About AFH
This audio is from our virtual studio visit with artists Alma Louise Visscher & Taryn Kneteman in conversation with Taiessa, and was originally recorded on June 26, 2021 over Zoom. Video episodes are available on the AFH website.
About the artists
Alma Louise Visscher (b. 1986 in the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo, Katzie, Kwikwetlem, Kwantlen, Qayqayt and Tsawwassen First Nations/Surrey BC) creates fabric-based installations, soft sculptures, and drawings that examine material culture, soft architecture, and the language of abstraction through a feminist lens. Her work has been shown throughout North America, as well in Iceland and Germany: Sweet Lorraine Gallery (Brooklyn), Kimura Gallery (Alaska), and included in the 2020 Canadian Biennial of Fibre Art (Idea Exchange, Cambridge ON) as well as in Future Station, the 2015 Biennial of Alberta Art (Art Gallery of Alberta). She is thankful for support from Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Edmonton Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. As both artist, teacher and cultural worker, Alma has focused on supporting more accessible art programs, and with those using art as part of their mental health and wellness journey: She has worked with a wide variety of government agencies and non-profit organizations: teaching classes and leading workshops at day programs, continuing care centres, and with employment and youth support services.
Taryn Kneteman (b. 1989 in amiskwacîwâskahikan/Edmonton) is a visual artist preoccupied with material transformation. She documents moving bodies and changes of state with sculpture, video, and printmaking, to consider the meaning of “wellness” as an embodied utopia where the curation of self and products promises control or escape. Kneteman holds a BFA from the University of Alberta and has exhibited work at the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton AB), Antimatter [media art] festival (Victoria BC), Walter Phillips Gallery (Banff AB), and SNAP Gallery (Edmonton AB), as well as internationally. She was an artist in residence at Common Opulence 2 (Demmitt AB), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff AB), and Druckvereinigung Bentlage (Rheine, Germany). Most recently she was an artist in residence at Yorath House Artist Studio and Mitchell Art Gallery (Edmonton AB) in collaboration with Alma Louise Visscher. She lives and works in Edmonton, in Treaty 6 territory.
About the co-host
Taiessa (she/her) is a multi-discipline artist living in Amiskwaciwâskahikan, so-called Edmonton. Taking an auto-ethnographic approach to her work, she explores themes of intimacy and nurturance. Taiessa’s primary mediums include printmaking, soft sculpture, and long conversations with friends. She obtained a Fine Art diploma with distinction from Grant MacEwan University before completing her BFA at the University of Alberta. Taiessa recently participated in the Mitchell Art Gallery’s Artist Exchange program, and when not in the studio spends her time as Production Supervisor at The Works.