Some people jump at the chance to get involved and meet others, while some take small, careful steps in establishing their niche within a new environment. University is a time for change and new experiences, and it often pushes you farther and farther away from your comfort zone. This week, I had the opportunity to sit down at Small Victory Café in Yaletown with recent UBC Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate Natalie Ng, an extremely talented prospective curator who is in the progress of journeying down the exciting path of creative conduction and production. Natalie’s experience in UBC’s Fine Arts program opened up multiple doors of artistic discovery that reaffirm and strengthen her passion for visual expression.
Natalie’s love for Fine Arts and means of visual communication has extended from high school, to university graduate life. She nurtured her creative passions through curating UBC’s annual Fine Arts graduation exhibition for the class of 2014, interning at a local art gallery, and landing a part time job as a floral designer, aiding projects that ranged from themed weddings to the Vancouver Film Festival. She stresses the importance of trying both creative and non-creative work experiences in order to “broaden the art-making spectrum”, and to maintain an open mind and willingness to gather work and study experience both in and out of the artistic realm. The feelings and practices gained through this practice, she says, can act as inspiration for the process of art-making. “Never stop making art,” she said, “Even if you wander away from it, either at work or during study, you always have the tendency to go back, and it’s a good thing.” I asked Natalie how studying Fine Arts at UBC expanded her artistic spectrum, and if the curriculum helped her grow both creatively and as a person. She revealed that her cohort of fellow Fine Arts students were a “true community of tight-knit goodness that fed off one another”, and interacting with peers daily allowed her to both give and take ideas that generated perspectives and work dynamics that would have otherwise remained nonexistent. “It wasn’t hard getting my foot into the art world, because of this community that UBC had created for me,” she noted. Upon venturing into the world of Fine Arts, Natalie had realized how important networking and connections are. She advised me to “[be] active and involved in the areas you are interested in, so you can establish connections and have the time of your life all at once.”
While discussing different disciplines and new perspectives, I asked Natalie about some memorable elective courses that she took during her time at UBC and how they influenced her artistic production. In particular, she focused on gender studies, and an art theory course that she took two years ago. Her interest in gender and sexuality, combined with the insight gained from enrolling in the course, prompted the production of pieces that boldly explore the rawness and depths of confronting sexuality and socially constructed gender norms. The art theory course was also a striking one for her, as it changed much of Natalie’s pre-existing conceptions of art, as well as the purpose and intentions behind her art-making. The theme for her cohort was the ‘art of nothing’, which Natalie tackled by creating a digital auditory and visual piece consisting of three blue ‘screen deaths’ on laptops, presented along with chilling background audio (audiences were required to put headphones on as they watched the piece) of the sounds within the nervous system in the brain when experiencing a seizure. Natalie’s final digital project was a response to her exposure to the notion of art not as aesthetics, but “as a concept and the intention behind it as art itself.”
Natalie’s aspirations of becoming a successful curator with an international education and background were shaped largely by the open-mindedness of her parents in allowing her to explore and flourish in her passion for fine arts. “I am a very visual person,” she told me, “I did art since I was little, and I think and learn visually.” The family philosophy that she grew up with had taught her to “work hard if it’s for something you like,” which continuously pushes her to improve and to break through conventions in her own work time after time. One piece of advice she wants to give to current fine arts students, as well as other undergraduate students on their own journeys, is to “always follow your passion. It’s never the easy way out, but you won’t regret it.”