Black Billed Magpie

by | Dec 29, 2017 | Magpie

How Can We Help?
You are here:
< Back

The Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art and design university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The institution is named for Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr, who was known for her Modernist and Post-Impressionist artworks.

The university is co-educational with four academic faculties: the Faculty of Culture + Community, the Ian Gillespie Faculty of Design + Dynamic Media, the Audain Faculty of Art, and the Jake Kerr Faculty of Graduate Studies. ECU also offers non-degree education through its continuing studies, certificate, and youth programs. Currently, the university has a combined body of over 2,100 undergraduate and graduate students along with over 13,000 alumni.

Founded in 1925, ECU is the oldest public post-secondary institution in British Columbia dedicated to professional education in the arts, media, and design. According to the QS World University Rankings, as of 2023, the school is ranked 25th in the world amongst institutions for art and design.[3]

History

Formerly established by the British Columbia Art League as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts in 1925,[4] the school was renamed the Vancouver School of Art in 1933. In 1978, the school was designated a provincial institute and changed its name to the Emily Carr College of Art and Design before moving to Granville Island in 1980. In 1995, a second building was opened on the Granville Island campus, at which time the school was renamed to the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Around the same year, the institute was granted authority to offer its own undergraduate and honorary doctoral degrees. On April 28, 2008, the Provincial Government announced that it would amend the University Act at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and recognize Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design as a full university, which was formally named the Emily Carr University of Art + Design.[5][6]

The first graduate program was added in 2003 (MFA) and would later expand to include the Master of Applied Arts (MAA) in 2006, the Master of Digital Media (MDM) in 2007, and the Master of Design in 2013 (MDes). The MDM program was launched through the Centre for Digital Media, a campus consortium of four post-secondary institutions in British Columbia.

In 2017, ECU moved from its longtime home on Granville Island to a permanent, purpose-built campus on Great Northern Way. The new campus sits on a former industrial site within the False Creek Flats neighbourhood in East Vancouver.[7]

Campus

Cafeteria at Emily Carr University.
The former building of ECU at Granville Island

The university's campus is located within a four-storey 26,600 square metre (286,320 sq. ft.) structure in the False Creek Flats neighbourhood of Vancouver.[8] Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and constructed by EllisDon in 2017, the building contains student commons spaces, galleries, exhibition spaces, studios, and three lecture theatres.[9] In addition, several Indigenous design elements were incorporated into the design of the building.[9] The building's exterior facade has white metal panels and glass reminiscent of a blank canvas, as well as back-painted glass spandrel panels to evoke a sequence of colours and transitions.[9] The building's colour palette was selected by faculty members in honour of the university's namesake, Emily Carr.

The building forms a part of the larger Great Northern Way Campus, a 7.5 hectares (18.5 acres) multi-use property that is shared with four other post-secondary institutions through the Great Northern Way Trust. Emily Carr University, along with British Columbia Institute of Technology, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia, are all equal shareholders in the trust and utilize their own facilities on the campus.[10]

ECU is also home to the Libby Leshgold Gallery, a public art gallery dedicated to contemporary art by emerging and established artists, both domestic and international. The gallery also operates READ Books, an independent bookstore that specializes in artists' books, monographs, exhibition catalogues, non-fiction, fiction, and design publications.

Academics

Emily Carr University specializes in art and design education, which merges studio practice, research, and critical theory in an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment. The school offers academic programs and continuing education courses in sustainable design, writing, photography, new media art, visual arts, game development, interactive media, animation, industrial design, product design, ceramics, sculpture, communication design, and illustration. All undergraduate students undergo a common foundation year before officially selecting a major (and minor, if desired).

Degree programs include:

  • Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Cultural + Critical Practices, Illustration, Photography, or Visual Arts. Visual arts majors can choose to specialize in painting, ceramics, drawing, print media, or sculpture and extended practices.
  • Bachelor of Design (BDes) in Communication Design, Interaction Design, or Industrial Design.
  • Bachelor of Media Arts (BMA) in Animation (2D + Experimental Animation or 3D Computer Animation), Film + Screen Arts, or New Media + Sound Arts.
  • Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Arts.
  • Master of Design (MDes) with Interdisciplinary and User Experience (UX) options.

Research

ECU primarily conducts research in studio-based art, media, and design with the participation of faculty members, students, research chairs, and industry partnerships. The school currently hosts six applied research centres and labs: the Basically Good Media Lab (BGML), DESIS Lab, Health Design Lab, Living Labs (LL), Material Matters, and the Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship.[11] In November 2009, ECU teamed up with Lucasfilm spinoff, Kerner Optical, to announce the establishment of a stereoscopic 3-D research studio.[12] Garnet Hertz and Amber Frid-Jimenez joined the university in 2014 as the first ever Canada Research Chairs of an art and design institution in the country.[13] In 2015, historian and curator Richard Hill joined the university as the third Canada Research Chair, specializing in Indigenous Studies.[14][15]

Library

The Ron Burnett Library + Learning Commons is the university's main library that serves students, faculty, and the public, and is named after Ron Burnett, one of the former presidents of ECU. The library spans three floors and also houses commons spaces, the writing centre, the teaching and learning centre, exhibition/event space, study rooms, special collections, and the university archives.

Arms

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's arms, supporters, flag, and badge were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on April 20, 2007.[16]

Coat of arms of Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Notes
Granted by the Chief Herald of Canada in Letters Patent on 20 April 2007.
Crest
Issuant from flames a Coast Salish spindle whorl charged with a raven all Argent embellished Azure. The Coast Salish raven styled by Susan Point (RCA) represents, as it does in many West Coast First Nations cultures, transformation and cleverness. In this instance, it represents Emily Carr’s interest in the First Peoples as well as the idea that the artist transforms materials to give them new shape and meaning and that art can transform the way the viewer perceives the world. The flames symbolize the idea that the University’s professors liberate what burns in each student and what sets them on fire.[17]
Escutcheon
Azure six piles reversed throughout Argent three in bend meeting in point three in bend sinister meeting in point all counterchanged.[18]
Supporters
Two crows Azure standing on a rock Argent above barry wavy Argent and Azure. The crow is the smaller cousin of the raven, but unlike the raven the crow is at home in urban areas. Here the crows represent the University’s urban setting on Granville Island next to the waters of False Creek. As well, they are noted for their intelligence, and thus symbolize the intellectual quotient in all aesthetic endeavours.[19]
Motto
Eye Mind and Hand[20]

Notable people

Alumni

Faculty and emeriti

See also

References

  1. ^ "Consolidated Financial Statements Year ended March 31, 2022" (PDF). d1bdilxpumkn65.cloudfront.net. Emily Carr University of Art + Design. 2022. p. 1.
  2. ^ a b c "Enrolment by university". www.univcan.ca. Universities Canada. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  3. ^ "QS World University Rankings for Art & Design 2023". Top Universities. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  4. ^ "Emily Carr University of Art and Design". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  5. ^ Education, Office of the Premier, Ministry of Advanced (28 April 2008). "B.C. TO ESTABLISH EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART & DESIGN". www2.news.gov.bc.ca. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "An Overview of B.C.'s Public Post-secondary Institutions". gov.bc.ca. Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  7. ^ "New Emily Carr Campus Opens in East Vancouver". vancouversun.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Emily Carr University moving to new campus on Great Northern Way". dailyhive.com. Buzz Connected Media. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  9. ^ a b c "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". dsai.ca. Diamond Schmitt. 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Governance". thecdm.ca. Centre for Digital Media. 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  11. ^ Canada, 520 1st Ave E. Vancouver BC V5T 0H2 (2020-09-01). "Centres + Labs | Emily Carr University of Art + Design". www.ecuad.ca. Retrieved 2024-06-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Vancouver Sun - Kerner, Emily Carr University team up to produce 3-D movies". Archived from the original on 2009-11-23.
  13. ^ "First Canada Research Chairs Appointed at Emily Carr". 29 May 2019.
  14. ^ "Emily Carr - Richard Hill, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies".
  15. ^ "Richard Hill Appointed as Curator of Canadian Art at Vancouver Art Gallery". Galleries West. 2021-11-01. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  16. ^ General, The Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "The Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada". archive.gg.ca. Retrieved 2017-06-26.
  17. ^ "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  19. ^ "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  21. ^ Stopa, Thalia (July 27, 2015). "Getting to the Roots of Tommy Genesis". BeatRoute Magazine. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2017.
  22. ^ Cyca, Michelle (6 September 2022). "The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A "Pretendian" investigation". Maclean's. Retrieved 7 September 2022.

External links

Categories
Table of Contents