Alysha Claire Creighton, MFA

Sessional Assistant Professor of Art + Design; Chair, Art + Design
In this cultural moment the tools of the artist—creativity, ambiguity tolerance, deep attention and empathy—are needed more than ever. In the classroom I seek to cultivate these tools in my students and myself that we may participate with God in the renewal of the world.

Alysha Creighton is an artist, curator, educator and arts administrator based in Vancouver, BC, the traditional and unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. She sees each of these roles as integral to her creative practice and her role in nourishing the larger arts ecosystem. Alysha delights in interdisciplinary collaborations and seeks to work across disciplinary lines in her own creative work and collaborative projects—whether learning from scientists about climate impacts in the Fraser Valley Watershed or collaborating with nursing faculty to activate health research through an art exhibition.

Her performance-based video installation, drawing and lens-based work draws on her early training in dance and movement. Her artistic interests span ecology and climate change, health and intersubjectivity. Recent projects include the collaborative research creation project Upstream/Downriver Walking the stɑl̓əw̓ Watershed which was exhibited at the Langley Centennial Museum, the Whiterock Museum and Archives and the Spruce Gallery at Kwantlen University. Her work has been exhibited throughout Europe and North America.

She is also energized by supporting other artists to realize their creative projects though her work as the coordinator of the TWU galleries. In the community she serves as board president of the Fort Gallery, the Fraser Valley’s only artist-run-centre.

  • MFA in Drawing and Intermedia (University of Alberta; 2012)
  • BA in Visual Art, Minor in Worship Studies - Great Distinction (Trinity Western University; 2010)

Expertise

Drawing, Video, Installation, Performance, Art and Environment, Arts and Health, Curatorial Practices, Arts Administration

Selected Exhibitions:

  • Upstream/Downriver Walking the stɑl̓əw̓ Watershed, Spruce Gallery, Kwantlen University, Surrey, BC (2022)
  • Upstream/Downriver Walking the stɑl̓əw̓ Watershed, Whiterock Museum and Archives, Surrey, BC (2021)
  • Fraser Valley Biennial [curated by Kendra Anderson and Kate Bradford], The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, BC (2021)
  • Trade Off [in collaboration w/ Alysha Creighton], SAMC Gallery, Langley BC (2020)
  • Chromatic Pass w/ Russell Leng [screening], Taipei ConTemporary Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan (2020)
  • Trade Off [in collaboration with Russell Leng], SAMC Gallery, TWU, Langley, BC (2020)
  • Away, Langley Centennial Museum, Langley, BC (2019)
  • Rethinking Matter: The Tactile [Curators: Pamela Grombacher], Aarhus Center for Visual Art, Aarhus, Denmark (2017)
  • Monstrous?, dc3 Art Projects, Edmonton AB (2015)
  • Screening: The Touch [screening], Gotta Minute Film Festival, Edmonton, AB (2014)
  • Moving On: Boyle Street Projections Public Art Project w/ Allen Ball, Aspen Gallery, Boyle Street Plaza, Edmonton, AB (2013)
  • the space between us [solo exhibition], MFA Thesis exhibition, FAB Gallery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (2013)
  • Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art: The News From Here [curator: Nancy Tousley], Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB (2013)

Awards & Honors

  • Second Place, Gotta Minute Film Festival, Edmonton, AB (2014)

  • ART 180 Integration Forum
  • ART 181 Visual Foundations I
  • ART 182 Visual Foundations II
  • ART 280 3D Design
  • ART 411 Senior Studio I
  • ART 412 Senior Studio II
  • ART 490 Video Art
  • SAMC 111 Critical Issues in the Arts