ECU 100 | Ian Wallace Speaks with Dr. Trish Kelly on Links Between Work as Artist and Educator
“The way to convert that academic environment into a creative situation is to think of it as a conceptual laboratory,” says Ian Wallace. (Photo by Perrin Grauer)
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A conversation between the acclaimed artist and ECU President was the first of a speaker series marking the university’s centennial anniversary.
A recent public conversation between legendary artist Ian Wallace and Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) President + Vice-Chancellor Dr. Trish Kelly explored Ian’s work as a longtime educator, including his tenure at ECU from 1972 to 1998, during which his influence gave enduring shape to the university’s art history program.
Before an audience in ECU’s Reliance Theatre, Ian reflected on his approach to warming studio-based practitioners to the work of academic learning.
“The way to convert that academic environment into a creative situation is to think of it as a conceptual laboratory,” Ian, an ECU professor emeritus and Honorary Degree recipient, told Trish. “We’re here not just to learn facts, but to make use of that knowledge in broadening the dimensions of our own production. The art history classroom is really an extension of the studio and studio practice.”
The event was organized in support of ECU 100, the university’s centennial anniversary, and took place in conjunction with the exhibition En Route: mobile forms of art and education, currently on view at Libby Leshgold Gallery at ECU.
Trish said. “It’s not just about the tools we have, but how those tools become part of a broader context,” Trish Kelly said. (Photo by Perrin Grauer)
“You — and many others at the same time — set a framework for dialogue, a framework for connection that I think demonstrates the best of what is possible through art and design education,” Trish said. “It’s not just about the tools we have, but how those tools become part of a broader context, a way of reshaping and transforming and rethinking the context we find ourselves in today.”
En Route: mobile forms of art and education is open for public viewing at the Libby Leshgold Gallery daily through Nov. 16, from 12 to 5 PM.
The next guest speaker in the ECU 100 series, acclaimed writer and journalist John Vaillant, join Interim Dean of the Audain Faculty of Art, Amory Abbott, at 7pm on Oct. 22 at ECU to explore themes of ecological design, climate action, and environmental storytelling —urgent topics shaping our collective future. Visit our website to reserve tickets.