Writer in Residence
The writer in residence program is a new initiative from Latitude 53 that builds upon the mandate of Latitude 53 to provide a forum for dialogue about contemporary visual culture throughout communities. Situated as a six-month residency the writer engages Latitude 53 programming, the greater Edmonton-regional community and beyond through critical writing. The writer in residence will create a minimum of three writings a month on visual culture and may choose to coordinate, create, or incite critical dialogue about visual culture through other complementary programming activities as well.
Download the media release announcing the program
See all Writer In Residence posts
Josh Holinaty
Writer in Residence January–June 2013
Josh Holinaty is an Edmonton based illustrator, designer, and visual artist who has created work for a multitude of clients including The Globe & Mail, Owl, WIRED, Runner’s World, Canadian Business, and Avenue, to name a few. Recently the “Transition” mural in downtown Edmonton, which he created with artist Luke Ramsey, received an Edmonton Urban Design Award in Excellence and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s Urban Design award in the Urban Fragments category. He has also exhibited work in France, Germany, USA and of course Canada.
Josh’s work involves the humourous and grotesque, and recently he has been found to appreciate traditional life drawing.
Currently Josh teaches illustration and design at GURU Digital Arts College in Edmonton.
Blair Brennan
Writer in Residence May–October 2012
Blair Brennan combines his writing and art practice from his home in Edmonton. His sculpture, installation and drawing have been exhibited nationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. Recent exhibitions include two three-person drawing exhibitions: Arrows and Bullets Comb My Hair with Richard Boulet and Patrick J. Reed (Gallery @ 501, Sherwood Park, January–February 2012), Hugly Mangry Killdren with Sarah Van Slotan and Andrea Williamson (TRUCK, Calgary, October–November 2010) and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery’s inaugural group exhibition in their newly renovated Gallery, On Your Marks (SAAG, Lethbridge, September–November 2010). Brennan has contributed articles to a number of national arts and cultural publications. Upcoming projects include a catalogue essay for Edmonton artist Catherine Burgess’ forthcoming AGA exhibition and a collaborative project with Edmonton artists Sean Caulfield and Royden Mills. The Brennan/Caulfield/Mills collaboration will be featured in the group exhibition The Body in Question(s) / Le Corps en Question(s) which will premier at the Galerie de l’UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal) in May 2012 and will reunite Brennan with a former collaborative partner, Edmonton-based, nationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Brian Webb.
Megan Bertagnolli
Writer in Residence October 2011–March 2012
Megan Bertagnolli is an Edmonton-based writer who recently completed a Master’s thesis about contemporary museum culture and art, and has previously written about art in institutional and freelance positions, as well as being involved in various curatorial projects. She feels strongly about engaging the community in dialogue on visual culture and discussing the relationships of art and institutions in an accessible context.
Bertagnolli looks forward to exploring the ways that communities use visual culture to initiate conversations within and beyond their boundaries, and is excited about the way that Latitude 53’s writer-in-residence program uses a blog platform and experimental outreach to encourage participatory dialogue.
Anne Pasek
Writer in Residence April–September 2011.
Anne Pasek is an alumnus of Grant MacEwan and the University of Alberta. She began her education in painting and drawing and then switched to art history due to growing suspicions that she might be a better nerd than an artist. She’s put in her time at many art institutions around town including Latitude 53, The Art Gallery of Alberta, and The University of Alberta Museums while even spending a brief foray at the Smithsonian American Art Museum to see what our neighbours to the south were up to. Turns out it was a lot of pictures of bison and socialites.
Anne brings to the job a wealth of experience interpreting art for diverse audiences and a near evangelical love of art theory. In the coming months she hopes to foster an on-going dialogue with Edmontonians about local and transnational art issues while working towards democratizing theory and improving access to ideas, particularly in light of Marshall McLuhan’s upcoming centenary.
Fish Griwkowsky
We here at L53 are very excited to announce our newest Writer in Residence, Fish Griwkowsky. Fish has a long history of supporting Edmonton’s arts community, and is one of Edmonton’s most visible advocates for arts and culture. He will be posting at least three times a month from October 2010 – March 2011 about Latitude 53 programming, the arts in Edmonton, and beyond.
Latitude 53’s six-month Writer in Residence program allows writers to discuss, analyze and critique the issues and events that shape our community. This initiative builds upon our mandate to provide a forum for dialogue about contemporary visual culture.
Download the media release here for more information.
You can also follow Fish on Twitter for some 140-character wisdom.
Carolyn Jervis
Latitude 53 is pleased to announce its first Writer in Residence, Carolyn Jervis, who will fill the position March–September of 2010.
Carolyn Jervis recently graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture with a minor in Women’s Studies. She has been involved in art as activism and community outreach through Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival and The Works Art and Design Festival in Edmonton and at the Smithsonian’s modern and contemporary art museum, the Hirshhorn, in Washington, DC. Carolyn also does freelance art installations, consultations, and speaking engagements on visual literacy and contemporary art.
