Fine Arts special topics course: FINA 3202 - Politics in Landscape"

“Politics in Landscape” is a third-year special topics Fine Arts course, which will teach students about the history of landscape art in Europe and North America. This historical knowledge will help frame our explorations of contemporary landscape art and allow students to critically engage with these histories when creating their own artwork. To strengthen course learning, students will attend two field trips. The first will be a Native Plant Walk on March 6th with Kwantlen First Nation Elder Karen Gabriel, sharing traditional uses of native plant species along the Fraser River. The second workshop is an interpretive tour of the Fort Langley National Historic Site, learning about both the First Nations and the colonial history of the site.

It is imperative that these lessons from the land are given by those whose traditional territory we are hosted on. Our university is keen to build stronger relationships with local First Nations, and this is a perfect opportunity to incorporate First Nations knowledge into our critical pedagogy. Landscape art in Canada has historically been used as a cultural tool to negate First Nations rights, by promoting the idea of Canada as an “empty landscape”. Students will be confronted by this history and challenged to re-think how a contemporary view of landscape can call into question these problematic ideologies.

These field trips and workshops will culminate into the students’ final project for this course, where I will be asking them to respond their on-site experiences in a visual format. The theme of their project will be “Contemporary Landscapes” asking them to take into consideration their in-class learning and draw upon their on-site experiences to discuss themes of identity, environment, or politics in their work. These projects will be formed into a group exhibition where we hope to exhibit this work at the Fort Langley National Historic Site. This exhibition will give students the opportunity to share their work with their peers at Kwantlen University, as well as with the wider arts community in Langley and beyond. The types of artwork in the exhibition may vary from drawing, painting, sculpture, video and performance.

Are external indigenous groups or Nations involved?  If so, which Nations?

Kwantlen First Nations.

Are students involved?

Yes, students take part in the on-site learning experiences and are asked to make work in response to their experiences. Students are putting together a group exhibition at the Fort Langley National Historic Site on the topic of "Contemporary Landscapes".

Is the activity/event/project funded?  If so, what is the funding source? FAEAF Grant.

Timeline: Spring 2019