Artist’s Statement, Medium of Exchange – Process:

The Artist’s of Medium of Exchange c. 2010:
L-R: Jesica Campbell, Koren Scott, Jessica Hauser, Penny Chase and Debbie.lee Miszaniec

Five women walked into an art school… 

Three straight women, one gay woman and one who says it’s nobody business walked into an art school… 

An agnostic, a Wiccan, a Catholic and two atheists walked into an art school… 

Three settlers, an Inuit and a Metis walked into an art school… 

Five artists of diverse backgrounds walked out of an art school… 

…and had a conversation: 

They called themselves Medium of Exchange. They made work together and apart about topics relevant to them all. Then their lives and professional practices diverged again. After a decade Jesica Campbell, Penny Chase, Jessica Hauser, Debbie.lee Miszaniec and Koren Scott have re-converged for Medium of Exchange: Process

Process is about the process of making art: the process of the development of the artist over time. The individual’s process of art making. The process of creating a dialogue between diverse individuals through art. 

Our History:

We graduated from the AUA (formerly ACAD) fine arts program in 2008 and shortly thereafter formed an informal critique and breakfast group. In 2010 we organized our first show as Medium of Exchange, exploring the idea of Debt as discussed in Margaret Atwood’s book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2007), from our unique perspectives, but in the medium common to us, visual art.

This history forms another window into the idea of process, as in the process of our evolution as a group, and as individual artists. The question of how each of us processes the ideas Atwood writes about given our unique backgrounds. While you are exploring the rest of the virtual exhibition for Medium of Exchange – Process, I hope you will not miss a peek into that early show here.