Toni Onley Artists’ Project

The Toni Onley Artists’ Project is an opportunity for emerging and professional artists to step out of their own studio and into IMA’s shared studio space and work in an experimental, exploratory and risk-taking manner. This is a juried program and artists must apply in order to be considered. A scholarship and bursary program is available for artists to attend the project (deadline May 1). Limited to a maximum of twenty participants working in any medium, artists spend nine days in Wells, BC working in the IMA studios under the mentorship of outstanding art practitioners of Diana Thorneycroft & Peter von Tiesenhausen.

This class capacity is only 20 students to offer a unique and intimate learning experience. This workshop for visual artist takes place in our historic town of Wells & we are offering affordable accommodations (from $40 per night) in our Artist-In-Residency building. In the evening you can choose to cook you own meals in our Artist-In-Residency building or indulge in local delectables from Pooley St. Cafe, Jack O Clubs General and at Barkerville Historic Town & Park.

• Scholarships and bursaries are available; applications must be received by May 1 (for details visit www.imarts.com/about-toap/).
• Participants must bring their own supplies; easels and tables are provided.

Application Process: Applicants must submit 6 – 10 images of their work (digital format preferred), bio and artist statement to IMA by June 1 to be eligible. Send to: Toni Onley Artists’ Project Box 65, Wells, BC V0K 2R0
or email toap@imarts.com

Diana Thorneycroft is a Winnipeg artist who has exhibited various bodies of work across Canada, the United States and Europe, as well as in Moscow, Tokyo and Sydney. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2016 Manitoba Arts Award of Distinction, an Assistance to Visual Arts Long-term Grant from the Canada Council, several Senior Arts Grants from the Manitoba Arts Council and a Fleck Fellowship from the Banff Centre for the Arts. Thorneycroft taught as a sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba’s School of Art for 25 years. Since 2010 she has been focusing on her studio practice full time, and has gallery representation in Canada, the US and Europe. Her current installation Black Forest (dark waters) had its inaugural opening at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba in June, 2018, and was recently shown at the Art Gallery of Burlington. Next spring, it will open at La Maison de la Culture Frotenac, Montreal and in January 2020 at and the Nickle Galleries, Calgary, Alberta. A smaller version of the show, entitled Black Forest (village), will be shown at the Vernon Art Gallery in the fall of 2019.

Peter von Tiesenhausen’s multi-media work deals with concepts of time, life, voyage, death, spirit, nature and humanity. His practice has grown from landscape painting to sculpture, performance and complex media installations. These are often an expression of where he finds himself and a utilization of what is at hand. Peter claims copyright on his land as an artwork. In the early 90s he started making boats of ice on bodies of water surrounding
his studio and home now, no longer possible due to the wildly fluctuating climate. His film Island explores the meaning and significance of the human compulsion to strive in the natural world despite its changing ecosystems. Peter has lived and worked in the boreal forest of northwestern Canada for most of his life, where he pursues his interest in sustainability. Peter has exhibited across Canada, in Europe and in the U.S. in public galleries and throughout the landscape. In 2016 he participated in“Watershed+ Embedded Artist”, City of Calgary; Banff Centre Leighton Studio Residency; and led CO2 Residency in Demmitt, AB. Peter received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2015.