Xane St Phillip, Acting Chair
Xane St Phillip has been involved with the Vancouver Island School of Art since its inception in 2004. Xane has served on the Board of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (1995-2001) which included chair of the Works of Art Committee and the Board of Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts (1995-2001); he currently sits on the Arts Advisory Committee of that organization. Xane is a practicing artist and is involved with the Living Wall project for Gateway Green development. He has also been an art instructor for over 16 years.
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Jan Louise Paterson, Vice Chair
Jan-Louise has been a resident of the Capital Region for the past 22 years and she is recently retired from a long career in the Heath sector. Jan-Louise has a triple major Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Arts degree in Community Development/Adult Education from the University of Alberta and more recently a certificate in Public Relations from the University of Victoria. Jan-Louise has been involved in many committees and boards at the local, provincial and international level. Jan-Louise and her husband made the arts an important focus while raising their children. Jan Louise continues to maintain a strong interest in art education: "I am very excited about being on the VISA board and I'm eager to share my passion, commitment and experience to help the Vancouver Island School of Art attain its goals. I strongly believe that art, in all its forms occupies an integral place in both our personal and community lives".
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John Houghton, Treasurer
"I believe the Vancouver Island School of Art is a valuable resource for anyone in our community who wishes to express their artistic creativity. I have witnessed how art can change a life - a family member began taking courses at VISA several years ago and has since blossomed into a fine artist. I am honored to serve the school and its faculty as a board member." John moved to Victoria in 2003 after many years of international business management and currently owns an architectural wood coatings distributorship on Vancouver Island.
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Angela McClintock, Secretary
Angela has recently moved to Victoria from Calgary where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Commerce and another in Kinesiology. Looking for a way to get involved in the Victoria community, the Vancouver Island School of Art presented a unique opportunity and she joined the board as soon as possible. Angela looks forward to contributing to the Victoria art scene and to interacting with a group of people who have been inspired by the school and its students.
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Miko Betanzo, Director
"Just as important as community healthcare and recreation facilities are to our collective wellbeing, art schools too, are as equally important. And what better way to be involved with your community and socialize than with art." Miko holds degrees in architecture and diplomas in civil engineering. He does illustration, watercolour and animation.
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Oliver Drew, Director
Oliver Drew discovered beautiful Victoria, BC while taking a BSc. in Economics at the University of Victoria. After working abroad, Oliver returned to Victoria to settle down and start a family. He currently works as an educator and owns the Pacific Design Academy and the Pacific Film & New Media Academy. He joined the board of the Vancouver Island School of Art in 2009, after enjoying collaborating with Wendy Welch and Xane St Phillip.
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Tricia Hodgins, Director
Tricia Hodgins' passion for painting brought her to Victoria in 1993 from Toronto where she had been a graphic artist for five years. Tricia graduated from Victoria College of Art in 1996 and continues to exhibit her work throughout B.C. Tricia has been working with special needs children at an elementary school in Victoria since 2000. She initiated an After School Art Program and uses art as a forum to encourage children's self-expression, build their self-esteem, and nurture their creative and critical thinking abilities. Her extensive experience in Victoria's hospitality industry will be an asset to VISA's Special Events and Fundraising Committees. Tricia sees her involvement with VISA as an opportunity to put her philosophy into action: "the arts are the glue that holds a community together". Tricia looks forward to supporting the development of community through art education.
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Michel Janisse, Committee Member
Michel was born in Windsor, ON and received a doctorate in Psychology from the University of Waterloo and was Dean of Continuing Education at the University of Manitoba for eight years. Since taking early 'retirement' in 1997, he has been Executive Director of Cooperative Education at the University of Victoria, Major Gifts Officer for the University of Manitoba, and Director of Fund Development for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Manitoba. Most recently he has worked in Victoria for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon, been Senior Relationship Manager for the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, and most recently Dean of Arts and Science at University Canada West in Victoria. He was also the first President of the LINC Universities Foundation.
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Philippe Lucas, Director
Philippe moved to British Columbia in 1991 and completed a post-degree certificate in Secondary Education at the University of Victoria. Philippe is on the Victoria City Council, where his focus is homelessness, harm reduction and food security. He has joined the VISA board to support this important artistic asset to the Quadra-Hillside neighbourhood and to help broaden the school's impact on Victoria's arts and culture community. Philippe has recently completed a Master's degree in the University of Victoria Studies in Policy and Practice program.
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John Luna, Director
John grew up in Victoria and studied at the Victoria College of Art and the University of Victoria before completing his graduate studies at the University of Calgary. He has exhibited in Victoria, Kelowna, Calgary and San Francisco. As a writer, John has contributed catalogue essays and criticism for publication in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto and Jakarta.
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Eric Metcalfe, Advisory Board Member
Vancouverite Eric Metcalfe has embodied the avant-garde "tradition" in Canadian art since at least the late 1960s. Born in 1940, he's been a painter, sculptor, printmaker, performance artist, illustrator and filmmaker, sometimes working under the name Dr. Brute. In 1973, he co-founded, in Vancouver, the pioneering artist-run centre Western Front. Over the years, he's drawn on a wide variety of influences, from jazz and comic books to conceptual and found art and movies. Metcalfe is a recent winner of the Governor General's Visual & Media Arts Award (2008).
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Gary Pearson, Advisory Board Member
Gary Pearson is an artist and Associate Professor in the Department of Creative Studies at UBC Okanagan, in Kelowna, BC. He is also a freelance exhibition curator, art writer, and author. His exhibition reviews have been published in Canadian Art, Border Crossings, and Sculpture magazine, among other publications. He has recently contributed a book chapter called On The Outskirts of Town, for the book Re-Thinking the Contemporary Art School, the Artist, the PhD, and the Academy, NSCAD University Press, 2009. His most recent curatorial project was for Artspace, Centre for Contemporary Art, in Sydney, Australia in 2008. Gary Pearson has received numerous grants and awards, including the Vancouver Institute of Visual Arts VIVA award in 1991, and the Okanagan Arts Award in Visual Arts, in 2010. Gary Pearson's personal exhibition history includes solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the US, Australia, and Europe. He is currently involved in a curatorial collaboration and solo exhibition called 1 2 3 Soliloquy for the McMaster Museum of Art, in Hamilton, in 2011.
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Gail Price-Douglas, Director
Gail Price-Douglas has a Masters degree in Social Work and has recently retired from the City of Victoria, Parks and Recreation Department, where she worked for many years specializing in public and community art projects. Since minoring in Art in her undergraduate degree, she has studied painting and drawing over the years and has always been a keen supporter of the visual arts. Gail hopes to make a positive contribution to this board, as she feels very keenly on the importance of teaching and learning through visual and literary arts education.
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