BIPOC Teen Art Residency
The BIPOC Teen Art Residency is a free program open to teens in grades 10, 11, or 12 who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Colour from an equity-deserving group from January to June 2026.
This after-school program is a unique opportunity for teens to make contemporary art in workshops facilitated by local BIPOC artists, along with the opportunity to share their voice through podcasts, a published art catalogue of their work and a group exhibition at the Gallery. During the residency, teens will explore the Gallery’s collections and exhibitions through their perspectives to shape a new vision of art and storytelling while developing artistic and curatorial skills.
The program offers tangible benefits. Participants learn and develop new techniques, expand creative perspectives, build artwork portfolios, and connect with peers and mentors in the local art community. Designed to support personal and artistic growth, the workshops encourage collaborative experimentation with diverse media.
For more information and registration, please contact Jeri Engen, Educator, School and Family Programs at jengen@aggv.ca
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The 2026 BIPOC Teen Art Residency cohort will explore themes from the Gallery exhibitions, Fifty Shades of Ink: Ink Paintings from the AGGV Collection, ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ੇ ‘ਚ ਤਰੇੜ | sheeshe ‘ch thareṛ | a crack in the mirror, Dangerous Beauty: The Prints of Albrecht Dürer, and the AGGV Permanent Collection Galleries, A View From Here: Reimagining the AGGV Collections. Meeting on the second Sunday of each month from January to June, participants will take part in a series of hands-on workshops. Each session focuses on a different medium or technique—including silk painting, body painting, sound collage, stencil and spray painting, and curatorial practices—providing participants with the opportunity to gain practical skills and broaden their artistic approaches.
Led by local BIPOC professional artists, Kemi Craig, BIPOC Program Coordinator; Charles Amarty, BIPOC Program Facilitator; Pesewa (Jeffery Ellom), Randy Babichuk, Tajah Olson, and Taylor Panell, this unique experience focuses on enhancing artistic confidence, building a stronger community, and providing practical tools to shape participants’ creative futures.
A Way of Seeing
June 14–July 27, 2026
Opening Reception
Sunday, June 14, 2026 | 2-4pm
Spencer Gallery, AGGV
Join us for the opening reception for the BIPOC Teen Art Residency Show, A Way of Seeing. There will be light refreshments and a musical performance from one of this year’s participants, Georgia James.
A Way of Seeing brings together young emerging artists from local BIPOC communities whose creative practices unfold across mediums, identities, and lived experience. The show is the culmination of a series of workshops from the BIPOC Teen Art Residency, led by Program Coordinator, Kemi Craig, and Program Facilitator, Charles Amartey, along with practicing artists, who each offered mentoring in a different language of expression.
Guided by Taylor Pannell, participants explored the delicate tension between control and release through silk painting, where pigment and water merge to create works that feel both intentional and spontaneous. With Tajah Olson, the body became the canvas and individuals’ identities were painted outward, with stories written across skin in colour and form. Sound artist, Pesewa (Jeffrey Ellom), invited participants to think beyond the visual, shaping atmosphere and emotion through audio, capturing fragments of environment, voice, and memory. The sessions ended with Randy Babichuk who introduced the language of spray painting, where repetition becomes both resistance and declaration, transforming public space into a site of presence and power.
Together, these workshops expand what it means to create and be seen. The artworks in A Way of Seeing do not settle into a single form; they move, echo, and speak across disciplines. They reflect a multiplicity of perspectives, grounded in community, and driven by the urgency of self-expression.
A Way of Seeing is a beginning, a glimpse into evolving practices and the limitless potential of young artists shaping their own narrative.
