Contemporary Canadian Glass

GAAC Board

December 3, 2010

Meet the Glass Art Association of Canada Board of Directors 2010/11

Nine members of the Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC) were elected by their peers to serve on the Association’s Board of Directors for 2010/11. Each of them are volunteers who serve a minimum one-year term.

The 2010/11 GAAC Board of Directors includes:

Jamie Gray, President

Jamie is GAAC’s newly elected President, serving a three-year term beginning 2011/12. She previously served GAAC as Vice-President and Copy Editor of Contemporary Canadian Glass, GAAC’s online magazine. As President, Jamie is also Chief Executive Officer and presides over all meetings of the Board. She is responsible for managing the affairs of GAAC, ensuring all orders and resolutions are carried into effect.

Jamie is a graduate of the glass program at the Alberta College of Art + Design, where she focused her energies on sculptural and kiln-formed glass of a narrative nature. The themes most evident in her work are cosmopolitanism and communitas. She also enjoys using dark humour to explore the trials and tribulations of her childhood growing up on a prairie farm in the 1970s, where cosmopolitanism was at a low ebb. Jamie lives in Calgary, where she has been a glass craftsman for almost 20 years. Her work can be found in collections in Canada, the UK, Korea and Japan. She is a guest teacher in glassblowing and kiln-forming studios as well as operates a kiln-forming studio for her own work. In her capacity as a board member of the Glass Art Association of Canada and the coordinator of the Calgary Warm Glass Guild, Jamie is a proud supporter, promoter, and networker of glass as a fine-craft medium.

Steven Tippin, Vice-President

Steven was elected to a three-year term as Vice-President. In this capacity, he serves in the role of President when Jamie is absent. Steven also serves as the Ontario Representative and shares the Publicity and Promotions role with his wife, Kate.

Steven is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Master of Fine Arts program in glass. His artwork is inspired by the techniques of printmaking, painting, photography, halftone imagery, and text. He also uses repetition, overlap and misleading perspective as important elements in his work, which is largely comprised of kiln cast murrini panels. He currently lives in Wellesley, Ontario – just outside of Waterloo – where he recently opened his own studio.

Marcia DeVicque, Treasurer

For 2011/12, Marcia was re-elected as treasurer of GAAC – a role she has held since 2006. In this role, Marcia is the custodian of the funds and securities and keeps full and accurate account of all assets, liabilities, receipts and disbursements for the Association.

For the past 11 years, Marcia has worked with kiln-fired warm glass, fusing, slumping, and casting. She then paints her work, using 24 kt gold or platinum, and re-fires. Her organic pieces, and the process she undertakes in multiple firings, reflect her background working in clay. A single mom of five, Marcia looked to her glasswork – and also to her garden – for sanity. Marcia’s studio is on Galiano Island “… in the midst of the rainforest and the peaceful solitude of the island …” and she has been the featured artist at the Galiano Oceanfront Inn and Spa. She is represented in galleries in Victoria, Vancouver, the Gulf Islands, Calgary, and Edmonton and her work is found within private collections around the world.

Wendy McPeak, Secretary

Wendy was re-appointed as GAAC’s secretary and has held this role since 2010. As secretary, she is GAAC’s clerk, recording all votes and minutes of all proceedings of the Board. She is also custodian of the seal of GAAC.

Wendy has worked as a glass artist and kiln technician for kiln formed architectural installations for Panache Industries, Edmonton. She creates large-scale panels, many of which are in private residences and commercial spaces throughout Alberta. Wendy has retired from commission work and now concentrates on her own kiln formed designs, which focus on the manipulation of colour and surface texture.

Brad Copping, Past President and International Editor

Brad served as President of GAAC from 2008-2011. As Past President, he will serve in an advisory capacity to the new Board. He will also retain his role as International Editor of Contemporary Canadian Glass, GAAC’s online magazine.

Artist and glass blower, Brad Copping works from his home on the edge of the Canadian Shield, near Apsley, Ontario. His sculpture is included in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Speed Museum and the Fine Art Collection of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. His functional blown glasswork can be found in the permanent collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, the Design Exchange, and the Claridge Collection. The Corning Museum’s New Glass Review has acknowledged his work on six occasions and he has received much appreciated support from the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council.

Benjamin Kikkert, Managing Editor of Canadian Contemporary Glass

Benjamin, better known as ‘Benji’, was re-appointed as GAAC’s Regions’ Representative as well as the Editor-At-Large for the online magazine. He has held both roles since 2010. Benji compiles contact information for regional-area representatives and works to expand communications across the country.

Benji is a graduate of Sheridan College’s Craft and Design Program and he is currently a resident of Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. He was born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., and has worked extensively in the mountains, plains, and coastlines of Western Canada. The forces shaping the aforementioned landscapes inspire his work – from tidal to tectonic.

Kate Tippin, Publicity and Promotions

Kate was re-elected as Publicity and Promotions Coordinator, a role she shares with her husband Steven Tippin, and she was newly elected as Copy Editor for 2011/12. The Tippins are passionate about good communications and hope to increase the reach of glass art in Canada through targeted and strategic communications initiatives.

Kate brings more than a decade of communications, marketing and branding expertise to GAAC. Her work in the post-secondary sector has resulted in a number of awards and accolades in both print- and web-based projects. She currently works at Wilfrid Laurier University as Manager of Communications for development and alumni relations. Kate is working to complete her first novel and will give birth to the couple’s first child this fall.

Rachael Wong, Special Projects

Rachael provides a more formal method of contact and idea-channeling from the general membership of GAAC to the Board in her Special Projects role. Rachael began in this role in 2010 and was re-elected for another one-year term.

Rachael works primarily in installation, with blown glass elements that involve: play, communication, and experience. She has a BFA from Alberta College of Art + Design and an MFA from Alfred University in New York. She is a past resident of Harbourfront Centre in Toronto and the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. She is the 2010 recipient of the prestigious RBC Award for Glass.

For more information about the Glass Art Association of Canada or its Board members, please visit: http://www.glassartcanada.ca/

Regional Representatives

Prairies: Erinn Logee – logee.erinn@gmail.com

Mountains: Leah Dupereaux – leah@glassduck.ca

Westcoast: Larissa Blokhuis – havenotbeenthesame@yahoo.ca

Ontario: Steven Tippin – steve.tippin@gmail.com

Quebec: Nadine Busque – info@nadinebusque.com

Magazine Contacts

Managing Editor: Benjamin Kikkert – benjaminkikkert@gmail.com

Copy Editor: Kate Tippin – tippin.kate@gmail.com

Publisher: Sally McCubbin – sallymccubbin@gmail.com