a classically structured play.”
Pages of Time was first conceptualized as a book club meeting. When the audience entered the theatre, there were books surrounding them, hanging from the ceiling, made into art pieces, and even stacked on the audience’s seats. It was interactive, with actors milling around and chatting with visitors throughout the performance. As Simpson explained, the goal was to shift the audience’s expectations.
“It didn’t need to be what everyone expected as a play. That it could be a performance, and it could be expressionistic, it could be art.”
Simpson expressed that each performance was different — something the group embraced.
“Even with me being the book installation at the end, every single time I look different. Some people were not comfortable putting the books on top of me, they put them at my feet. Some people were more into it than others. That was sort of the enjoyment of it was to have it look very different.”
Outside between Buildings D and C is a new gazebo, built by UFV carpentry students and Sessional Instructor Patrick Watchorn, which set the stage for a variety of local musicians. Many attendees enjoyed the experience while eating food from nearby food trucks.
In Building C there was much to explore, including film screenings, free drop-in headshots, Media Arts capstone projects, a virtual reality exhibit, a pin-hole camera workshop, and an exhibit of visual art works from VA 404 students. Various art pieces lined the hallways, including 1848, a mixed media piece by Marie Brideau. 1848 is a dress made from found objects — most prominent were used Tim Hortons bags.
“Using a sewing machine to go through pieces of donut that has already dried up is, yeah, we don’t have to say more than that. It was horrible.”
Brideau wanted to symbolize the relationship between the used bags and the start of women’s suffrage in 1848. Just as women were underestimated, the piece is made from discarded, undervalued materials, fished out of UFV garbage cans by Brideau.
“I went through every garbage can in the school and collected as many of the bags as I could, it was disgusting… but it’s worth it.”
Through her time at UFV, Brideau has shifted from visual arts to theatre. Along the way she has had many learning opportunities, but has found curiosity to be her key to success.
“I think asking every question possible has been my go-to and I sound so stupid all the time, but I learn the most out of every second of the day and my work and my experiences just go tenfold compared to what I used to be like before I had the courage to ask those questions,” said Brideau, “you kind of learn by trial and error, which is nice, instead of being scared of trying.”
This was a snapshot of the amazing effort of UFV’s School of Creative Arts and Graphic + Digital Design; an inspiring experience, witnessing the creative efforts of these students. Such an event is an immense amount of work by students and staff alike, which Simpson appreciates.
“The students here are very fortunate to have the faculty and the level of involvement and passion that goes on in this building.”
