UNews - Roloff Beny Foundation

Department of Art Exhibition Celebrates U of L 50th Anniversary

trevor.kenney — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 20:32:01 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Homecoming celebrations are now behind us, but the Faculty of Fine Arts continues to celebrate the U of L’s 50th anniversary. Coming up next is the first of two 50th anniversary art exhibitions hosted by the Department of Art. Opening with a reception at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 15 at the Dr. Foster James Penny Building (324 – 5 Street S) is Aperture: Roloff Beny Photography Award Retrospective highlighting the digital art of past Roloff Beny award recipients.

The Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Awards, established in 2005, recognizes academic and artistic achievement of students with a focused interest in photo-arts by providing travel opportunities to complement the creative activity of outstanding students. Since its inception, the foundation has provided over $105,000 in bursaries to eligible photography students at the U of L. The funds are used to offset costs incurred by travel, photography equipment or supplies, and/or tuition or fees. For the first time the results of the bursaries will be put on display in one location.

From September 15 until September 29, 17 past recipients will display the works they created through these once-in-a-lifetime bursaries. Curated by art faculty member Devon Smither and past recipient Angeline Simon, the exhibition includes a selection of works in a variety of styles and approaches as the artists explore themes connected to travel and exploration, both physical and psychological.

The exhibition includes photographs and multi-media work by award recipients William Austin (2015/2016), Morgan Bath (2014/2015), Katie Bruce (2010/2011), Lana Gabor (2005/2006), Jamie Girodat (2014/2015), Amornthep Jaidee (2008/2009), Nicole Lalonde (2011/2012), Chip McCleary (Dylan Dobbie; 2016/2017), Chris Myhr (2006/2007), Jaime Vedres (2006/2007), Meghan MacWhirter (2016/2017), Evan Peacock (2013/2014), Elena Petzold (2014/2015), Arianna Richardson (2011/2012), Daniel Schrempf (2015/2016), Angeline Simon (2015/2016), Kasia Sosnowski (2012/2013) and Corrine Thiessen (2007/2008).

The Penny Gallery in the Dr. Foster James Penny Building is open to the public Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The opening reception, 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15, is free and everyone is welcome.

Media are invited to a sneak peek of Aperture on Wednesday, September 13 from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Penny Gallery. Curators Devon Smither and Angeline Simon will be on hand to discuss the work during the installation process.

Art majors Peacock, Spencer earn Beny scholarships

trevor.kenney — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 21:20:06 +0000

Evan Peacock and Luke Spencer, bachelor of fine arts students, have been named as the 2014 Roloff Beny Excellence in the Photographic Arts Awards recipients. As winners of the prestigious annual awards, the pair will each receive scholarships worth $5,000 to further their creative activities and research.

Luke Spencer

“The awards recognize academic and artistic achievement in students who have a focused interest in photo-arts,” says Mary Kavanagh, art faculty. “Established by the Roloff Beny Foundation, the awards provide travel opportunities to complement the recipients’ creative activities and research.”

The award money must be used to offset costs incurred by travel, photography equipment and photo supplies.

Evan Peacock

The Roloff Beny Excellence in the Photographic Arts Awards are competitive and applicants were adjudicated on the quality of their proposals and submitted work.

“The committee considered a high quality and competitive group of applications before making their selection,” says Kavanagh.

Peacock's winning project takes him to one of the world’s most remote locations, the Easter Islands. There he will document current ecological and cultural spaces in relation to the famous historic artifacts of the islands and produce a short, experimental film.

Spencer examines the role of the itinerant photographer and the photographic images made while travelling. On a journey by camper van to Panama City, Panama, Spencer will use 19th century wet-plate techniques to produce singular, labour intensive images.

“The Volkswagon Westfalia I purchased will become a mobile dark room,” explains Spencer. “I plan to travel for four months, taking photographs as I go. It is an ambitious plan and I’m looking forward to it. I was looking for a longer term project that I could totally focus on and this is it.”

He adds that he was surprised and extremely pleased to win the Roloff Beny Award.

In recognition of its excellence in art instruction and research, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was one of five Canadian institutions selected in 2005 to receive $860,000 from the Roloff Beny Foundation to generate ongoing funding for student scholarships and infrastructure costs in traditional and digital photo-arts.

Roloff Beny winners reflect excellence

trevor.kenney — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:50:37 +0000

Neysa Hale and Kasia Sosnowski, both BFA art majors, emerged from a highly competitive group of applications to earn the two Roloff Beny Awards.

Each will receive a $5,000 scholarship to develop their art projects after the Roloff Beny Awards Committee established their proposals to be the best of an outstanding collection of applications.

Roloff Beny Award recipient Neysa Hale plans to travel to Williams Lake, B.C. to pursue her photo-arts project.

Hale, in her fourth year of study, plans to explore both a physical place and the social issues in Williams Lake, B.C. In her proposal Hale says, "My art practice focuses on social issues prevalent in society today revolving around social interactions and deviance labeling (negatively labeling those seen as deviant according to social norms). In exploring such issues, I aim to create an environment of contemplation and reflection that encourages one to stop and think about the implications. To do so, I use mixed media including textiles, video and photography, paying close attention to the overall composition and colour. I'm interested in Aboriginal and Caucasian relations in Williams Lake, B.C. There is a clear divide between the two groups where social barriers and skewed perspectives inhibit positive interaction. It is my desire to explore this divide through photography, research and observation to understand the situation and present it in a creative fashion. By travelling and documenting the Cariboo Wagon Road, I wish to open a discussion around the connection between the Cariboo Wagon Road and the Williams Lake Indian Bands to create a dialogue of the social by-pass that is occurring."

Kasia Sosnowski will journey to Poland to complete her project.

Sosnowski, in her sixth year of study, has a personal proposal involving exploring her heritage with a beloved family member's camera as her guide. According to her proposal,

"I want to use my Dziadek's [grandfather's] Leica to explore the relationship between photography, memory and eternal return. By travelling to Poland, I hope to capture and celebrate the relationship that I had with my Dziadek and his relationship with Poland. I've been to Poland only once before and the connection I felt to the people and the place was immense. If we consider eternal return, I will be led by the intuition of my past selves to revisit sites and spaces I've seen infinite amounts of time. Perhaps by
using my Dziadek's camera, I will be led to the places he explored and loved. I will only use his film camera to document the trip. Thus, the entire experience will be filtered through his camera."

In 2005, the Roloff Beny Foundation endowed $860,000 to the Department of Art, Faculty of Fine Arts, to generate ongoing funding for student scholarships and infrastructure costs in traditional and digital photo-arts. In recognition of excellence in art instruction and research, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was one of five institutions across Canada selected for such an endowment. Since then, more than $70,000 in scholarships have been awarded to students in fine arts, providing research based travel opportunities in conjunction with their studies in photo-arts.

The Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Awards in the Fine Arts is intended to provide outstanding Fine Arts students who have a concentrated interest in photo-arts with a travel opportunity in relation to their photographic activity. Any new or continuing students enrolled full-time in any BFA degree program who have a focused interest in photo-arts are eligible to apply for this competitive award.

This story first appeared in the April 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Roloff Beny Award winners have big plans

trevor.kenney — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:16:56 +0000

Nicole Lalonde and Arianna Richardson were recently named the winners of the 2012 Roloff Beny Awards.

The duo was selected from a group of high quality and competitive applications, earning scholarships of $5,000 each.

Lalonde is in her fifth year of an art degree program and is excited about the opportunity the scholarship affords.

"Although I typically work with video, both photography and video/film share similar histories and technologies; thus, the distinction between the two is often blurred," she says. "Additionally, while the moving image offers a medium for my explorations, it builds upon slow transitions – durational in nature – of a fixed image. As I am already working within the realm of photography, I would like to explore this medium further."

Arianna Richardson and Nicole Lalonde are the 2012 Roloff Beny Awards recipients.

Her project will take place in a Red Deer swimming pool, where she will practice different methods used to save a drowning victim.

"These maneuvers can appear both serene and hostile. Consequently, the interaction can be seen as both an act of violence and a rescue. This scenario is how I envision a video and photographic work of my twin sister and me," says Lalonde.

Richardson, in her fifth year of an art degree program, has an interest in national, provincial and regional identities. With these interests in mind she is in the process of constructing a personal archive entitled The Hobbyist.

"I want to travel to and document nine of the 14 annual fairs occurring in Alberta and Saskatchewan. As an inhabitant of the region, I feel it is necessary to discover how The Hobbyist relates to such goings on," she says. "To ensure a variety of representation, the locations range from small townships to capital cities. In each location I will attend the opening day parade or the closing day fireworks as well as explore the fairgrounds. The final product is the creation of a travel-guide type document where all my findings will be recorded and published alongside the release of a photo collection. This will make a significant addition to the archive, adding greatly to the expertise and dynamism of The Hobbyist."

In 2005, the Roloff Beny Foundation endowed $860,000 to the Department of Art to generate ongoing funding for student scholarships and infrastructure costs in traditional and digital photo-arts. In recognition of excellence in art instruction and research, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was one of five institutions across Canada selected for such an endowment. Since then, more than $70,000 in scholarships have been awarded to fine arts students, providing research based travel opportunities in conjunction with their studies in photo-arts.

The Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Awards in the Fine Arts provides outstanding fine arts students who have a concentrated interest in photo-arts with a travel opportunity in relation to their photographic activity. Any new or continuing students enrolled full-time in any BFA degree program who have a focused interest in photo-arts are eligible to apply for this competitive award.

This story first appeared in the June 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the entire issue in flipbook format, follow this link.

Roloff Beny Award winners have big plans

trevor.kenney — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:40:26 +0000

Nicole Lalonde and Arianna Richardson were recently named the winners of the 2012 Roloff Beny Awards.

The duo was selected from a group of high quality and competitive applications, earning scholarships of $5,000 each.

Lalonde is in her fifth year of an art degree program and is excited about the opportunity the scholarship affords.

Arianna Richardson and Nicole Lalonde are the 2012 Roloff Beny Awards recipients.

Her project will take place in a Red Deer swimming pool, where she will practice different methods used to save a drowning victim.

This story first appeared in the June 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the entire issue in flipbook format, follow this link.

Students earn Roloff Beny awards

trevor.kenney — Fri, 07 May 2010 22:12:17 +0000

The Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Awards in Fine Arts provides outstanding students in photo-arts with an opportunity for travel in relation to their photographic activity. Any new or continuing students enrolled full-time in any BFA degree program who have a focused interest in photo-arts are eligible to apply for this competitive award.

The Roloff Beny Awards Committee met in January, and after considering a very high quality and competitive group of applications, made the decision to give out three scholarships of equal value in the amount of $3,333 to Jason Jessen (Art), Evan Van Reekum (New Media) and Yan Luo (Art).

Jessen is in his fourth year of study in a BFA in Art Studio program and has proposed to travel to northern Alberta to investigate the Cree aspect of his Yugoslavian/Cree hybrid identity. He will visit his home band, the Big Stone Band at Wabasca near Slave Lake, and do a photographic investigation of his indigenous identity.

Van Reekum is in his third year of study in a BFA in New Media program. His goal is to travel to Ireland with the aim of producing photographic essays concentrating on ideas of history and abandonment.

Luo is finishing his final year in a BFA in Art Studio program. He will endeavour to return to his home city of Shanghai to document issues of surveillance and authority with a new vision altered through his experiences living in North America.

In recognition of excellence in art instruction and research, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was one of five institutions across Canada selected for such an endowment. Since then $50,000 in scholarships have been awarded to students studying fine arts at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, providing them with a research-based travel opportunity in conjunction with their studies in photo-arts.

Staves, Jaidee win Roloff Beny awards

trevor.kenney — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:48:33 +0000

Sam Staves and Amornthep Jaidee, both of whom are in a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Art) degree program, are the 2008/2009 Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Award recipients.

The Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Award in Fine Arts is a prestigious, juried, $5,000 award that supports student travel related to research/creative work in photo-arts. Any new or continuing students enrolled full-time in any BFA degree program with a focused interest in photo-arts is eligible to apply for this competitive award.

Staves is in her fourth year of study in the BFA art studio program and plans to travel to New Orleans, Belize City and Kingston, Jamaica to study
Creole culture.

Jaidee is in his third year of study in the BFA art studio program and has proposed to return to his native Thailand (Chaiprakarn, Chiang Mai) to pursue a documentary project that focuses on the simple activity of a small rural village.

The 2007/2008 Roloff Beny award went to Corinne Thiessen Hepher, who is studying for a BFA in New Media. Hepher used the award to travel to Vancouver and Montreal to produce photo/performance works. In Vancouver, she produced Woman with Monkey On Back: Vancouver and in Montreal she produced Rue St. Remi.

Originally from Medicine Hat, Roloff Beny earned degrees from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and the State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Iowa before developing an international reputation for his photographic work. He is considered a distinguished artist in Canadian history and travelled widely throughout Europe and Asia for subjects that subsequently appeared in his own work.

In recognition of his contributions to the fine arts, Roloff Beny was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree in 1972 by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. Upon his death in 1984, the
U of L received a significant bequest of Mr. Beny's visual art collection.

In 2004, the Roloff Beny Foundation endowed the U of L Faculty of Fine Arts Art Dept. with the Roloff Beny Foundation Photographic Award in Fine Arts, an award that recognizes and supports excellence in the fine arts.

UNews - Roloff Beny Foundation

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