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Brandon University - Call for Artist Submissions

(posted on 19 Nov 2024)

CALL FOR ARTIST SUBMISSIONS

BRANDON SUN - Saturday, November 16, 2024

Artists sought for grad memento

BY MATT GOERZEN

Brandon University has put out a call for local artists to help the post-secondary institution create a special memento for the coming year's graduates. The chosen artwork will be presented during the 2025 Convocation in the spring, continuing a relatively new but well-received observance for the university.

"It's become a real, new tradition," BU marketing and communications director Grant Hamilton said on Friday.

BU issued an official open call for artists who are interested in the challenge of creating an original work that is reflective of the current academic year. An eight-inch by 10-inch print of the year's art will be included in each graduate's parchment package, and is intended to be a frame-worthy remembrance of their time at the university.

In its press release on Friday afternoon, the university stated that interested artists have until the end of day on Dec. 15 to put their names forward. The university will make its selection early in the new year.

"Every student knows that your university years are filled with wonderful memories of the faces and places that make the BU campus a true community," said BU registrar Andrea McDaniel, whose office oversees Convocation. "Art can help us preserve those memories, and I am always impressed by different artists' unique ways of conveying genuine feeling through these pieces."

The practice of handing out these unique pieces of artwork to graduating BU students has its roots in the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 when Brandon University had to shift its spring convocation ceremony to a virtual format.

"Of course, March is only a couple months before convocation," Hamilton said, "and we really had to pivot from all of our traditional plans for a big, grandiose ceremony to deal with the new realities of staying at home and, you know, physical distancing and no large groups."

Calling it a "nonvocation," the university held a virtual ceremony with an online video. But in an attempt to make sure that grads had an opportunity to experience something special in lieu of the physical ceremony, the university came up with the idea to commission a unique piece of art and to deliver a print of that artwork in their convocation packages.

Brandon University alumnusWei Ming Zhao, a prolific local artist, was the first to be chosen to create the print. Although these prints couldn't be delivered in person that year, they were mailed out to recipients.

"Even though we were celebrating virtually, that year was meaningful, and so we really liked it," Hamilton said, "and it turned out to be not really that difficult to do and a lot of fun to do, and not that expensive. So it's something that we decided to do the following year."

Hamilton says that while it's really the degree that students are looking for when they open up their parchment package, that little extra memento is a really nice extra.

"The memories that stick from your university days are the friends or the camaraderie or the social occasions, and that's where the portrait has a lasting value that grows every year. And we've heard lots of students who really appreciate getting that little extra personal touch in the package that comes along with the degree that they earn."

Each year has been defined by a different artist who brings a new brand of creativity to the experience. The work provided by artist Jessie Januska this past spring "broke the mould" for BU by including three-dimensional elements like beadwork, which required careful photography and multiple printing experiments to best reproduce.

"We've had incredibly imaginative submissions, and we're eager to hear what people have in mind for this year," McDaniel said in Friday's press release. "We're committed to working with the selected artist to fulfil a shared vision that showcases the best of BU, kindles fond memories for our graduates and excites the artist creatively."

The call is open to all artists, who are asked to submit some brief information about themselves and their experience, as well as their initial vision for the art. Special consideration will be given to artists who have a connection to Brandon University or the regions where BU operates, as well as to artists who identify with underrepresented or marginalized groups.

The commission awards a total of $1,000 to develop the final piece.

Prints of the art will include "Class of 2025" or similar wording on them. They are intended to deliver for graduates a lasting and treasured keepsake that is suitable for proudly framing and displaying at home, at work, or in public.

For more information and to submit a proposal, see the open call for 2025 Convocation Art at brandonu.ca/convocation/open-call-for-artists/ . » mgoerzen@brandonsun.com » Bluesky: @mattgoerzen.bsky.social

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Artist Jessie Januska created 2024's artwork. Previous years' art pieces are shown online at BrandonU.ca/Convocation/Artwork. (Submitted)