News

Announcing Artists in Mind

We are thrilled to announce Eryn Foster as the lead coordinator for Artists in Mind, a newly launched artists’ and mental health research initiative coordinated through VANS in collaboration with Arts Nova Scotia. Eryn is an interdisciplinary artist who also works as an arts consultant, researcher, educator and community arts advocate in Halifax. If you happen…

“Working Girls” by Liam Ross

Working Girls is a series of instant photographs by artist Liam Ross that explore the ephemeral labour of drag performers in Halifax. Backstage moments, rather than stage performances, are emphasized: preparing makeup and costumes, travelling to gigs, breaks between acts, and dressing room antics. The resulting photographs are at times compelling, intimate, and revealing. Make…

Announcing the New Grad Program Exhibition

Visual Arts Nova Scotia presents the New Grad Program’s Online Exhibition! Meet the 10 emerging artists who participated in the 2020 New Grad Program: Andrew Thorne, Anna Lisa Shandro, Sydney Wreaks, Emily May, Fern Pellerin, Jessica MacDonald, Kiera Sitzer, Maddie Alexander, Molly MacLellan, and Nicholas Chapman. This year, due to COVID-19, we were unable to host…

Call for workshop proposals

As part of our mandate, Visual Arts Nova Scotia offers professional development workshops to its members and artists around the province. Workshops offered in the past have included Taxes for Artists, Writing Professional Proposals, Documenting Your Work, Marketing for Artists, and more. In addition to these popular workshops we are looking for workshop proposals to enhance…

The HEAR TELL podcast resource guide is here!

VANS has just launched a free and downloadable PODCAST RESOURCE GUIDE as a follow-up to the HEAR TELL PODCAST TRAINING PROGRAM. It contains all kinds of free and helpful information for artists, creatives and anyone interested in starting their own podcast project. Feel free to share this link with anyone who might be interested: https://visualarts.ns.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Hear-Tell-Resource-Guide.pdf What’s…

VANS in Residence in Halifax

VANS in Residence provides a studio space, a stipend to support the artist to work full time for 4 weeks, and support from VANS and Wonder’neath in outreach. Time will be split between the artist’s own work (creation, research or both) and to community based work. The outreach will need to be done by distance,…

A call for PAINTS workshops

The PAINTS program is seeking initial sketches/outlines for workshops that you could lead remotely. All workshops will be either online in real time via Google classrooms, or facilitated by the teacher with paper prompts provided by the artist as a guide to take students through a process. We’re approaching all workshops as one-off live events.…

Take our Workshop Survey

Most years, VANS would offer a webinar series in the winter and an in-person workshop series in the spring and fall, but this year we are offering all our workshops online for the safety of our members. So we’re combining the usual winter and spring online workshops to offer a single Spring Workshop Series over Zoom…

Meet with a Creative Consultant

The new Creative Consults program is made for artists who are searching for advice to support their professional practice. You can start by searching through our directory of creative consultants, filter by expertise and book the consultant of your choice on their profile. We have consultants with expertise in grant writing, podcasting, marketing, websites, writing proposals, budgeting,…

Advocate for budgeting for the arts

Help artists in 2021 by writing your MLA and the Finance and Treasury Board at budget@novascotia.ca before December 31.  We need your voice to ensure the arts are a priority in the upcoming budget and recovery funds: Dear (Your MLA’s Name), Recognizing that culture is an integral part of Nova Scotian life, that creative activities…

Happy Holidays from VANS!

The Visual Arts Nova Scotia office will be closed and the staff will be on break from December 19 – January 3. Our first day back to work will be Monday, January 4, 2021, although we will still be working primarily from home. Happy holidays from the team at VANS (Becky, Andrea, Carri, Emily and…

Time to renew your membership

As the end of the year approaches remember to renew your VANS membership before it expires on December 31, 2020! If you selected an automatically renewing membership when you joined or renewed last year, then it will automatically charge your 2021 membership fees on December 1, 2020. No need to set a reminder – the website will automatically renew your membership every year (or until…

Open Grants is accepting applications

Visual Arts Nova Scotia is accepting applications from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) groups, galleries, organizations, and/or collectives to create new arts programming or enhance existing arts programming in the community.  We have expanded the Open Grants program so that a gallery, group or collective could apply for up to $500 to assist with costs related to…

Calling for Creative Consultants!

With the Creative Consults directory now available we are ready to take on new consultants in the coming months. Check back for upcoming deadlines. Creative Consults functions as a service directory for VANS members searching for support in their professional art practice. Each consultant profile will contain information about the expertise they’re offering and their…

“Through the Trees” by Lynda Shalagan

The last Corridor exhibition of 2020 is Lynda Shalagan’s delightful miniature nature paintings. These imagined landscapes and wild bird portraits use a unique reverse painted glass technique, sometimes layered over an oil painting, to give the work another dimension and shadows. Make an appointment to see Through the Trees in the Corridor Gallery November 9…

New online PAINTS workshops!

We’re thrilled to have a dozen talented artists from our PAINTS roster step up and adapt their workshops to be delivered in an online format. Check out the full list of online workshops on the PAINTS website. It’s a different year in so many ways. We want to keep art and artists connecting with students…

visual arts news

Visual Arts News calls and updates

Visual Arts News is calling for submissions of pitches, artworks for artist pages, and members of the editorial committee. The Spring 2020 theme is SUSTENANCE. Visual Arts News invites all Atlantic Canadian artists to create new works for our upcoming issue of the magazine. This call is open to all Atlantic Canadian artists and accepted…

Announcing our Fall Workshop Series

Visual Arts Nova Scotia’s Professional Development Workshop Series is presented in an effort to keep artists informed of best practices, methods and opportunities to develop artistically and professionally. This fall we will be offering all workshops online using Zoom.  Want to know about building your artist website, using social media to build your brand, or teaching an…

Meeting Waters: Cross-Cultural Collaborations on Environmental Racism

We are very excited to announce Meeting Waters: Cross-Cultural Collaborations on Environmental Racism with Ingrid Waldron as part of Nocturne 2020: Echolocation curated by Lindsay Dobbin! The event will take place Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 7pm over Zoom. This collaborative anchor project and subsequent panel discussion is co-presented with Visual Arts News as part…

“Somewhere in Between” by Miya Turnbull

There has been an increased spotlight on masks, in terms of safety, as we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic. As an artist who works with masks as a medium, Miya Turnbull finds the range of responses to mask wearing so interesting (and concerning at times). Her 3D masks are part collage, photography…