pulpMAG partners with Qualia to showcase fine art graduates’ work
Artwork displayed at KPU’s upcoming Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition will be the focus of pulpMAG’s next issue
Poster for the 2023 KPU Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition, featuring work by Yolanda Leung, Maylyn Chan, and Kelly Yorke and constructed by Mark Robinson. (Submitted)
This spring semester, pulpMAG, Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s student-run arts magazine, is partnering with Qualia, KPU’s 2023 Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition, for their upcoming issue.
All art featured in this issue will be dedicated to visual art created by the graduates participating in the show, meaning all written and video work will be online only. Qualia means embodiment through sensory perception of experience, which is the theme of the art in this show.
“Usually with the fine arts graduates every semester, they make a catalogue for their show,” says Avery Chace, managing editor of pulpMAG.
“I’m a part of the grad show this semester and I’m also in charge of designing the catalogue, so naturally … I wanted to combine [pulpMAG and the grad show] because it’s a really good opportunity for pulp and it’s just a really nice printed book, so it looks really good for the grad show.”
pulpMAG’s issues have almost always featured both visual art and written work, so splitting up the submissions onto different platforms is a change for the magazine and creates a different look for their upcoming issue.
“I’m trying to make it not the usual simple format that we’ve been doing for quite a while,” Chace says. “This time, we’re doing it where every visual artist will have a two page spread … and then there will be more behind the scenes photos.”
One graduate whose work will be featured in Qualia and pulpMAG’s upcoming issue is 3D art major Kelly Yorke.
“It’s like the closing of a circle,” Yorke says. “For a lot of us, we’ve dedicated three years of our life to studying art and creating bodies of work we’re proud of, or even that represents who we are as artists.”
Yorke has devoted most of her studies to ceramics and sculptural artwork. Her final installation of work created as a KPU student is a representation of psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune disease she was diagnosed with that causes bones in the body to deteriorate.
“I laugh because a lot of people just assume that fine art school is actually easy, but it can be a very emotional kind of situation, because a lot of the time, especially for myself, I put my own life experiences into my work,” Yorke says.
“To have had the opportunity to kind of share that part of you with your peers and your professors, and students that you may or may not know, there’s a lot of pride and excitement that goes into being able to achieve getting to the grad show.”
Qualia will take place March 31 at 7:00 pm in the Spruce Atrium at the Surrey campus. It will feature three installations created by Yorke and the artwork of 11 other fine art graduates. Their work will be on display until April 13.
“There’s a vast variety of differences between the artists that are going to be showing at the grad show and it’s a fun mix,” Yorke says. “It’s definitely worth coming out and being exposed to different art forms.”
Copies of pulpMAG’s upcoming issue will be available at the exhibition. To learn how to contribute and get involved with pulpMAG, read their submission guidelines at https://www.pulpmag.ca/submission-info/.
