RAILS
Shawn Serfas
Bio
The foundation of my art practice and creative research explores the relationships between environmental sciences, the landscape and issues bordering abstraction and representation. Within that framework I pose questions concerning identity, place, ancestral origin, religion, and relational abstraction.
As a painter I believe that content is negotiated through process and my studio practice is experimental and process driven. I am interested in the physicality or, what I term the geomorphology of paint and how it becomes a surrogate for other forms of matter and their respective meanings. This view filters my creative research through a systematic lens relating to observational experiments assessing the physical and chemical properties of marks I make in relation to a pluralistic range of concepts. Importantly, my interest in geomorphology is aided by my understanding of hydrology and remote imaging. These have influenced an order of physical governance in my painting practice that reveals a topographical or aerial perspective using geological references and employing specific painting techniques that mimic environmental forces.
Relational Abstraction is a proposition, which asserts that nature is the genetic source of all abstractions in art. If the centrifugal withdrawal or separation of an idea or matter from its parent group is the definition of objective abstraction, then relational abstraction is a centripetal or constant force. In reinforcing the constant action of abstraction, it is not an empty, subjective formal vessel; for it is here the line between abstraction and representation is blurred. This is the crux of my philosophical approach to painting.
Chaos theory and anti-aesthetic theory also influence the decisions formed in my studio practice. Geometry and architecture dominate the figurative language in my painting, while perceived levels of chaos establish the field which I chart. Specifically, it is the notion of the repeated pattern and self-similarity of visual information throughout micro and macro scales that informs my practice. The elusive presence of beauty and the search for purpose or structure within painting invite an anti-aesthetic discourse. I am interested in questioning my own perspective of beauty, examining the acquired tenets governed by taste in art, while critically examining the purpose and role of formulating my own discrete visual language.
My creative practice is directly linked to my surroundings and daily observations of physical space. I am interested in the marks that humans have made upon the landscape, and especially how these manifest and influence natural spaces. This contrast is paralleled in the choices I make with figure/ground, geometric/organic or order/chaos relationships within painting and my ideas of describing space. The analyses of indirect painting processes and the accumulation or layering of complex visual language over
composite or empirical visual information regularly inform my research. I believe that the process of painting is much like studying the origin of landforms or the environmental influences upon landscapes; it is an observational exercise in acquiring data, forming a proposition, and testing those ideas. The main question always under inquiry is, what makes a painting a painting? A secondary question always present in my work examines the objecthood of painting relative to conventions of pictorial illusions and how this relationship imitates everyday experiences concerning object-illusions.
I create pictures of foreign, remote, unknown, and immaterial terrains, both atmospheric and subterranean in nature. The descriptive images I create portray the forces that shape both ideas and matter; they are invented, sourced and auto fictional.
Curriculum Vitae
2003 Master of Fine Arts Degree (M.F.A.), Major in Studio Art, Painting Division
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
University of Alberta Master of Fine Arts, Master of Design Scholarship
Awarded for academic, scholarly and creative achievements, April 2001 & 2002
2002 Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A.), Major in Art History
Graduated with Great Distinction
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
2000 Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (B.F.A.), Major in Studio Art, Painting/Printmaking
Graduated with Great Distinction and Distinguished Thesis Exhibition
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Judy Poole Fine Arts Award
Awarded at convocation to the most distinguished Bachelor of Fine Arts Graduate as determined by the Department of Art and Art History, University of Saskatchewan, May 2000
Distinguished B.F.A. Exhibition Award
Awarded by the Department of Art & Art History to the artist whose final thesis exhibition is deemed exceptional, University of Saskatchewan, January 2000
University of British Columbia
Associate Professor – Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies
Academic Years 2021-Current
148 Research Road, Discovery Ave, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7
Brock University
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
Chair & Associate Professor – Visual Arts Department
Academic Years 2012-2021
15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, ON., L2R 3M2
University of British Columbia
Lecturer – Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies
Academic Years 2005-2012
3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC., V1V 1V7
Contemporary painting, drawing and printmaking practices concerning relational abstraction, environmental aesthetics, religion, the landscape as well as issues bordering abstraction and representation using image construction with respect to environmental science and remote mapping processes
Selected Solo or Two-Person Exhibitions
2022
Tangled Formations, Gallery MX, Montreal, Quebec
2021
This Kind of Wilderness, (Catalogue) Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon, British Columbia
2020
Folding of Gesture, Darrell Bell Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Forge + Seam, SOPA Fine Arts Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
2018
Grid Terrain, Gallery MX, Montreal, Quebec
Alloyed Prairie, Bugera Matheson Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Portrait of a Mark, SOPA Fine Arts Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
2017
Pseudo-Fiction, (with Catherine Parayre), Alliance Francaise – Galerie Pierre Léon, Toronto, Ontario
2016
Inland, Rodman Hall Arts Centre, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Cleave and Trench, Bugera Matheson Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2015
Dig, Machine Shop Gallery, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
2014
Out of Sorts, (with William Griffiths), SOPA Fine Arts, Kelowna, British Columbia
2014
Plaything, Congress: Borders Without Boundaries, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
2013
Shawn Serfas: Re-Picturing the Landscape, Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton, British Columbia (Catalogue Godfrey Dean Art Gallery)
2011
Borderlands – Imagining the Immaterial, (Catalogue Vernon Public Art Gallery), Art Gallery of Prince Albert, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
2010
Borderlands – Imagining the Immaterial, (Catalogue Vernon Public Art Gallery), The Godfrey Dean Art Gallery, Yorkton, Saskatchewan
Field + Canal, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2009
Radial Grey, SOPA Fine Art Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
2008
Borderlands – Imagining the Immaterial, (Catalogue), Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, British Columbia
Tide + Recess, SOPA Fine Art Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
2007
Borderlands, (with Luc Bernard), Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2006
Basin and Range, SOPA Fine Art Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
2005
Telluric Currents, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2003
Journey to the Surface of the Earth, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Remote-Sensing, Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
2000
Self-Similar, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
2020
Industrial Niagara, Rodman Hall Arts Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario
2019
New Work, Front Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Seeing Red, Darrell Bell Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
2018
Geographies of Process, Co-Curated with Catherine Parayre, Group Exhibition, Die Baeckerei, Innsbruck, Austria
2017
Alloyed: Post-Industrial Ephemera: Soundings, Gestures and Poetics, Silo-City, Buffalo, New York
Shawn Serfas: Recent Paintings, Darrell Bell Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
2016
Forever After: Painting and The Eye That Touches, Emily Davis Adams (USA), Dana James (USA), Daniel John (USA), Zachari Logan (Canada), Shawn Serfas (Canada), MIW Gallery, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Art Is in the City, 6th International Painting Exhibition, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, (Catalogue)
Visual Appropriations And Rewritings, (Participated and Co-Curated with Catherine Parayre), University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Visual Appropriations And Rewritings, Online Publication: ti< A Journal of Text-And-Image Criticism/Creation, Vol 5, No.1 (2016): http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/ti
2015
Brain Storms: UAlberta Creates, Enterprise Square Galleries, Edmonton, Alberta
ECAS 21st Anniversary Exhibition, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
From Likeness to Fiction: The Portrait Inside Out, Curated by Janet Werner (Concordia)
Exhibition Hall, Department of Creative and Festival Arts, The University of The West Indies St. Augustine, Trinidad W.I, Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Chaussettes vertes et bonne nuit, les étoiles / Green Socks and Goodnight Stars, (Participated and Co-Curated with Catherine Parayre), Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Chaussettes vertes et bonne nuit, les étoiles / Green Socks and Goodnight Stars, Online Publication: ti< A Journal of Text-And-Image Criticism/Creation, Vol 4, No.1 (2015): http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/ti
34 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue), Gallery L’Etangd’Art, Bages, France
34 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue), Fundació Tharrats d’Art Gràfic, Pineda de Mar, Spain
34 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue), Taller Galeria Fort, Cadaqués, Girona, Spain
34 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue), Wingfield Barns, Church Rd, Wingfield, Diss, Norfolk, England
2014
Insomnia, Redhead Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Convergence, 50th Annual Juried Exhibition, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario
Academia: Judy Major-Girardin, Martin Pearce, Shawn Serfas, and Bruce Taylor, Earls Court Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario
Possible Object, (includes work by William Ronald, Ronald Bloore and Shawn Serfas) Rodman Hall, Studio Gallery, Brock University
Northern Notes, 4th International Painting Exhibition, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria, (Catalogue)
In the Park, the Horses Didn’t Mind, (Participated and Co-Curated with Catherine Parayre) Niagara Artists Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario
Online Publication: ti< A Journal of Text-And-Image Criticism/Creation, Vol 3, No.1 (2014): http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/ti
2013
33 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue) Wingfield Barns, Church Rd, Wingfield, Diss, Norfolk, England
33 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue) Gallery L’Etangd’Art, Bages, France
33 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue) Fundació Tharrats d’Art Gràfic, Pineda de Mar, Spain
33 Mini Print International De Cadaqués, (Catalogue) Taller Galeria Fort, Cadaqués, Girona, Spain
12th Lessedra World Art Print Annual, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (Catalogue)
Off the Hook, SOPA Fine Arts, Kelowna, British Columbia
JNAAG Juried Art Show, Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario
Polyglot: Braille/Babble, Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Polyglot: Braille/Babble, Online Publication: ti< A Journal of Text-And-Image Criticism/Creation, Vol 2, No.1 (2014): http://brock.scholarsportal.info/journals/ti
ECAS 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Enterprise Square Galleries, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
2012
3rd International Painting Exhibition – Competition, Lessedra Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
Side-Tracked, Sopa Fine Arts, Kelowna, British Columbia
2011
Insight – Artist as Educator, Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton, British Columbia
University of British Columbia Faculty Exhibition, Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
2010
ECAS 18th Anniversary Exhibition, Edmonton Contemporary Artists’ Society, Common Sense Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Echo, SOPA Fine Arts, Kelowna, British Columbia
2009
ECAS 17th Anniversary Exhibition, Edmonton Contemporary Artists’ Society, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2008
Boundaries, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia (Catalogue)
2007
Recent Paintings and Photographs, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2006
The Hour Glass, The Long Galley, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW, Australia
Re-Tread, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
ECAS 14th Anniversary Exhibition, Edmonton Contemporary Artists’ Society, Edmonton, Alberta
2005
Telluric, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
2004
ECAS 12th Anniversary Exhibition, Edmonton Contemporary Artists’ Society, Edmonton, Alberta
FINA Faculty, Okanagan University College Fine Arts Faculty Exhibition, FINA Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia
Recent Paintings, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2003
Other Voices, Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Connect Four, The Works Art and Design Festival, The Works International Visual Arts Society, Edmonton, Alberta
Fast Forward, FAB Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
2002
Seven Sides, Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
Flash Point, FAB Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
HOAH – OSAC, Organizations of Saskatchewan Arts Councils, Traveling Exhibition, Saskatchewan
Canora Arts Centre, Canora, Saskatchewan
Melfort Arts Centre, Melfort, Saskatchewan
Watrous Area Arts Council, Watrous, Saskatchewan
2001
Think, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Tractors Not Included, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
HOAH – OSAC, Organizations of Saskatchewan Arts Councils, Traveling Exhibition, Saskatchewan
Grand Coteau Centre, Shaunavon Arts Council, Shaunavon, Saskatchewan
Humboldt Museum, Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Estevan National Exhibition Centre, Estevan, Saskatchewan
Parkridge Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Allie Grifin Art Gallery, Weyburn, Saskatchewan
Assiniboia Arts Council, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan
2000
Pressing Engagements, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
HOAH – OSAC, Organizations of Saskatchewan Arts Councils, Traveling Exhibition, Saskatchewan
Biggar Museum, Biggar, Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan Arts Council, Kirk Hall, Saskatoon
Jasper Cultural Centre – Maple Creek Arts Council, Saskatchewan
Godfrey Dean Art Gallery, Yorkton Arts Council, Saskatchewan
Hudson Bay Allied Arts Council, Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan
Broadview Community Arts Council, Broadview, Saskatchewan
Outlook Arts Council, Outlook, Saskatchewan
2021
This Kind of Wilderness, Research Presentation, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, British Columbia
2020
Organized the Walker Cultural Leader, Landon Mackenzie, Public Lecture: The Moon is the Message, Brock University
Shawn Serfas: Possible Object, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia
2019
Guest Artist, STAC Walker Cultural Leader, Small Walker Press and Artist Talk, Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ontario
2018
Shawn Serfas: Possible Object, Audian Faculty of Art, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, British Columbia
2016
Shawn Serfas: Inland, Hot Talks, Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
2015
Inland, Research Presentation, Algoma University, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, November
Inland, Research Presentation, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, November
2014
Re-Picturing the Landscape, Research Presentation, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Plaything, Congress 2014 – Borders without Boundaries, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
Possible Object – Melanie Authier, Hot Talks, Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
2013
Re-Picturing the Landscape, Artist Talk, Penticton Public Art Gallery, Penticton, British Columbia
2012
Re-Picturing the Landscape, From Ports to Portals, Research Presentation, Brock University HRI Research Symposium, St. Catharines, Ontario
The Poetics of Space, Research Presentation, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario
2011
Field – Mapping Spaces, Research Presentation, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
The Poetics of Space, Research Presentation, Mann Art Gallery, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
2008
Relational Abstraction, Research Presentation, Vernon Public Art Gallery, Vernon, British Columbia
2007
Basin and Range, Research Presentation, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, British Columbia
2020
Humanities Research Institute Grant, Brock University: This Kind of Wilderness
Experiential Education Stream, Teaching & Learning Innovation Grant, Brock University
2019
Humanities Research Institute Grant, Brock University: Landscapes and Relational Structures
2017
Canada Council for the Arts Project Grant, Possible Object
2016
VP Research Office, Brock University / SUNY Research Agreement (Co-Applicant), Silo City
Brock University Acquisition, Crown and Nimbus no.2
2015
Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant, Inland
Humanities Research Institute Grant, Brock University, Possible Object
Rodman Hall Arts Centre, Brock University Acquisition, Red Shift
2014
Tom Thomson Public Art Gallery Acquisition, Sisters
Vernon Public Art Gallery Acquisition, The Great Divide
2013
Humanities Research Institute Grant, Brock University, Tower and Line
Penticton Public Art Gallery Acquisition, Nimbus no.1
2012
University of British Columbia Acquisition, Mammatus
Humanities Research Institute Grant, Brock University, Tower and Line
Dean’s Conference Travel Grant, Brock University, Re-Picturing the Landscape Presentation, Penticton, British Columbia
2008
Vernon Public Art Gallery Acquisition, Decline
2006
Nomination and Acceptance into Membership, Edmonton Contemporary Artists’ Society (ECAS), Nominated by Dick Der, Edmonton, Alberta, (Current Member)
2005
Okanagan University College Research Grant, Basin and Range
2004
Edmonton Arts Council Grant, Lee Fund for the Arts, Telluric Currents Project, Agnes Bugera Gallery
Okanagan University College Research Grant, Radial Grey
2003
University of Alberta Museums and Collections Acquisition, Desert Armor no. 2
Nomination for Alberta Foundation for the Arts Graduate Scholarship in Art and Design Nominee: University of Alberta, Department of Art and Design
2002
University of Saskatchewan Acquisition, Self-Similar no. 2
University of Alberta Master of Fine Arts, Master of Design Scholarship
2001
Saskatchewan Arts Board, Visual Arts Creative C Grant
Maeve Conrick, Munroe Eagles, Jane Koustas, and Caitríona Ní Chasaide, editors, Landscapes and Landmarks of Canada Real, Imagined, (Re)Viewed, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Release Date, September 2016
Cover Image: Rise, Plaything Series, 2010, Acrylic, Oil, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.4 cm x 121.9 cm (60 inches x 48 inches)
Parayre, Catherine and Shawn Serfas. “De l’art, du francais, des histoires pour les enfants: une experience d’enseignement a l’universite.” Quo vadis, Romania? 49 (2017). 7-27
Parayre, Catherine and Derek Knight, eds. Industrial Niagara. St. Catharines, ON: Small Walker Press, 2021.
Parayre, Catherine, ed. “Alloyed” Silo City, Buffalo, NY. Post-Industrial Ephemera: Soundings, Gestures and Poetics. Ed. Catherine Parayre and Reinhard Reitzenstein. St. Catharines, ON: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 2018.
Serfas, Shawn. “Acrylique sur toile.” Voix plurielles 15.2 (2018). 240-247
Serfas, Shawn. This Kind of Wilderness, essays by Catherine Parayre and Derek Knight. Vernon, British Columbia: Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2021
Serfas, Shawn. Inland, with creative writing by Richard Fausset and an essay by Derek Knight. St.Catharines, ON and Vienna, Austria: Small Walker Press and Salon für Kunstbuch, 2019
Serfas, Shawn. Re-Picturing the Landscape, essays by Donald Stein and Carolyn MacHardy. Yorkton, Saskatchewan: Godfrey Dean Art Gallery, 2011
Serfas, Shawn. Borderlands – Imagining the Immaterial, interview and essays by Lubos Culen and Carolyn MacHardy. Vernon, British Columbia: Vernon Public Art Gallery, 2008Culen, Lubos. Introduction and Interview in Borderlands – Imagining the Immaterial (Catalogue), Vernon Public Art Gallery, March 2008, pp. 4-5 and 14-24