Derek Brueckner Examples of Work: Reviews and Media Coverage

University Teaching and Committee Experience

Years of University Teaching experience:

Established 23 year career as a university educator among diverse student populations at the University of Manitoba. Currently at the School of Art, University of Manitoba at full-time Instructor 1 rank

Extensive University Teaching Experience:

Foundations Drawing , Advanced Drawing, Intro Painting, Open media, 2D & 3D design, Photoshop, and iMovie.

Additional University Teaching Experience:

Premiere Pro, illustrator, InDesign, Advanced Painting, Art Now, Senior Studio, and Honours Seminar. Additional 10 years of teaching drawing at the Architecture Faculty in the Environmental Design and Interior Design Departments.

Committees and Service:

Undergraduate Programming Committee

Curriculum Committee

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Acquisitions School of Art Gallery Committee

Student Art Gallery Committee

Foundations Coordinator

Student Advising

University Lecture Courses Experience include:

History of Architecture (History of Culture, Ideas and Environment) course (tests and essay assignment) New York City travel study course (seminars and essay assignments) and lecture course Math in Art course (homework studio assignments for 220 students per term) and Honours Seminar 1 course (written assignments in relation to professional practice).

Other University Administration Experience includes:

Payroll paper work, scheduling/introducing a series of guest lecturers for the “Art Now” course. Worked with Teaching Assistants at the Faculty of Architecture and currently working with graders and course assistants for the Math in Art course which has 220 students per term.

Teaching Philosophy

My central objectives as an educator are to expand each person’s art lexicon. As an artist I view the art profession as a complex environment often involving conflicting ideas and challenges. Offering variety in types of knowledge and problem solving will equip emerging artists to successfully navigate the arts.

In my courses people are encouraged to examine and question their preconceived ideas and methods of art making. Using a wide range of aesthetic approaches and theories, my courses are structured to develop the student’s technical skills and critical awareness. Various combinations of constructive criticism and supportive comments are offered during individual discussions and group critiques. Verbal and written comments are collectively meant to enhance the student’s personal sensibilities, confidence, and critical thinking.

My professional and teaching practices parallel a broad range of influences in relation to historical and contemporary ideas that include traditional to digital media practice, transcultural thinking, and formal aesthetics and conceptual ideas. As an educator I strive to expand awareness and comprehension by cultivating and refining the broadest range of art practices and ideas. Additional components to the learning environment include sharing my dedication as a viewer and maker of art, as well as a curriculum that reflects my personal working process of balancing a sense of play with order and structure.

As in my own research, I encourage students to be open to new or unusual ideas and aspire for versatility in their own work. These new ideas include processes involving intuitive explorations, editing/experimentation and risk taking. In the studio/classroom I share my own research methods as an artist who expands, informs and resolves their studio practice by synthesizing personal studio processes with ideas from texts, lectures and other art practitioners.

Similar to my own practice, course activities involve researching inherent languages of any given discipline with the expectation of eventually exploring interdisciplinary practices that blur discipline boundaries. Even when working in single discipline assignments, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research methods are always advocated.

Overall I am reflexive in my teaching style in order to meet the needs of each class. The backgrounds, interests and levels of sophistication in any given group will always influence my course content and my approach with each person. Ultimately I view my role as a facilitator who broadens options, assists in refining directions and progressively clarifies to students that one approach to art-making is not more "correct" than another. In the end it is always my goal to free the expressive power of each person’s particular vision.

Exhibitions and Performances

Artist Practice (Some History of Previous Work and Research)

For 16 years my work has interpreted the human body with painting, digital technologies and time-based disciplines. This practice began as an extension of the traditional relationship between artist and model, eventually evolving into a kind of collaborative performance incorporating various environments utilizing live feed video projections.

For over a decade the working process has culminated into paintings referenced from rehearsal and performance documentation. To date projects in exhibition contexts still collectively present paintings, drawings, and staged environments utilizing video and performance.

Since August 2012 two solo exhibitions with separate bodies of work have been presented in the New York City area:

Nude Super Hero Karaoke Show (August 2012) – Paintings and performance all derived from collaborative rehearsals initially conceived for and directed in karaoke booths. Subject matter in the paintings and performances plays out among a consumer level environment, thematically delving into a corporeal mix of: technology, post-human alter egos both reveling in and satirizing cultural idealizations and consumptions of escapism.

The Geometers (August 2013) Thematically this project engaged mathematical geometry and live bodily improvisation encompassing performance, live feed video projections, with large and small-scale drawings. Both solo exhibitions involved live feed video projections, simultaneously presenting fragmentation and replication of the body

Polyopia Play – A Pathological Simile:

This proposed and in progress project will include rehearsals and production of paintings and drawings completed in studio and performance contexts. The project will conclude as a solo exhibition at Local Project in Long Island City (Queens) NY (dates still to be confirmed). The project and exhibition will be a culmination of performance along with installed video, paintings and drawings referenced from rehearsal documentation.

The rehearsals and exhibition will include performers creating projected text via voice recognition software installed/connected to a computer and data projector. The exhibition will present: performances with projected live video feeds, edited video projections, along with paintings and drawings installed in the exhibition space. The edited video and performance will blur boundaries of: human body, audience/performer, rehearsal, demo, orations, audio, painting and drawing.

The exhibition and performance will present overlapping live feed projections with edited video in staged environments and as separate works in some areas of the exhibition space. An opera singer will be included as one of the performers who will improvise with the other performers and potential audience members. At this point the relationship between scripted/choreographed performance and improvised performance are unresolved. Ultimately this project will utilize research time to address issues of scripted versus improvised practice, as well as other research concerns in: painting, drawing, the body, performance, audience and digital technologies. These disciplines will be researched separately and with interdisciplinary contexts.

Derek Brueckner Examples of Work

Reviews and Media Coverage

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