Hidden deep within the fine arts building of the University of Lethbridge, an emerging artist plugs away at new projects to display around the city.
Jacqueline Addison, 21, discovered her talent and love for creating art when she was in high school and was able to experiment with different materials, alongside a teacher who encouraged her creativity.
“Her name was Jane and she was the one who gave me my first camera. Then I heard about the arts program at the university and I really wanted to get into it. It took me awhile to build up the courage to accept that art was my calling in a sense,” said Addison.
Uncertain of the direction she was meant to go in, Addison applied to the Archaelogy program and the Environmental Science program before she realized art was her calling.
Now submerged in the world of full creativity and self-expression, Addison has received many awards and scholarships to support the growth of her talent.
They include the “Roloff Beny Photogenic Award” which allowed her to travel to Iceland and used photography to capture the life and culture of the country.
“We had a gallery set up to show our stuff and some people from the university came and chose my stuff… it was just another moment where someone has acknowledged that my stuff was worthy of something,” said Addison.
The artist creates a variety of two and three-dimensional work using primarily film photography, charcoal, wood and ceramic creations.
Inspired by the world around her and the people close to her, she is most influenced by minimalistic and conceptualism ideas which can be seen deep in her work.
“Most of my work is very minimal, some people say that I over conceptualize things but I think a lot about projects before I jump into them but I think what guides me the most is the materiality of what I am working with,” said Addison.
Enveloping as much of herself as she can into the art world, Addison has joined the Penny Art Gallery to evaluate and organize local artists and exhibition openings to make her more comfortable showcasing her own work.
Addison recently opened her first individual exhibition at Blueprint Records in downtown Lethbridge, which is called “Disposition.” The collection explores a symbolic relationship
between the human and the natural and discovers the balance between a human touch and an organic form.
“A lot of people know me for my photography which is great but I also do a lot of other things and I wanted to be able to showcase that so this one is going to feature photographs, some sculptures, drawings and some mixed-media work,” said Addison.
The Disposition exhibition is on display until the end of March but is only the start for what Addison will create for people to experience.
