Leigh Gillam - Curriculum vitae

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EDUCATION

2012-2014 - *Master of Fine Art, Emily Carr University of Art & Design, Low-residency

                   Thesis: Contexts that Gather: Authorship and Collaboration; Bodily Gesture and Boundaries. Supervisor: Randy Lee Cutler. Specializations: Collaboration in Visual and Media Art.

2000-2004 - Bachelor of Fine Art, Honours, Concordia University

                   Key influences: Janet Werner, Francois Morelli, Massimo Guerrara, and Trevor Gould. Specializations: Painting and Drawing, Sculpture, Experimental Art, Art History and Theory.

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ART, TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS

•  Creative research – studio art.

•  Studio Art Education – student centred.

•  Neuroarts, Expressive & Creative Arts, Somatic and Counselling therapies.

 

CREATIVE RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

 

Exhibitions

Solo

2011 - Gallery Nota Bene

Group

2018-2022 - Bloomfield and StFX Art Galleries
2017 - Bowen Island Hearth Gallery
2015 - 2016 - Mosaika Gallery
2014 - Transactants, Agents of Process, Charles H. Scott Gallery
2013 - Alteraction, Alteration, Altercation, Concourse Gallery
2011 - Rover Art Fair, Redbird Studios Gallery
2009 - ExpoZine
2008 - Gravures Scéniques, Atelier Circulaire Gallery
2008 - Paintings with Seven Personnes with Tubas at Gallery T. d’Aujourd’hui,
2007 - Open House, Redbird Studios Gallery
2007 - Journées de la Culture
2007 - The Search for the Simorgh, Redbird Studios Gallery & The Art Matters Festival
2006 - Engravings Sans Titre at Atelier Circulaire Gallery
2006 - John B. Aird Gallery
2006 - with Konan Cook and Room 1114, Redbird Studios Gallery
2006 - Redbird Studios Gallery
2006 - Minarovich Gallery
2005 - Catch at Art Mûr
2005 - Roundup, Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery
2005 - Float, VAV Gallery
2005 - Salon Rouge, VAV Gallery
2004 - One Night Stand 3, Studio Benim

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Collaboration

2023-2024 - Artistic advisor - Extant with Misha Horacek and Chris Spencer-Lowe, supported by Arts Nova Scotia
2022 - Performance and materials researcher - PLAY with choreographer Jacinte Armstrong and Mocean Dance supported by Rosie Porter
2022 - Puppet maker - short film Clair/Obscur by Elias Djemil-Matassov with Théâtre Incliné, official selection at FIFA
2021 - Creative researcher - Extant with Misha Horacek and Chris Spencer-Lowe, Halifax, supported by Arts Nova Scotia
2021 - Co-writer, co-director, animator - Exploring the Treaty Relationship, an  experimental animation, with Michelle Sylliboy (Mi'kmaw/L'nu), Jessica Mensch (settler) and Antoinette Karuna (settler), funded by Change Lab Action Research Initiative (CLARI) and Nocturne/RBC, presented at Nocturne Art at Night Festival, FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, Atlantic Arts Symposium, Antimatter, CB Nuit, Lumière Arts Festival and Art in the Open
2012-2016 -Mosaicist - Mosaika Art & Design, Montreal, creating large scale public and private works by Yoko Ono, Alex Janvier, Teresita Fernandez, and Chuck Close for       art fairs and public places such as subway stations, airports, buildings, parks
2015 - Co-costume designer and maker - Gérard Reyes - The Pleasure Principal, Montreal
2014 - Creative researcher and scribe - Theatre Replacement's New Aesthetics Performance Intensive
2014 - Videographer - Medusa Shaved, a dance opera by Klara DuPlessis, Montreal
2014 - Videographer - The Home Project, by choreographer Isabel Mohn's, Montreal
2013-2014 - Videographer - Agente Costura, live sewing performance events, Vancouver
2014 - Facilitator, videographer, artist - with choreographer Katie Ward, writer Laura Broadbent reading from her book Interviews, an interview with W.G Sebald
2014 - Facilitator, videographer, artist - with Nicole Raziya Fong's text for Bed, Door, The Order of Things, a three channel media installation and performance
2014 - Stop-motion artist -  with Ali Pinkney reading Dancing is Talking, Talking is Dancing by Douglas Dunn, Mette Ingvartsen's Yes Manifesto and Wen-shuan Yang
2014 - Facilitator, video interviewer - with Charlie Twitch and Theatre Incliné on their process.
2013 - Art Director - Tropical Fish by Meryem Joobeur with Camille Barrantes and Jeremy Sandor
2012 - Videographer - Fall, a song by Paper Panacea
2009 - Sculpture installation artist - The Fountain of Youth with Jay Gillingham and Ken Drysdale 
2005 - Facilitator, videographer, sculpture installation artist - with Cornelius Kirfel (Milkwood music) and Flower Marie Lunn

 

Theatre and theatre design

2022 - Set designer, The Hobbit adapted by Andrea Boyd at Keppoch Mountain          
2018 – Puppeteer, Fox Tale by A Road Less Gravelled on tour in Nova Scotia
2016-2018 - Puppets and sculpture, Rivières de Lumières, Théâtre des petites Lanternes
2010-2012 - Set painter, puppets, costumes and props - various, Théâtre Incliné
2010 - Model builder - for Eo Sharp, Oliver!, National Arts Centre
2009 - Costumes - The Battery, directed by Phillip Mckee, written by Megan Coles – New Words Festival
2006-2009 - Researcher, design assistant - Asterion, designed by Jerrard Smith, written and composed by R. Murray Schaffer
2008 Costumes, assistant set and props - The Importance of Being Earnest, set by Kate    Whitehead, directed by Brenden Healy
2008 - Theatre designer - Dominicato Family Circus
2006 – 2009 - Design assistant - Uncle Vanya, All My Sons, Mère Courage et ses Enfants, Polly and the Great Confusion, Major Barbara, L’Échange, L’Orestie, The Suicide, Le Boxon and The Cherry Orchard, Monument Nationale

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TALKS, RESIDENCIES, AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS

2022 - Speaker and host - presenting on Antigonight Art After Dark Festival and hosting discussion by guest speakers for Digital Showcase, Digital Dusks, an online series of talks by Atlantic Art at Night Festival Alliance (AANFA)
2018 - Artist resident - with members of the L’Arche community, funded by ASAP artist-run-centre
2017 - Artist - Archean, published in The Ecological Citizen, Vol 1, No 1
2017 - Creative researcher - Deep Earth, research funded by Canada Council for the Arts
2014 - Scribe, creative researcher, attendant - New Aesthetics Performance Intensive by Theatre Replacement
2014 - Author - Master's thesis: Contexts That Gather: Authorship and Collaboration; Bodily Gesture and Boundaries. Thesis supervisor: Randy Lee Cutler
2013 - Guest lecturer - Contested Space within Integrationist Interdisciplinarity, Object Sonore Lecture Series
2013-2016 - Author, artist - Montreal creative writing group, Résonance Reading Series   curated by Klara DuPlessis, published in écho: a résonance publication
2013 -  Artist, speaker - artist talk, Emily Carr University of Art & Design
2013 - Attendant - Women in business with Companie F, funded by Gouvernment du Québec
2011 Artist, resident - Research in Culture Program - Banff Centre for the Arts
2010-2011 - Artist, attendant - Studio Technique Animation
2008 Artist, resident - National Arts Centre
2007 Artist, resident - Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space funded by Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
2005 - Artist, speaker - an artist talk for Roundup, Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery

2004-2005 – Attendant – workgroup training, Non-Violent-Communication(NVC)
2004 - Artist, speaker - an artist talk for One Night Stand 3, Studio Benim

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EXPERIENCE

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Professional

2019-2020 - Chair and Lecturer, Department of Art, ST. Francis Xavier University

•  Administrative support to students and faculty, determining the program of study through feedback within budgetary constraint.

•  Positive Space, Human Rights, respectful workplaces, sexual harassment, mental health and WHMIS training.

•  Task force meeting attendant to help pivot online during the initial Covid Pandemic outbreak, and support members and students following guidelines, connecting to other similar departments at other universities.

•  Chair on various Hiring Committees, collecting feedback, hiring an Indigenous tenured member, as well as two new Academic Instructors, diversifying the department and shifting toward contemporary issues, decolonization and inclusivity.

•  Chair to strike a Departmental Evaluation Committee upon member request for full professorship.

•  Chair of various department faculty meetings including agenda items such as succession planning, job security for Academic Instructors, alliances within the StFX Arts and Health initiative and discussion of an external review resulting in short and long-term redevelopment objectives.

•  Advocate to the Dean on behalf of department members on various issues, also resulting in a new tenured position in Art History

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2009-2011 - Facilitator, director, ASF Canada (artistes sans frontiers/artists without borders)

•  Managing teams to support street youth engaging in art production and dissemination, mobilizing and negotiating with colleagues and other professionals in French and English to achieve common goals, establishing norms, adapting work tools to reality.

•  Administrating budgets, workflows, scheduling and hiring.

•  Fundraising $9000 a month for several years

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2011 – Studio technician assistant, Concordia University, Casting and Moulding

•  Assisting students with technical problems involved in class projects, utilizing different sculpture materials, practicing safety.

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2005-2009 - Co-founder, facilitator, co-curator, artist, Redbird Studios and Gallery

•  Administering paperwork to create and help maintain the not-for-profit, to serve artists and community members, coordinating meetings and establishing and defending values and ideas.

•  Programming events and teaching artistic workshops.

•  Co-curating group exhibitions.

•  Maintaining a studio space with others.

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2005 - Studio technician - Atelier Circulaire, artist printmaking studios

•   Helping members with projects, communicating with members and the public, maintaining studio and equipment, updating the website, maintaining mailing lists, creating a digital visual art archive and catalogue, documenting, editing and maintaining studio archives

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2003 - 2004 - Archivist, technician, Concordia University

•   Digitizing slides and photographing images from books using the Federated Academic Digital Imaging System (FADIS), making entries, aiding researchers and lecturers to discover and borrow image documents.

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1999-2010 - Tree planter, tree checker, Brinkman & Associates, Fieldstone and Zanzibar

•   WHMIS training

•   planning, working, living and sharing resources with small and large teams in camp, cabin and remote forest environments, sharing in tasks, working consistently and efficiently toward collective goals.

•   managing quality of work

•   navigating large areas of land on foot, accessible by long hikes or helicopter in various weather conditions

 

Teaching

2018-present - Art 125 Materials & Methods (Painting, Sculpture, Self-directed projects), Art 265 Introductory Animation, Department of Art, ST. Francis Xavier University

                      Academic Instructor and Lecturer in Studio Art – developing curriculum at the undergraduate level, conducting lectures, guiding material processes, discussion,    critique and research, maintaining attendance and evaluation records.

2019-2020 - Art, Painting, Animation and Sculpture Extended Studies, NSCAD University

                   Instructor - preparing and delivering curriculum to children and teens, guiding processes and interacting with colleagues and parents.

2018-2019 - Drawing & Painting, 3D Printing and Animation, The Arts House, Antigonish

                   Instructor - preparing and delivering curriculum to children, teens and adults, guiding processes and interacting with colleagues and parents.

2005-2006 - Arts, Crafts and Theatre - Lightbulb Factory, Elora Centre for the Arts

                   Instructor - preparing and delivering curriculum to children, guiding processes as well as directing children’s theatre.

2001 - English as a Second Language - Joy, Dragon and Universe bushibans, Taiwan

                  Teacher - preparing and delivering curriculum to children, and adults including games and visual language learning; maintaining attendance and evaluation records, interacting with colleagues and parents.

1996-2000 - Arts and Crafts - Camp Quin-mo-lac

                   Camp counsellor and Arts and Craft director - preparing instruction for children, teens, persons with special needs and families, completing inventory and budgeting  for all camp members to attend arts and crafts workshops, preparing for dress-up and games. 

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS, MEMBERSHIPS, JURY

Present
Board member - StFX Art Gallery, Atlantic Art at Night Festival Alliance, Antigonish Culture Alive Arts Council, Antigonight Art at Night Festival, ASAP artist-run-centre

Past
Board member - Redbird Studios, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Student Sculpture Association, Concordia University

Membership - CARFAC, Atelier Circulaire, club at Trent University for settler and Indigenous members in exchange with Indigenous partners in Mexico, with Canada World Youth

Jury - VAV Gallery and Redbird Studios