Board Summer Workshop Takeover!
Explore the world of collage with Natasha Harvey and Patty Leinemann.

Our Board of Directors are, before anything else, artists and creative professionals who believe in what this place does. This summer, they want to share that with you.

The Board Summer Workshop Takeover is a special fundraising series where our board members step into the gallery as lead facilitators, sharing their creative practices and professional expertise directly with our community.

Every registration goes straight back to the Alternator, helping us meet our 2026 goals and keeping our space open for everyone.

About the Session

This hands-on session is about loosening up and experimenting — ripping, cutting, and finding your way into a practice that is as accessible as it is endlessly creative. Natasha and Patty each bring their own distinct approach to the form, and together they’ll help you discover new materials, techniques, and ideas to take back to your own work.

All materials are provided, though you’re welcome to bring your own papers or source materials.

Details

• Facilitators: Natasha Harvey and Patty Leinemann

• Date: May 28, 2026 

• Time: 6 PM – 9 PM

• Location: Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art (Onsite)

• Cost: $25 for Members | $60 for Non-Members (not a member yet? It pays to join!)

Who is this for?

This workshop is open to everyone — from curious beginners and hobbyists to practicing artists.

Meet Your Facilitators

Natasha Harvey

Natasha Harvey is a mixed media artist, printmaker, and art educator with an MFA from UBC Okanagan. Her practice spans landscape painting and linocut printmaking, and she brings years of experience as both a working artist and educator.

Patty Leinemann

Patty Leinemann is an interdisciplinary artist with a BFA from UBCO whose work spans installation, photography, and performance. Her practice explores themes of family, memory, and space, and her recent work includes solo exhibitions in Kelowna and Mexico City.

The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art is proud to introduce the 2026 Visiting Artist Mentorship Series, a new pilot program made possible through the generous support of the Central Okanagan Foundation. Over the coming year, we will facilitate four of these specialized sessions, each designed to foster meaningful connections, knowledge sharing, and networking between the Okanagan arts community and our national peers.

While the Central Okanagan is home to a vibrant community of creators, geography can sometimes limit access to the professional networks and "behind-the-scenes" knowledge found in larger urban hubs. This series brings national perspectives directly to Kelowna, offering a space for honest exchange about the realities of maintaining a professional practice today.

Moving away from traditional artist talks, these sessions focus on the "how" of a career: the lived experiences, the hurdles, and the practical strategies that keep a studio running. It is an invitation to move past formal presentations and engage in a real dialogue about building a sustainable, resilient, and connected creative community.

Session 2: Reclaiming the Creative Void

In this edition of the Visiting Artist Mentorship Series, Vancouver-based Portuguese-Canadian artist Kevin Jesuino invites us to dismantle the pervasive "hustle culture" of the arts industry. Together, we will work to reclaim rest, boredom, and self-care as vital somatic practices rather than luxury commodities.

For the professional artist, the pressure to be perpetually inspired often leads to a dysregulated nervous system. This session investigates the political act of doing nothing and its role in long-term creative sustainability. Our discussion and practice will center on the "Anatomy of the Pause," exploring:

• Physiological Awareness: Identifying the urge to produce and learning how to consciously soften that impulse.

• The Rehabilitation of Boredom: Viewing stillness not as a void, but as a fertile, liminal space for the imagination to reset.

• The Radical Ritual: Transitioning from "fight or flight" (sympathetic) into a state of "rest and digest" (parasympathetic).

Participants will leave with a somatic toolkit to navigate the creative void, transforming self-care from a consumerist checkbox into a radical, embodied ritual of resistance and renewal.

Note to Participants: Please bring comfortable layers of clothing that allow you to move freely. We also recommend bringing socks if you are not comfortable being barefoot.

Attendance & Contributions

Register here to let us know you will be attending. This session is free to attend, However, for those with the capacity to do so, we invite you to participate in our Pay It Forward program.

Pay It Forward

We believe in building a creative community where everyone belongs. This event is open to all. For those in a position to give, we invite you to pay it forward. Your generosity keeps our doors open to everyone, creates access for all, and sustains the programs that enrich our collective cultural life. We gratefully accept contributions by cash or online here.

Unable to contribute? You are always welcome here.

From Conversation to Paper: Writing Your Artist Statement with Katherine Pickering

The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art is pleased to present the 2026 Artist Development Series. This curated program is designed to help emerging and mid-career artists build sustainable careers by providing access to experienced local professionals who understand our regional creative landscape.

Through these sessions, we aim to move beyond simple skill-building to help you build collaborative networks and gain the actionable tools needed to navigate your creative career with confidence.

Workshop: Writing Compelling Artist Statements & Exhibition Proposals

In this hands-on workshop, visual artist and educator Katherine Pickering approaches the artist statement not as a daunting chore, but as a conversation. Writing about your own work can be a challenge, but Katherine will guide you through a process to articulate your ideas, methods, and intentions using clear and direct language.

The session begins with a short presentation on the anatomy of an effective artist statement and how it differs from an artist bio. Participants will then pair up to interview one another about their work. By recording these conversations and using audio-to-text tools, you will generate a natural first draft that captures your true voice. Through guided individual and peer editing, you’ll refine this text into a focused, professional statement suitable for exhibitions and applications.

What to Bring:

• A laptop or mobile device (for recording and editing).

• An original artwork or a high-quality image of your work to discuss.

This workshop is free to attend. However, for those with the capacity to do so, we invite you to participate in our Pay It Forward program.

Pay It Forward

We believe in building a creative community where everyone belongs. This event is open to all. For those in a position to give, we invite you to pay it forward. Your generosity keeps our doors open to everyone, creates access for all, and sustains the programs that enrich our collective cultural life. We gratefully accept contributions by cash or online here. Unable to contribute? You are always welcome here.

Katherine Pickering is a visual artist and Lecturer at UBC Okanagan. Based on Syilx territory in Kelowna, her practice explores material experimentation and abstraction. Her work has been exhibited internationally and supported by residencies across Canada, the US, and Europe. Katherine holds an MFA from Concordia University and a BFA from UBC Okanagan.

Earlier this year she presented Weather, Window, Echo, Hum in our Main Gallery.