The Harcourt House team welcomes Becky Thera as the 2020-2021 Artist-In-Residence at Harcourt House Artist Run Centre. Thera holds a Bachelor’s degree with Distinction in Visual Art from the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan and Master’s degree in Art & Design from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. Her MFA research, which explored trauma in relation to personal, intergenerational and systemic sexualized violence, was awarded a SSHRC (CGS M) grant. Thera’s work has been featured nationally and internationally, including notable exhibitions at the 2018 Nuit Blanche Reginaand the 2020 Feminist Art Fest in Toronto, Ontario. Currently, she is working as an Art Instructor at the University of Alberta. Becky Thera works in video, photography, embroidery, drawing, and performance. With an extensive history in synchronized swimming, Thera has been working as a coach and choreographer since 2007. This experience influences the involvement of performance and water in her artistic practice. Thera’s work explores themes of empathy, intimacy, and feminist politics, situating herself between poetry and activism. And that’s what Becky Thera is planning during her residency at Harcourt. Becky: welcome to Harcourt House!
Developed by Harcourt House Artist Run Centre in 2002, the Artist-In-Residence Program is open to Canadian visual artists working in any studio art and/or multidisciplinary practice. The program provides the best opportunity to advance an artist’s career trajectory, values the role of artists as innovators within their communities, and helps emerging artist to become established. The residency provides the artists with a stable working environment in the professional studio space, the opportunity for research and to teach classes, material stipend, and a chance to interact with the community. The program culminates with the solo exhibition of works developed during the residency at Harcourt House. The artist receives CARFAC artist’s fees for this exhibition.