Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) is managed by an elected volunteer Board of Directors comprised of 8 – 11 members, one third of whom must live outside of HRM. Most Directors are also working artists.
The Board of Directors is comprised of VANS members who are officially elected by the membership at the Annual General Meeting to serve a minimum of one term (two years) to a maximum of two terms (four years).
The Board of Directors believes in the importance and value of VANS to the community and is able to endorse the mandate and objectives of VANS without reservation. Acknowledging their legal and fiscal responsibility to VANS, the Board of Directors is familiar with the organizations by-laws and policies, and prepare and meet for Board meetings.
2023 – 2024 Board of Directors
Evan Cameron is an interdisciplinary artist based on the south shore. His practice includes combinations of writing, drawing, and multimedia, and often explores themes like personal narratives, empowerment, and work. He is interested in supporting non-profit art organizations in NS and how art education can become more accessible across rural and low-income communities.
Charles Doucette is a multimedia visual artist, goldsmith and poet. He received a BFA from NSCAD in 1987. He lives in Potlotek First Nation. “I work in multiple mediums, disciplines. Art/Craft, other, each piece is a dialogue with something else, somewhere else. in the past, future and the ephemeral present”.
Annik Gaudet (Co-chair) is an Acadian artist originally from New Brunswick and currently based in Saint Margaret’s Bay, NS. Her interdisciplinary art practice places observation and intuition at the centre of her creative process. She creates imaginative and whimsical videos, performances, installations and images that seek to invite viewers to spend time inside the wild realm. Her work is often site-specific and made in the field while out on wilderness excursions. Annik holds a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University and her work has been shown in galleries, festivals and screenings in Canada and the USA.
Jayme-Lynn Gloade is a Mi’kmaw visual and ceramic artist from Millbrook First Nation, Mi’kma’ki. Gloade graduated NSCAD University in 2014 with a major in photography and a minor in art history and returned in 2019 for a post-baccalaureate in ceramics. She is the Business Program Designer at a non-for-profit called Every One Every Day, which is a project of the Mi’kmaw Friendship Centre, and owns her own ceramic studio in the North End of Halifax. Gloade created the First Indigenous Collective at NSCAD University that is still going today. It was there she also created the first Indigenous gallery show at the Anna Leonowens. Gloade was also the Indigenous representative for SUNSCAD. Gloade co-founded a Community Interest Group called Change Is Brewing Collective that started in 2020. This group promotes diversity & inclusion in the beverage and food industry and takes 60% of the proceeds and invests in back into Nova Scotian grassroots initiatives.
Onya Hogan-Finlay (Co-chair) is a multidisciplinary artist and educator of settler ancestry based in the LaHave Islands in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia). Her practice activates public spaces outside of conventional gallery contexts through artist-curated events and mobile exhibitions, participatory installation and performance, artist multiples, drawing, and engagement with 2SLGBTQ+ archives. Onya’s work cultivates collective models of DIY organizing and includes collaborations with The Third Leg (Logan McDonald and Ginger Brooks Takahashi). She is the co-founder of projet Mobilivre-Bookmobile project and co-editor of The Bookmobile Book. Her work has been published in C Magazine and exhibited at The Power Plant, Oakville Galleries, SAW Gallery, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, The ArQuives, ONE Archives, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Brooklyn Museum, Pacific Standard Time (The Getty Foundation), Documenta 12, and Kunstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin. Onya holds a BFA from Concordia University and an MFA from the University of Southern California.
Ayoka Junaid lives, loves, and learns in Kjipuktuk/ Halifax/ Canada. Junaid shows up as an American Sign Language interpreter and accessibility consultant, a sustainable artist, community-based educator, activist, and learner. She/ They look forward to the opportunity to support VANS through Board participation.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Jocelyn Li (Treasurer) is a non-binary, diasporic Chinese artist working in multi-disciplinary mediums. Their current focus is launching their self-study in blacksmithing while working full-time as the Executive Director at Parrsboro Creative. In 2013, they received a BFA with a Major in Jewellery & Metalsmithing at NSCAD University. For the last 9 years, they have been primarily employed in support of the local art community to organize art programming, exhibitions, and art fairs in both Halifax, Toronto, and now Parrsboro. Jocelyn has been focused on the “kind” in humankind since working as an advocate, collaborator and facilitator for public education in art, craft, and cultural theory. They approach their areas of interest (art, semiotics, and philosophy) as “theory in practice” and highlights the impact that art and aesthetics have on our socio-political and economic status.
Carley Mullally (they, she) is a textile artist and educator from New Glasgow, NS, currently based in Lunenburg. With a background in weaving, their work focuses on the versatility of off-loom textile processes such as rope-making, knotting, crochet and braiding. Currently, Carley works with reclaimed marine debris through recovery, repairing, reusing and re-design. While teaching various arts workshops as well classes at NSCAD University, Carley continues to work on collaborative research projects while simultaneously continuing their own art practice. Their work has been shown both nationally and internationally; at the Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), the Hong Kong Medical Museum (HK), the Chester Art Centre (NS), the Mary E. Black Gallery (NS) and more. They earned their BFA from NSCAD, their MA from the Royal College of Art and are currently pursuing their BEd from St. F.X University.
Carrie Phillips Kieser is a print media artist living and working in Nova Scotia, Canada. She holds an MFA from NSCAD University, Halifax NS, a Bachelor of Arts Degree with distinction from Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada, and has studied Art History at UCLA, USA. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally. Between the years 2014 and 2018, she was the Executive Director of Alberta Printmakers (A/P), a non-profit & artist-run centre in Calgary, Alberta. Having worked with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through the Arts Program, she has a keen interest in art education and developed artistic projects surrounding the core curriculum within the Calgary Board of Education. She served on the Calgary Public Art Board for two years until her relocation to Nova Scotia in 2019.
Alana Lea Wilson (she, her) is a ceramic artist currently residing in Sydney, NS. She grew up in Northern Ontario and spent most of her 20s and 30s doing seasonal work in Ontario and Alberta. She completed her BFA at NSCAD University in 2010 and went on to do her Master’s at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She’s done residencies in Australia and Canada and continues to show work in Canada and the U.S. Her work explores themes of nostalgia, belonging, and her ongoing search for a home.
volunteer opportunities
Alongside office personnel, VANS’ work is assisted by contract staff, committee members (on committees such as programming, finance, membership and engagement, editorial, PAINTS, and nominating), and volunteers.
If you are interested in volunteering for VANS to fill a vacancy on the board of directors or as a committee member, please contact director@visualarts.ns.ca.