The Drawers - Jim Kalnin  Statement/Resume

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Statement

My art has almost always been rooted in the natural world. From this has evolved work that expresses both the joy of life, and an awareness of its fragility. My drawings, paintings and installations have ranged from being critical of environmental insensitivity in the logging and mining industries to spiritual expressions of the dynamics of life to questioning various aspects of the human condition. I feel especially gratified by those rare works that manages to be a critical statement and a spiritual one at the same time.

Everything is interconnected, part of the same whole. Every culture, all civilizations, and all our technology are part of the natural universe. We have sprung from nature and not really very far. We still depend completely on the natural order of things for our existence. The longer I live and make art, the more this becomes evident, and the more this awareness becomes an integral part of my work.

In these recent drawings on vellum I found myself attracted to illogical and absurd juxtapositions of imagery. Like fish arcing over what looks like buildings. They become valuable metaphors for my understanding of the interrelationship of all things. Absurdity in art for its own sake is also attractive to me, and it surfaces periodically in various ways. Perhaps these flying fish and lurking bears are reminding me that life is a passion play that is better not taken too seriously.

Using oil stick and dark pencils on the translucent and very fragile surface of synthetic vellum is one of the ways I am currently investigating the tenuousness and fragility of life, and reminding myself that under all the darkness there is always light.

Resume

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2005 “Oasis” Group Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
2005 “Inspired by the Land” Group Exhibit, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
2004 “Landscape & Memory Group, Exhibit Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton BC
2004 “Drawings” Group Exhibit, Art Ark Gallery, Kelowna BC
2003 “Landscape & Memory” Group Exhibit, Triangle Gallery, Calgary AB
2003 “Landscape & Memory” Group Exhibit, Art Ark Gallery, Kelowna BC
2003 “Old Guard, New Guard” Group Exhibit, Art Ark Gallery, Kelowna BC
2003 “Defining Abstraction” Group Exhibit, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
2002 “Allegories of Transformation & Wonderment”
Collaboration with Doug Biden, Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton, BC
2002 “Dog Pond Dancing” Solo Exhibit, Grand Forks Art Gallery, Grand Forks BC
2001 “Dog Pond Dancing” Solo Exhibit, School House Gallery, Qualicum BC
2001 ”Stream” Solo Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
2001 “Artropolis 2001” Group Exhibit, Vancouver BC
2000 “Return of the Metaforest” Group Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
1999 “The Lake” Invitational Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
1998 “Huey-Heck & Kalnin” 2-person Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
1997 Solo Exhibit, Art Gallery of the South Okanagan, Penticton BC
1996 “Land Payssages” Group Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
1996 “Collaborations” Group Exhibit, SKOL Gallery, Montreal PQ
1995 “Okanagan Series” Solo Exhibit, Headbones Gallery, Vernon BC
1995 “Re-Creation” Collaborative Installation with Lois Huey-Heck & Byron Johnston, grunt gallery, Vancouver BC
1994 “The Id, The Ego & The OAA” Group Exhibit, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna, BC
1993 “Artropolis 93” Group Exhibit, Vancouver BC
1993 “Earthlines, Deadlines, Lifelines” Group Touring Exhibit, Neutral Ground Gallery, Regina SK
1993 “Sanctuary” Solo Exhibit, Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
1992 “Earthlines, Deadlines, Lifelines” Group Touring Exhibit, Redding California
1991 “Okanagan Open” Juried Exhibition Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
1991 “Earthlines, Deadlines, Lifelines” Group Touring Exhibit Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria BC
1991 “Pathin Tuit” 2-person Exhibit, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
1991 “Drawers of Water” Juried Exhibit, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna BC
1991 “Out of the Closet & Into the Woods” Group Exhibit, OAA Gallery, Kelowna BC
1990 “Objects & Images” BC Festival of the Arts Exhibit, Saanich BC
1989 “Condominium” Group Exhibit, United Way Building, Kelowna BC
1987 “National Drawing Competition” Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
1987 “Objects & Images” BC Festival of the Arts, Duncan BC
1981 Solo Exhibition Hatch Gallery, Nanaimo BC
1976 Solo Exhibition Five Fingers Gallery, Nanaimo BC

COLLECTIONS
Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon BC
Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna BC
AVCO Finance, Nanaimo BC
Numerous Private Collections in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia

EDUCATION
1964 - 1969 Vancouver School of Art
1968 Summer Student, National Film Board of Canada, Montreal PQ

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2005 Present: Associate Professor, Faculty of Creative & Critical Studies, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna BC
1987-05: Associate Professor, Fine Arts Faculty, Okanagan University College, Kelowna BC
1984-87: Taught Drawing & Painting for Kelowna Art Gallery, Skills Gallery & Artworks, Kelowna BC
1974-&5: Taught Film Animation, Sikusilarmiut Film Workshop (NFB Sponsored), Cape Dorset, Baffin Island NWT
1972-74: Taught film Animation, Vancouver School of Art, Vancouver BC
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2005 “The Spirituality of Art” Co-written by Jim Kalnin & Lois Huey-Heck, Published by Wood Lake Books Northstone, Kelowna BC
1993 Article “Artropolis Entries Pose an Internal Question” by Maev Brennan, Kelowna Capital News, October 24
1993 Article “Art Makes Public Display of Itself” by Mike Roberts, Vancouver Province, October 22
1993 Article “Art Fervor in Oyama” by Ann-Charlotte Berglund, Okanagan Life Magazine, Summer Issue
1990 Article “Alternative Art Tough to Define” by Maev Brennan, Kelowna Capitol News, October 24