PERSONAL DATA
Address: 150 Belmont Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 0V5
Phone: (613) 558-4661
E-Mail: ness@vcoplan.ca
Web: www.vcoplan.ca
Citizenship: Canadian
EDUCATION
2000-2008 Carleton University (Ottawa)
M.A. in Art History (part-time studies)
1997-1998 Off-campus year abroad program, Florence, Italy
1989-1993 McGill University (Montreal)
B.A. in Anthropology
AWARDS
Mrs. W. O. Forsyth Award (Awarded to fourth year women painters)
Ontario College of Art and Design (Toronto)
2016-2017 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
Canterbury High School, Ottawa:
In preparation for the I, Canada Exhibition
at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
in Almonte Ontario in 2017
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2019 "It Takes A Village To Build A Canoe", Peterborough Canoe Museum, mixed media textile canoe
2017 Jabbany Hair Salon, 1067 Bank Street, Ottawa
2017 The Mississippi Textile Museum, The I, Canada Project, Almonte, Ontario
2017, 2015, 2013, 2011, 2007 Loft Artist Studio Open House
2016 The Annex Gallery, Interwoven, City Hall, Ottawa
2014 - 2015 Ottawa Mixed Media Artists (OMMA) Small Wonders South III, French Café, Manotick
2014 - 2015 Art and Parcel holiday show, ART Rental and Sales, Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG)
2014 - 2015 Visual Assembly, OAG Annex Gallery
2014 Ottawa Art Gallery Sales and Rentals, Ottawa
2014 OMMA, Proverbs, Centrepointe Theatre Gallery, Ottawa
2006-2014 Annual Instructors Show, Ottawa School of Art
2012 Michael Gennis Gallery, Ottawa
2011 Anything Goes, Patrick John Mills Gallery, Ottawa
2011 Pretty, Ugly, Art, Patrick John Mills Gallery, Ottawa
2010 Lemonjello Art Collective, Ottawa
2007-2009 Whodunit? Ontario College of Art and Design, Annual art auction, Toronto
2004 Ottawa Art Gallery Auction, The Mud Oven, Ottawa
2001 “Hello, Ethel?!…”, (Touring Show), SAW Gallery, Ottawa and Camp-en-Plein-Air, Quebec
2001 and 2000 Annual Open House, Enriched Bread Artists, Ottawa
TEACHING
I have been teaching art since 2003 in a variety of venues in Ottawa. I specialize in private instruction to students in grades 6-8 to help them prepare their portfolio for entrance to the Visual Art Program at Canterbury High School in Ottawa. Together we work through all of the requirements for grade 9 admittance. I also coach High School students who are preparing their art portfolios for college and university. In addition to this I offer private art lessons for individuals & groups that are tailored to the particular area of interest expressed by the students (e.g., improving drawing skills, working with colour, abstract painting techniques).
COURSES OFFERED
Creative Expressions in Textiles (Algonquin College Continuing Education Department, Creative Art Certification, Art Instructor)
Mixed Media Explorations
Creative Drawing
Create! Learning to Access Your Creative Core:
The Art of Colour
Exploring Abstract Art Part I: Compositional play
Exploring Abstract Art Part II: Abstract Expressionism, Geometric Abstraction, Colourfield Painting
Working in a Series Parts I & II
Contemporary Jewish Art and Artists (studio/seminar)
Contemporary Canadian Painting (studio/seminar)
Introduction to Acrylics and Oils
TEACHING VENUES
My house (2013-present)
Algonquin College (2014, 2019)
Ottawa School of Art (2003-2013)
Old Ottawa South Community Centre (2012-2013)
Greenboro Community Centre (2012-2013)
Soloway Jewish Community Centre (2003-2008)
LECTURES
March 2018, Out-of-the-Box Fibre Artist, Hand-Sewn Blankets, The I, Canada Project
Winter 2004, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa
Invited Speaker - "The Art of Georges Bédard"
The work of this late, self-taught artist, is introduced to a group of Carleton University students.
Spring 2003, Canterbury High school, Ottawa
Invited Speaker - “Outsider Art”
Presentation to a grade twelve art class on issues of classification and interpretation regarding marginal artists’ work.
Winter 2001, Carleton University, Ottawa
Guest Lecture - Post-painters 11, for Professor Andrea Kunard, 11.203, Contemporary Canadian Painting
This lecture focuses on the work of a group of Toronto based artists in the 1970’s including Gordon Rayner, Graham Coughtry, and Robert Markle. The talk was given in conjunction with a film made by Rayner and Markle, titled Cowboys and Indians, that chronicled the intermingling of life and art that informed their work at this time.
WORKSHOPS
2017 Fibrefest, Almonte Ontario, learning how to make an I, Canada hand-sewn patchwork blanket
2016 Ottawa Public Library, Sunnyside Branch, learning how to make an I, Canada hand-sewn patchwork blanket
CONFERENCE PRESENTATION
Winter 2006 School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
Creating a Discourse for Self-Taught Art: The Life and Work of Georges Bédard (thesis dissertation) ‘Theory and After’ Symposium
MEDIA
Illustrator, A poem entitled, For Murphy, from the children’s book, Fat Poems, Tall Poems, Long Poems, Small written by J.C. Sulzenko
2016
Loft Studios Open House is a September "Must Do". Read the article here.
2017
Vanessa visited Ashbury College's Grade 4, 5 and 7 art classes to discuss her I, Canada project. Read the article
here.
PUBLICATIONS
2018
The OSCAR, Old Ottawa South Community Association Newsletter, “Art Review: Emily Desjardins and Harry Loop: Countenance”, July-August 2018 page 16.
2016
The OSCAR, Old Ottawa South Community Association newsletter, March 2016 page 18, “Local Artist Invites You to Join the I, Canada Project”. http://www.oldottawasouth.ca/archives.
ARTISTIC AFFILIATIONS
OMMA (Ottawa Mixed Media Artists) 2013-2015
The Loft Studios-2007-2008, 2011-Present
A collective of practicing artists who share studio space and exhibit their work.
Enriched Bread Artists (EBA)
1999-2000 A collective of practicing artists who annually exhibit their work.
2000-2001 Participant and Board Member