To launch her residency at UBC, Vancouver artist Holly Schmidt presents Forecast, a series of daily weather forecasts installed on the windows of the AHVA Gallery over the course of Congress 2019. Printed on vinyl with a mirror finish, Forecast reflects the shifting weather conditions outside the gallery. Rather than predicting the weather, the forecasts use the language of weather reporting to anticipate the highly localized effects of weather on humans, plants and animals on campus. This will be the first of many poetic weather forecasts written by the artist and broadcast on the soon-to-be-launched website vegetalencounters.ca. Forecast is part of the exhibition …we can know more than we can tell… (Polanyi, 1958), curated by Christine D’Onofrio. The exhibition seeks to actualize intuitive dimensions of knowledge that happen both through experiential learning and the research and creation of artworks.
Vegetal Encounters is Holly Schmidt’s three-year residency with the Outdoor Art Program at the University of British Columbia. Through this residency, Schmidt will creatively engage with plant life as a significant source of life, connection and learning. The artist suggests that learning with plant life involves slowing down and using all of the senses to engage deeply and with respect. As part of her residency, she anticipates creating opportunities for students, staff and faculty on campus to attend to the plants around them. This engagement will result in a range of art projects in various mediums and of different durations.
Holly Schmidt is an artist, curator and educator who engages processes of embodied research, collaboration and informal pedagogy to explore the multiplicity of human relations with the natural world. Her work involves the creation of temporary site-specific projects and residencies, along with material-based explorations in the studio. Her national and international exhibitions, projects and residencies include: Vegetal Encounters (2019-21) with the UBC Outdoor Art Program, Quiescence (2019) at the Burrard Arts Foundation, A-Y with Locals Only (2018) at AKA Gallery, Pollen Index (2016) at the Charles H. Scott Gallery, Till (2014-15) at the Santa Fe Art Institute, Moveable Feast (2012) at the Burnaby Art Gallery and Grow (2011) with Other Sights for Artists’ Projects. Schmidt is grateful to live and work in Vancouver, Canada, the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Image (above): Holly Schmidt, Forecast (screen capture from digital project), 2019. Courtesy of Nigel Laing.
Images (below): Holly Schmidt, Forecast (installation at Audain Centre), 2019. Courtesy of the artist.
