Type | private art school |
---|---|
Established | 2004 |
Location | , , Canada |
Executive Director | Wendy Welch |
Website | vancouverislandschoolart |
The Vancouver Island School of Art (VISA) is a private, non-profit post-secondary art school founded in 2004 and located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is accredited by the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training and offers a PTIB-approved Certificate program in Visual Arts as well as individual courses and workshops.
The school was founded in 2004 by the artist Wendy Welch who remains its executive director. Welch started VISA with just 47 students and four instructors. By 2018 it had taught over 3,500 part and full time students. For its first 14 years, the school was located at 2549 Quadra Street, a 1921 Arts and Crafts building on the Victoria Heritage Register. To mark its 10th anniversary, the school repainted the exterior in a design inspired by the dazzle camouflage used on ships in World War I. [1] [2] [3]
VISA had originally offered a three-year Diploma of Fine Arts in addition to its Certificate of Visual Arts. The graduation of the first diploma students in 2008 was marked by Ambulator, a special exhibition at the school's Slide Room Gallery. [4] The diploma was later accepted for transfer to the Bachelor in Fine Art degree program at the University of Gloucestershire in the UK. The school ceased accepting new students on the diploma program from March 2018 to concentrate on its certificate program and its individual courses and workshops. [5]
The 2549 Quadra Street building was the site of the former Quadra Primary School and had been leased by the art school from School District 61 Greater Victoria. In 2017, the school district gave notice that it needed to reclaim the property for its education programs and that VISA would have to vacate the building by August 2018 when its lease ran out. VISA subsequently made plans to move into Ross Terrace, a mixed-use residential project on nearby Fifth Street planned for completion in 2020. For the interim period the school found a temporary home for its studios and workshops in the former North Park Bicycle Shop on 1725 Quadra Street and rented further classroom space in a building on Kings Road in Quadra Village. [6] [7]
The Slide Room Gallery was originally located on the ground floor of the 2549 Quadra Street building and used by the school for slide presentations at art history lectures and visiting artist talks. It was opened as a gallery for exhibitions by both local artists and graduates of the school in 2006 and the following year was incorporated as a separate non-profit organization. In 2018 the gallery moved to the school's temporary location at 1725 Quadra Street. [8] [4]
Vancouver Island School of Art is accredited by the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training. It is also on the Ministry's registry of Education Quality Assurance (EQA) designated institutions. [9]
As of March 2018 VISA offers a PTIB-approved Certificate program in Visual Arts (one year full-time or a maximum of four years part-time) as well as individual courses and workshops. [9] The Certificate in Visual Arts is transferable to the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Design, or Bachelor of Media Arts programs at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. [10]
Emily Carr was a Canadian artist who was inspired by the monumental art and villages of the First Nations and the landscapes of British Columbia. She also was a vivid writer and chronicler of life in her surroundings, praised for her "complete candour" and "strong prose". Klee Wyck, her first book, published in 1941, won the Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction and this book and others written by her or compiled from her writings later are still much in demand today.
NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The university also provides continuing education services through its School of Extended Studies.
Vancouver Island University is a Canadian public university serving Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia. Malaspina College opened in 1969. The main campus is located in Nanaimo, with regional campuses in Duncan and Powell River.
University Canada West (UCW) is a private, for-profit university in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 2005 by David F. Strong, the former president of the University of Victoria. UCW was purchased in 2008 by the Eminata Group and in 2014 sold to Global University Systems, its present owners. Based in downtown Vancouver, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs in business and management. As of 2023, with nearly 14,000 international study permits, it is second only to Conestoga College for number of permits for post-secondary institutions in Canada.
Fleming College, also known as Sir Sandford Fleming College, is an Ontario College of Applied Arts and Technology located in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada partnered with Trebas Institute Ontario Inc.
The Emily Carr University of Art + Design is a public university of art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The institution is named for Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr, who was known for her Modernist and Post-Impressionist artworks.
Vancouver Community College (VCC) is a public community college in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1965, it is the oldest community college in British Columbia. VCC offers 79 certificate programs, 24 diploma programs, 9 award of achievement programs, 8 apprenticeship programs, 4 statement of completion programs, 3 bachelor's degree programs and 2 associate degree programs. VCC has two campuses: Broadway and Downtown.
TAFE NSW is an Australian vocational education and training provider. Annually, the network trains over 500,000 students in campus, workplace, online, or distance education methods of education. It was established as an independent statutory body under the TAFE Commission Act 1990. The Minister for Regional Development, Skills and Small Business is responsible for TAFE NSW.
The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery (CCGG) is a public art gallery located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is the only Canadian art gallery exclusively dedicated to exhibiting and collecting contemporary Canadian ceramic, glass, enamel and stained glass works of art. It has approximately 20,000 annual visitors.
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts is a publicly-funded post-secondary arts institution in Singapore, and a constituent college of the University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) from 2024.
Victoria College of Art (VCA) is a private, non-profit art college located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1974 as the Northwest Coast Institute of Arts, the college offers Diploma programs in Fine Arts, Applied Arts Illustration, and Applied Arts Animation. It has no connection whatsoever with Visual College of Art and Design (VCAD) in Vancouver which is owned by the for-profit education company Eminata.
The National Institute of Circus Arts (NICA) is a government-accredited tertiary-level circus school in Australia, located in Prahran, Victoria.
Photography Studies College, commonly abbreviated to PSC, is a privately owned independent tertiary photography college established in 1973, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Haven Institute, or The Haven is a centre for transformative learning situated on Gabriola Island in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. Founded by Jock McKeen and Bennet Wong, the centre offers programs for personal and professional purposes, including Certificate and Diploma Programs in Group Facilitation and Counselling Skills.
Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) is a private post-secondary school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1995, VanArts offers one-year diploma programs in visual, media and performing arts. The school offers degree pathways in collaboration with its university partners.
The Ottawa School of Art is a non-profit art school in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The school offers a one-year certificate program, a three-year diploma program, art camps, and general interest courses, as well as providing exhibition space and a boutique for the display and sale of artwork by local artists and students. The school facilities include a ceramics studio, sculpture studio, wood shop, printmaking studio, a dark room for photography, painting studios, and multipurpose studio spaces where life drawing classes take place.
Visual College of Art and Design, or simply VCAD, is a for-profit career college in Vancouver, Canada owned by the Eminata Group. The college offers diploma programs in various aspects of fashion, graphic design, architecture design and technology, interior design, game design, and animation. It has no relation to the fine arts college Victoria College of Art, although the latter was also owned for 10 months by Eminata between November 2008 and September 2009 during which time it was branded as "Victoria College of Art and Design".
The New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD) is a public art college in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The college's campus is located in downtown Fredericton, near the Saint John River. The college offers several fine arts and design diploma programs.
The Prahran College of Advanced Education, formerly Prahran College of Technology, was a late-secondary and tertiary institution with a business school, a trade school, and a multi-disciplinary art school that dated back to the 1860s, populated by instructors and students who were among Australia’s significant artists, designers and performers.