Yukon SOVA welcomes back NB artist Nicole Rayburn

Dawson City – Nicole Rayburn has a busy week ahead of her. The New-Brunswick-based visual artist opens her latest project re|signed in a Fredericton gallery and then immediately travels to Dawson City. She begins teaching classes next week at the Yukon School of Visual Art (SOVA).

Rayburn taught at SOVA last year also and is happy to make the return trip. Rayburn will teach 4D studio which covers video, performance, photography, and sound, and Visual Culture Studies.

“It was a really great experience and I was very excited to be asked to come back for the upcoming year. I actually think it was SOVA that made my experience in Dawson so great - my co-workers were fantastic and the students were a very engaged and unique group,” said Rayburn.

“There are not many first-year programs that cover topics such as performance and video art. This really allows for a great overlap between my own artistic interests and the topics that I get to cover in the classroom.”

“But, mostly I hope to impart the passion I have for art, the value that I think it has, and the important role that I think it plays in society.”
Rayburn has instructed studio courses in Foundation Studies and Drawing at the University of Western Ontario and maintained a private mural painting practice in Toronto.

She graduated with a BFA in painting from the University of Alberta and an MFA from the University of Western Ontario, with a focus on video and performance. She also spent a year of studies in art history at Uppsala Universitet, Sweden.

Rayburn’s current practice has expanded into photo documentation and more text-based work.  Her new show is a selection of eight large prints and a text panel from a larger series of 50 photographs of church road signage that she has collected over the past several years.

Eldo Enns, acting administrator at Yukon SOVA is pleased to see Rayburn return.

“Nicole did a fantastic job last year and our new students will appreciate the broad experience across various mediums that she brings to her instruction,” said Enns.

Rayburn takes over from founding faculty member, Charles Stankievech, who has moved to take on fresh artistic challenges after five years with Yukon SOVA.

“Given his profile in the international arts community we feel really lucky for every day we had Charles here teaching our students and raising our profile in the art world,” said Enns.

Stankievech is currently wrapping up a residency in Marfa, Texas. Yukoners interested in keeping up with his latest work can follow his website www.stankievech.net.

17 students have enrolled in the 2012-13 foundation year program at Yukon SOVA. Classes begin September 5th.

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For more information, contact:
Michael Vernon
Communications Coordinator
College Relations
Yukon College
867 668 8786
867 332 4722
mvernon@yukoncollege.yk.ca

Kirsti Wallace
Acting Director
College Relations
Yukon College
867 456 8619
kwallace@yukoncollege.yk.ca