Luke Pardy, a third-year student in the BFA program with a double extended minor in visual arts and art history, and Erin Caskey, a third-year student in the BFA program with a major in visual arts, were interviewed together and are both executive members of the Visual Arts Student Association (VASA) at UFV.
How did you both get involved with VASA?
Caskey: I got involved in October of 2018 and was asked to take over as president because there unfortunately wasn’t a lot of interest, but I was one of the only ones to show interest in taking over. Eventually I was able to get a good group together, with some now on the council. It was sort of like the blind leading the blind. Unfortunately we didn’t end up getting a lot of events off the ground. But when October of last year came around I was poking around trying to figure out if I’d have to be president for another year. Then someone recommended Luke to me.
Pardy: I was interested in joining VASA then all of a sudden became president.
What was your transition to becoming president like?
Pardy: It was definitely a challenge, and even just to get a committee going again was a challenge. But I found that once people learned that we were trying to do more, people became very interested. I think we’ve had a successful first few months since I took over in October. In December we collaborated with the School of Creative Arts, the Theatre Students Association, the UFV Music Association, and the English Students Association to do a showcase night in Evered Hall. That was a really successful event, and we were really happy with the turnout.
How else are you trying to engage students?
Pardy: Student engagement can be hard to get on some campuses, especially commuter campuses like ours. We want to appeal to those living in residence and those commuting. In February we’re having an event that’s a movie marathon to celebrate Black History Month and to showcase the work of black artists. It’ll be in the visual art resource room [C1001 UFV Abbotsford]. We have a projector in there too. We’re also in the works of planning some workshops to help students further their arts training.
Caskey: We’re trying to collaborate with the Fraser Valley Watermedia Society to have some demos. They came to us and showed interest in working with us and to do workshops together. They do any type of art that involves water. We’re still trying to finalize dates for the event.
Pardy: I’m also arranging some field trips to art galleries like the Contemporary Art Gallery of Vancouver and the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver.
Tell us about your regular meetings and how students can get involved.
Pardy: We meet every other Thursday in the visual arts resource room. All of the committee members show up and it’s open to all visual arts students who would like to give their input. We always want to hear new ideas for events; it doesn’t mean we can make it all happen, but we are open to suggestions.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Follow VASA on social media to find out about meeting times and upcoming events. Facebook: UFV Visual Art Student Association. Instagram: @ufv.vasa
