Speaker Series

Upcoming Speakers

VADF Fall 2026

07 October 2026, 2 p.m. | FAB 2-20

Pablo Sánchez | Visions of Art, Slavery, and Animals in Morocco through Spanish Art and Travel Literature

Drawing on a range of travel accounts, the speaker will explore how such sources provide valuable insights into architecture, painting, slavery, and animals while also illuminating the scope and complexity of Spain’s colonial cultural processes. Particular attention will be paid to political and interventionist initiatives and their broader cultural repercussions undertaken during the Spanish-Moroccan War of 1859–1860 and onward.

Pablo Sánchez (Alicante, Spain, 1990) is Associate Professor of Art History at the Universitat de València (Spain). His research is framed within two main fields: urban studies and orientalism during the XIXth and XXth centuries. He leads the emerging research group ROAR-E: Reflections on Artistic Orientalism in Spain. view the poster 

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About our Speaker Series

The Department of Art & Design hosts several visiting and local speakers annually. The Visual Art & Design Forum (VADF) is a speaker series for scholars, creative researchers, artists, and designers to discuss their projects with the University of Alberta community. Presentation formats vary widely, from the traditional lecture to dynamic panel discussions.

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Previous Speakers

Winter 2026

• 25 February 2026, 5 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Erin Morton – White Settler Anti-Relationality: The Curious Case of Taylor Swift and Canadian Art History view the poster 
• 10 March 2026, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Emily Jan – The road to Wayfinders view the poster  

Fall 2025

• 24 October 2025, 12:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20 and Online : Lauren Elkin – On articulation view the poster
• 23 September 2025, 9:30 a.m. | FAB 2-20: Tanya Lukin Linklater – Artist talk: _structural_flex_  view the poster
• 02 October 2025, 2 p.m. | HC L1-L2: Luis Jacob – The Order of Canada view the poster 

2025 Winter

• 16 January 2025, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Kelly Ruth – Reality Is Not As It Seems (view poster)
•  22 January 2025, 3:30 p.m. | Online: Shi Wenhua, Independent Filmmaker – The Act of Seeing (Something I Learned) (view poster)
• 10 March 2025, 7 p.m. | Timms Centre for the Arts: Elisa Harkins, Visiting Artist – Wampum / ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ (view poster)
  11 March 2025, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Elisa Harkins, Visiting Artist – Artist Talk (view poster)
• 13 March 2025, 10 a.m. | FAB 2-20: Christopher Swift, Visiting Artist in Printmaking (Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Design at Binghamton University (SUNY)) – Rethinking Design as a Collaborative Practice (view poster) 

2024 Fall

• 12 September 2024, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Rachel Duckhouse, Visiting Artist: Printmaking – Same River Twice (view poster)
•  10 October 2024, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Beth Frey, Visiting Artist: FAB Gallery / Sculpture & Expanded Media – Artist Talk (view poster)
• 17 October 2024, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Zoë Heyn-Jones, Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-25), University of Alberta, Department of Art & Design and Drama – Decomposition + Regeneration: Composting Art, Design & Performance in the Americas (view poster) 
• 21 November 2024, 5:15 p.m. | FAB 2-20: Dr. Erandy Vergara-Vargas, Assistant Professor of Art History, MacEwan University – Making Noise in the Public Space, Here and Over There (view poster)

2024 Winter

• 18 January 2024, 5:15pm  FAB 2-20: Emmanuel Osahor – Notes on the Garden (view poster)
• 01 February 2024, 2:00pm  Zoom Online (RSVP to gallery@ualberta.ca to receive event link): Niedzielski + Molina - From Here to There (view poster) 
• 07 March 2024, 5:15pm  FAB 2-20: Robin Alex McDonald (Assistant Professor, Department of Studio Arts, MacEwan University) – Pink Triangles, Blue Feelings: Representations of Depression in 2SLGBTQ+ Contemporary Art (view poster) 
• 14 March 2024, 5:15pm  FAB 2-20: Alicia Proudfoot (Artist in Residence, Sculpture)  –Somatic Archive through Sound and Form (view poster) 

2023 Fall

• 14 September 2023, 5:15pm  FAB 2-20: Agata Stronciwilk (Wirth Institute Scholar) – Living/Leaving the Carbocene: On the Coal and Art of the Upper Silesia (view poster)
• 28 September 2023, 11:00am Zoom Online: Kate Sellen (Health Design Studio, OCAD), Michelle Chan (Design Lead, Government of BC) and Christine Watridge (Health Communication Design Studio, St. Louis, Missouri) – Co-design Beyond Pandemics: Creativity and Making (view poster)
• 12 October 2023, 11:00am Zoom Online: Katie Dainty (North York General Hospital), Damyen Henderson (University of Toronto), Maria Cheung (Taboo Health, Founder and Creative Director), Joe Langley (Lab4Living, UK) – Co-design Beyond Pandemics: Transparency and Design (view poster)
• 19 October 2023, 5:15pm FAB 2-20: Raneece Buddan (Artist in Residence, sculpture) – Material Exploration: A Way Home (view poster)
• CANCELLED: 23 November 2023, 5:15pm FAB 2-20: Mary Kavanaugh (University of Lethbridge) – Trinity, Then and Now (view poster)

2023 Winter

• 17 January 2023, 5:15pm  FAB 2-20: Jill Miller – FUTURE PERFECT (view poster)
• 26 January 2023, 5:15pm  FAB 2-20: Riaz Mehmood – Poetic Resistance: Reflections on Ghazal: Songs for Home (view poster)
• 14 February 2023, 2:15pm  FAB 2-20: Richard Boulet and Yvonne Mullock – Panel Talk chaired by Professor Sean Caufield (view poster 1; view poster 2)

2022 Fall

• 22 September 2022, 2pm online: Chris Reyns-Chikuma & Lindsey Sharman: a curatorial overview of the AGA exhibition comic sans
• 26 September 2022, 5pm online: Ewa Wylężek-Targosz: "The Imaginary Polak"
• 05 October 2022, 4pm online: Sanaz Mazinani: Repetition and Reproducibility: The Power of Images
• 16 November 2022, 2pm online: Cinthia Sifa Mulanga: in conversation with Jillian Ross (Live Q&A/Artist talk pre-recorded)
• 29 November 2022, 10am online: Claudine Jaenichen: "Before, During, and After Emergencies: Design’s Role in Community, Understanding, and Response."

2022 Winter

• 24 March 2022, Howie Tsui: "Artist Talk"
• 10 March 2022, Panel discussion with Aijie Shi, Anran Tu, Yi Liu, and Yiyin Xue: "The Double Life of Objects: Nature, Nation, Narratives and Their Material Incarnations in Twentieth-Century China"
• 09 March 2022, Cinthia Sifa Mulanga: "Artist Talk"
• 17 February 2022, Juliana Cerqueira Leite: "Public Lecture"
• 03 February 2022, Heather Leier: "Public Lecture"

2021 Fall

• 12 October 2021, Takeshi Takeno: "Public Lecture"
• 23 September 2021, Lori Blondeau: "Public Lecture"

2021 Winter

• 25 March 2021, Lisa Silverman: "Rethinking Jewish Space in Vienna before 1938"
• 04 March 2021, Jackson 2bears: "Studio and Research Practices"
• 11 February 2021, Ellen Lupton and Bon Ku: "Health Design Thinking"
• 28 January 2021, Christina Battle: "Studio Practice"

2020 Fall

• 19 November 2020, Owen Mundy and Joelle Dietrick: "Tally Saves the Internet"
• 22 October 2020, Camille Turner: "Media, Social Practice + Performance Artist"
• 01 October 2020, Lindsey V. Sharman: "Public Lecture"
• 22 September 2020, Paul Coldwell: "Prints, Objects & Projects"

2020 Winter

• 12 March 2020, Andrea Pinheiro: "Residual Assets"
• 06 February 2020, Catherine Crowston: "Public Lecture"
• 23 January 2020, Shafraaz Kaba: "Climate Emergency: Time to Demand a Better World"

2019 Fall

• 21 November 2019, Marta Filipová: “Global, Post-imperial, or National? Austrian, Hungarian and Czechoslovak Pavilions at Interwar World’s Fairs”
• 07 November 2019, Mitch Mitchell: "The Democratic Multiple"
• 17 October 2019, Yvonne Mullock: "Annals, Mores and Meanderings"
• 10 October 2019, Leigh Bridges: "Energetic Conduits: Functionalism in Painting"
• 03 October 2019, Ouri Scott: "Indigenizing Design: Practice, Process, Product"
• 26 September 2019, Jose Martinez: “Let me tell you (a story)”
• 12 September 2019, Tom Rice: "Shifting Uncertainties"

2019 Winter

• 13 June 2019, Denise Costanzo: "Learning from an Ugly Obelisk: Robert Venturi’s Ironic Columbus Monument"
• 04 April 2019, Sadiq Javer: "The Chinese Mosque"
• 02 April 2019, David Gibson: "Lost and Found: a childhood walk in the woods, four fascinating women, the perils of GPS, finding your way on the journey"
• 19 March 2019, Kelli Anderson: "The Hidden Talents of Everyday Things"
• 17 January 2019, Ruthann Godollei: "Printmaking muckraker"

2018 Fall

• 22 November 2018, Matthew Witkovsky: "Štyrský, Toyen, Heisler: Between the Private and the Popular"
• 08 November 2018, Allen Ball: "Painting in a State of Exception: Documents of Contemporary War"
• 25 October 2018, Brad Necyk: "Telling Stories Otherwise"
• 11 October 2018, Jane Fine: "Artist’s Lecture"
• 27 September 2018, Jesper Alvær, "Upstream the Cold Chain"
• 25 September 2018, Jonathan Shaughnessy, "The Contemporary as Global: Collecting and Exhibiting the “Art of Our Time” at the National Gallery of Canada"
• 20 September 2018, Miguel A. Aragon: "Seeing and feeling the disappearing of a Human Being"

2018 Winter

• 12 April 2018, Sandra Bromley: "Art as a Change Agent"
• 05 April 2018, Sean Caulfield: "Vaccines and Water: Reflections on a Six-month Sabbatical"
• 29 March 2018, Hong Kal: "Visual Images that Witness the Sewol Ferry Disaster in South Korea"
• 15 March 2018, Monica Tap: "To see how the land lies"
• 14 March 2018, Namiko Kunimoto: "Anxious Bodies in Postwar Japanese Art"
• 08 February 2018, Kim Dorland: "Landscapes and portraits"
• 01 February 2018, Blair Brennan: "When You Cut into the Present the Future Leaks Out"
• 18 January 2018, David Candler: "Building Bridges"

2017 Fall

• 07 December 2017, Susanna Barlow: "Me, Material, the Lens, and I"
• 30 November 2017, Liz Ingram: "Water / Bodies / Collaborations"
• 09 November 2017, Tanya Harnett: "Attention Please"
• 02 November 2017, Marilene Oliver: "Tagged"
• 26 October 2017, Etienne Zak: "Painting..."
• 19 October 2017, Kristoffer Neville: "Fischer von Erlach and the Imperial Historians"
• 18 October 2017, Chrispin Elsted: "Formal Necessities: Sonnets, Sonatas, and the Book"
• 21 September 2017, Naomi Potter: "Museum of the Future"

2017 Winter

• 16 March 2017, Jason Urban: "Lasting Ephemera"
• 09 March 2017, Jude Griebel: "Crafting Ruin"
• 16 February 2017, Cindy Baker: "Taboo Bodies in Performance"
• 26 January 2017, Scott Rogers: "Between Nonesuch Place"

2016 Fall

• 03 November 2016, Eric Waterkotte: "Artist Talk"
• 30 October 2016, Laura Prins: "Artistic Madness: Vincent Van Gogh in his last 18 months"
• 27 October 2016, Annea Lockwood: "A composer and sound artist in the media age"
• 20 October 2016, "A Conversation with Alison Norlen on Obsessive Processes"
• 06 October 2016, Josip Zanki: "The Consecration of Space and Ritual Practice in Contemporary Art"