Biography
Contact:
phone/fax: 250-935-6664/6815
okellhammer[at]gmail.com
www.oliverk.org
Born:
1959 Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Education:
University of British Columbia, (MFA Creative Writing) 2009
Bainbridge Island Graduate Institute, (Certificate in Sustainable Business) 2005
Langara College, Journalism Certificate Program, 1996
Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada 1994-1995
Ontario College of Art, (A.O.C.A. Photo/Electric) 1985
University of Guelph, 1977-1980
Recent engagements:
Public Talk, Sierra Club - 'Botanical Interventions: A Permaculture Approach to Fixing the Planet', Quadra Island, BC, Oct 3rd 2009
Lecturer, Emily Carr University - Interdisciplinary Forums - DING, Vancouver BC, February 12th 2009
Panelist, 'Making Art Public- Artists, the Law and the making of Public Art in Public Spaces,' Coal Harbour Community Centre, Vancouver BC, Nov 20th 2008
Panelist, 'Literary Machines,' Green College, UBC, Vancouver BC, July 7th 2008
Video Screening: „OOH, YAH, YAH, YAH, YAH “ as part of 3by3 event,
EFA Gallery | EFA Studio Center, New York, Nov 15th 2007
Lecturer, Emily Carr University, Vancouver BC, June 19th, 2007.
Lecturer, Workshop presenter at Urban Plans Symposium, University of Windsor, Windsor Ontario, March 13-15, 2007
Lecturer at New York University, New York, Tisch/ITP, April 16, 2007
Lecturer at Smith College, Northampton Massachusetts, Landscape Studies Program, April 23, 2007
Professional History:
Artist, writer and teacher specializing in ecological restoration and land art. Recipient of several Canada Council and Ontario Arts Council grants as well as public art commissions from the city of Vancouver.
Lecturer, Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Seattle, Cortes Island, BC (since 2003)
Urban ecology instructor, Environmental Youth Alliance, Vancouver, Canada (1994-present)
Permaculture instructor, Linnaea Farm Ecological Gardening Program (and numerous other locations), 1993-present
Artist-in-residence, Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre, Vancouver, Canada, 1997
Residency Leader, Living at the End of Nation States, Art Studio Residency, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada, Winter 1995
Board Member, Or Gallery, Vancouver, 1993-1995
Co-founder, designer, Cottonwood Community Gardens, Vancouver, 1990-1997
A-SPACE electronic arts programming committee, Toronto, Canada, 1987-1990
Co-director/curator of Eye Revue, a non-profit artist-run centre operating in the Union Station Railway Terminal in Toronto, Canada, 1983-1987
Assisted in the concept and founding of the Cultural Software Centre at the ArtCulture Research Centre, Toronto, Canada, 1983
Published Articles/Fiction/Poetry:
(selected)
DARWIN'S BASTARD'S: Astounding Tales from Tomorrow (contributor), edited by Zsuszi Gartner - 'Crush,' Spring 2010.
ACCESS ALL AREAS: Conversations on Engaged Arts (contributor), edited by Tania Willard - 'Botanical Interventions - Open Source Landscapes and Community Repair,' October 2008.
KNOCK MAGAZINE
Issue #12, 'Hybrids,' Fall 2009.
Issue #8, 'I Love Turtles' (Ecolit Nonfiction & Grand Prize Winner), Fall 2008.
VANCOUVER REVIEW
'Crush,' Winter 2009.
'Overpass,' Spring 2008.
THE SHOW SO FAR (weblog):
http://www.oliverk.org/weblog
March 2003-present
OUT OF BOUNDS Magazine: 'New Poets,' May 2006.
THE PERMACULTURE ACTIVIST:
'Grafting on Wild Rootstocks,' March 2001.
FUSE MAGAZINE:
'State of the Forest- The Canadian Landscape as Propaganda,' March 1992.
'Strategic Maneuvers- Corporate Money Laundering Through the Arts,' August 1989.
More Teaching/Lecturing:
2006: Lecturer: Bainbridge Island Graduate Institute, Seattle USA, Cortes Island, Canada (since 2003.)
2006: Panelist: Art in Ecology: A Think Tank on Arts and Sustainability, Roundhouse Gallery, Vancouver, April 22, 2006.
2003: Visiting Lecturer: Staying Alive, British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
1997: Visiting Lecturer, Capilano College, Vancouver, Canada.
1994: Visiting Lecturer, Capilano College, Vancouver, Canada. Visiting Lecturer, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada. Panel Member, 'Curating-Cyberspace-Networking Cultural Communities,' Interaccess, Toronto, Canada.
1992: Panel Member, Contemporary Arts in Canada at the End of the 20th Century, ANNPAC/RACA conference, Moncton, Canada.
1990: Artist-in-the-Schools program, Surrey Board of Education, Surrey, Canada.
1989: Visiting Lecturer, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada. Visiting Lecturer, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada. Visiting Lecturer, Interaccess, Toronto, Canada
1987: Visiting Lecturer, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada
1986: Artist-in-the-Schools Program, North York Board of Education, Canada
Exhibitions:
2007: Video Screening: „OOH, YAH, YAH, YAH, YAH “ as part of 3by3 event,
EFA Gallery | EFA Studio Center, New York, Nov 15th.
2006: Concrete Island, World Urban Forum, Vancouver, Canada.
2003: Means of Production, Art and Environment Initiative, Vancouver Parks Board, Vancouver, Canada. (ongoing)
1997: Healing the Cut-Bridging the Gap, Grandview Cut Bridges Public Art Project, Vancouver, Canada. (completed)
Memory Trees project, Marpole-Oakridge Community Centre, artist-in-residence, Vancouver, Canada. (initiated)
1996: Portrait Show, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
1994: End of the Nation State, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada. Seeds of Resistance, Cheap Art Collective, Hamburg, Germany. Healing the Cut-Bridging the Gap, Grandview Cut Bridges Public Art Project, Vancouver, Canada. (initiated)
1993: Artropolis 93, Vancouver, Canada. Roadside Attractions, Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
Baader-Meinhof-Information-Plant, Gallery Sansair, Vancouver, Canada.
1992: The State of Things, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1991: Not a One Night Stand, Pitt Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
1990: Artropolis 90, Vancouver, Canada. Breaking Boundaries, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, Canada. The Shaping of Nature, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada
1989: Specific Pacific, YYZ Artists Outlet, Toronto, Canada. Niagara-Model of the Universe, Niagara Artists’ Centre, St. Catherines, Canada.
1988: Forest-Model of the Universe, Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada. Lead Down the Garden Path, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1987: Ear to the World, A Space Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1986: Park, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The New Mechanics, Saw Gallery, Ottawa, Canada
1985: Films by Men, A-SPACE, Toronto, Canada. The Theory of Evolution, Eye Revue, Toronto, Canada. Swamp-Model of the Universe, Orbit Art Room, Toronto, Canada.
Eyedentities, Orbit Art Room, Toronto, Canada.
1984: Erect Systems, Frontier Video, (PBS), Buffalo, New York. Swamp Life, Orbit Art Room, Toronto, Canada. Works with Paper, Gallery 620, Toronto, Canada.
1983: Photo/Electric Art Show, La Chartreuse, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, France. Dataviews, ArtCulture Resource Centre, Toronto, Canada. Posthuman Culture, Eye Revue, Toronto, Canada.
