Provisionally Yours

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Thursday, October 17th, 2013
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Provisionally Yours
September 20 to October 19
Lower Gallery on campus

Pro-vi-sion-al-ly
Adverb: subject to further confirmation; for the time being
Synonyms: temporarily, short-term, pro tem, for the interim, for the present, for the time being, for now, for the nonce; subject to confirmation, conditionally, tentatively.

The VIU student exhibition Provisionally Yours was conceived in late 2012, as a companion project to the exhibition The Claim | Nathan and Cedric Bomford. In early January 2013, in the context of a second year sculpture course (Arts 285), students were given an exciting opportunity to create sculptural works and display them in dialogue with The Claim. Students were encouraged to make work in response to the practices and materials used by Cedric and Nathan Bomford.
Through a series of lectures, discussions, and material experiments, students gained a greater understanding of the milieu that the Bomford brothers work in and draw inspiration from. This exploration included a field trip to the Bomford�s Deadhead project, under construction in a large temporary studio in Vancouver. In response to this field trip, students created a large-scale temporary site-specific sculpture in April 2013 on the exterior deck of the Gallery, the very site where the Bomford�s work would be installed.
This type of experiential learning allowed students to find their own connection and entry point into Bomford�s work. Students were cautioned not to simply make work like the Bomford�s, but work of their own making that responded and dialogued with the broader themes Cedric and Nathan explore. Similar aesthetics and material relationships to the Bomford project arose organically for the students as they explored themes of: temporary architecture, construction, power structures in the built environment, and experimentation and play in fabrication processes.
The title Provisionally Yours refers the experience of the students working temporarily and intensely on this theme. By definition, this dialogue between the two exhibitions is a contingent, and temporary exploration.The title also references the ephemeral nature of the temporary structures the Bomford�s draw inspiration from, and ultimately construct.
The experience of being a student is a kind of provisional experience as well, as it channels creative and critical energy in the temporary context of a given course, a chosen field of study, and a physical institutional space.
Jason Gress, Instructor, Arts 285

Nanaimo Art Gallery campus hours: Monday - Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 12-4pm