Amy-Claire Huestis lives in Ladner, British Columbia, in the estuary of the Fraser River near Hwlhits'um on the ancestral and present-day lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the Hul’qumi’num Mustimuhw (Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group of seven Coast Salish Nations), Tsawwassen, and Musqueam. In her soulful practice she suspends a state of wonder in relation to nature and its mysteries. Thinking through how we might co-habitate better with more-than-human kin, she makes work through ritual and deep attention to the landscape over time. Her works cross boundaries between drawing, painting, walking, and creative writing.
Alongside her pieces made in close attention to nature, she creates community frameworks and performances for connection to the natural world, and she often collaborates with international artists in residencies and in performance.
Amy-Claire has done residencies in the Bothy Project in Scotland, at JM Gray’s Cottage in Sechelt, British Columbia, and at the UCLA Art/Science Centre. Her performances include venues such as University Settlement in New York City, the UCLA Broad Art Centre, and the Baryshnikov Dance Centre in New York City, and Richmond Art Gallery, BC.
She teaches drawing and painting at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in the lower mainland of British Columbia.
Contact: amyhuestis at gmail dot com
Education:
2012 - 2014 University of California Los Angeles, MFA in Design Media Arts
2011 - 2012 Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles, MFA program
1993 -1996 Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, BFA with honours
1991 -1993 Langara College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Fine Arts Program
Teaching:
2017 - present Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Instructor: Painting and Drawing, Fine Arts
2015 - 2016 The Whitney Museum of American Art, School Programs, Access Programs: Artist educator.
2016 Dia Foundation: Beacon, Educator.
Community art projects, residencies, performances, and installations:
July 2023 Richmond Art Gallery. Nest-works: Art and Science, gathering on nests and biodiversity along the Pacific Flyway. Richmond, BC.
July 2023 Richmond Art Gallery. The Delta Animal Resistance, children’s book reading and performance with Omar Zubair (sound) and OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation. Richmond, BC.
June 2023 Richmond Art Gallery. For the Ecological Ghosts, Performance with Omar Zubair (composer), choir and Rachel Harris (dance). Richmond, BC.
June 2023 For Ghosts and Swallows, Offsite performance, curated by Shaun Dacey, Richmond Art Gallery. In collaboration with Omar Zubair (composer), Jody Sperling (dance), Rachel Harris (dance), Brigid Coult (choir director) and BC Choral Federation. Garry Point, Richmond, BC.
Dec. 2022 Wish Ribbon Project, with Nature Canada, Birds Canada, and Anderson Elementary School in Richmond, BC, for the Nature Bus presentation COP15 Convention on Biological Diversity (Nature COP) in Montreal.
October 2022 PLANT/silvery-blue, collaborative participatory performance with Time-Lapse Dance at the Amsterdam Eco-Arts Festival, New York City.
Sept. 2022 MOTHLIKE/silvery-blue: a participatory community performance for Hwlhits’um (Brunswick Point) curated by Shaun Dacey, Richmond Art Gallery. In collaboration with Omar Zubair (composer), Jody Sperling (dance), Rachel Harris (dance), Brigid Coult (choir director) and BC Choral Federation.
2020 – 2022 Artist-in-Residence, Richmond Art Gallery -- hosting Art/Sci events with COHAB Collective and Birds Canada and with Indigenous consultants; developing Art/Sc curriculum with Birds Canada in Richmond Public Schools around the Motus Migratory Tracking System.
January 2020 Delta Animal Resistance Flag, a “Bird-Friendly” community pledge program with Birds Canada in Richmond and Delta, BC.
April 2018 Hidden Gardens, Glasgow International Art Fair: Bone Meal. Concrete poems, performance and installation works with collaborator Suzanne Déry.
June 2017 Baryshnikov Art Center. Book of Clouds, A collaborative residency and performance with Omar Zubair (sonic composition/video), Jody Sperling (choreography/dance).
March 2016 UCLA Art/Science Center at the Broad Art Center, Los Angeles. Book of Clouds, A collaborative residency and performance with Omar Zubair (sonic composition/video), Jody Sperling (choreography/dance)
June 2016 University Settlement, New York, NY. Piece for the Northern Sky, A performance with Omar Zubair (video), Jody Sperling (choreography/dance), and Mathew Burtner (composition/music).
April 2015 The Morbid Anatomy Museum, Brooklyn, NY. Vision of Wonder, A durational performance and with Omar Zubair (sound, video), Suzanne Déry (projection), Time Lapse Dance, and myself (painted analogue projection).
January 2015 The Bothy Project, Scotland. Collaboration with Suzanne Déry, experiential and magic lantern practice.
July 2015 The Firehouse Space, Brooklyn, NY. Sunset Frequencies: Amy Huestis and John Dombroski. light and sound performance.
Selected solo exhibitions:
2023 MOTHLIKE/silvery-blue, Richmond Art Gallery, BC
2018 Where the Rain Falls Without Falling, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2013 Pacific, Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2013 Garden for a Neanderthal, UCLA Art/Sci Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2011 Amy-Claire Huestis: Abstractions, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California
2009 Landscape with Bombers, Battat Contemporary, Montréal, QC
Selected Group exhibitions:
2018 Rainbow Walks with You: Amy-Claire Huestis and Suzanne Déry, Arbutus Gallery, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC.
2017 Objective Painting Telluride Gallery, curated by Jimmy Hayward, Colorado.
2014 Presentism: Light as Material, Young Projects, Los Angeles, California.
2014 Thesis Exhibition: UCLA Media Arts MFA Program, New Wight Gallery, Broad Art Center, Los Angeles.
2013 Prefix: UCLA Media Arts MFA Fall Exibition, New Wight Gallery, Broad Art Center, Los Angeles.
Workshops, lectures, and symposia:
2024 Copper River Shorebird Festival, 2024: Presented with Kim Trainor, “walk quietly: ts’ekw’unshun kws qututhun
(walk quietly with respect and care along the shore), a curated guided walk situated at Hwlhits'um”
2023 College Art Association Conference, New York 2023: Presenter in “Ecologies as Cosmologies”
2021 College Art Association Conference, New York 2021: Session Chair, “Co-making this world”
2020 Classrooms 2 Communities Provincial Conference 2020, Presenter, “Colour&Ecology in 2m2
2016 - 2020 Vancouver Art Gallery, Accessibility Workshop Facilitator
2017 Emily Carr University, Visiting Artist.
2016 Mildred’s Lane, New York, Teaching Fellow: Attention Lab, The Order of the Third Bird
2015-2016 The Whitney Museum, Seniors Program, New York: Community lectures.
2015 College Art Association Annual Conference, New York 2015: Presenter, Expanded Animation
2013 California Nano Systems Institute, Art/Sci Summer Institute: Visiting Artist
2013 FemTechNet Conference, University of California San Diego: Lecture, Feminist Techno Cultures
2012 University of California Los Angeles, Media Arts: Introduction. Lecture
Publications as author or editor:
walk quietly/ts'ekw'unshun kws qututhun, COHAB Press, 2023.
The Delta Animal Resistance, COHAB Press, 2023.
Four Ways to Care for Birds: Kids’ Activity Book, COHAB Press, 2023.
“Nest-works”, Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 19 (3):227-241
“stɑl’əw̓/The Fraser River: Creative Ecologies for Transformative Pedagogy”, Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal Fall 2022”, Volume 15, Issue 2.
“Ecology and colour in 1m2: a contemplative, place-based study”, Cultural Studies of Science Education 16, 2021.
“In Search of The Perfect Pink”, Notes Journal, Volume 5. May, 2018.
“My Homeland”, Myp magazine, Volume #15. August, 2014. www.myp-magazine.com
“A Re-invention of the Magic Lantern”. UCLA Master of Fine Arts Thesis Paper and Project.
Press:
Provost, Viola. “Fraser Estuary Radio”. Other Sights’ Currents and Waves, Radio Platform, 2023.
Braund, Ethan. “Delta artist’s new exhibition promotes beauty, fragility of Fraser estuary”. Surrey Now-Leader, 2023.
Hui, Vikki. “Ladner art exhibition connects to Fraser River Estuary”. Richmond News, 2023.
Miles, Alexis. “Amy-Claire Huestis Exhibition at the Richmond Art Gallery”. www.miss604.com, 2023.
Frere, Sunshine. “Seven Questions for Amy-Claire Huestis”. THRIVE Vancouver, 2017
Barnard, Elissa. “At the Galleries: Portraits a study of mystical states.” Halifax Herald, 2012
Callaghan, Lori, “Bucolic Backgrounds,” Rover Online. 2009
Knelman, Sara. Catalogue Essay, Landscape with Bombers. 2009
Bouchard, Claude. “Huestis ne déçoit pas.” Le Droit. Ottawa, 2005.
Bouchard, Claude. “Amy Huestis sur la route des vieux maitres.” Le Droit. Ottawa, 2005.
Bouchard, Claude. “P pour Personnages.” Le Droit. Ottawa, 2005.
Bouchard, Gilbert A. “Gallery celebrates humanistic Huestis.” The Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, 2005.
Mavrikakis, N. “Espace Création.” Le Voir. Montréal, Québec 2005.
Bouchard, Claude. “Amy Huestis, La Traversée des temps.” Le Droit. Ottawa, 2004