February 2018 | Installation with Hapa Collaborative at JC Cultural Centre in Steveston, British Columbia, as part of a larger public art project commemorating Japanese-Canadian history in Canada

WWII INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE-CANADIANS

In 1939, at the advent of the Second World War, the Canadian Government received information from allied forces in London that all persons of Japanese descent in Canada were to be incarcerated as enemy aliens in Prisoner of War Camps. Within two hours following the attack on Pearl Harbor, approximately 22,000 Japanese-Canadian citizens were ‘evacuated’ from their homes on the BC coast and sent on trains to POW camps in interior British Columbia and Ontario.

This historical event follows the internment of Ukrainian-Canadian citizens and members of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War. The internment of Japanese-Canadian citizens constitutes Canada’s second and last internment operations.

My interest in working with Hapa Collaborative on this project is twofold: on the one hand this memorial project touches on key elements in my art practice that focus on issues of belonging, investigation into nation states as social constructs and ideas surrounding individual identity and connection to place.

Secondly, the opportunity to work with Joseph Fry, who is a member of the Japanese-Canadian community, touches on my own family history and identity as a descendant of early Ukrainian-Canadian settlers. Embedded in this project is an opportunity to think critically about what it means to find commonality through a shared history.

This creative, contemplative and conceptual work of public art speaks to the trans-generational needs of the Japanese-Canadian community for reflection, healing, a sense of peace and restoration. It serves as a place to educate future generations of the Japanese-Canadian community about their history as well as for other members of Canadian society to learn about their history as well.

Exhibition design for REPAIR WORK | John R. Bracken Lecture at Penn State

February 2017 | Photo by Scott Tucker of exhibition installation at the Stuckeman School of Landscape Architecture at Penn State. The exhibition frames the design process for Lurie Garden and Lower Rainier Vista & Pedestrian Land Bridge. "Repair Work" displays Shannon Nichol's process drawings for several of GGN's projects, in chronological sequences. Lesia Mokrycke led the coordination and design of the exhibit from GGN's side. The exhibit is up at Penn State Stuckeman School's Rouse Gallery through the end of May, open to the public 9 a.m.–4 p.m. each weekday, part of the Department of Landscape Architecture's annual John R. Bracken Lecturer/Exhibitor program.

Text by GGNmages

LANDSCAPE / SOUNDSCAPE

March 8, 2017 | Lesia Mokrycke is exhibiting work at the University of Pennsylvania’s Arthur Ross Gallery in Philadelphia. The group show, Landscape / Soundscape, explores the desire to unite image and sound through compelling pairings of photographs and soundscapes. The exhibit is on display through March 26.

Sound artists from throughout the United States and United Kingdom were invited to create soundscapes in response to photographs from Penn’s University Art Collection. In tandem with Landscape / Soundscape, Lesia was selected through a juried selection of MFA projects to show her photograph titled Passage with an accompanying sound piece on the gallery’s digital interactive kiosk.

Curator and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, Ramey Mize discusses Passage, at exhibition Traversals in Philadelphia | September 2016 |

Banff Centre for the Arts
March 24th, 5-7pm 2014
107 Tunnel Mountain Drive
Banff, Alberta

McMaster Innovation Park
Light
Hamilton, ON
April 1 - July 10, 2014

Banff Centre for the Arts
Banff, Alberta
March 1 - 28, 2014

Artscape Wychwood Barns
To the Earth, with Love
Peter Mackendrick Gallery
601 Christie St.
Toronto, ON
Feb 8 - Feb 9, 2014

Vermont Studio Center
Johnson, VT
November 2013 - December 2013

McMaster Innovation Park
Linen & Lake
Hamilton, ON
November 2013 - March 2014

The Readymade in Contemporary Practice
Nuit Blanche 2013
Toronto, ON
Oct. 5, 2013
Curated and guided by Lesia Mokrycke

Contemporary World Cinema: Why Movies Are Better Than Ever
TIFF Lightbox at Festival Tower
Toronto, ON
Sept. 28, 2013
Panelist: Professor Timothy Corrigan, University of Pennsylvania
Curated and organized by Lesia Mokrycke in partnership with PWCT

Art Gallery of Hamilton
Liatris
Hamilton, ON
July 18 2013

McMaster Innovation Park
Native Plants
Hamilton, ON
April 8 - July 18, 2013

Workshop: Exploring Forms and Cultural Contexts
Painting & Photography. How can teachers utilize design thinking
to better adapt curriculum standards to hands on art projects
that serve their students?
Attribution: Copyright IDEO LLC.
All rights reserved.
http://designthinkingforeducators.com/

Burlington Art Centre
January 23rd, 2013

Contemporary Art
Join Lesia to share your thoughts about the world of contemporary art.
How does one unpack the layered meanings of contemporary art,
and unravel the boundaries between public, institutional and artistic views?
This discussion is open to all members of the public.

Burlington Art Centre
January 13, 2013, 2pm.

Wildflowers
Gallery on James
170 James St N
Hamilton, ON
Opening Reception:
December 11th, 2012
7pm - 9pm

Workshop: The Art of Eric Carle
A recent workshop designed by Lesia Mokrycke and sculptor Laura Marotta exploring mixed media collage in children's literature.
In collaboration with the Burlington Performing Art Centre and the Burlington Catholic and Public School Boards.
This workshop is led by Lesia Mokrycke in partnership with ceramic artist and teaching assistant Dawn Burns.

Burlington Art Centre
November 2012

Bata She Museum, 327 Bloor street W. Toronto, ON
September 29 2012

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto ON. May 10th, 2012

The corridors, avenues and arcades of the city make up the shared space of urban living. Without the walls of a gallery or a museum, public art takes on meaning from its environment: the city and the people who frequent its streets. Public art occupies intermediary ground between architecture, landscape architecture, sculpture, painting, digital media and performance. For this reason, public artwork becomes part of the infrastructure of the city and can have a powerful impact on the way we use public space. For this panel, the speakers will look at the interplay between the permanent and the ephemeral in public art, as both have a lasting impact on the urban sector. Together Jane Perdue, Shirley Madill and Lesia Mokrycke highlight the arts as an important factor in the way people experience urban space. This talk outlines initiatives such as the Percent for Public Art Program, ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche and several public art projects, providing insight into why these initiatives are essential to Canadian cities as world-class cultural centers.

This talk presents artists, both national and international, who have contributed to the arts in Toronto. Join speakers Jane Perdue, Shirley Madill and Lesia Mokrycke to learn why art in the public sphere is important to the continued growth of our cities as international destinations for travel, intellectual discourse and cultural synergy.

Jane Perdue, Public Art Coordinator, City Planning, will provide an overview of the City of Toronto's Percent for Public Art Program. Working with urban design and community planning, the program identifies and secures art opportunities on both public and private lands. Local public art installations to be shown include works by Barbara Astman, Doug Coupland, Shayne Dark, Eldon Garnet, Jaako Pernu, Derek Root, Susan Schell, and James Turrell.

Shirley Madill, Curator of Zone B for ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche 2011, will address the relationship between social space, architecture and the city through the curatorial project The Future of the Present. Approaching public art from the perspective of the transient, Shirley will explore the role that temporary public art events can have in transforming the city. The City of Toronto has taken a global leadership role through the production of the annual ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche event. Her discussion will focus on the way intense and accessible engagement with art elevates the public's awareness of its significance in activating public social space.

Lesia Mokrycke, Public Artist, will discuss the process of creating work for the public realm and the impact public works can have on community spaces, both personal and civic. Lesia will discuss the relationship between permanent public art and transient artworks through several large-scale projects including Woodland, Rain, Soliloquy and Le Soleil au Travers les Arbres. Tracing the conceptual thread of her work, Lesia will address the interplay between nature, industry and community and highlight the important role the arts can have in furthering the growth and development of cities.

Lesia Mokrycke is now an Instructor at the Burlington Art Centre!

Lesia Mokrycke lives and works in the Hamilton-Burlington-Toronto area. Lesia has worked on several large-scale, site-specific public projects in the United States and Canada. Her most recent projects include Woodland, a 50 x 50’ mural for McCallumSather Architects; a large site-specific mural project in Maryland titled Le Soleil au Travers les Arbres; a Philadelphia based installation titled Rain designed around the ephemeral experience of nature; and a triptych, Soliloquy, that explores the relationship between individuality and urban space. Lesia's studio is located on James Street North in Hamilton, in the heart of the city's up and coming arts district.

See full page HERE: http://www.thebac.ca/get-creative/studio-art-and-craft-classes/instructor-biographies/lesia-mokrycke/