Visual arts in Gros Morne

Who could ask for a better classroom than Gros Morne National Park?

Students in D'Arcy Wilson’s Visual Arts 3929 course had the opportunity to learn and explore far beyond the studios of Grenfell Campus’s Fine Arts Building.

Titled "Extended Site" the class is a visual arts research, fieldwork and studio course; students immerse themselves in a specific site as a departure point for their work. In this case, the students travelled to Norris Point, in the heart of the park, where they used Memorial's Bonne Bay Marine Station as home base. From there, they visited numerous inspirational locations inside Gros Morne National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Students in D'Arcy Wilsons visual arts class found inspiration in the Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park.

"The course highlights the ability of contemporary art practices to digest site, transfer knowledge, and communicate place," said Prof. Wilson. "With such an intent, this course addresses the act of looking and response - the potential for art to critique, to make emotional, to decolonize, all the while asking: what is the nature of a respectful sight within a given site? What is your relationship to the site and how does it affect your sight?"

The course culminated in a blog, titled "Thirty Days of the Good Bay." Emily Hayes is one of the students who contributed to the blog.

"The blog was an amazing way to give insight to our global audience on our experiences in Norris Point," said Ms. Hayes. "It allowed each of us the opportunity to expand on our ideas or to articulate something completely different that affected us over the course of our 10 days in the park." 

She said the course was a "phenomenal opportunity" to learn about and inhabit a new environment, while creating an independent body of work based on her time there.

"I was very taken with an old house just over the hill from where we stayed - using this as a jumping off point, I began to explore the meaning of home, specifically in Newfoundland," said Ms. Hayes. "I ended up knitting a hat for each person in the class, each one a portrait of the person who would eventually wear it. I hoped these hats would create a sense of home or comfort for the wearer, and serve as a comforting object in the case that they ever have to leave the province."

To read "Thirty Days of the Good Bay," visit https://thirtydaysofthegoodbay.wordpress.com/. To learn more about the bachelor of fine arts (visual arts) at Grenfell Campus, click here.