Promotional pair believe that Art Matters
Emily Shanahan (Left) and Corina Kennedy pose with an abandoned art project behind the VA Building.
Photo by Kate Hutchinson
After reading a few hundred artist’s statements, you learn what works and what doesn’t.
Corina Kennedy and Emily Shanahan have devoted a good part of their undergraduate careers to reviewing those statements, both as co-directors of the 2006 edition of Art Matters, and of the VAV gallery for the 2006-07 academic year.
“You learn how to document your own work, and how to present yourself,” said Kennedy.
The two met at Dawson College and have been working together ever since. They both decided to come to Concordia to study painting and drawing, but had precious little time to produce their own work because they devoted so much effort to promoting the work of their colleagues.
It’s apparently a hard habit to shake. The two, along with Jim Verburg, who co-curated this year’s Art Matters festival, have signed a lease in the Belgo building and expect their own gallery to be operating by the fall.
“We want to focus on emerging artists, those who are still students or have just graduated. It will help them get the experience they need to apply to artist-run centres,” Kennedy said.
When the two took on the coordination Art Matters in the summer of 2005, they had no idea what they were getting into. “It’s like a heart attack that’s slowly building. It starts in the summer, and then, the next March, you have the heart attack, and then you recover,” Shanahan said.
The annual event showcases student work across the entire Fine Arts faculty. “We wanted to push spaces outside of school. Organizing an event in the Darling Foundry was amazing,” Shanahan said.
“It helped us understand how to work in big spaces, and how to work with the specific needs of different venues around the city,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy added that the experience allowed them to create more interaction between the performing and visual arts by having performances at various vernissages.
But the event is huge and chaotic. “It’s been a nice transition to the [VAV] gallery. We’re more directly involved,” Kennedy said.
All that experience will serve them well in their own gallery. The pair also want to devote some time to their own artistic practice. They both expect to return to school for graduate work eventually.