First Times: Jes McCoy

To continue from Megan Bertagnolli’s article about the “Dirt City|Dream City” talk, we spoke to one of the artists this week about her position in Edmonton and her relationship with Latitude 53. Jes McCoy was responsible for the tunnel installation that marked the gate to the patio at February’s Parka Patio event, but you might have seen her work elsewhere—she graduated from the University of Alberta’s BFA in 2011 and showed work in The Works festival that same year.

Do you remember you first time at Latitude 53?

I honestly can’t remember the details of my first visit to L53. I remember it was one of my first experiences visiting an artist run space and I remember wanting to be a part of it really badly.

You’re a young artist in Edmonton, having just graduated from the U of A in 2011—since then you’ve already been busy showing your work here and abroad, from The Works downtown to a sculpture park in Minnesota. What can you tell us about the experience of starting out and setting your sights beyond the city?

While I was in school I did really want to show my work abroad because I felt like I needed a new audience somehow; but I got the same kind of feedback there as I did here, both the good stuff and the critical stuff, and it made me realize that the art community, in a global sense, is really connected. Perhaps it speaks of a common human experience too, which was a good thing. I became aware that what the people in Edmonton have to offer, in terms of life experiences, can be as potent as anywhere else.

You’ve been selected for Edmonton Arts Council’s Dirty City|Dream City public art project in the Quarters this year, which takes as its starting point the complicated idea of downtown revitalization that is planned or already underway in that neighbourhood. How do you feel about being an Edmonton-based artist and what do you see happening in the next few years in this city?

Edmonton is great place to be an artist. There is not a whole ton of us which gives the existing ones lots of space and room to participate. Although I feel that there is a bit of complacency in the artists here in terms of street art and public interventions. Perhaps it is because our winters are harsh and we don’t want to go outside, but I wish there was more of it. I wish we were more vocal, even politically. We have to tools to do so we just need a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’m hoping the Dirt City|Dream City project will encourage; a more prominent and engaged voice using art as the mediator.

Dirt City|Dream City goes up in July—but there’s an open house this Saturday at the ARTery (9535 Jasper Ave) to mark the end of this week’s workshops with the artists, where you can meet curator Kendal Henry and the artists: Aaron Paquette, Adam Waldron-Blain, Andrew Buszchak, Carly Greene, Destiny Swiderski, Emily Van Driesum, Holly Newman, Jackson McConnell, Jes McCoy, Jill Stanton, Mackenzy Albright and Rachelle Bowen, Matt Prins, Nickelas Johnson and Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.

Latitude 53 Video Podcast

Mackenzy Albright and Rachelle Liette Bowen took a break from working on their installation in the gallery to talk to us about their work and what it’s like to be an emerging artist in Edmonton.

See their installation at our new winter fundraiser, the Parka Patio, on February 18. Get your tickets at www.latitude53.org/parka.

First Times: Karen Campos

“First Times” is a look at the pioneering spirit that animates the arts community in Edmonton, and provides our mission as an artist-run centre. We’re celebrating that spirit in the winter air on February 18 at our new annual fundraiser: the Parka Patio.

Karen Campos is a designer, artist and DJ here in Edmonton who we’ve worked with for a few events over the last couple of years. She writes two blogs: one about her projects at heart-beats.ca and a Tumblr. We talked to her about running events and what it takes to not give up.

Regulars to Latitude 53’s events will recognize you as DJ Campos—you just played at our McCauley skating event, “Dancing Under the Winter Stars”. Do you remember the first time you were involved with an event at Latitude 53?

That’s actually hard to recall. Latitude feels like such a staple for anyone involved in the arts in this city but I think officially, it was DJing “53 Ways To Leave Your Lover” in 2010. It was one of our very first paid gigs. Up to that point my DJ partner (smallcaps) and me were putting on events on our own so it was great to be recognized by a space we always admired and frequented. This is when we learned something still relevant after a few years of DJing all over the city: Latitude gigs have great food, drinks and crowds. In short: always a treat.

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Latitude 53 Video Podcast

We talked to the DJs of Easy Love about their First Times: getting started in Edmonton, finding new directions, and working with Latitude 53 for the first time. See them this Saturday closing out the party at the Parka Patio.

“First Times” is a look at the pioneering spirit that animates the arts community in Edmonton, and provides our mission as an artist-run centre. We’re celebrating that spirit in the winter air on February 18 at our new annual fundraiser: the Parka Patio.

First Times: Blair Brennan

“First Times” is a look at the pioneering spirit that animates the arts community in Edmonton, and provides our mission as an artist-run centre. We’re celebrating that spirit in the winter air on February 18 at our new annual fundraiser: the Parka Patio

Blair Brennan is an Edmonton artist and writer who’s been involved with Latitude 53 for a long time—he’s recently been on our Programming Committee. He’s also a familiar face as the manager of FAB Gallery at the University. We talked to him about beginning his career in Edmonton:

The first item on your CV, in 1980, is “Latitude Presents”—and you’re still involved with Latitude 53 today. Can you tell us about your memories of those early days, your first experience with the centre?

Back in 80’s there seemed less pressure to leave Edmonton. It seemed as good a place as any from which to base and art practice and people didn’t seem to go away to school as much either. When you left the U of A, you became involved with Latitude. That just seemed a natural progression—though I also felt rather “recruited” by the then president John Roberts. They were looking for people who could help with renovations in their location near the high-level bridge on the north side (they had just moved from downtown—the old workman’s comp building on Rice Howard way and there was a lot of work to turn an old house into a usable gallery space).

I worked on the renovation of the basement and to a lesser extent the gallery spaces. There was a real “you built it and you used it” sense. We finished the ceiling in the basement and went to a poetry reading there on the weekend. We painted the walls in the gallery, hung a show and had a party there on the Friday night.

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First Times

The Parka Patio is less than two weeks away now. We’re very excited: it’s at once completely new and yet a continuation of our history.

Parka Patio about Edmonton’s pioneering spirit. We’re celebrating that despite our bitter winters and sleepy streets, what makes Edmonton special is the way that time and time again, we take on goals bigger than ourselves—we step out into the snow and make something new. At the Parka Patio we want to showcase young artists who are doing just that, from our silent auction to less-expected features like our two installation environments built by Jes McCoy, Rachelle Bowen, and Mackenzy Albright, to our DJs and video projections out on the patio. But we also want to connect these new trailblazers to the local traditions that paved the way for them.

Over this week and next—leading up to the event on the 18th—we’ll be telling some stories about new beginnings. We’ll have highlights about the up-and-coming artists and DJs who are helping us to put it on, but also stories from Edmonton’s past, about Latitude 53 and when some of the things we take for granted now were new too, in quotes and video. Stay tuned!