An MFA Student's Voyage to Vorres

By Justine Gieni

With the support of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Culture and Creativity (ICCC), Anahita Akhavan, an MFA student, served as a production assistant for Allyson Glenn (Associate Professor, Art & Art History) during Glenn’s month-long residency at the Vorres Museum in Athens, Greece.

Glenn was awarded an ICCC Graduate Catalyst Award, which is designed to foster experiential learning opportunities and mentorship for a student, and at the same time, act as a “catalyst” to assist a faculty member in completing an artistic or scholarly project. In turn, both the faculty member and the student benefit from their enriched collaboration.  

For Akhavan, this meant travelling with Glenn to Athens, Greece, to stay at the Vorres Museum. The Vorres Museum and sprawling gardens display a collection of paintings, installations and sculptures that cover at least 2500 years of Greek history. Founded by Ian Vorres, a Greek-Canadian, the Museum celebrates the ties between Greece and Canada through an annual artist residency for Canadian artists to seek inspiration from the rich cultural environment.  

“I was most fascinated by the maze-like architectural grounds that surround the Folklore section containing countless sculpture replicas of gods, demi-gods and mythological characters,” said Glenn. “I used the month-long residency to explore this section and to gather several on-site sketches, paintings, and photographic collages.”  

While at the world-class museum, Akhavan assisted Glenn by preparing canvases, mapping out grids for paintings, and mixing paint. Akhavan was able to put her knowledge into practice during the residency and develop her technical skills. 

Following the residency, Akhavan was tasked with a second role as curator for an exhibition at the U of S that featured the works of both Allyson Glenn and Eveline Koljin, the 2015 Artist-in-Residence at the Vorres Museum. Akhavan selected the pieces, designed the layout of the gallery, and developed a curatorial statement for the exhibit titled Voyage to Vorres, which ran from January 30^th-February 10^th, 2017, at the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery.