Uta RicciusUta Riccius maps new locations of her art objects as they re-surface in unconventional non-art settings: concrete forms from plastic recycling packages are planted in local backyards, plaster casts of snow globes appear in people’s personal environments, and casts of lost mitts and gloves are found under park benches or in public phone booths around Ottawa. Her interactive, performance based, audience participatory work began on the streets of Mexico City- knitting a paper map “The Armchair Traveler” in 2000, and continued in a park in Mexico City and Parliament Hill- capturing postcard souvenirs of herself as The Tall Girl with “tourists”. Past exhibitions include a recent solo show at The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in 2006 and group shows at Owens Art Gallery in Sackville, N,B, Karsh-Masson Gallery, Modern Fuel in Kingston, Dunlop Gallery in Regina, Axe Neo Sept., SAW Gallery and L’Imagier. Summer 2005, Uta was invited to be an artist-in-residence with Struts Gallery in Sackville, New Brunswick, where she mapped short cuts in and around town. Provincial, regional and a Canada Council Grant have contributed to the funding of her work. Uta Riccius has a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, and a MFA from the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany. Currently she teaches and is Department head of Visual Arts at Heritage College in Gatineau. She is a Board member of The Ottawa Art Gallery. |